Toasters, Faith and Remembering

This post was originally posted in June of 2019 as Thanksgiving nears in 2020 I thought it may do us all well to reflect and remember. It has been quite the year since this post first circulated. Yet even with all of the upheaval and strangeness that 2020 has brought our way-when we pause to remember we see that God is still good!

A toaster was all it took to throw me into a crisis of faith yesterday. I love toast as much as the next person, but it wasn’t the actual toaster that triggered my downward spiral, but what the toaster represented.

About a year ago, my family took a leap of faith, quit our jobs and moved across the country. With optimism as our banner and a Bible in hand we had no clue how we would serve the Lord in this season. In preparation for our trip, we gave away all of our stuff. While waiting for our permanent ministry home we enjoyed our temporary accommodations. Yet one day I began to make a borrowed breakfast from borrowed bread in a borrowed home and it hit me like a ton of bricks…we don’t even own a toaster!

There is something freeing about being unencumbered by one’s earthly possessions. However my starry eyed enthusiasm grew dim as the reality of owning so little in a world that values ownership, set in. It was the toaster that did it for me. Perhaps a silly thing to dwell on but, breaking points come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they come in the form of a life-altering accident, a death, or a loss of a job. Yet oftentimes breaking points come in the mundane moments of life when the pressure of one thousand small things erupt from the deep at the most inexplicable moments.

And that is exactly what happened to me. The toaster was not just a toaster, it was the angst of needing to provide for my family, it was mourning the loss of possession, it was anxiety related to this move, it was the dread of leaving the comfort of our borrowed home, it was everything and anything at that moment and I broke…

I was actually so distraught I didn’t want to attend church, but the Holy Spirit, prepared my worried heart for the word of God that would renew my strength. That morning, the pastor called us to participate in the ancient art of remembrance. Where we take time to intentionally think about How far God has brought us. My mind went to Psalms 77:11-12, “I will remember the works of the Lord. Yes, I will remember the amazing things you did long ago! I will think about all you have done; I will reflect upon your deeds!” In my sorrow, I began to remember how God has provided time after time and my heart was settled.

I have seen God’s gracious hand weaving together our journey. We too must take the time to stop and remember, just as the Israelites were instructed to remember the great deeds of their father (Deuteronomy 5:15). We have to go back in the vault of our minds and unearth those moments when heaven met earth and God provided a glimpse of his tangible glory in our lives.

The story doesn’t end there; after leaving church I got a call from a friend in ministry who had a warehouse full of furniture they were willing to give to us for free. I began the day worried about the lack of a toaster and ended the day eating dinner in our fully furnished new home! What a difference a day can make when we learn to remember God and trust him.