Reminders...

So my pastor was in Joshua chapter 3 & 4 last night in his sermon. He was talking about how the children of Israel were about to cross the Jordan river to enter the promise land. When they crossed over the Jordan they set up twelve stones as a memorial to remind them what miracle God did. Why would these people need to be reminded of something so gnaly like that? For crying out loud God stopped a raging river so they could cross it. As I was sitting there thinking about why they would need to have a reminder for something that to me seems unforgetable, I was thinking that these people must have not been so smart. How could they forget the awesome power of God? That's when I was instantly convicted. Who am I to think that way, I am that way. As I go through this tough season in my life sometimes I think to myself "where are you God", "are you going to help out", how am I any different from these people? If I just took the time to look pass myself and remember the multiple times God has come through, brought healing and deliverance, and all the times he answered my prayers then I would realize not only is God there, he's already at work in my life.
I want to share an example of how I was reminded of how great God is. So last night my cousin Shayne sang a song at church, which by the way she rocked it :-) I was reminded of how God heard our prayers and came through. You might be thinking what's so great about that, well let me tell you. A few months ago my cousin Shayne had to get a shunt replaced in her spine. This has happend before but this time there were many complications that came with it. She actually had a piece of the shunt break off and lodged in her spine. If they didn't find it she would have faced things like not being able to have movement in some of her limbs and other things that could alter her way of living. So our family was just waiting to see what was going to happen. Not knowing what she would face really took a toll on our family. When I went to see her in the hospital she wasn't the Shayne I always expect. If you know her she's the loud, funny, shinning person that everyone has grown to love, but when I saw her she was in bad shape. She ended up having two surgeries and a lot of pain. She was very limited to normal everyday activities. Pretty much she was in bad shape and it was a long painful process. During this whole time my family and church covered her in prayer and we were going to pray her back to health no matter how long it took. As she was singing the picture of her lying in pain on that hosiptal bed popped into my mind and watching her on stage sing her heart out almost made me cry. Her being healed reminded me of how much God cares and loves us. There are so many more stories I could share that shows God's goodness.
Are you in a place that seems hopeless, that there is no light at the end of the tunnel? Take some time and meditate on how good God is. Think back to those times when God came through. We are just like the Israelites, we need to be reminded of things like that all the time. The greatest thing is we have a God who continues to rescue us, deliver us, and take care of everything we need even though we forget what he does. He loves us that much.
So my prayer for us today is that we are comforted by God in our lives. I pray that when times get tough that we would never forget how good and great our God is. I pray we would take the time to remember how God has come through in our lives, and that we have the faith to keep on trusting him in all our struggles and hardships. I pray for the strength and faith for us to let God be God.