The Spiritual Habit of Remembering

Travel has always been a major part of my life. Whether I was a passenger in a car traveling to visit my grandparents as a child or flying across the country with my husband for work or leisure, the sights and sounds of travel have a way of stirring memories.

A wooded path can transport me back to slower days when I walked with my great-grandmother, listening as she pointed out different species of trees and wildflowers. Driving through a city filled with heavy traffic, subways, and towering buildings can take me back to visits to New York City, Seattle, or Paris.

It amazes me how quickly a familiar sight, sound, or even a particular scent can take me somewhere else. Suddenly, I am remembering a place, a person, a conversation, or a moment I had nearly forgotten.

Perhaps that is one reason I have been thinking about the importance of remembering—not simply remembering where we have been or what we have experienced, but intentionally remembering where God has been faithful.

When I look back over my life, I can remember both joyful and painful seasons, people who have walked alongside me, those who are still here, and those who have gone on before me. Yet when I look closely at those memories, I can also see something else: the presence of God.

Remembering has a way of putting the present into perspective. It reminds me that what I am facing today is not the whole story. God has been faithful before, and remembering His faithfulness gives me reason to trust Him again.

These days, tragedies in the world seem to receive much of our attention. We scroll through heartbreaking headlines, watch images of suffering, and hear stories of violence, division, and loss. The good news may receive a brief mention, but the painful stories often stay with us.

Perhaps this is another reason remembering matters.

As a child of a loving God, I am called to remember—and to bear witness to—the presence of a redeeming God. I need to remember that God makes a way when I cannot see a way, restores what is broken, and sometimes even delivers me from my own demise. The circumstances around me may be difficult, but they do not tell the whole story.

What we repeatedly remember can shape what we believe. And sometimes we need to deliberately remember the faithfulness of God when everything around us seems to be reminding us of what is broken.

Again and again, Scripture tells the story of a people who experienced God’s faithfulness firsthand, only to forget it when the next difficulty came. The people of Israel whom God rescued often failed to remember God’s miraculous acts and grew distant or turned away from God.

Thankfully, there were also people in Scripture who remembered God’s works and retold them through generations. During the difficult and dark times, they took time to remember how God previously acted toward them with love and protection. They developed a spiritual habit of remembering and recorded those memories in Scripture for future generations.

One such person was the writer of Psalm 9:

“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” Psalm 9:1

The psalmist begins with gratitude, and in remembering God’s wonderful deeds, he worships. He doesn’t keep God’s faithfulness to himself; he tells the story. Giving thanks for what God had done in the past helped the people of Israel remember that their God was faithful and good. It does the same for us.

As I reflect on this verse and on my own call to bear witness to God’s wonderful deeds, I can’t help but see how much we are like the Israelites. We are forgetful people. We rush through our days relying on our own abilities, forgetting the One who gave us those abilities in the first place.

Scripture suggests that remembering may be an important—and often overlooked—spiritual practice.

Remembering is not simply looking backward with nostalgia. It is intentionally recalling God’s character, His promises, His faithfulness, and the ways He has already met us in our lives. It is a way of bringing what we know about God from yesterday into what we are facing today.

In fact, remembering can become part of the spiritual disciplines we already practice. We remember as we read Scripture. We remember as we pray. We remember when we gather with other believers and tell stories of God’s faithfulness. We remember at the communion table.

Remembering is not passive. It is a deliberate act of faith.

Practiced as a spiritual habit, remembering also guards against forgetfulness. When I practice remembering, I find myself pulled back into God’s story. I begin to recognize the false narratives that fear, disappointment, or circumstances have been telling me.

I remember who I am, but more importantly, I remember who God is.

Reflect on the following:

“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.” Lamentations 3:21

The writer of Lamentations gives us a powerful picture of remembering as an intentional spiritual practice. He is not writing from a place of comfort. He is actually surrounded by suffering and loss. Yet in the middle of his despair, he chooses to remember.

Notice the movement: he recalls, and hope follows.

His circumstances have not suddenly changed. But what he chooses to remember changes the way he sees those circumstances.

He remembers the character of God—His unfailing love, His mercy, and His faithfulness—and those truths become an anchor for his soul.

Likewise, the writer of Hebrews urges believers to “remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering” (Hebrews 10:32).

Why remember? Because their past faithfulness could strengthen them in their present struggle. They had already endured difficult days. They had already experienced God’s presence. Their history with God mattered.

Remembering shapes how I live, too. Remembering God’s law and keeping the Sabbath help me stay obedient and avoid turning toward selfish desires.

Even communion is an act of remembering. “Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus said. He knew how prone we are to drift, so He gave us something tangible to return to—to remember His sacrifice, His love, and the hope of His resurrection. We remember not because Jesus needs reminding, but because we do.

God knows how easily we forget.

We forget the prayers He answered, the doors He opened, the strength He provided, the protection we didn’t see, the people He sent into our lives, and the ways He carried us through seasons we once wondered if we would survive.

Maybe remembering is about more than looking back. Maybe it is also one of the ways we learn to trust God with what is ahead.

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT

So what if we began to practice remembering?

What has God already brought you through? Where have you seen His faithfulness? What prayer did He answer? What impossible situation did He make a way through? What Scripture carried you when you needed it most?

Write it down. Tell the story. Give thanks. Return to it when your faith feels fragile.

God’s word commands us to remember what God has done. Remembering fuels our hope for what God can and will do in the future.

Our circumstances may not change overnight. But what we choose to remember can change the way we see them.

Because when the present makes us wonder whether God is still faithful, sometimes we simply need to remember.

He has been faithful before.

He is faithful now.

And He will be faithful again.

PRAYER

Loving God, when life’s circumstances bring confusion, despair and pain, help me recall your faithfulness throughout my life. Help me remember the doors that You opened and the strength that You provided. Thank you for providing tangible reminders like communion to remind me of Your love and sacrifice. Equip me to tell Your story of hope to a broken world. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen. 

ABOUT MARLA WALDRON

Marla Waldron is a wife, mother of three grown children, sister, teacher, and friend who recently retired after 35 years as a public school educator. Since her father’s passing, she has also cared for her 50-year-old brother, who has multiple disabilities. She is actively involved in her church, community, and The Dented Fender Ministry, where she participates in and leads small-group Bible studies. Through seasons of grief, caregiving, and self-doubt, Marla has learned to lean on God’s grace, hold tightly to His truth, and trust His guidance one step at a time. She and her husband live in Wyoming, Ohio.

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