Do You Remember?

Some years ago our Big Dream team went on a little retreat near the Georgia mountains. Eleanor Lewis gave a talk on the theme of “remembering”. It was fascinating to see how serious God is about us remembering what He has done, remembering who He is, remembering His works and goodness. The longer I live the more crucial those words become because the truth is I often fail to remember and it is in that failing that anxiety finds its fertile ground

I began keeping a journal as a young adult. There are times now that I will pull out one of those books and read a few pages. What is shocking is not what I have remembered but what I have forgotten! And so often what I have forgotten are the mighty works of God. Those journal entries are proof that when God says do not be anxious, do not fear, do not be concerned, He can say that because He is in control and He IS working all things out. So many of the blog stories are nothing more than stories from my journals and each one calls out…. “do not be anxious! God has a plan and it is good!”

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We had been trying to find the right song and story for First Chronicles, something that would develop the idea of restoration. After searching for some time and getting down right stressed over the whole thing we finally came up with a song that a very popular recording artist had just recorded. It wasn’t by any means perfect but it was the best we could come up with. There was only one problem. It would be very expensive for us to get a license. We felt we had no choice and so we moved reluctantly forward but the very night we were going to film, the weather turned nasty and we were unable to do it. We rescheduled.

The next day we met with Eleanor Sams to hear her testimony and talk with her about filming her for First Chronicles. She had the most gentle, loving spirit and was immensely bright and articulate. She brought along a scrapbook that had wonderful old family pictures that helped to enhance her story.

Eleanor’s story is unusual. She grew up with a black mother and father in a close knit family. But after she had children she found out that she had a white grandfather, a slave owner. It was a blow to her because she had prejudices, resentment and anger but God worked a miracle in her heart and through some very unusual circumstances brought restoration to her and her family.

After talking with her at some length, Kelle, our production/creative guru, came up with a great idea. She wanted to incorporate some of those family pictures into the testimony.
Eleanor agreed that would be a wonderful idea and so it was set that the following week we would film both Eleanor telling her story and also use several pictures from the scrapbook.

On the way home that night, Kelle began to think that we needed a Negro spiritual as the music for that book. It would go right along with Eleanor’s story, in fact it would be great to have a “story board’ for the music that would not only enhance the song but also Eleanor’s great story.

Kelle called Antonia Lawrence, a lovely vocalist who had done some work for us previously. Antonia’s response was shocking and thrilling. “I will not only sing a Negro spiritual, I will write one tonight just for this story of restoration!”

And so it came about that Eleanor told her story of restoration. Antonio wrote and sang a song of restoration. And Eleanor’s daughter did the acting for the “story board” and Eleanor’s scrapbook provided the extra visuals that enhanced it all.

Remember? Remember! God is in the details and even when we don’t see it at the moment, He is in control.

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

Yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

Psalm 77:11