I was recently updating my resume and was struck by now much I’ve changed and grown in the last few years. My resume was a snapshot and a great reminder of where I was 3-4 years ago while in the process of graduating highschool and being very uncertain about my direction in life. There are days where I don’t feel like I’m growing at all, and sometimes it helps me to take a look back in hindsight to remember how much I’ve grown and what God has done.
One of the things the Israelites used as reminders were rocks, as shown after they crossed the Jordan river.
“So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
– Joshua 4:4-8
Whether we use rocks, resumes or journals to record our history, there is a lot of value in remembering our past and the faithfulness of the Lord. As we move into the next year, I encourage you to take a moment to remember and reflect upon your past year (or years) and what God brought you through. What can you use to remember what He has done in your life?