Episode #73 God’s Faithful Reminders – Seed Sowing Summer

Hey friend, have you ever struggled to remember something important? I feel like, especially since I've become a mom, things fly out of my brain within seconds, even sometimes mid conversation, and so I am constantly trying to find ways to remind myself about things.

I put notes in my phone. I schedule reminders and to-do lists. I block things in my calendar. I have sticky notes and a physical planner that I can write things down with pen and paper. I'm always looking for ways to help myself remember. And even still, there are sometimes that I forget.

One of the techniques that I have found helpful in remembering key pieces of information and really helping ingrain those things in my memory and, also sometimes in my heart, is through repetition. And I'm sure you also find this as you go throughout daily life, that you'll repeatedly remind yourself of things. That there can be helpful phrases or sometimes even verses or song lyrics that stick in your mind, stick in your heart, and help you remember things that are important for you to recall.

I have found this as well, with our kids, as one of the things that Jared and I have established over the years is, reminding them every night that we love them with our whole hearts no matter what, forever and always. We say this to them every single night when we put them to bed, and it's at the point now where we can tease them, "oh, I love you with my whole heart, no matter what forever and on Saturdays." And they'll laugh at us, and they'll say, "no, no, no, mommy", "no, no, no, daddy", "you love us forever and always." And it's through that repetition that we're hoping to help them remember this reality of our love for them and that we have this love for them because God has this love for all of us. We're trying to ingrain this in their hearts and in their understanding now, so that should they face difficult circumstances or even just as they grow, that they'll have this foundational understanding, this remembrance of how we affirm our love to them.

I'm talking about this today because sometimes the way that God invests back into us, the good deposit that we can receive from him comes in the form of remembering. And so that's the focus of today's episode.

It's also going to be something we'll get to apply a few different times throughout the summer as we're going to be sharing encore episodes, so when you see an encore episode come up in your podcast feed, my encouragement for you is not to just skip the episode if you've heard it before. But to go back and engage in the conversation afresh and anew with God to see if there's something that he wants to remind you of, or even something new that he wants to share with you as he answers a familiar question.

When I'm preparing these podcast episodes, I actually ask God the same question multiple times. When I'm praying through the episode in the drafting and brainstorming phase, I will ask God the question that I'm thinking about using in the episode and see what he wants to talk with me about.

And then now when I'm doing recordings just like this I'll end the episode by asking that question to God again to see what he would say to me. And then, you might think I'm a nerd, but I like listening to the podcast, not because I like hearing the sound of my own voice.

But I listen to the episodes again because every time I go to talk with God on a topic, He has something new he wants to share with me. God and I go deeper into a conversation, or the conversation will go in a fresh, new direction. And sometimes he simply reminds me again of the thing that he's already spoken to me.

That reminds me of the scripture reference that I'm sharing today. From John 14:25-26, and this is Jesus speaking and he's talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and he says

"These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

I love that God doesn't treat us like if he said it once, he doesn't have to say it again.

He knows that we need reminders. God knows that we need things brought to our remembrance, and that is one of the descriptions of the way that the Holy Spirit is our helper. He reminds us of the things that God has said to us.

So, we don't have to hesitate to ask God for a reminder. We don't have to put pressure on ourselves to assume that God wouldn't want to tell us again or hesitates to remind us of the things he's already communicated. This is part of who God says he is for us. That the Holy Spirit is our helper. He is our reminder to bring things to our remembrance.

Today we're just asking God to do one of the things he says that he will do out of his care for us. Maybe he'll remind you of something in your Bible reading from this week or from a message you heard at church recently. Or maybe he'll even remind you of a conversation that you've had with him before, or a promise that still holds true. Whatever God brings to remembrance, I encourage you, talk with him more about it. And here's our question:

God, what's something you want to bring to my remembrance?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

Connect with Jen on Instagram