Joshua Box

The Spicewood house has a Joshua box. It’s a miniature trunk, beautifully painted by Katie and holds some of our most treasured notes of remembrance. In Joshua, chapter 4, God commands Joshua and the elders to set up stones as a memorial of when God parted the Jordan for them to cross, just as he did the Red Sea while delivering them from Egypt. Two times in the passage it says that when their children ask what the stones are for, they are to tell them and remember God’s deliverance and provision so that “all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” (vs 24) Similarly, all throughout the Psalms, it talks about remembering the things the Lord has done and that this is a source of hope, joy and reverence. So, the Joshua box contains notes of big and small moments of God’s redeeming work in our daily lives over the past year so that we may look back on them and remember that our God is one of flawless character and wonderful and unprecedented grace and blessing.

Tonight, Katie and I had such a sweet time, both of us hunched over her little desk writing note after note of the things He had done this past summer and reading through the few notes we had in there and mutually marveling at how far He has brought us. We intend to write so many more notes this year, because the box was rarely used before. There is such power in remembering the word of our testimony (Rev 12:1) and being, for each other a cloud of witnesses that encourages perseverance (Heb 12:1).

Though tonight we were writing notes, the past few days of being home have been filled with this with all of my friends. We have met together for dessert, breakfasts, and yoga, with the acknowledgement of our Father’s mighty work always on our lips (Hebrews 13:15). Late Saturday night Katie and I were both unpacking into our closets and conversing on and off… we were speechless and giddy and in awe and teary all at once throughout our conversation just over God’s redeeming work in each of our dear sweet sisters’ lives and our own lives. It was wonderful. It is wonderful.

God is Good.