Rocks

Just the other day I was going to snap a picture of a rock and post it to Instagram with the caption: "Life"
(It wouldn't have been nearly as pretty as the picture to the right, but I only had my yard to work with.)

Sometimes it can feel like that, though, can't it? Jagged and hard. Unyielding. Even a boulder in our path. Life can be tough.

But then God started speaking His version on rocks...

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from him.
2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1-2

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." Matthew 7: 24-25

And suddenly this is the picture I started to see:

His cross. His strength. And He continued driving the point home for anything that stood like a rock on my path other than Him.

“Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" Jeremiah 23:29

See, there's no rock on our paths that God cannot handle. There's no roughness in our lives that God cannot soften. There's nothing He cannot break or bend...if it needs breaking and bending--and yes, that includes in our hearts and wills too.

But here's the other thing about rocks. They can be used as a beautiful picture of remembrance.

 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 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 parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’  tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ Joshua 4:19-22

In fact, I have a pile of them myself from moments God's done some pretty amazing things in my life. And that's the thing about satan, he always wants to take things of beauty and wrap them in his lies. But God's truth always prevails.

What rocks do you have standing in your path today? Is life feeling like it's hard and unyeilding? Grab one of the verses above and start speaking it to whatever situation you're in. Then pick up a stone and use it to remember what God has brought you through, His faithful promises, and the strength He pours into you.

And if you have one, I'd love to hear your favorite verse for going through a time of struggle or even what you may keep as your own personal "stone of remembrance".