time to remember

 

My heart skipped a happy beat as I pulled my grandmother's tablecloth from hanging in storage and spread it over our new picnic table outside. My daughter and I then set out dishes and cutlery for five. Ribeye steaks were on the grill and I wanted to add an extra touch to commemorate a special date on our family calendar. 

Two years ago, Brian and I received a call informing us that we were indeed dealing with cancer. Thankfully, just one year later the cancer went into remission. This year we are able to look back over the course of events that occurred in our lives and remember what God has done. The cancer journey was one we all embarked on as a family. It was a scary one. We faced the unknown future hand in hand, trusting that our Heavenly Father knew exactly what He was doing. Much like the children of Israel were instructed to set up stones to memorialize miracles and specific events, telling them to their children, my husband wanted to have this time to talk about our miracle. 

There were many times during that first year of cancer when my husband and I tried to shield our kids from the weight we bore. Still, they saw us weep. They saw the extended stays in hospital rooms. They also saw their dad come home, return to work, to church, doing all the normal things he was able to do throughout the months of treatment and waiting for the next set of results. His life shone with consistency and perseverance as a Christian man, father, husband, servant leader, and friend. 

As we shared memories with our children, I pointed out how our country is so good about preserving history in the grand museums we have been visiting in D.C. We merely go sauntering about them, noting exhibit items that catch our attention. Such care has been given to the layout and preservation of so many important things that largely show us how we got to this present time. It defines us much more than we realize. So it is with our personal history. The past should never be entirely forgotten for a nation, a family, or an individual. 

Today we awake to new mercies and future challenges. May we step forward courageously, looking with eyes of faith at the One who holds it all in his hands. 

"When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon. And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good." 2 Samuel 10:9-12