My daughter Courtney called this morning to tell me she would be visiting us this week. In the course of her conversation, she alluded to how faithful God was to us when she and her siblings were growing up.

After I spoke with Courtney, I kept remembering, recalling, reliving the ways that God had, indeed, been good to us in our single-parent home. My mother is living with us now, and she walked with me through many of those years. I came downstairs and sat on the edge of her bed while I reminded her of some of those early ways God guided and made Himself real to me and my family.

Suddenly the issue I was facing with another one of my children or the direction I was seeking in my work or the miracle I was praying for for my brother seemed no big deal.

In Psalm 77, David faced a lot of bad things, too. "I cried out to God with my voice . . . in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord" the chapter begins. In the next couple of verses, David used all kinds of personal pronouns: "My hand was stretched out . . . My soul refused to be comforted . . .My spirit was overwhelmed. . . "

But then David did what I did this morning, he remembered what God had already done:
"But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work and talk of Your deeds" (Ps. 77:1-12).

The Hebrew word for "remember" here is zakar. It means "to mark, to think of, to mention." Whatever you're facing today, don't develop spiritual amnesia. Instead of asking God for something else, take time to mark, think of, and mention back to God your gratitude for what He has already done. Go ahead, be specific. Recall individual ways where God came through for you.

If you do that, I guarantee you that the challenges you're facing won't seem so daunting. And I double guarantee, that God will continue to come through for you.