Remember with an attitude

 To deal with fear, remember well.  The scriptures gave me my motto of the day. My mission each morning is to find a phrase or word to ponder for the day. In the past I would pencil these mottos on scraps of paper to tape to the bathroom mirror.  Soon I couldn't see into the mirror.  Then I needed glasses to read the notes! So now, I file them in the notebooks of my journals.  

Deuteronomy 7:17-19 gives me advice when I am afraid of a "foe" which appears to be stronger and greater:  Remember well.

God tells the Israelites to remember well what God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt.  He reminds that He delivered them from great trials with miraculous signs and wonders and a mighty hand and outstretched arm.

I wish I'd made a scrapbook of the God moments in my life.  To remember well I do need to look back on the  many times God has miraculously intervened in my life.   To face the uncertainty of the future, I need to remember well my past.

Yet I am reminded to remember an attitude.  I am to remember

W hen God delivered

E ach and every time

L ook up to God and

L ook forward to new victories.

My parents, or someone wiser than I, must have told me "Facing life takes  attitude, the right attitude." If you want a sad life, adopt a negative attitude.  Your view of life, your attitude,  will determine how you face life. 

Just a couple of weeks ago I was boarding an airplane headed for my seat in the next to the last row.  A young woman, with a very large bag, realized she'd gone past  her row and now needed to go against the other passengers boarding.  Her seat was just where I stood waiting.  She politely apologized and tried to get her large bag in a small overhead compartment.  It did not fit, not even with plenty of pushing.  She muttered, "I hate (expletive deleted) flying." 

I felt sorry for her as I headed to my seat.  It made me remember well the positives.  Life is short.  It's only a bag. I was finally boarding.  It looked like I was going to arrive at my destination on the day I planned.  (I've flown more than enough to have experienced overnight stays in cities not my destination.) I used her negative attitude to remember well.

Today I am reminded that my attitude to face life's challenges is to remember God's work in my life and to expect God to be the same as He has been in the past.  The Bible has plenty of testimonies of miraculous signs and wonders for the Israelites.  If I remember well, God has done the same in my life.  God is faithful and dependable and has not abandoned me in my past.  Therefore, as I face the future I will expect Him to be the same, faithful and dependable.