So I grabbed my phone to "just check" on the blog and make sure all is safe and sound so I could move on with my fears, (ha ha). I type in the address....."Blog does not exist".....I pray calmly, heart starting to pound....I type it in again thinking, in my half asleep stupor I must have typed it in incorrectly and the letters are just so small at 4am! "Blog does not exist"....I am fully awake now and starting to really panic. I actually start pleading with the Lord....I "calmly" jerk myself out of bed and "calmly" run downstairs to the computer and type it in...same. Now my prayers and pleadings are audible and I don't even care if I wake all 5 sleeping adults and 3 sleeping children in this house, (explaining that is a WHOLE other blog post!). I go to my email and search for it. I find an email with the address and a HUGE relief hits me as I see that I typed the address wrong....my panic subsides and here I sit.
My thoughts are now on 2 things, and I'm mad at myself for it....First, if I were to lose all these memories, how is it that I feel like my life would be over?! I feel like I'd be devastated like I lost my whole life. (As if the only link to my memories is in that little odd shaped black box called an external hard drive). And secondly, I think of the words "Blog does not exist." I was in a panic like if the site didn't come up, that meant my past doesn't exist?!
Jesus gently reminds me that first of all, He should be my focus at all times. He reminds me to keep an eternal focus. Not that having and keeping memories in the form of pictures, videos, blogs, etc. is wrong, but hanging onto them so tightly that you forget that this is NOT our home!
I love thinking back on all the things that God has done in my life, but I know that I am not to get lost in the past things because the Lord says, "from now on I will tell you about new things that will happen."
Isaiah 48:6-7 says:
Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
You have heard me tell you those things.
Think about all of them.
Won't you admit they have taken place?
"From now on I will tell you about new things that will happen.
I have not made them known to you before.
Those things are taking place right now.
They did not happen long ago.
You have not heard of them before today.
So you can't say,
'Oh, yes. I already knew about them.'
Thank you Jesus for ALL you have done in the past, but keep me FOCUSED on what you are doing NOW and in times coming.
Think about all of them.
Won't you admit they have taken place?
"From now on I will tell you about new things that will happen.
I have not made them known to you before.
Those things are taking place right now.
They did not happen long ago.
You have not heard of them before today.
So you can't say,
'Oh, yes. I already knew about them.'
Thank you Jesus for ALL you have done in the past, but keep me FOCUSED on what you are doing NOW and in times coming.
I love reminiscing as much as anyone else, but I don't want to cling to the past so tightly, especially to the good things, because I can get stuck there and not see what the Lord is wanting to do in and through me right now. I lose sight of visions and promises He's given me for the future. God certainly doesn't want us to forget about the past, He tells us in scripture to remember what He has done....but we should also be looking to the new things He is doing and remembering that we're not here on earth to get comfortable. We're here to be about our Father's business, not holding tightly to this earth....even the memories of our time here.
Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
I want my heart to be ever focused on heaven, on my Father's work here on earth and having love for His people and His church.
