Emerging Women

By Lisa Colón DeLay

When I first spoke about remembrance stones, or Ebenezer stones, a visitor friend of mine wrote this:

I also have small “alters” of stones in my house…up in jars. They are written on with a sharpie pen. I write one or two words down when I have a breakthrough, or a praise. When people come to visit, they ask about the stones and I can tell them that “good things happen here”. I take that from the Bible. Whenever there was a victory, as you probably already know, they use to build an alter…so that when people came by, they would see, know and remember.

This visitor’s practice of erecting contemporary “standing stones” helps her remember God’s goodness, mighty works, and faithfulness in her life. It can help her tell her story. It’s wonderful to have a visual reminder, also, because we can too quickly forget God’s work when we hit troubling times, or get too busy.

The practice of using stones as a memory device goes WAY back. For a brief devotional or your own research, look up the Scriptures of Joshua 4:9, and I Samuel 7:12.

nsider trying this practice for yourself. The materials are easy to find, and when you go through your jar and reflect on what’s inside as you are alone with God, or with someone else, you’ll be reminded of God’s faithfulness, and goodness.

I’m sending out a (free) fragrant stone, plus 18 ideas for meaningful practices to increase awareness of God’s presence, and memory of his faithfulness. I’ve found something as simple as a stone can create added spiritual awareness and mindfulness, and this has brought me a lot of hopefulness and joy, as I have an enriched experience of God’s love. The stones I send out go to my blog visitors, like you, who express an interest. You can find out more here.

Lisa Colón DeLay regularly writes on topics such as prayer, purpose, soul care, spiritual practices, suffering, current cultural context & worldviews, theology, and community. Her contribution in Tyndale’s latest NLT Bible publication, Holy Bible:Mosiac, is a meditation on the subject of Anointing Oil and the Trinity. Lisa’s regular column, Notes from the Footpath: Existential Awareness for Life’s Journey is a spiritually formative feature that appears in the monthly publication Schuylkill News (circ. 15,000). She will receive her degree, a Masters of Arts in Religion, in Spiritual Formation this May. Visit her current project LifeAsPrayer.wordpress.com, or her site lisadelay.com.