I have great plans for him.
The Lord's voice spoke so clearly to my conscience as I laid, face planted, into my carpet. I had been praying for my seven-year-old boy, who would be facing a total of three hip surgeries to repair a rare bone disease. I'd never heard God speak directly to me in this way, and its memory is something I still hold onto 17 years later.
The Lord speaking into my son's life held such relevance through the years as he struggled with insecurities, pain, anxiety, and current drug addiction. It was a promise.
God keeps His promises.
Even though He engraved His promise on my heart, I still doubted. I forgot His promise over the years. I fell away.
I lacked hope.
I try to imagine what it was like for the Israelites who'd wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Their fearless leader, Moses, had just passed away, and a new leader was taking them into the Promised land. They must have had great doubts as to whether they would ever see this land, even though God had long ago promised it to His people.
In His spectacular way, the Lord brought them into the land through the high running waters of the Jordan river. He parted the waters so that they could walk through the middle, but He instructed His people to gather 12 stones from the bed of the Jordan, one for each tribe.
In the middle of the dry bed, they gathered the stones. When they reached the other side, they built an altar of remembrance. The Lord taught them, in this way, how to create an outward sign of God's might and protection in their lives with a tangible altar.
"Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever." Joshua 4:7
The Lord is aware of our great weakness of forgetting what He has done in our lives. He asks us to visit one another and talk about the memorials in our lives. He asks us to point others to His greatness by sharing our stones of remembrances.
I confess I spent several years in worry and anxiety over my son's wayward lifestyle. I was so busy dwelling on everything wrong that I couldn't see where God had intervened to do right. When God appeared to be silent, I forgot to lean on His promises.
Years later, the Lord, in His amazing grace, brought me to the bottom of a riverbed and pointed to a stone:
I have great plans for him.
A 17-year promise came rushing back to me as if the Lord had just parted the floodgates from the riverbed! At that moment, I chose to pick up that stone and build a permanent memorial of God's promise in my heart. I crossed over from the wilderness side of hopelessness and built an altar of hope on the other side.
Today we have Christ, Jesus, as our memorial rock. I am forever grateful that He lives within me as a constant reminder of God's grace, mercy, and goodness.
"You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." 2 Corinthians 3:3 (ESV)
His promise is why I can speak of hope today, even in the uncertainty of my son's ongoing addiction. By sharing my life memorials, I hope you will remember the engravings placed in your life, as well.
Jesus came and wrote His promises of assurance, with a sharpie, on the tablets of our hearts. They cannot be erased. We may not know the future...
...But Hope?
It's only a stone's throw away!
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I am completely undone as I read this. I don’t think I was aware of that promise 17 years ago but I do know how many times I tend to forget his promises to me. Thank you once again for your honesty, vulnerability and truth of Gods word! ♥️
Caught me off guard when I remembered. God’s perfect timing…always! Thank you my friend! ♥️