Memory Aids

Last week at Other Food: Daily Devo’s, Violet Nesdoly talked about actions and images that remind us of God’s faithfulness and encourage our faith. The Old Testament is full of times when God told His people to set up a monument or hold a feast to honour Him and to remember what He had done. He knows how quickly we forget!

Deuteronomy 6 even says that God’s law and stipulations for His people are to remind them they’re His and He has miraculously delivered them.

I’m an at-home Mom, and when our kids were little and money was scarce, I poured a little oil into a glass container and left it on the table where I’d see it. Remember the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath? Elijah promised her, “For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'” (1 Kings 17: 14, NIV)

I needed a tangible reminder of God’s provision to strengthen my faith. Now that our circumstances are easier, I still need reminders to stop regularly and look to God in praise. I have some Scripture verses posted around the house, but I’m challenged to create some new visual memory aids.

What do you use to keep turning your eyes to Jesus?

6 thoughts on “Memory Aids

  1. gladwellmusau

    Hi Janet. I do not have Memory Aids, not yet. Because like the widow in Zarephath, my jar of oil is still burning before the Lord sends rain. God has been faithful in this last five years. As a family, we have never lack…hence that is our memory aid for now. But I know the rain…bounty is on the way. Thank you for such a powerful reminder. It made my eyes wet.

    Love and hugs,

    Gladwell

    Reply
    1. janetsketchley

      Gladwell, I pray your rain is coming soon! God’s faithfulness gives us stories to tell. I think in the waiting, we need one type of memory aid to keep us believing, and then in the receiving we need a different type, to keep us depending on the God who brought the rain.

      Reply
  2. Ginny Jaques

    This is a great idea, Janet. I’ve been reading a book about the way post-moderns think. One of the things that’s important to them is iconic symbols. We need to keep this in mind when we reach out to them with the Gospel. The way you add music and images to many of your blogs is one way you do this, I think. Keep up the good work.

    Reply
    1. janetsketchley

      Ginny, you have no idea how this made God and me smile. I may be reading the same book and I have a real mental block to this whole post-modern/modern thing. To me, modern = contemporary, new-fangled, up-to-date, and the terminology has become a huge barrier. How like God to gently remind me not to fight this battle but to trust Him to translate for me.

      I really appreciate your encouragement and our online friendship, and will think more on symbols. I love having the links and other options blogging allows — it enriches what we can write/present. I’ve been finding it hard to think of writing for print in devotional form now, because without the links and extras it feels so flat. Still writing novel-length fiction for print, though, even if the print opportunity is still hiding below the horizon…

      Reply
  3. Belinda Burston

    Just before Easter, many years ago, my friend Susan found a thorn bush and she made a crown of thorns, with the branches with 3 inch long thorns, held together by hidden copper wire. It must have been painful making it. She gave it to me and I treasure it for its significance, and I keep one long thorn on a twig from it, on the mantle. One day when I was struggling with a personal “thorn in the flesh,” I was reminded that although I may have to live with a thorn in the flesh, a particular weak spot; Jesus wore the crown of thorns on the cross and endured the pain for me. The victory has already been won. That thorn is a constant reminder of that victory.

    Reply
    1. janetsketchley

      Belinda, I love that statement, “The victory has already been won.” I think too often we (at least I) forget that’s a fact. Your thorn is a beautiful reminder of that. I can only imagine how hard it would have been for Susan to make the crown. I’d be crying, putting myself in the place of the person who made the original, and hopefully getting past the guilt to the joy of forgiveness. What a lesson just to think about it!

      Reply

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