You ever go through paperwork or files and get reminded of something awful? Happened to me the other day.
As I get older, I am feeling the need to simplify. Get rid of clutter. Part of that is manifesting in a renewed desire to go paperless. I’ve been an Evernote user for a while, and, while the service has its quirks, I like how simple it is to save things and forget them.
Until my organizing turns to Evernote itself, and I see files that I’ve kept, and get reminded of painful things.
I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it on #NoCamo, but I was force terminated from my last ministry position (not due to any misconduct on my part). Well, I happened to stumble across some of the documentation I necessarily had to keep during that time – meeting notes, conversations, Facebook posts, copies of texts, emails, and other assorted things.
I’d like to say that I simply smiled and thanked the Lord that he saw me through that period. Honestly, anytime I’m confronted with memories from that period of time, my first reaction is disbelief. “Did that REALLY happen?”
It’s a similar reaction to my recollections of my moped accident the day before my twelfth birthday… “Did I really fly 30 feet after hitting that truck head on and snap my leg in half?”
Both events are surreal. And both hurt.
But the moped wreck wasn’t done TO me.
Still, smiling and thanking God are a necessary part of recalling trials. Sometimes, these take time. Always, the grace of God is necessary to keep bitterness at bay. God does restore. God does heal. And God gets the glory – my family’s and my exit from that situation has turned out to be a complete blessing from many angles. Still, I’m thankful for the perspective time has provided.
You have made known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. -Psalm 16:11
Not a Camouflaged Soul 
Jon, Thanks for sharing; I can only imagine how difficult that was. I can clearly recall the great times though, and how you led the church on the beginning of a transformation from the 1980s into the future we needed–in many ways. May God bless you and your family abundantly, and continue to be faithful in spraying weedkiller on whatever bitterness Satan may try to plant. – Ward