Remember

Remember

Remember your history, your long and rich history.

Isaiah 46:9 (THE MESSAGE)

Is there any way to track your spiritual growth? Faith is not something you can weigh. You can’t measure hope with a ruler. Truthfulness may be something you can feel inside, but you can’t bag it up.

I reread my journals to gauge my personal growth. When I look back, I can see the ways God is transforming my life. I’m also able to witness how many prayers God has answered!

Although all Amish have limited formal education and a limited knowledge of popular culture, most Amish, young and old, have some interest in history, both oral and written. . . . For the Amish, recalling their stories helps define who they are and gives them a standard for judging whether or not they are drifting into mainstream worldliness or following the biblical description of “keeping the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). . . . The Amish constantly negotiate with the press of modernity, and now post-modernity, by weighing present realities with their historical core values.

Without our written history, we have no way to compare our “now” with “then.” How many lessons are learned as we can sit around the dinner table and say, “Dat, tell me a story”?

When my grandmother tells my daughter about growing up during the Great Depression, we begin to realize how wealthy we are. When an Amish grandfather shares about his growing-up years, youngsters can see how different their lives are and weigh whether they’re heading in the right direction.

If you keep a journal, take time to go back over your own history and thank God for the ways He’s “shown up” in your life over the years. If you don’t have a journal, consider starting one to record your prayers, your thoughts, and your important “history.” Someday the record you’ve kept will stand as a monument to God’s faithfulness!

Dear heavenly Father, I thank You that You are part of my history, part of my present, and part of my future. May the words I write and share be monuments to Your faithfulness.