To commemorate my 1 year anniversary of resigning, I decided to reflect on the past year. I know a lot has happened but I can’t recall most of it off the top of my head. One of the enemy’s tactics is making us forget because there is power in remembering. Remembering what the Lord has brought us through, past victories, and what He says about us and our situations helps to build faith. Faith is the currency of heaven. Faith brings results.
I started my reflection period by rereading all my blog posts from the very beginning. It was fun reflecting. I actually enjoyed reading my old writings. One thing that surprised me was that I found mistakes in almost every single post. Mistakes that I hadn’t noticed before. The mistakes were minor but mistakes none the less. I fixed the errors but I was careful not to edit the work. I wanted to keep the essence of the caliber writer I was at the time and not hide the growth. #1: Looking back allows you to see growth. You don’t know how far you’ve come until you know from where you started.
At the time I assumed my posts were perfect. Who in their right mind would knowingly publish flawed work? “Not I”, said the cat. This discovery made me think of conflict in our lives. (I’ve had my fair share, trust me). At the time, your actions and words were justifiable, and maybe perfect in your mind, but when you take the time to self-reflect you realize that may not be true. #2: Looking back allows you to review and correct your mistakes. After all, hide-sight is 20/20.
The second stage of my reflection period was rereading entries from my personal journal. Everything goes in my journal; the good, the bad, the ugly, the embarrassing. If something ever happens to me, my best friend’s one and only task is to burn my journals. I haven’t gotten very far in my journal reading because I wrote more last year than I have any other year. Before I even start reading I can tell what type of mood I was in just from the handwriting. If I was angry, I can almost feel the words on the page from me pressing down so hard with my pen. Some of the most interesting entries were ones where my handwriting changed in the middle of the entry. Something about writing helps me sort through and release my emotions. In those old entries, I read about dreams that I had since forgot. Dreams I believed to be from the Lord and needed to be remembered. I also found that needs and expectations that I had have since been fulfilled. Prayers have been answered without me even realizing it! I forgot, but God didn’t. #3: Remembering gives you a reason to be thankful and reveals the faithfulness of God.
I had a conflict in my work schedules that required me to switch shifts. I was asked to work 4th of July in exchange for my other shift. I had no plans and didn’t foresee being invited to a cookout or anything so I agreed to work the holiday. Besides, it was better than spending the day home alone. I love my couch but we do need some time apart. The evening before the 4th, I got a text from a friend inviting me to her family’s fish fry. I couldn’t go because I already agreed to work. After reading her text I remembered her aunt inviting me to the same event months ago. I hadn’t heard anything about it in a while so I wasn’t sure if it was still happening or if I was still even invited; so I forgot about it. Just because I hadn’t heard anything about the event lately didn’t mean anything had actually changed. My doubt caused me to make other plans. Those alternate plans made me miss out on the fun and fellowship of the holiday. #4: Remembering keeps you on track so you can experience all God has for you.
There are times when God will tell us stuff or give us visions that are for the future, an appointed time, that we need to remember. Our future depends on our remembrance. Just think about Noah, Abraham, David and many other heroes of the faith. They didn’t forget what God told them so they were able to do great exploits in the future. When something doesn’t come to pass immediately we tend to think it’s not going to happen or that we heard wrong. If God said it, it will surely come to pass. Don’t make alternate plans. Keep reading and remembering. Just because the intro is long doesn’t mean the beat won’t drop. Keep the music playing and be ready to dance when it does.
Resigned at 29 