Hope In The DarkSample

Remember

If you think God has forgotten you, then you have forgotten who God is.

—Anonymous 

When I’m in the valley, sometimes I simply need to remember. I return to who I know God is. 

Habakkuk’s third chapter starts like a worship song that acknowledges how hard life is and yet remembers all God has done. It’s another step, a really big one, in the journey out of the valley. 

Habakkuk prays, “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2 NIV). 

I remember when I was in college and more lost than you could ever imagine, and I called out on the name of Jesus, asking him—no, almost daring him, “If you’re real, and if you are there, do something.” I fell down on my knees as one person, and then when I stood up, I was a completely different person. 

And then I remember how God brought Amy into my life. I cherish her and the gift she was and continues to be from God. 

And then I remember when our daughter Catie was born, and how, when she was about three years old, Catie got into some poison ivy and ended up covered in a rash from head to toe. Before bed that night, she told me, “Daddy, Jesus is going to heal me because I prayed.” I remember thinking, “Wow, that’s really sweet. But I don’t know what we’re going to do if she still has this rash tomorrow.” I remember that the next morning, Catie came running into our room, buck naked and giddy with joy, shouting, “Look! Look! He healed me!” 

And that rash was completely gone. 

I remember when Amy and I were young, just starting out in ministry, and we didn’t have any money. We prayed together, “God, we don’t know where food’s coming from tomorrow.” The next day, we received a refund check in the mail. 

What do you do when you’re in the valley? You remember what God has done. 

And you dare to believe that what he’s done before, he will do again. 

Pray: God, I remember when ...