Our Pastor has been doing a series on Grace in Genesis. This past week he mentioned stones of remembrance, when Jacob build an alter to mark the place were God had revealed himself to him.
There
he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was
there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his
brother. Genesis35:7
Matthew Henry said in his commentary "The comfort the saints have in holy ordinances, is not so much from Beth-el, the house of God, as from El-beth-el, the God of the house. The ordinances are empty things, if we do not meet with God in them."
I was reminded of a post I made back in 2013 - that year God had brought us to a place of buying our first home after 27 years of marriage. It was an answer to many years of prayer and trusting in his timing.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013
Stones of Remembrance
In our front yard is this awesome, wonderful tree…
that the Lord has been using to speak words of hope…
words of promises fulfilled...
words of love…
that simple say “I am listening… I remember”
He hears and remembers every prayer… every word spoken... every word sent up to Him.
and…
around this tree… this tree of life… are 12 bricks…
12 bricks that have become memorial stones of remembrance…
Joshua 4:20-22
And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground."
12 stones that are a visual reminder of God’s love…
of His provision…
of Him opening the way for us to cross…
onto solid ground…
into His promises for us.
Stones of remembrance~
As a visual reminder…
we each took one brick…
one stone
and wrote our name on it.
because...
He calls us all by name.
We took our stone of remembrance…
and gave Him praise… thanks… 
for all He has done for us this year.we flipped that heavy brick over, weighted down with blessings - and wrote one “hard thanks”…
one area in our life that we struggle with giving thanks for…
Why?
because giving thanks in all things is what He asks us to do…
and when we can give thanks in the hard things…
we open His flood gates of heaven…
turning the hard things into praises… seeing the blessing…
a sacrifice of praise.
He becomes the cornerstone… the center of all things… 
in our life… easy Thanks...
no brainer Thanks...
and those messy,
hard Thanks…
He becomes the beginning and the end...
Our starting and finishing place…
Our Chief Cornerstone
reminding us that…
God is building a home.
He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using us, fitting us brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together.
We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. Ephesians 2: 20-22
We can also "set up stones of remembrance” symbolizing times in our lives when God gave healing, perseverance, protection or encouragement—times when we were especially aware of God’s faithfulness.
Possibilities:
- Make a quilt with squares symbolizing "faith events."
- Create a display of items on a shelf as reminders.
- Draw, paint, or craft a collage.
- Decorate actual stones in your garden.
- Write your faith stories, tie them with a ribbon, and put them in a special box or bottle. (Then read them on special occasions.)
There
have been other times we have created stones of remembrance - simple
stones that come in the form of a letter to a son leaving for college
or a note of encouragement to a special friend or even a scrapbook
remembering the events from the past year. I have been pondering how
these words, these letters are beautiful ways to remember someone, or
a special event. And I have been thinking about that Matthew Henry
quote… "The
comfort the saints have in holy ordinances, is not so much from
Beth-el, the house of God, as from El-beth-el, the God of the
house. The ordinances are empty things, if we do not meet with
God in them."
The
remembering or the act of remembering is an empty thing - something
that does not give life - if GOD is not in the midst of it.
I have also been pondering how we were created to be living stones -
a living remembrance of Jesus. Our life is a story daily unfolding
of His great love, of His great provision, of His presence. Our very
lives are a letter anyone can read, just by looking at us. Christ
himself wrote it, not with ink but with God's living spirit. 2Cor 2:3
Living
as a remembrance of GOD's amazing love and grace,