Look Back: Remembering His Faithfulness

- Hey, I think welcome to another episode of Stepping Forward. My name is Sheridan Korea. I am the Director of Healing and Restoration Initiatives for Victoria's Living and thank you so much for joining in today. You know, life is full of opportunities of growth and healing and learning and moving forward. And sometimes it just takes a little bit of encouragement and a fresh new perspective or having someone else's story remind us that hope is still possible and hope is available. So that's what Stepping Forward is all about. It's about stories from my life. It's about things that I've written and walked through, lessons that I have learned and I am bringing them to you. To encourage you to keep taking that next faithful step forward in this journey of transformation and your journey of faith, healing, whatever you are walking through, even if it's just getting through incarceration because that is a reality. But always coming to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and his plans, purposes and promises for your life and also his character and the attributes of who he is, especially his faithfulness. So that's what we're gonna talk about today is his faithfulness. So let's get started. I wrote this just not too long ago.

So we actually did this in devotions this morning. Every Tuesday morning, our team at Victoria's Living, we all get on camera and on a Zoom call and go through the word of God together, encourage each other, remind each other of who God is, who we are to him, who we belong to and who and what our hope is in because let's be honest, it is easy to forget and it is easy to allow or for life circumstances and the struggles and the things that we are facing to take front and center seat in our minds and our hearts and our lives. And it's easy to lose focus. It just is. So you're not alone in that. I lose focus often. And that's why getting in the word of God is so important. That's why getting into scripture and diving into scripture is so needed. That's how we activate our faith. Doing life with God means that we are living differently and we're not depending on ourselves or our own understanding because it's, well, it has holes in it and it's faulty and minimal. And we don't see the whole big picture, but God does. God sees and God sees you and God is able to work in your life. God cares about the things that he sees that you're going through and he is powerful

and can show up mightily in your life. And sometimes all it takes is just a different perspective to be able to see that and even reflect and remember. So that's what we're going to talk about today. I want to ask you a question. We're going to start out with a question. And I am reading. So please, please excuse me. I don't have this all memorized. But let me start off with a question. Maybe you can or how many of you can remember something that you were worried about last week or even six months ago, let's say. How many of you can remember something that you were worried about last week or even six months ago? This morning, actually, I got one of my journals from the beginning of this year. I was trying to find something back in March that I had written or that I was walking through and trying to remember what that was. But I came upon a different journal entry that where I wrote down all of the concerns that I had on my heart. And I think there was like 12 of them just in that morning. And that was a little surprising because if you just ask me like in the middle of my day and while I'm busy, like, hey, you know, yeah, how are you doing? Which we all usually say, I'm fine, I'm good.

'Cause we ain't got time to talk about all the things that are really happening inside of us or maybe we don't even know if you're like me. And so I remember being in that place in this prayer closet for hours just going, God, show me what is on my heart. what is preoccupying, where are my preoccupied, where is the mental real estate being taken up most, what is like heavy weighing on my thoughts? And it takes me a minute, if you're like me, it takes me a minute to sit down and really locate that within myself because I live my life mostly out here and task-oriented and doing all the things, right? So it takes me a minute and that is something that I still have to do and learn, especially coming out of my trauma story and walking out my trauma transformation journey is just being aware of that about myself. Anyway, there was 12 concerns and it was so, I remember feeling just very refreshing and relieved that I could locate them, that I could name them and I could bring them honestly before God and just say, I'm so concerned or I am worried about, you know, filling the blank and not with the intention that it's going to be fixed in that moment, but just like, you know, we see happening in the Psalms or, you know, just like that,

like we can just bring ourselves to God honestly and along the way it gets kind of like worked out and figured out or you pass through that and it's like, okay, that wasn't that bad, right? But so if you have a worry or something that you were anxious about even last week, a month ago or six months ago, what happened with that situation? And maybe you're still in it and that's okay. But what happened with that situation? Did it work out the way that you expected or did God provide in a way that maybe you didn't anticipate? For me, looking back at those 12 things, I think all of them were complete and some of them are like, okay, that was, that was, I don't wanna say stupid 'cause that's not good language to speak over ourselves but that may have been a little silly to be concerned about, but it was a reality, right? So I'm not trying to shame myself or dismiss it but God moved and worked in every single one of those areas even if it's just like the worry lifted 'cause I could get a fresh perspective on God and be like, okay, I don't need to sit in that and stew in that and stay in that place but I can truly hand that over to the Lord. So isn't it interesting though, how quickly we move from one concern to the next in our lives?

We're all concerned about something, whether it's family on the outside or our children on the outside, are they being provided for? Do they have the things that they need while I am in here? Who is really caring for them? Who is really stepping into that space while I can't be there? Maybe it's your commissary. Maybe it's money on your books. Maybe it's going up to the parole board to the parole review board. Maybe it's learning and working through something in your past or even in your present. Maybe it, will I have an EOS date? Will this case or my charge fill in the blank? We're all, that's what's true for y'all. But we all have things that we are thinking about that maybe keep us up at night and that we are concerned about and we can spend so much time about thinking what's happening right now or what might happen tomorrow if you're like me. You are, I live mostly future focus. Like, okay, what's ahead of me? What do I have to get done? What do I need to do to get done today? And it takes me to exercise my faith and truly stop and get quiet and still and think about looking back and reflecting.

And in these times, something really, really special happens. But here's a question. Why do you think God calls his people so often throughout scripture to remember? Why do you think that is? Why do you think God would care about that space in our lives? You know, God is a God of RE, RE, hyphen, it's a prefix. but another chance and another chance right we get them all the time and they are unlimited they truly are they don't really have an expiration day either that's what grace is and that's what his mercy is God is not linear he's cyclical so it happens again and again and again and again and like his mercies are new every morning we know that the sun is going to rise and the the sun is going to set and a new day will start and that's so refreshing that's so refreshing to me and it revives my spirit when I stop and think about it but let's let's think about this topic or this thought of remembering dog repeatedly tells the Israelites to remember him to remember what he have done and how he's provided for them and to remember how he led them out of Egypt and even through the wilderness right he's always saying remember remember why why do you think that is because we forget because we have holes in our head if you're like me you got holes in your head we have amnesia and we just forget we are our human nature is is to forget and so we can remember our problems pretty easily can't we those are easy to remember it is harder to stop and remember God and see him working and and and to see his faithfulness and sometimes we need to stop and be intentional about that Psalm 77 11 through 12 I will remember the deeds of the Lord yes I will remember your miracles of long ago I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds there is some beautiful language in there some beautiful even mental health language remembering the deeds remembering what he has done remembering his miracles that he how he has worked through our life already considering all his works and even meditating chewing on the the things on all on all the mighty deeds even throughout scripture and throughout history right God God is still the same God always so what he's done in here he is still doing presently and in people's lives it may be your life and others around you so that is good news that is great victory and we have to have to remember that now what's interesting about this

Psalm is that a staff isn't writing from a place where everything is going wonderfully okay I love this psalm this really spoke to me the other day when I wrote it because I'm walking through a difficult time also and I love that in the beginning which we'll read in a second in the beginning we he is coming to the Lord and he is he's got some uh some pretty honest and authentic language and we can see that he is distressed he is struggling and he's asking some really hard questions of the Lord so let's read that in verses 1 through 10 I cried out to God for help I cried out to God to hear me when I was in distress I sought the Lord at night I stretched out my untiring hands and I would not be comforted I remembered you God and I groaned I meditated and my spirit grew faint you kept my eyes from closing I was too troubled to speak it means he was up all night ruminating and stirring and worried he's in this he's stuck he is stuck he is really going through it I've been there I thought about the former days and the years of long ago I remembered my songs and the night and my heart meditated and my spirit asked will the Lord reject me forever will he turn his space from me will he ever show his favor again has his unfailing love vanished forever has his promise failed for all time have God forgotten to be merciful and gracious has he in anger withheld his compassion and then I thought to this I will appeal the years when the most high stretched out his right hand and then it goes into Asaph lands the plane okay in verse 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord I will remember your miracles of long ago I will consider all the works and meditate on all your mighty deeds that is a beautiful picture of really coming to the Lord and and being authentic and honest and vulnerable about where we are and that is allowed that is permitted he's a big god he's got huge shoulders he can handle whatever you're in. He can handle and he wants to know about it. There's such great purpose in doing that because it allows us to be not only honest with ourselves, but honest with God. And when you can locate that space, that's when you're truly authenticated. I have, I learned that. And that's hard for me to kind of get in that space sometimes because I wanna be like only, you know,

focus on like all the amazing things because the more challenging in parts where I am really struggling, sometimes I can be really vulnerable and honest here. Sometimes I can really be like, man, I'm a failure. I shouldn't believe that. And I'll even spiritually bypass myself. That's a whole nother episode, y'all, where I will not allow myself to have to be in that reality or make space for my inner experience as I call it. And just blow right past it and but God did it. And not that that's bad, not that that's bad, but I won't be able to illuminate the reality of my insight and even my emotional experience and how I'm feeling about things and how I'm really thinking about things and just blow right into, you know, something that the word of God says. And I have to slow that process down for myself, but I love that ASAP gives this beautiful picture in verses one through nine and then is really landing the plane with. All right, God, you are awesome. You have proven and shown who you are and I will continue to trust that and meditate on that and those heavenly things and not necessarily my current situation. I love that he says, I will remember. He makes an intentional decision. He makes a decision to recall what he knows about God.

Even in the middle of what he's experiencing, that word recall family, I love this word because recall means that we have wandered or we are in a, we're on a different path. We're no longer right here standing firm and where our feet are on solid ground, knowing and trusting who God is and we can get in that perspective. But sometimes we wander and we go down this different path our feet become untethered or unrooted and we go down this different path. I'm like, oh my gosh. And all the circumstances can really take us out and we lose our focus and our perspective, right? That's human nature. Again, that's why the rewords are so, so great. And this word recall is one of my favorites because recall means that the Lord really goes out to get you and calls you back into a place of sure-footedness, of standing firm and in the victory of who he is and what he has already done in our life. And so I know recall has a different meaning behind bars and I've been there, I've been there. And so the, I don't wanna say the trick, but the exercise that I always have to do that I challenge myself is reframing the way that I perceive things or even think about things and giving it a new frame, like that says, right? Okay, that frame is not working

'cause I'm looking at it through the lens of blah, blah, blah and we gotta change the frame and reframe it. So that was a little tangent, here we go. And I think there's something important, really important for us here in this scripture. Remembering doesn't necessarily change our circumstances just like it didn't for ASAP, but he came honestly before God and blah, blah, lamented and shared all that, but nothing changed. But it can help us see our circumstances through the lens of God's faithfulness. And that's so, so important. So this morning I want us to take a few minutes to do that. We're gonna look back over the last week and we're gonna consider where we recognized God moving in and around us. This is so, I love this exercise. This, it has been taught to me. It's called a Saturday, I do it on a Saturday, usually Saturday exam. And I've blown through my week and it's been so busy or whatever. But every, not every, I'm not gonna lie to you, most Saturday mornings I will come in here with my journal and just look back and say, okay, where have I seen God? Where has I experienced God's love? Where have I experienced his peace in the middle of a challenging situation?

Or feeling? And so we're gonna do that today. These, the moments that you think about in your answers, they don't have to be like big, huge, extraordinary moments. Small and simple is not insignificant, okay? It's actually very significant because he is in every detail, whether it's huge or something little. So the first thing we're going to reflect together. Where have you experienced God's love this past week? Think about it. I'm going to read a scripture to you as you think about it. If you need to pause here so you cannot hear me and recount and remember, please feel free to do that. This scripture I love, it's in 1 John. I'm sorry, whole place. 1 John 3 1, it says in the topic of God's love, see what great love the Father has lavished on us. It is like exceedingly abundantly, it's like bathing in it, it's like going to a spa and getting totally pampered and lavished on. That's what his love does for us. It is constantly pouring out and it's like we're just in a spa day, all day of God's love, but we have to be able to really see that and even can pray to the Lord to be able to see that perspective and how he's lavishing love on us. That we should be called the children of God. That is one way God lavishes love on us, that he brings us into relationship and that we have belonging with him. That's exactly what John is saying and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know him, I'm sorry, the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. We are called children of God. That means that we are no longer orphans. We don't have to eat out of trash hands anymore. We do not have to wander around the streets in homelessness because we have a home. God is our home. He is our Father and he has given us keys to our house, to his house, to move into and to be a part of something that we've probably never ever experienced before. When I came to the Lord and recognized that, that was just mind-blowing to me, that I had that much belonging and that I truly had a family and a hope and a future and all those beautiful things. Where have you experienced God's love in the past week? If you can, please comment on Pando. You can do this on Pando. Please comment in the section so I can read those. That's always a huge encouragement to me. One, there was one brother recently who wrote in and there, I don't remember the video that it was an episode, but he wrote in and all the, he wrote all the answers to all the questions that I asked and sent in his answers and it was so beautiful to

see and read and hear your hearts and what you're working on and working through and how God is even speaking to you. I love that. That energizes me and that encourages me so much. So yeah, share if you want to. And the second question we're going to ask is where have you sensed his peace? What really difficult thing? Something that was chaotic, dysfunctional, something that you know, and I think metaphorically, it looked and felt really stormy and maybe you saw waves coming up and they were coming up tall or and you're like, oh my gosh, and it's very tumultuous, maybe around you or even inside of you and where have you sensed his peace? Last, the other day, I was in here in the morning and journaling about some stuff, working through some stuff and and it was, it was hard. It was really hard. Cried a lot that morning and I just, I have felt this overwhelming peace that has come over me knowing that God is holding my hand as I pass through the waters of difficulty through a situation that I'm walking through, through a long season and just really trusting that Emmanuel is actually happening in my life, that God is I have come and this is not, I don't have this memorized, so please forgive me. I have come that you might have peace, peace in your heart and in your mind. And the world gives a different type of peace than I give. And so that is something that I try to seek daily in my life and not even allow the, you know, whether I'm waiting for something to be answered or worked through like not holding all of my hope and my peace in that space where, oh, I'll just get peace when this is done. Because that's not, that's not biblical peace. It's when you're in the storm and when the waves are coming that we can locate and find Jesus as our, as our peace, as our Prince of peace in that, in that space and meet us in that space and not wait till it's done. That's not true peace. So where have again, leave a comment if you can please. Number three, where have you encountered or recognized God's presence in your life? Where has his presence been, been made new to you? And it might not be some like overwhelming, look, I don't know if you can see that, but I have thumbs up going up on the screen. It might not be some overwhelming, you know, he came over you and like you were transported out of time. That has happened to me. Okay, I can get down with that. But in the mundane parts of life and just daily life, where have you sensed his presence? Where have you encountered or recognized God's presence? For me, it was literally yesterday. I'll give you one reason, one, one simple example. I was at an appointment and in a waiting room and there was a salamander. There was a salamander with me in the waiting

room and he had a beautiful royal blue shiny tail salamanders or shiny of shiny skin versus the lizard. It's kind of flat and black in color. So I saw him over across the room and he was in the corner and he was trying to get this mosquito that had been trapped in a spider web and he was trying to figure out how to reach in. He tried to jump and he couldn't reach in. He tried to crawl up the leg of this table and he couldn't figure it out anyway. It was just so cool to see creation and action. I love creation. I love the animal planet. I love outdoors. I love all those things. And so, you know, just even that little, that little thing, that simple thing helped me to remember and recognize like, wow, God, you're so cool. You're so cool. This salamander has all these different colors and that I'm watching this play out right now and can sense God's presence just even in that simple thing in creation. You know how the leaves move, how the wind moves the leaves and it's just beautiful. And how I was so encouraged just even thinking about that scripture that says, you know, how much more is he enamored and just loves his creation, us, us who are made in his image, like we are the apple of his eye. And not just, that was really simple, but it really, really encouraged me just kind of encountering a recognizing where God's presence even is and how it is actively live being lived out around me in my life. So again, comment if you can, write it and share it would love to read it. We have reflected together kind of in our past week. The next place we're going to go is we're going to look within. We've looked back together and now we're going to look within, but I'm going to close this one out just with an encouragement that God is moving and is always working and always moving and is faithful. That's all he knows how to do. And so I pray that as you've been looking back and reflecting with me, that you have been able to see even something very, very small and significant and be encouraged and reminded of who God is. And with the hopes that the perspective shift can happen and it might just take a little bit of pressure. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victoria's Living Correspondents Pia Box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina To view Victoria's Living magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352 478 2098 or Email us through our website at vlmag.org We are happy to provide our Victoria's Living magazine free of charge in bulk with or without staples

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