A Call to Remembrance

But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. Deuteronomy 24:18 (New American Standard Bible)

God knew that the remembrance of enslavement and subsequent redemption could spur one on to right actions in regards to others. That which is part of our past can the connecting point to another person’s plight. Many today are aware of how God can use their past hurts and wounds to minister to others. God wants us to know the power of our stories and how effectively He can use them to affect others. What a joy it can be to allow God to take the most painful parts of our past and not only redeem them but use them in the life of another.

This morning, I am recalling things in my life that can be used to help me understand those with similar pasts. I am aware that each of those places can be a reference point from which to reach out to someone and say, “I know how you feel and I know what God can do.” My platform of remembrance includes things that filled me with shame as a young child, growing up in a home with alcoholic parents and their eventual divorce, living my Christian life out of performance and the duty of legalism, emotional dependency that led to idolatrous relationships, experiencing the disapproval and rejection when individuals could not see growth in my Christian life as anything but backsliding and liberalism, personal choices spanning my lifetime that led to regret and guilt, and realizing how far I am from being all that God created me to be.

Each of these were a form of slavery and each has been or is presently being redeemed in God’s time and in God’s way. By His grace, NONE of them will be the end of the story. They will serve purposes in the present and future. Purposes such as giving others hope in the midst of their own situations, directing people to the One who brought about freedom and change for me, and allowing God to get as much mileage out of His work as He wants. That is how He is able to give me beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for sorrow, and peace for despair. Anything, anything at all, in my life is redeemable and usable by God.

Father, take every area of my life that spelled defeat, anguish, and hopelessness and out of the ash heaps bring forth beauty and ministry. May each memory result in praise to You. Amen.

Press On - Selah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POf__1yS4qY&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.