The month of October holds a very special place in our family. God has allowed my husband and me to experience many “stones of remembrance” during this month. Today, as we celebrate our wedding anniversary, I’d love to share a few of them with you.
To give you some background, my husband Joshua and I met in October nine years ago, got engaged in October seven years ago, and were married in October of the same year. We also bought our first home in October, and I became a U.S. citizen in October. You can probably see why this month means so much to us!
As I do each year, I’ve been sitting before the Lord and reflecting on the “stones of remembrance” in our lives. Before I share one of ours, let me explain what that phrase means.
What Are “Stones of Remembrance”?
Throughout the Bible, God’s people often set up physical reminders, stones, altars, or memorials, to remember who God is and what He has done. In Joshua 4, after God led the Israelites across the Jordan River, He commanded them to take twelve stones from the riverbed as a sign of His faithfulness.
Joshua 4:2–4, 6–7
“Take twelve men from the people, one from each tribe, and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan… and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’
This may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord… So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
Those stones were a visible reminder for future generations of what God had done. In the same way, we are also called to set up “stones of remembrance”, not always literal ones, but markers of God’s faithfulness in our lives, testimonies we carry and share with others.
One of our personal stones of remembrance goes back to the time before Joshua and I even met.
Six months before we met, I was in a season when life felt like it was falling apart. My future looked blurry, and I couldn’t see a way forward, much like the Israelites facing the Jordan River. I had just lost what I thought was my dream job, a corporate position I’d landed right out of college. For a girl from a third-world country who carried the weight of wanting to honor her parents’ sacrifices, that job felt like everything.
After losing it, I spent long hours at the kitchen table searching for the next opportunity, the next “big thing.” That’s when God gently called me back to my knees. I realized that what I truly needed was not another job, but time in His presence.
One of Our Stones: The Letter and the Vows
During that season of unemployment, I committed to three months of focused prayer, lifting up three main areas of my life. One of them was marriage. I prayed for my future husband and even wrote a letter addressed to God and to my future husband.
Not long after, I met Joshua, the man God used to rewrite my story and answer every one of those prayer requests. I never told him about the letter. But on our wedding day, as I shared my vows, I read portions of that very letter, “Dear God and Future Husband.” What I didn’t know until later was that around the same time I had been praying for him, God had stirred Joshua’s heart to begin praying for his future wife.
At that moment, our vows and the faithfulness behind them became one of our most cherished stones of remembrance. Through the ups and downs of marriage, the messy and the beautiful, the challenging and the rewarding, we’ve seen God’s hand shaping and refining us.
Why We Still Remember
Today, as we celebrate seven years of marriage by the grace of Jesus Christ, I can’t help but reflect on the incredible gift that marriage is. If you’re married, you know, it’s a place where God continually refines us, teaches us the love of Christ, shows us the beauty of submission, and deepens our understanding of grace.
Sometimes I wonder how something so beautiful could one day come to an end on this side of heaven. But then I remember, in eternity, we will be with the One who is Love itself. It all makes sense. We won’t need marriage there, because we’ll be complete in Him.
The goal of every stone of remembrance
Joshua 4:24
“So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”
The goal of those stones wasn’t only for Israel to remember what God had done for them, but for every generation and nation to know who He is. Their purpose was to glorify God, to declare His power, His faithfulness, and His mercy for all to see. In the same way, the stones of remembrance in our lives are not just personal memories; they are testimonies meant to point others to the mighty hand of God.
Those stones the 12 tribes carried out with them show the amazing God we serve. The same God who parted the Jordan River is the same God who makes a way in our lives today, so that when we look back, we can see His fingerprints all over our story.
As I look back through the years, October has become one of those stones of remembrance for our family, a marker of God’s grace, mercy, and faithfulness. Year after year, He has shown us that His timing is perfect and His promises never fail. Each “stone” reminds me to pause and thank Him, not only for what He’s done, but for who He is.
Takeaway: Build Your Own Stones
We may not build physical altars anymore, but every believer has moments worth remembering, prayers God has answered, doors He’s opened, lessons He’s taught, or ways He’s carried us when we couldn’t see a way forward.
Take time to write them down. Tell your children. Share them with a friend. Your story might be the “stone” someone else needs to strengthen their faith.
What a beautiful testimony! Thanks Emnet for sharing your story and inspiring us to remember the ways God has been faithful to us.
Thank you, Becky! God is so faithful!
May the Lord always help us to remember His Faithfulness and Share it with others!
Emniyee🥰 May the Lord bless you dear!
Your tesimony and convictions are so inspiring…Took me a far to review my life from the very begining and count my ”stones to remember”Worth reading!!!
Keep writing!
Thank you so much! That truly means a lot. All praise and thanks be to God, who continually allows us to place these ‘stones of remembrance’ throughout our lives. I’m grateful that my testimony encouraged you to look back and count your own. God is so faithful!
Thank you for sharing konjo!