Only Remember Me

We’ve all been there. Do you remember that difficult season you couldn’t wait to get past? Whether it was right after you moved to a new city and felt loneliness crowding you in, or maybe when you hung your head every time you went out, certain that your failure or your family’s crisis was evident for all to see. Maybe it was that time when you longed for a child, but the Lord’s timing was not your own.No one likes feeling pain. So, it makes sense that when relief comes, we want to live in that relief and avoid the memories of a darker time. Yet as I was reflecting on the life of Joseph, a phrase grabbed me and hasn’t let go. Joseph was literally years into his wilderness experience that started with his brothers selling him into slavery. With his chin up, he’d kept his character in tact and had even become an incredible blessing to a fellow prisoner at the time he made this particular statement.If you know the story, Joseph interprets the dream of the king’s cupbearer, a fellow prisoner. Knowing that the cupbearer will soon be released, Joseph makes one request to this man he has helped: “Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house” (Genesis 40:14).As the story goes, the cupbearer had been returned to freedom and his position with the king for two years before he mentioned Joseph to the king. Two. Years. 730 days. The cupbearer saw the sun rise and set more than 700 times. After being in prison, he had to appreciate the sunrise like never before. Surely, he had to remember those he‘d left behind? Or maybe he truly didn’t remember… but even though it was two years before he said something, Joseph’s correct interpretation of his dream had to have circled through his mind many times before.Joseph was counting on a man to have compassion on him; a man who knew what it was like to be falsely accused and taken from his family. Surely, having had the same experience, this cupbearer would have empathy? As I thought about this scenario, the modern day analogy is overwhelming. There are women all around us who are walking through challenging and often painful journeys. Can we relate to all of them? No. Can we relate to some of them? You betcha![bctt tweet="It’s time for us to move beyond gratefulness and into action."]God never wastes a wound. If you’ve walked through a valley and have seen God bring you through, it’s time for you to move beyond gratefulness and into action. There’s another mom who needs you to reach out when you learn that her child has walked a similar path. There’s a wife who’s struggling to hang onto her marriage who needs to know you’ve been there and seen God work. There’s a woman sitting next to you who feels alone… just like you did when you were new.I talk to women every week who feel alone. The words of someone who cares can comfort, but the words of someone who’s walked that specific journey brings a level of hope that doesn’t come apart from a shared experience.Who do you need to remember? Who can you bring hope to? Who needs you to wrap your arms around them and tell them they, too, can make it?Don’t wait for another sunrise to remember them and take action.