I awakened one Saturday morning to the pacing of our little Bijon. She was walking the full perimeter of the room. Traveling along the baseboards, she never missed a single area of the room as she walked back and forth, back and forth. Into my thoughts came, “she’s walking the perimeter”. I got up and kind of shrugged it off since she was almost completely blind. And yet, I had never seen her do that before.
To sit quietly in the Presence of the Lord is to be exported to another time and space where the only two that exist are you and Him.
I made my way to my chair, and grabbed my Scriptures for the day. “Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count her towers; mark well her bulwarks; consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following. For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death.” ~Psalm 48:12-14
Have you ever taken someone to your hometown or to the place where you grew up? You drive through that town saying, “This is where the old drive-in used to be. We loved going there!” Or you walked through the rooms of your old homestead, reminiscing about all the things you remember that happened within those walls.
In the book of Ezra, we find that he is going to lead the remnant (He’s calling out a remnant of people who will follow Him) of the children of Israel, left over from the Babylonian captivity, back to Jerusalem. Yet, the next generation who was born in Babylon had never seen Jerusalem before. Can you just imagine the conversations Ezra would tell about the Temple? The prayers prayed. The prayers answered. The passionate worship. The humbling reverance. The miracles encountered. The overwhelming Presence of God experienced. To have been there to hear him talk!
Zion was often what Jerusalem was called. It means “parched place” and yet that was where God’s Presence settled in the Temple.
You and I have found God in the parched places of our lives. He has walked with us through very difficult times. We have begged Him to heal and help, and He has answered time and time again. We have experienced times of worship that we will never forget as long as we live. We have witnessed miracles that strengthened our faith in immeasurable ways.
Take the time to walk the perimeters of your life and let the Father remind you of all you have seen Him do. There is an entire generation coming behind us who has never seen God’s presence and power at work. We must take them back to those places and times and share with them the stories of what we have experienced in His Presence, His Temple. Otherwise, they will never know.
Recount the stories. Write them down for those that come behind you. We may only see our immediate family, but God sees generations. The next generations must be told if they are ever going to dive in and experience God for themselves. Take the time to invite them to The Deeper Retreat HERE so that they can experience the fresh, real, tangible, intimate presence of God. Share with them how God is speaking to you. They need your walk.
Seasons of Remembrance can be Story Seeds planted in the Soil of the Next Generation.
The living water,we will thirst no more! I always loved hearing the stories of my parents and aunts and uncles. What better stories we can tell of God's goodness and provisions in our lives that will point generations to our Father. Thank you for this reminder.
Such a good word!! Thank you for sharing this reminder of how we need to share our stories of God's presence, power, & provision in the parched parts of our lives so that the next generation can know & recognize His presence as well.