A year or so ago, we stayed at a friends’ house for 10 days. I was heavily pregnant and was grateful each night to fall into bed. Their mattress was one of these memory foam things that ‘remembers’ your shape (alarmingly in my case) and is meant to aid restful sleep.

I think the shape of my pregnant body, so frightened me that the memory of it became the stuff of nightmares. I did not sleep well!

Sometimes we need things to aid our memory in a positive way; perhaps a photograph or a letter, a memento or a journal entry. It is hard to remember some of the most important things in life without the benefit of such things. The day of my Wedding, one of my friends told me to write down my recollections of the day. I was so grateful to her as I now have a journal account of my emotions, what was said and by whom. It is very precious to me.

I spent the weekend with my family as it was my parent’s 45th Wedding Anniversary. It was lovely to see them chatting to people who were at their wedding and sharing the photograph album around, chatting and laughing about old times. Memories of such special things are to be treasured! We built a few new memories too as we took the children (minus Esther who went to her Godmother) out with us all as a celebration for a Teppanyaki meal. Watching their little faces, I knew that they (and we) would never forget the theatre and spectacle of food and knives being so expertly juggled and thrown.

I was fascinated to read this morning that a love letter to a US college student from the girlfriend who was later to become his wife, is finally on its way to him – 53 years after it was written in 1958.

The letter surfaced in a Pennsylvanian university mailroom earlier this month. It was addressed to Clark C Moore, who has since changed his name to Muhammad Siddeeq, making it hard to trace him.

Apparently, a friend saw a TV report about it and contacted the sorting office. Mr Siddeeq, 74, says he is still eager to read it, despite now being divorced from the lady in question.

He said, rather amusingly, that if he didn’t get that package within the next 53 years, he would call to complain!

I was wondering about the emotions contained in that love letter and how it would make him feel on reading it. Would it make him grieve again and open up old wounds? Would it cause him to feel bitter at something lost or grateful for someone gained? I have no idea.

Memory plays an important role in the canon of Scripture. There are many instances where God reveals Himself to people as the God of their ancestors… or where He reminds them of His past miracles, faithfulness and goodness.

There are days, months or maybe even years when we need to live off the truths of the past. You may be in one of these periods right now; life may be uncertain and you may be struggling to hear the voice or the reassurances of the God who loves you.

Perhaps what you need to do is to journey back a few years to the ‘love letters’ of the past; to the old truths you clung to to get you where you are today. We are not called to LIVE in the past of course, but our past triumphs and pains can certainly inform us and help us in the present and the future.

God is the same, yesterday, today and for eternity. What He once was or said, He will say and be again. He never changes, but our memories of Him do. Help yourself today and go back through your life. Find something to praise Him for and DO IT!

God is waiting for your memory to be jogged and for your faith to rise again.