There are days while I’m driving when I barely give my review mirrors more than a necessary glances.

Not because I’m a careless driver, but because there isn’t much happening on the road. I look up every now and then to see if a car is approaching. Give it due regard as I prepare to pass another vehicle or back out of a parking spot.  But that’s about it.

And then there are those days when traffic is crazy or some driver with an intense need to get to their destination MUCH faster than I am traveling has me watching my rearview like a hawk.

To safely go forward I can’t spend all my time looking back. Rearview mirrors have a purpose but if I want to make it to my destination then I can’t drive looking back the whole time.

They even come with a nice warning:

Let’s us know that our perspective will be skewed. While the mirror provides a view of what is behind, its reliability is dependent upon my ability to properly heed that warning.

Looking back can do that to us, skew our perspective that is… sometimes, looking back in life, things that happened so long ago seem like just yesterday with no separation or time for healing. The opposite can be true too. We really do have to be careful when looking back.

Like I wrote about a few weeks ago: sometimes the best way to remember is to forget. Rereading that post was still powerful today. And yet… there are times that forgetting the past is to our detriment because in doing so we can forget who God is and what he has done in our lives.

The other day while I was driving home from a meeting I exited the highway for the last leg of my journey. I have this routine for that last bit of driving, I take that last 35 minutes as a time of worship. Driving down the dark, windy road… something caught my eye in the rearview mirror as this song played. My heart stirred and I knew I wanted to share it with you.

It’s true You were right there
I can see it in the days gone by

I—
I see You in the days gone by
Your promise never left my side
I know sometimes I tried to give up
Still You caught me when I fell from high
I—
I see You in the days gone by

So many lines from that song rang true but none as much as the catch, “I see You in the days gone by.”

I wrote this post 4 years ago about memories, it is worth the read today.

Our problem of keeping proper perspective on God in the present stems from our inability to accurately recall the goodness, faithfulness and working of God in our past.

And that right there is the heart of why I write: to help me reflect and therefore more clearly see God at work in my life. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, the whole process of writing a blog is a funny thing. The process of creating any one given post comes from hours of thought, studying the word of God and often lots and lots of conversations. Hitting the publish button always… every.single.time… gives me pause as I pray that my words would give honor and glory to God.

For me, writing makes me stop and reflect on God at work in daily living AND it allows me to look back across 6 years of writing and remember…

As I listened to the song, I thought of the days gone by in my own life and I took some time to look through the 240 posts I’ve written. I found myself smiling, remembering the faithfulness of God captured in the words from days gone by.

Thank you for the privilege of sharing with you, for allowing me the humbling chance to  offer my words to encourage and equip you on your journey!

~Jillene

Here are some posts I wrote on similar topics if you want to take the journey with me:

https://thinmoments.com/2018/04/18/wednesdays-with-jillene-fighting-the-lies/

https://thinmoments.com/2014/02/05/wednesdays-with-jillene-memories/

https://thinmoments.com/2017/12/06/wednesdays-with-jillene-worth-the-risk/

https://thinmoments.com/2018/01/03/wednesdays-with-jillene-dusty/

https://thinmoments.com/2018/03/27/wednesdays-with-jillene-a-remnant-of-a-stain/