{"id":221,"date":"2012-07-14T14:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-14T14:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=221"},"modified":"2012-07-14T14:07:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-14T14:07:00","slug":"barrel-furniture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":"Barrel Furniture?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I love going to flea markets, or thrift shops, or garage sales, or antique shops, or any place I can search through items that others have discarded. There are a few shops nearby that are my favorites to venture through, and if I have a half hour to spare while I\u2019m in town, I\u2019ll swing into one of them and see what\u2019s new.<\/span><\/div>\n
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(I wrote about worthless things just two days ago\u2026now you know why I have so much worthlessness.)<\/span><\/div>\n
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There are certain items I just can\u2019t seem to pass up. These items draw me to them. A pretty set of china. Old ladders. Items that would fit into my \u201cfarm house\u201d style. What can I say, I\u2019m a sucker.<\/span><\/div>\n
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On one of these meanderings, I turned a corner to find a table and chairs set made from barrels. The table top was round and sat on top of a barrel. Its chairs were cut from barrels and were covered with a patchwork of multicolored leather.<\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\n
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I was drawn to this furniture. Not because it was my style. Not because I had space anywhere in my house for it. Not even because I liked it.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I was drawn to it because my grandparents had a set exactly like it in their basement! I wondered if it could possibly be the exact set, because surely there couldn\u2019t be more than one in this world.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Memories of my grandparents flooded my soul. Grandpa\u2019s storytelling and Grandma\u2019s cooking. Their laughter. Their mannerisms. Everything about them rushed into my mind at the sight of that furniture.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Isn\u2019t it interesting how our minds work that way? We see something and we\u2019re reminded of a place. We smell something and we\u2019re reminded of a person. We hear something and we\u2019re reminded of an object.<\/span><\/div>\n
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We make connections. We make associations.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And guess what? God created us that way. God wanted us to remember\u2026remember Him. God puts people, places, and things in front of us daily so that we would be reminded of Him.<\/span><\/div>\n
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1 Chronicles 16:12 (NIV) tells us to \u201cRemember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.\u201d<\/i> As we see His creation daily, we are to remember Him.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Psalm 63:6 (NIV) says, \u201cOn my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.\u201d<\/i> When we hear the chime of a clock through the night, we are to think of God.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Isaiah 46:8 (NIV) says, \u201cRemember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.\u201d<\/i> What are we to remember? That God is God. There is no other like Him. There are none like Him.<\/span><\/div>\n
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But the wonderful thing is that as God asks us to remember Him, He won\u2019t remember our sins. Each time we sin, He isn\u2019t reminded of our past sin.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Jeremiah 31:34 (NIV) says, \u201cFor I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.\u201d <\/i>God wanted us to remember this one, so He repeated again in Hebrews 8:12. <\/span><\/div>\n
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2 Corinthians 5:19a (NIV) reminds us, \u201cGod was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men\u2019s sins against them.\u201d <\/i>God isn\u2019t keeping tally. He isn\u2019t keeping a book of records, because God loves us. Because God is love!<\/span><\/div>\n
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1 Corinthians 13:5b (NIV) repeats the idea. \u201c[Love] keeps no record of wrongs.\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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And if you still would like some proof of this concept, let\u2019s look at Psalm 103:12 (NIV). \u201cAs far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.\u201d <\/i>He will not be reminded of our past. He will not remember our sin.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t know about you, but I thank God daily that my past is in the past. I thank God daily that my sins from today (after repentance) will not be remembered tomorrow.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t know about you, but I think remembering God throughout my day is a good trade off. I\u2019d gladly think of God than think of my past. I\u2019d gladly think of God than think of a temptation in front of me. I\u2019d gladly think of God just because.<\/span><\/div>\n
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What reminds you of God? How do you remember Him throughout your day? I pray that you are reminded of His grace, His peace, His love, His comfort, His joy today. Because I can guarantee, He is thinking of you! <\/span><\/div>\n
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Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/span><\/div>\n
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Donna<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love going to flea markets, or thrift shops, or garage sales, or antique shops, or any place I can search through items that others have discarded. There are a few shops nearby that are my favorites to venture through, and if I have a half hour to spare while I\u2019m in town, I\u2019ll swing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-remembering-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}