Mom, Dad, and great-granddaughter, about 2011
As he got older, my dad would occasionally quip, “My memory is so good I can remember things that didn’t even happen!”
Actually, Dad remembered accurately many past events, numerous jokes, a plethora of interesting trivia, and an impressive amount of Bible knowledge—well into old age.
Some years ago I happened to recall a fun song from my childhood, but a few lines of lyrics had escaped my memory. Dad was in his upper-eighties by this time, but I asked anyway.
“Do you happen to remember the lyrics to “Cheer Up, Cheer Up?”
He remembered them perfectly, and we enjoyed reminiscing about the Scottish pastor who’d taught us to sing the chorus with a Scottish accent.
Delightful memories are one of the joys of getting older.
In fact:
But God designed our memory-capacity for more than just enjoyment. He had in mind important purpose as we use this ability to foster our relationship with him.
For example:
Remembering God’s interventions contributes to our hope.
Looking back over our lives, we all can remember how God has brought us through challenging times, miraculously supplied urgent needs, and guided us in difficult decisions.
As a result, we can affirm: if he took care of those situations then, he can certainly take care of this situation now. And we find hope beginning to bloom.
Remembering God’s mighty deeds bolsters our faith.
Like the psalmist Asaph wrote: “I will ponder all your works and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?” (Psalm 77:12-13).
Remembering is a form of worship. And as we rehearse with him the miracles we’ve witnessed and experienced, our fears subside, doubts shrink, strength increases, and our confidence in God expands.
Remembering God’s faithfulness fosters gratitude and peace.
Brain research has confirmed that “engaging in gratitude rewires neural-pathways, combating anxiety.”
That means, with every remembrance of God’s faithfulness, we’re taking advantage of the ability he’s given us, to calm our stress and hard-wire pathways to peace. *
Remembering the past encourages personal and spiritual growth.
We find wisdom for the present from the lessons learned in the past.
One lesson I’ve learned along the way was actually proclaimed eons ago by a Greek playwright, Aeschylus: “Happiness is a choice.”
I can choose negativity and spiral downward into discouragement, or I can look for the blessings in my life and give my heart a good dose of cheer (Proverbs 17:22).
I’d rather do the latter.
Remembering the past contributes to obedience.
- As we consider how God has provided throughout our lives, we’re more able to obey the instructions:
- As we praise God for what he’s accomplished in the past, we’ll sidestep complaining about a difficulty in the present.
- As we remember the joy of liberal generosity (Acts 20:35), we’ll avoid tight-fisted possessiveness.
- And as we strengthen our faith by remembering God’s amazing deeds, we fight against spiritual complacency.
With the psalmist we can affirm:
We have no need for wishful thinking, remembering things that didn’t even happen. Pondering all the wonders God has performed for us will keep us happily occupied into eternity.
Image credits: Nancy Ruegg; http://www.easy-peasy.ai; http://www.canva.com; http://www.heartlight.org; Nancy Ruegg; http://www.dailyverses.net; http://www.canva.com.
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Such a sweet photo of you dear parents with their great-granddaughter, Nancy! Yes, memories are some of the greatest gifts God has given us, and remembering His deeds past and throughout our days will keep our hearts filled with hope, assurances of His power, and the ability to be thankful for each new day. Gratefulness for all our blessings is the best way we can be living testimonies to our loving Father. Blessings!
Thank you Martha, and an enthusiastic AMEN to your reflective thoughts!
Thank you, Nancy. I always look forward to Thursday but this week’s writing pulled on the heart strings. Love the picture of Geri and Robert and their great granddaughter! They will always rank at the top of my list of people who most influenced my growth in Christ. I plan to pass this along to a few Bannockburn friends who knew and loved them. Ron Howell
HELLO Ron! How delightful to hear from you! Thank you for sharing that Mom and Dad influenced your growth in Christ. That pulls at my heart strings. You can imagine how they impacted my own spiritual growth as I grew up! How delightful that some at Bannockburn still remember them fondly.
Remembering is such a powerful thing–the number of times the Lord tells us to “remember” is that spark that allows us to contemplate what good things He has done, how faithful He has been, and that He’s always been there for us. I love the picture–al three look so happy. And yes, happiness is a choice. The alternative isn’t so great.
Of course, God knew the value of happy memories long before researchers discovered that they cause the release of endorphins, dopamine, and seratonin, which impact us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It was all part of his design from the beginning. Remembering is indeed a powerful thing! / I’m glad you liked the picture. Mom and Dad were VERY happy to spend time with their one-and-only granddaughter (at the time)!
Your encouragement of others to remember their past experiences and apply biblical lessons to their lives is a wonderful discipline to point out. I love the picture of your parents with their great-granddaughter. They radiate with the joy of their love for the Lord. 🙂
Thank you, Nancy. Mom and Dad did take joy in so many things–serving God in their church and community, spending time with family and friends, singing God’s praises, helping others, etc. etc. They did indeed live out their faith!
Your dad sounds like mine. My dad passed away when he was 80 but even in his last days in the hospital he was telling nurses how thankful he was that his memory was still good. I pray that mine is as good. I do practice gratitude. I have so much to be grateful for.
I too hope my memory holds. I don’t want to be a burden to my family. Perhaps gratitude will help, Ruth, as we REMEMBER all the great things God has done for us (Psalm 126:3)! Besides, he deserves every word of praise we can offer.
Such encouraging words, Nancy. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Sue. Praise God you found encouragement here!
A beautifully written encouraging post Nancy. Thank you.
You Dad’s quip made me chuckle … “My memory is so good I can remember things that didn’t even happen!” … I can relate 😊
Be blessed sister and …
Keep Looking Up ^ … His Best is Yet to Come!
Thank you, Fred–I AM blessed! So glad you enjoyed my dad’s quip. He was always so quick with a turn of phrase and could see humor just about everywhere.
I love the Scripture versions you chose today. Filling our hearts with those words can drive out unpleasant memories, making more room for the good ones and helping us focus on what God is doing in our lives today.
Thank you, Linda. To know God’s Word is to have “fightin’ words” ready to use when discouragement wants to steal our peace and joy. It can be a battle, that’s for sure, but in the end we learn perseverance.
Amen!
you wrote: Remembering is a form of worship. I certainly agree but find we often don’t honor this practice. Yet it can be so inspiring, encouraging and of course aligning us with God. Great post as usual, Nancy! Happy weekend
Thank you, Jean, for your encouragement. I should have included a scripture with that statement about remembering being a form of worship, perhaps Psalm 9:1-2–“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.” Amen!
Such a lovely post and very encouraging. Remembering is powerful and I agree with each and every point you made about the value of remembering. Thank you Nancy.
Thank YOU, Manu, for your encouragement!
When I think about answers to my prayers, what immediately comes to mind is the day that I was mowing the yards and fields for mom and me. I had decided to take a quick break and turned off the riding mower. As I was trudging back to the house, I noticed that I didn’t have my keys! They were keys to the tractor, both of our homes, and my car. I started to look through the field and prayed that the Lord would help me to find them. It must have just been about a minute when I looked down and there they were!
God is so good, faithful, and so attentive to our concerns. Other times I remember Him answering what would seem trivial concerns to most people…but NOTHING that His children are worried about is too trivial for Him to handle in the best way possible.
Sometimes it’s the small miracles that are the most impactful, for the reasons you cited. Our God is so attentive to each of us, so faithful to care for our needs out of the goodness of his heart, that he shows one lone woman in the middle of a field exactly where her keys are! Thank you for sharing that wonderful example, Cheri!
What a wonderful collection of verses! Thank you, Nancy, for the encouragement to focus on all that God has done for us!
You’re welcome, Dana! So glad you found encouragement here.
I am always amazed when yet another old hymn or song from many decades ago comes back to mind. Every word. Every verse. Every line.
It gives me so much pleasure, Nancy … and I find myself worshipping more and more.
Just don’t ask me where I put my phone!
I too remember much better the songs, hymns, and choruses of my youth compared to those I learned as an adult. Thankfully we attended singing churches during my growing-up years, so quite a lot of music is stored in my long-term memory! Moody’s radio programming often filled our home, so more exposure occurred that way as well. But you’re SO right. To remember where I put my phone can be a challenge! 😆
What a lovely photo of your parents and great-granddaughter. Remembering what God has done in the past is the trust we have for the future. Remembering is a wonderful blessing from the Lord. My beloved Daddy passed away in March of 2025 a few months short of his 95th birthday. His memory was amazing. We would sit for hours and talk about things that happened years earlier and he could remember all the details. I miss him all the time especially his humor, amazing memory, and his Godly advice. Thank you Nancy!
Our dads had much in common, Pam: humor, an amazing memory, and wisdom which they demonstrated with their godly advice. I like your statement: “Remembering what God has done in the past is the trust we have for the future.” Well said, my friend!
[…] Choosing to Remember […]
This is so full of wisdom, both Biblical and practical. I love what you said: “We have no need for wishful thinking, remembering things that didn’t even happen. Pondering all the wonders God has performed for us will keep us happily occupied into eternity.” Amen!!
Thank you, Patty. Praise God that statement ministered to you!
While I didn’t know that a Greek playwright said that happiness is a choice, those are words that I have always lived by, Nancy! And God definitely wants us to rewire those neural pathways. One day I was lamenting something to the Lord and He said, “Look at what you have.”
I looked at my working limbs. The food in my fridge. My little Prince. My functional vehicle. My roof. Point taken, Yahweh. 🙂
AMEN, Stacey! As you may already know, I’ve kept a daily gratitude journal since 2017, and you named some items above that I’ve never mentioned in all that time!! (Just for fun I did the math. That’s over 36,000 entries!!) I think it’s safe to say we can NEVER run out of things to thank and praise God for!
I’m with your dad–my memory is so good, I can even remember things that never happened! That is priceless!!
Great blog Nancy! Thank you!
Thank you, Katie!
Nancy,
That’s great he had a great memory. That’s how wisdom is passed along person to person.
Thank you, Gary
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
Dad did demonstrate wisdom and integrity, Gary!
I love what CS Lewis says about our lives and our memories (and I am pulling this from memory so I will butcher it). He said that if we’re in Christ, all our memories and our past will be, in the new heavens and the new earth, as if we were always in heaven. I imagine that will be part of the way he wipes away all our tears
TT
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I just came across a scripture that speaks to the same eventuality. (Now WHY didn’t I write down the reference?! I’ll have to do a scripture search to see if I can find it again!) I wonder if the good, heaven-worthy memories will remain, so we’ll recognize and still know our loved ones.
I hope so!
I hope so too!
My mother-in-law has a remarkable memory (at eighty-nine years young). She loves to rehash moments from her childhood and upbringing, and the detail she goes into is amazing. Those stories speak to a more humble, obedient generation, and create great opportunities for reflection on the world we live in today.
Has she videoed or at least recorded any of her stories? I’ll bet the family would love to have at least some of them preserved.
Oh my goodness what a wonderful thought, Nancy. It doesn’t take much prompting for my mother-in-law to get nostalgic about “the good ol’ days”, even though she lived in more difficult circumstances than today’s. We will see her next month, and I will propose the idea to my wife. Funny enough, it would better to video without her knowing and then tell her about it afterwards, else she’d be self-conscious. She’s not tech-savvy so she wouldn’t even realize a nearby phone was making a movie 🙂
Sounds like a plan, Dave!