DeAnda05

Sitting at the funeral of my best friends' mother, memories of her flooded my mind. I was saddened
that I hadn't spent more time with her, but very thankful for the memories that I do have of her. On
my way home from the funeral I started thinking about how important our memory is. Our memory
allows us to recall the most exciting, loving, and the most hurtful times in our lives. How often do we
remember the blessings, answered prayers and grace God gives us throughout our life? Because I am
single, I have to consciously make an effort to remember that God has not forgotten my desires,
especially during trials. Luckily for us, we have a God who knows that we need to be "reminded" of all
He has done for us. Scripture shows that God even puts things in place sometimes to remind us of
where He has brought us from.

One of the hardest times I have been through was a few years ago when I had to have a
hysterectomy. One of my deepest desires had been to be married and have children. When I find
myself grieving this loss; I have to remember where God has brought me from and what memorials He
has given me. The memorials from my hysterectomy are witnessing the birth of my best friend's son,
waking up to worship while in the hospital and Scripture.

In Joshua God shows us that remembering what he has brought us through is important.

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe,
and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of
you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to
serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?'
tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it
crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the
people of Israel forever. Joshua 4:4-7

God wanted these stones left to remind the future generations of the great things He had done. He
knows that our trust in him can waver because we tend to look at what He hasn't done in our life,
instead of what He has done in our lives. I am usually content with being single, but there are those
seasons when the fact that I am single is the only thing on my mind. When I found out that I had to
have a hysterectomy all I could do was trust God with my singleness and what the future holds,
because this was not in my game plan. During the weeks before the surgery I had to remember that
God has known me forever.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together
in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were
written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:15-16
This is where my first memorial starts. Because all of my days have been ordained for me. God knew
that I would have a hysterectomy, so He made it possible for me to be in the delivery room when my
best friend had her first child. I may not be able to experience childbirth myself, but God made it
possible for me to experience it through someone else, twelve years before I even knew that I wouldn't
be able to bear children. Now that is what I call preparing the way!

Secondly God remembered that I love worship, and each morning in the hospital I woke up with a
worship song in my head. Actually the singing that I was doing inside my head is what would wake me
up. I was so sad and the only way this was possible was through the Holy Spirit. Waking up with these
songs in my head reminded me that God was with me. The songs kept my focus on Him.

The last memorial is God's word. Isaiah 46:4 speaks to my heart, "Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will
rescue you." There is a song by Mark Schultz called "He Will Carry Me." I listened to this song almost
every day up until the hysterectomy because it reminded me that God would carry me through that
trial and His word confirms it. This allowed me to rely on God's strength, instead of my own.
God's greatest memorial to us is His word. He left scripture for us so we would remember who He is,
how He divinely works, and that He knows us. I am humbled when I think about this and how easy it is
for me to forget not only who God really is, but how He works also. We each have our own stones of
remembrance to pick, and hopefully they are building our faith. How wonderful it is that we have been
given the gift of memories so we can remember the loved ones we have, but most importantly so we
can remember who carries us in our time of need.