In the Bible, there’s a story I love in Joshua 3-4.
I encourage you to read those chapters if you’re not familiar with the story, but to make it easy, here’s a short version: For many years, God had been leading the nation of Israel to the Promised Land. After Moses died, Joshua is commissioned as their new leader. As the Israelites come across the Jordan River, God does something incredible: He tells Joshua that He wants to show the people that God is still with them, and He promises to part the waters of the Jordan if they will trust Him by stepping into it. (A lot like when God parted the Red Sea if you’re familiar with that story!) God did exactly that. When they dipped their feet in the water, “the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away…” (Joshua 3:16).
The story doesn’t end there. After they cross the river on dry land, God invites them to remember the miracle He has done. He tells them to gather twelve stones and set them up as a visual reminder of His faithfulness. Why? I love what it says here: “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever” (Joshua 4:21-24).
In our walk with God, I believe remembering is a huge part of the journey. When life is easy, it’s easy to praise God. However, when life is hard, it’s easy to forget His faithfulness throughout our lives.
A lot like the Israelites gathering stones in this story, we can set up a visual reminder of what God has done in our lives. In our home, Mark and I use a God Box to do just that (I shared this on Instagram, too!). Here’s what it looks like:
Our God Box is in our family room and it’s a visual reminder of how God has worked in our lives. It reminds us of the times in our life that He brought us through difficult seasons, or about the times we were praying for a miracle and He came through with that miracle.
We had an antique Coca Cola box inherited from a family member that we hung it on our wall. When we experience a God story, we put a tangible reminder in this box to remind us of that miracle, or of how He carried us through a hard season.
For instance, there was a time when we were praying for an affordable car for our daughter. She kept praying, “Lord, I pray for an affordable or free car. If it could have four doors, that would be great so I can help take my siblings where they need to go. Oh, and I’d love for it to be blue!” Her prayer was quite specific, but she was consistent with that request. After a few weeks, someone came up to us at church and told us they had a car they were planning to sell, but they kept feeling like they needed to give it away instead. They sold it to us for $1. The best part? It had four doors and it was blue. God is so good!
So we got a little toy car and we put it in our God Box to always remember that story.
Or I think of the time that we were praying for bread and milk. I share that full story in this post and in my Real Moms, Real Jesus book. Money was tight and we needed to get really creative to feed our family. The only thing we needed was bread and milk. God came through in the most miraculous way when our neighbor (who did not know the situation we were in) showed up one day with a literal truckload of bread and milk.
So we got a pretend piece of bread and put it in our God Box to always remember that story.
Do you see how it works?
God has been faithful over and over again in our lives and the God Box is a constant reminder to us of His presence and faithfulness. With it being in a central place in our home, we walk by these reminders every single day.
I was recently talking about the importance of remembering God’s faithfulness on a podcast episode with my friend Jennifer Hand, and I want to invite you to do that as well! These reminders help us stay steady in the midst of the ups and downs we navigate in this life.
Whether you create your own God Box, or come up with another creative way to display God’s miracles in your life, make sure you’re remembering His presence and work in your life.
What about you? Do you plan to create a God Box? How do you remember God’s faithfulness? Let us know in the comments!
Hi, Jill! I love your God Box! I have lots of stories about how God has worked in my life. I am in the process of self-publishing a book so I can share those stories with family and friends.
Love that!
Jill thank you for this reminder to remember what miracles God has already done in our lives. I needed that right now. Things are very tough & I live alone, am a Mother of 3 adult children who are going through a very tough patch & have been for years. I often go back to those times when God has performed miracles & I’m waiting fir Him to perform some bug 1s right now in the lives of those I love. Years ago my youngest daughter gave me a round box withjn which I place pieces of paper with the miracles/positives God has given me & my family.
Right now my youngest is dealing with a large lump in her breast which I pray isn’t cancer she’s 28yrs. My son’s wife whom he married on 20th April 2019 went back to China on 6th December 2019 & he hasn’t hears much from her since. He’s still staying faithful to his wife. This December makes it 3 years since he’s seen her.
My eldest daughter feels unlove, ugly, without value as a person & realky strughling. She has been like this since early in 2019.
My Dad had a fall on 19th March this year braking his hip & again hitting his head. Life has been very horrendous ever since for him & us. He is in hospital & it’s a challenge to Dr to find out what is wring. He can no longer swallow, communicate, walk ( his other hip needs replacing now too), he’s aggresuve, aggitated & confused.
This is a heavy load which I know God will help me carry.
That’s alot Judy. But remembering God’s faithfulness is such an important part of staying steady in the journey!
What a good idea! And I love the story of your daughter’s 4 door, blue car. Sometimes, I feel awkward being so specific in a prayer request, but this encourages me to be bold.
Yes, we need to ask specifically!