Stones of Remembrance

    

   

     I was inspired one Sunday by our small group leader and our group discussion about our stories.  Towards the end of our class our leader played a song by Big Daddy Weave called "My Story". Then he challenged us to share our stories and to think about the main words used in the song. As we talked in our group, telling others our story is alot like in Joshua 4:1-24 when the stones of remembrance were stacked after crossing the Jordan, so that when future generations asked, "What are these stones here for?" The parents could tell their children the story of what God had done in making a way to cross the turbulent waters to freedom.  What a beautiful way to pass on what God can do in our lives.


    It leads me to remember how my family has a "stack of stones" on our old family farm in Indiana.  In reality, it is an old fireplace that still stands and is the monument to my ancestors who gathered around it's warm in the old cabin that used to stand around it.  The old rubble of rocks used to prompt me to question my father to tell me about our family members that stacked those stones and cooked meals within it's hearth.  I learned much about the family I come from in my father's stories.  My Irish heritage of pioneers who had homesteading the land and all the family that had lived and worked the land since.  He would describe each of their personalities, trials, joys, and what eventually happened to every family member and then would leave room at the end of each of his orations for my own part in that story.


     Just as I used to ask my earthly father to tell me the story of our family, I now as a grown woman am asking my Heavenly Father to tell me the story of our family and what story he wants me to write with him now.  So many times I can only see my own way of telling my story and my family's story, based on my current circumstance.  I am at a point as a grown woman, that I surrendering my stones (my story) to my Father's version.  So I am sitting with the following questions to maybe get a glimpse of where God is leading me and how he wants, like in Joshua 4:1-24, to part the turbulent waters and for me to walk to the other side...to freedom. 


-What stones does he want me/you to pick up from the river? 
-What stones is he handing me/you to stack on the other side, that will be our "stones of remembrance"? 
-What story does he want to write WITH us? 
-Are we ready to surrender our story to him and co-create this life WITH him?
-What legacy of God's hope, love, life, victory, freedom, kindness, grace, justice, and mercy can we leave our children and others?

To see the HOPE, LOVE, LIFE, VICTORY, FREEDOM, KINDNESS, GRACE, JUSTICE, MERCY in our current situation.....that is OUR STORY, that is OUR SONG, our stones of remembrance that we can leave for our children and others.

 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:1, NIV

            I’ve had some recent failures and setbacks in what I thought were my particular callings and who I thought I was made to be.  In digging in and trying to understand, God led me to verses that paint a picture of how he will sometimes “prune (branches of the tree) so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1-8, NIV); the tree being God and the branches us, Christians.  I can attest that there has been some major “pruning" taking place in my life this last year.  And with all of that pruning, I’m left wondering if I have actually not fully stepped into what God had called me to become in His name.  Maybe all of this pruning has been about revealing all he wants me to step into…my new name.

            We see many times in the Bible that God renamed people when they began following him.  These names were often powerful and empowering new names that indicated what the person would become in Christ.  They were names that encouraged each person of the Lord’s promises and purposes. 

 

            Have you ever wondered what your new name is that you were given at the time you accepted Christ?  At the time we accept Jesus, we are made new in Him.  What is the new name we each step into?  Does this name reveal what you will become in Him?  Some of you may have had a name, word, scripture, or thought come to mind.  I know I did when I had a professor in seminary first bring this idea up.  I knew exactly the word/name God gave me six years ago and then realized that I have not fully claimed nor stepped into that name.  It’s time!  It’s time for all of us in Christ to fully claim and step into what He has given.  It’s time to share what He wants to do through YOU and ME.  

If you haven’t accepted God into your life…I wonder what your new name would be in Him?