Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Capturing This Year

By Lysa TerKeurst

A few years ago I had a pile of family mementos and pictures that seemed hopelessly unorganized. Then one day it occurred to me to start from that day and make a scrapbook that chronicled our family’s life journey just for that year. This I could do. So, for the next twelve months, I took pictures and wrote about hilarious things my kids said, some ways we saw God move in our family, milestones that each kid had that year, and even a romantic adventure that I had with my husband. The funny thing about knowing this would all be captured in a book is that it made me get so much more intentional about how we were living life.

Another thing that helped was finding a website to encourage and equip women like me to remember how important it is to God that we capture our memories and pass them on to our children. One of my favorite sites is www.FaithfullyYours.net . It has a great scripture concordance and much more. Here are some verses I found there:

We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. Psalm 78:4

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children. Deuteronomy. 4:9-10

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD Psalm 102:18

And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. 2 Peter 1:15

Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; Deuteronomy 11:2

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. Joel 1:3

He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God. Joshua 4:24

If the thought of scrap booking has ever overwhelmed you, maybe a one-year book will help give you a place to start and perhaps Dawn at FaithfullyYours can help you, too!