Altars in the Wilderness

I have 26,627 photos on my phone. That’s not a brag; it’s a hoard. I don’t want to forget a thing, and who knows when I’ll need to go back and reference them?

“How long has it been since we were together?” Let me look at my photos, and I can give you an exact date. “When did you close on your house?” “Where did we eat last time we had a birthday dinner?” Right here on my phone.

My photos are an archive of my life—the highs, the lows, and everything in between. They contain messages I don’t want to forget, important family moments, notes, maps, and even some journal entries I’ve captured. Because sometimes, we need reminders.

In Joshua 4, after miraculously crossing the Jordan River, the Lord instructed Joshua to choose twelve men, one from each tribe, to select twelve stones and pile them up at their camp. It was meant to be a memorial. “In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them… These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever” (v6-7).

The father of those twelve tribes, Jacob, had a similar moment with God. After receiving a vision of heaven and hearing the declaration of God’s covenant, Jacob took the stone he used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar (Genesis 28:18). He wanted to mark that life-changing moment with God forever.

God knows we have short memories, especially for the good things sometimes. Isn’t that strange? The hard things stick with us, but often, God’s faithfulness bypasses our awareness, fading into the fog of “whew, I’m glad that’s over” when it’s all said and done. Sometimes, we need an altar – a memorial reminder of God’s kindness, especially in the desert seasons.

Looking back through my photos, I see sparks of the divine sprinkled throughout the difficult and mundane. I see moments with my family and friends amongst pictures of folded laundry and truck rental fees. I’m reminded of the unbelievable generosity of our community amid the stress of moving into a new home and starting over. I see faces I’ll never forget alongside the screenshots of recipes or crochet patterns.

Today, during Midweek Prayer, God called my attention to the lyrics of a song: “Now those altars in the wilderness tell the story of Your faithfulness. Never once have You failed, and You never will.” (This is Our God, Phil Wickham)

I felt prompted to reflect on and remember the story of God’s faithfulness in this crazy, often overwhelming season of transition and change. Maybe someone reading this needs a similar reminder. Or maybe today is the day we start looking for signs of God’s faithfulness and building little memorials ourselves, in photos, in a journal, or in other tangible ways. Because He’s present and active all the time. We just have to stop and take note. ❤

PS: Life update, I’m starting a CoLab (residency) program at Lifegate in Adult Discipleship! I’m super excited, and since writing will be a huge part of my job, I’ll hopefully be posting more regularly here, too! Love you all. Thanks for being part of our journey. ❤