A Miraculous Memory
It is amazing to me that when I go to serve others, my motivation is to be a blessing to them, but somehow I always leave feeling blessed myself. It was like that way today when my friend and I took some chocolate, a card, and some Scriptures written on index cards to our sweet friend in the nursing home. When we showed up at her door, her alzheimers prevented her from remembering who we were, but we still stayed to talk and pray with her. After we read some Scriptures to her, she paused for a long time like she was contemplating something, like she was sorting through her fading memory very carefully. Finally she said, "It was when I was nineteen." She paused for a while and slowly continued, "It was in august...that was when I was born again." In that moment, my face couldn't contain the smile that my heart was trying so hard to express. I realized that this woman couldn't remember who we were or what her birthday was, but she could remember the day that she put her life in Christ's hands!
Her simple and sweet recollection of her greatest memory cuased me to reflect on my own "spiritual birthday." Even more than I remember the day of my baptism, I remember the day right after it. I remember springing out of bed that morning with an inexpressible joy that rose from the new life within me. I'll never forget how I felt that day - like a holy spring was bubbling inside my heart and pouring out into everything I felt. It was all I could think about and talk about! I was a brand new creation, a new daughter of the King! Like my elderly friend, may I never ever forget that day and the joy that flowed through it!
So I went to the nursing home today with the intention of blessing that sweet lady, but I was the one who was greatly blessed. She reminded me that I must never forget the most important day of my life. When everything else may fade away, it is my prayer that I wake up every day with a joy springing up inside of me, a joy that comes from the love and redemption from Christ. It makes me think of that line in the song, "Create in Me a Clean Heart". It says, Restore to me the joy of thy salvation. Instead of waking up every morning feeling tired and weary of the day ahead of us, we should remember the "joy of our salvation", we will be filled with the same newness of life that overflowed in our hearts the day that we first belonged completely to Christ.
Her simple and sweet recollection of her greatest memory cuased me to reflect on my own "spiritual birthday." Even more than I remember the day of my baptism, I remember the day right after it. I remember springing out of bed that morning with an inexpressible joy that rose from the new life within me. I'll never forget how I felt that day - like a holy spring was bubbling inside my heart and pouring out into everything I felt. It was all I could think about and talk about! I was a brand new creation, a new daughter of the King! Like my elderly friend, may I never ever forget that day and the joy that flowed through it!
So I went to the nursing home today with the intention of blessing that sweet lady, but I was the one who was greatly blessed. She reminded me that I must never forget the most important day of my life. When everything else may fade away, it is my prayer that I wake up every day with a joy springing up inside of me, a joy that comes from the love and redemption from Christ. It makes me think of that line in the song, "Create in Me a Clean Heart". It says, Restore to me the joy of thy salvation. Instead of waking up every morning feeling tired and weary of the day ahead of us, we should remember the "joy of our salvation", we will be filled with the same newness of life that overflowed in our hearts the day that we first belonged completely to Christ.
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