Hey, welcome to today's encouragement from your friends at Our Daily Bread. The writer for today's

devotional is John Blaze, and it's titled Retrieval Practice. Have you ever been in the middle of telling a story and then stopped, stuck on a

detail like a name or date you couldn't recall? We often chalk it up to age, believing that memory

fades with time, but recent studies no longer support that view. In fact, they indicate our memory isn't the

problem. It's our ability to retrieve those memories. Without a regular rehearsal of some kind,

memories become harder to access. One of the ways to improve that retrieval ability is by

regularly scheduled actions or experiences of recalling a certain memory. Our Creator God knew this,

so he instructed the children of Israel to set aside one day a week for worship and rest.

In addition to the physical rest that comes from such a respite, we gain an opportunity for

mental training to recall that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.

It helps us to remember there is a God, and it's not us. In the rush of our lives, we sometimes

lose our grip on the memories of what God has done for us and for others. We forget who keeps close watch

over our lives and who promises his presence when we feel overwhelmed and alone. A break from our

routine provides an opportunity for that needed retrieval practice, an intentional decision to stop and remember our God and forget

not all his benefits.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 through 11 remember the Sabbath

day by keeping it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath

to the Lord your God on it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your male or

female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the

Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. But he rested on the seventh day. Therefore,

the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Let's pray. Oh, Lord, in the busyness of our lives, we often lose sight of your abundant blessings

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