*If you are viewing the blog in Internet Explorer, make sure you have the compatibility view on to view the blog correctly. 

Today, we have a special treat for you!  Denise O'Donoghue, the Director of Women's Life is sharing her thoughts on remembering.  
We know you will enjoy it! 

There are popular psychologies that hold to the premise that today’s problems stem from unresolved issues from the past. Psychologists holding to this theory will encourage their patients to remember. They will challenge them to dig deep to uncover repressed memories so they may be dealt with. 

Now I am not a psychologist, but I am an avid Bible reader and I want to share with you why God tells us to remember. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses tells the people of Israel to remember how God had led them the 40 years they were in the wilderness. He wanted them to remember God fed them with manna so they would learn they needed more than bread to live; they needed God’s very words! He wanted them to see that even in the hard times when God was disciplining them for their lack of faith, He took care of them – their shoes didn’t wear out nor did their feet blister. God cared for them as a loving father, even in their discipline.

Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth. Your clothes didn’t wear out and your feet didn’t blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child. ~ Duet. 8:2-5 {The Message}

Moses reminded the Israelites of these things to call their attention to the goodness of the almighty God who had called them to be His people. He did not call them to remember how awful things had been in the wilderness or the injustices leveled against them. Why was it so important they remember? The answer can be found further down in the passage --because they would be tempted to forget and stray from God. They would be tempted to forget God and accept gods of the people whose land they inhabited and they would be tempted to forget that the good life they enjoyed was God’s blessing and not of their own doing.

We are in that same danger. We need to listen to what our older brother Moses is telling us – remember who God is and what He has done for us; elsewise, we will succumb to the alluring of the

people around us and be tempted by their gods (idols). We will forget all that we have comes from His loving hand.

Today, will you and I choose to remember and focus on the hardships and troubles of life OR will we choose to remember and ponder His loving kindness and goodness by remembering all the things He has done for us?

By His Love,

If you're like me, you might not normally spend a lot of time studying the Old Testament. I mean, sure, I've read through most of the books and I remember learning the stories of Noah and Abraham and David as a child. But it hasn't been until the last few years of my life that I've really begun to take notice of what was actually said in the first half of the Bible.


A while ago, I was convicted about my lack of understanding about Israel and their selection as God's chosen people. The more I read through Paul's and Peter's writings, the more I realized that I needed to understand Israel, the law, and God's covenants. So I began my OT journey.

Mind you, I am a very SLOW reader. It's been a while & I'm still only in Deuteronomy! Since beginning the journey, it has been such a rich time actually taking in the words that Moses wrote to the people of Israel with purpose & reason. I've been fascinated by the storyline God chose to create for Israel. More importantly, I've been stricken with a holy conviction over the lack of true understanding I had of God's character. It's been mortifying at times to realize the amount of assumptions I formed about God's character that Scripture clearly negates. (Thank you, Father, for leading me back to the beginnings of your word!)

All of what I'm writing is leading me to this:

At the end of the Old Testament canon, we find these words written in the book of Malachi:

4 Remember the law of my servant Moses,

the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children

and the hearts of children to their faithers,

lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

-Malachi 4

And then there are several blank pages. They represent a gap-a time in history (of almost 400 years) in which God did not speak to His people through the prophets as He had previously done before.



And then...enter the book of Matthew.

The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus, the Christ. It tells us that Joseph's lineage is from the line of David. Then it tells us of the actual birth of Jesus and directly states that it was to fulfill the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14. (I'm sorry, but I’m going to fly through this story...I've got another point I'm getting to, so bear with me.) We then read of the wisemen and Herod's plot to destroy the baby King while God protected Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, and finally established their family in Nazareth.

Then, in chapter 3, we are introduced to John the Baptist.

If we keep reading through Matthew, we find out that John the Baptist is indeed the Elijah prophesied in the book of Malachi. Jesus tells us this twice: in Matthew 10:10-11 and 17:11).

Ok...hold the phone. If Malachi told me that a prophet like Elijah would come, and Jesus is telling me that John the Baptist is that prophet, then I need to pay close attention to what this John the Baptist is saying. Let's just take a second and read some of the words spoken by John the Baptist:

When speaking to a group of hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees, after calling them a brood of vipers, he said:

11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mighter than I,

whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

12 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

-Matthew 3

And in the book of John when he sees Jesus, he cries out:

29 Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

and

32 I saw the Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and it remained on Him.

33 I myself did not know him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

34 And I have seen and have born witness that this is the Son of God.

-John 1

Let's sit on this for a few moments. Did you just "hear" what he said? He calls Jesus the Son of God! The one who's mightier than he, whose sandals he is unworthy to even carry. He is the Lamb that we've been waiting for...the one who takes away the sin of the WORLD!! This prophet promised by God in the Old Testament has come, and this is what he has said!! Could you imagine hearing better words?

When I begin to think on these things, I begin to wonder, "What should be my response?" What would your response be? Here is mine: It makes my heart want to jump for joy!! My heart becomes so full of thanksgiving that it wants to burst forth with praise! The King has come! The Lamb has come! This means that we will be rescued in full from this sin enthralled self and world in which we live and will be reunited with our maker, to live with Him forever. Our God has been faithful; He has delivered what He promised! Again, can you imagine anything better?

As I finish reflecting on these glorious truths, my heart is so thankful that God sealed the gap that seemed to exist in the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. The time of waiting and hoping for the Messiah to come and for the prophet who would pave His way has passed. After nearly 400 years, God did speak again. He spoke through John, and then He spoke through Christ. He revealed Himself to us in the person of Christ.

Isn't it funny to think that He chose to reveal Himself again through a King born as a baby?

As we go about the next few days leading up to our celebrations of Christ's birth, remember the words of the prophet who came before the Christ. Remember the promise of God to His people Israel. Remember that the promise to Israel has been extended to you and me in the glorious truth of the Gospel. Remember that the gap has been sealed. Keep these things in mind as you approach this babe in the manger. And may your heart swell with hope and joy and the deepest yearnings of praise and gratitude. May we love this little baby with everything we've got, for this baby has changed our world!