God has been & will continue to be faithful
God has been & will continue to be faithful
Years ago, as a young mom, I had the privilege of spending time regularly with some amazing ladies in Snellville, Georgia.
These women were just a little older and further down the road than I was. One such lady was a precious friend named Debbie.
Debbie was a mom, a wife, an active church member, and one of the wisest women I’ve known. She regularly offered great insights into my parenting, marriage, ministry, and life.
A favorite topic of Debbie’s was something she called, “Monuments to God’s Faithfulness.”
She highly valued the practice of tracing and tracking God’s faithful hand across the years of our lives. She encouraged me to see that God is always at work in our lives and that He is so good to continue that work year after year.
Have you ever thought about how faithful God has been in your life?
The Bible is filled with stories of men and women who built monuments out of stones to commemorate important events.
Consider an example from the life of Joshua:
Memorials to the Jordan Crossing
When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future, your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”
Then, they set up a memorial to show how faithful God had been…
So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the Lord had told Joshua.
they carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.
Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing.
And they are there to this day.
(Joshua 4:1-9)
Similarly, we can “build” memorials to God’s faithfulness in our own lives.
We can commemorate significant events in which we experienced the Lord personally and practically.
These memorials will help us to remember the Lord’s goodness to us.
These memorials will help us to remember the Lord's goodness to us. Click To Tweet
Some possible events to “build” a monument or memorial include:
- Meeting Jesus Christ personally
- Sharing your faith with someone else
- Your baptism or your children’s baptism
- Meeting and marrying your spouse
- Having that first baby (and all other children)
- Moving into your first home, second home, and current home
- Going on your first mission trip
- Getting out of debt
- Anything else that is of great importance in your spiritual journey
What might you do to “build” monuments to the Lord over these events?
What might you do to commemorate these events and remember how faithful God has been?
Here are a few suggestions:
First… Display pictures, photos, and other mementos of God’s faithfulness.
You might make a shadow box with a baby Bible, a photo of your child’s baptism, a certificate of the baptism, and more. Perhaps you could have a special shirt created when your child is baptized. Here are some baptism shirt ideas.
Displaying these items prominently will encourage your faith and that of your children.
Displaying these items prominently will encourage your faith and that of your children. Click To Tweet
Second… Create a craft project to commemorate one of these (or many of these) special events such as a bulletin board, a photo album, or some other sewing or craft project.
We have a bulletin board that hangs in our home and displays many of the ways God has been faithful in our family’s lives.
Third… Start a journal detailing God’s faithful works and His hand in your life.
List out the many ways He has been faithful in the past. Share these items with friends and family members.
You will encourage others through your testimony. Philippians 1:6 reminds us that “He who began the good work within you will continue it until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.
By reflecting on the past goodness of God in our lives, we are reminded that He has been at work in our lives and will continue to be at work in our lives.
If you find yourself discouraged today, why not take a few moments and reflect on the ways God has been faithful in your life in days past?
If you find yourself discouraged today, why not take a few moments and reflect on the ways God has been faithful in your life in days past? Click To Tweet
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