Remember!

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, and make his deeds known among the people. Sing to him! Praise him! Declare all his awesome deeds!  Exult in his holy name; let all those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his face continually. Remember his awesome deeds that he has done, his wonders and the judgments he declared."  (Psalms 105:1-5, ISV)

I never know from one day to the next where I might be led.  Yesterday I was led to start remembering God's leading in my current project in a special way - journal about it and perhaps even scrapbook about it. Remembering "his awesome deeds that he has done, his wonders and the judgments he declared" feels really important to me right now.  It is too easy for me to forget, and I've had such amazing experiences of specific guidance recently, that I want to ensure I remember!  

I don't know what this "remembrance project" will mean in terms of keeping up with this blog.  There may be more days like yesterday where I'm working on that and don't get any blogging done.  All I can do is see how I'm led.

Today, I thought I'd share a story of one of the things that happened for me this week, as it shows God's guidance in a pretty clear way.  I alluded to it in an earlier post, but I'll share a little more of the story here today.  

My husband and I are starting to teach a choreographed ballroom dance class (also called "round dance"), and needed to decide on which dance we were going to teach for our first class session. There were so many factors to consider!  We started with a list of several possibles, went through them all, and started weeding dances out for one reason or another.  We were left with two - neither of which felt exactly right, but either of which would probably work.  We decided to make it a matter of prayer and sleep on it, knowing we needed to make a decision the next morning. 

When morning arrived, I awoke and started talking to God, as is my custom.  As I started to talk to Him about the need to decide on a dance to teach, I realized a song was running through my head.  I thought it was one of the two remaining dances, and the thought crossed my mind that THIS was our guidance.  I was SO grateful that God would answer so directly, and immediately began expressing my thanks to Him.

THEN, I went to look up the dance and realized it was NOT one of the two we thought to do, but instead was one of the ones we had discarded!!!  What to do?  It felt like such clear guidance, but we had discarded that dance for a REASON!  It had a pretty challenging move in it and we didn't want to scare off our students in our very first class!  To say nothing of the fact that some of the dancers might actually be UNABLE to do the move because of physical challenges.  Had I misunderstood God's guidance?  Not wanting to be like the person whose faith wavers (James 1:6,7), I asked for clear re-direction if I had misunderstood, and for the willingness to move forward with the guidance I had received unless redirected - knowing that God's ways are BEST.

After my husband and I had our devotional time together that morning, I asked him what guidance he had received. (To be totally honest here, I wanted him to tell me he felt strongly guided to one of our original two as I was hoping that I had misunderstood the guidance I had received!)  My husband's response was unexpected.  Instead of saying he felt led to one of the two we were considering, or even that he still wasn't sure, he told me that he was feeling quite strongly that I should be the one to choose the dance!  That really affirmed the guidance I had received.  I told him about my experience and we decided to take another look at the dance we had discarded.  

Long story short, it's pretty clear that it IS the best choice, for a lot of reasons.  AND we were given plenty of ideas to help people learn to do the difficult move more easily - and even a substitute move to suggest for students that may find the move too physically challenging!  It all came together quickly and pretty easily and I am SO grateful!!!!  

There have been so many instances of specific guidance through this journey into cueing and teaching, and I want to be sure I remember them.  A quote comes to mind.  It says something like, "We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history." (I think it was from the book Life Sketches of Ellen G. White - an internet search suggests it's page 196, but I don't own that book so can't verify it.)  Anyway, the guidance for me is clear.  I need to take the time to REMEMBER the way God has led me!

Father, thank you so much for your guidance in my life!  Thank you for being such an attentive parent, and so willing to guide me, even when I am fearful and uncertain!  Thank you for your love and protection - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  I am so grateful!  Thank you for your continued guidance as I seek your will this day.  Amen.