The merit that is remembered
Tzedakah & chesed
When the Torah says "Hashem remembered Rachel," Rashi explains what was remembered: that she had passed the signs to her sister, and how anxious she was that she might end up married to Esav. Many years after her quiet act of kindness, it stood before Hashem as the merit that brought Yosef into the world. No act of chesed is lost, even when it seems to have cost us everything.
Source: Bereishis 30:22, Rashi