Tomorrow’s Post

A blog friend, Emily, wrote to me asking if I could please start posting some Memorial Box Monday stories again.  I had taken a pause, as you all know.  Not because God’s working in our lives had stopped for two reasons: I wondered if people were getting tired of them and I had also wondered if some think that these sweet things our family chronicles are things that only happen to our family.  As though we are in a special club that God blesses more than others.

Our family has definitely seen a beautiful share of miracles, yet, at the same time, if you have been hanging around our Place Called Simplicity any length of time, you will remember that in the last 4 years we have seen quite a remarkable share of struggles as well.

The thing about our lives in Christ, is that scripture reminds us that the rain does fall on the just and on the unjust alike.  We are definitely not exempt from trials, nor are we sheltered from difficult times.

But God is always faithful.

Always.

So we choose to rejoice in the struggles, take comfort in His faithfulness and record it all, so we can always remember.

I know I’ve mentioned it many times, but the most vivid time of the need for our Memorial Box reminders was three years ago.

We were living in the rental after losing our home to the fire.  Our Special Forc*s son had just returned from a depl*yment where he had nearly lost his life.  He had called his daddy and said, “I’m coming home for a leave and I am marrying Sarah.  I don’t know how long I have here on this earth and I don’t want to live without her.  We are getting married in two weeks.”

The joy {coupled with the reality of what he had just shared} was enormous!

A wedding in two weeks!

Everyone arrived, a week of treasured memories was made.

The following day after their wedding {which was spectacular} Dw, Isaiah and Liberty and I left to drive to Iowa City.  The thing was that Dw was very sick.  He had returned from Africa only a couple of weeks before the wedding and had been unable to stay awake, sleeping continually or spending large amounts of time in the bathroom.  He looked horrible and was feeling worse than he even looked.  He had already lost about 15 lbs!

I sweetly told Dw I really didn’t want him going to Iowa City with me as he had been so sick, and I just knew that caring for Isaiah with his imminent surgery would be difficult, let alone caring for a very sick husband a thousand miles from home.

As many of you know, Dw ended up at one end of the hospital and Isaiah on the other.  But before they knew what was wrong with Dw, they told that it was his liver.

I will never forget the panic and fear that swept over me as I read the text from Dw {who was in the ER} while I snuggled with my post-op little guy.  I knew how desperately sick Dw was and how much weight he had lost in just a few weeks.  If it was his liver, I couldn’t think of anything it would be, but bad!

As the fear consumed my mind, just as instantly the small symbols in our Memorial Box {each symbol representing a story from our family that reminds us of the faithfulness of God} permeated my thoughts.  Symbol by symbol.   And immediately peace flooded my heart, my soul and my mind!

I will never forget that moment!

That is why our family tells the stories.  So we remember.  God told the Isrealites to build a memorial of stones and each time they saw them they were to tell their children, over and over and over.

I know how faithful God has been to me – since I was a little girl….but during tough times, it is easy to forget, in fact forgetting seems to be what we do best, isn’t it?

As I pondered what my bloggy friend, Emily wrote to me when she asked me to bring back Memorial Box stories, the Lord reminded me that when I post Memorial Box stories, they are about HIM.   To shrink back would be to neglect an important element of my walk with Christ.  Because on a personal level, my Memorial Box is one of the most important things we have.  So, Emily, thank you for speaking up and encouraging me with your letter.  You were definitely used of the Lord in a mighty way!

So sweet friends, Memorial Box stories will be returning.  Probably twice a month.  We will have the ability to link your own stories.  In fact Emily said in her letter that she looks forward to reading others Memorial Box stories as well because all of them “are such a reminder to count God’s faithfulness in our own lives…..God is ALWAYS moving, we just need eyes to see and ears to hear….”

BUT first, tomorrow I will share a Memorial Box story like none other: a very private story that only our family knows.  I have been praying for months {literally} about whether to share it or not and when to share it.  But it’s time.   Because ALL honor and glory will be brought to the King of Kings.  He is ALWAYS faithful.  

There will not be a link up tomorrow though.   Tomorrow’s story will stand alone due to the nature of it.  In two weeks, Lord willing, there will be another Memorial Box post and then we will have an opportunity to link to your posts as well.  

Please stop back tomorrow and read an intimate story, to our family, of our miraculous God.  Your heart will be encouraged and you will stand in amazement with us.  Faithful, faithful God.   

14 thoughts on “Tomorrow’s Post

  1. Linny
    I am one who is thrilled you are continuing your Memorial Box Monday stories of God's faithfulness. So true that anyone reading your stories here would know how many challenges and trials you have gone through my friend. I think why it appears that your family is extra blessed by God is that you put your focus on God and His goodness and SEE what He does…we all can too when we look through the lens of God's love in our own lives.
    Looking forward to tomorrows story….

    1. YOu are so sweet my treasured friend. I love you and I am so glad that we get to walk through life together as friends {even if we are far away from each other.}

  2. I am so happy you are starting back….I love even telling others your stories. It makes me so happy! They are all so good, but my favorite so far has been the one about the wallet. I'm still retelling that one!
    Can't wait to read tomorrow!

    1. The wallet is your favorite? I think you are talking about the calendar that I found in DC a few years ago. It was an amazing story – totally miraculous…and the bottom line was that if I hadn't obeyed when He spoke {"pick it up"}…I would have missed out on one of the greatest blessings ever {meeting the Underground pastor}…Anyway, if you should read this comment again, please pray as I write tomorrow's story. I have been praying about how to tell the story for weeks now.

  3. I like the Memorial stories too. I never get the impression that your family is blessed more than others, just that you count your blessings. I can be so forgetful, I think I should do a memorial box too, BUT I keep forgetting to start one! 🙂

  4. Linny,
    I'm so happy you are choosing to share something so intimate with us tomorrow…… risking sounding selfish, my heart needs it right now, my husband is injured and out of work, although we're making it, things are tough, and my mind, body ad heart are tired, I need a reminder that God is here, watching over us. I also have been praying for Lucy…. a little girl in Tennessee who is slowly losing a valiant battle with Medulloblastoma, you can read her Mom, Kate's, Blog here: http://erikandkatekrull.blogspot.com/ ….. praying for her family, remembering a time when my own child almost lost her life as a 13 month old, wondering what my own parents went through in the early 70s, years before I was a glimmer in their eyes, when they went through cancer with my older brother as a 3 year old. Praying, and worrying and thinking about Lucy's Big sister Ella, little brother, Jack, and her parents, who have been fighting this battle, one that just 2 months ago, they thought they had overcome…. My heart is heavy, and I thank God for every blessing I have been given, but I am feeling weight on my shoulders that I know I should give up to HIM, and I'm having a hard time.

    Thank you, for taking the time to share your struggles, and blessings, It means SO very much.

    Love and Blessings,
    Beth

  5. Oh sweet Beth, I am so sorry fo the circumstances you find around you. No doubt, God is faithful, but as humans we just can't see the big picture. I pray God gives you tremendous peace in the midst of all the storms. He, alone, is the only one to cling to.

  6. Please, please keep posting the Memorial Box Monday stories (as you are able of course)! I never grow tired of them, it's so encouraging to read everyone's. Yes, your family has some amazing stories but you have also been through your share of challenges. We serve a great God and he blesses us all in unique ways!

  7. thanks for all your stories, linny…i don't have a memorial box but i do share our special miracle stories sometimes on my blog or in church or in private family times. can i ask you to please pray for our 38-year-old son- he is in the hospital with an as-yet undiagnosed condition that has left him partially paralyzed with lesions on his spine and possibly his brain. he is a man of God, a pastor/evangelist, with a wife and two beautiful children. a tall, strong man two weeks ago,he know lies helpless in a bed. we are holding on for complete recovery. would appreciate so much your prayers. his name is jonathan. thanks for helping us pray.

  8. Grow tired of Memorial Box stories? NOT possible girlfriend! I have never once thought that these stories were only highlighting God's blessings in your lives, but rather that you were showing through your testimonies that God is willing to do this in ALL of our lives! Linny, they increase our faith! As we have been waiting on our new home with only a word from the Lord but no manifesting in the natural, I have been encouraged and challenged to start a memorial box when we finally settle. I can even see what it will look like and while I have shared God-stories on my blog before I never thought about making a memorial to display God's faithfulness. You just keep right on telling! I know that you CHOOSE to remember God's faithfulness and CHOOSE to have joy and CHOOSE to be thankful even when you are having unbelievable trials, even when you are in a desert, even when you are in a holding pattern…I get it! That takes unbelievable surrender and humility–you are a woman of great strength! Don't stop! EVER! Ever! Ever! God is truly the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we NEED these stories…like, serious need sister!:) Praying for you today as DW is away. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Keep telling… keep overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony. Lives are being shaped and changed!
    ~Rory

  9. I love your Memorial Box stories and am glad you words help me to remember to be thankful. I also saw DW's post and am praying for you and Miss Ruby. May the Lord provide healing and rest for both of you!

  10. So glad you are going to continue with the stories of God's faithfulness! I can't tell you how my own faith has grown, being spurred on by your testimony. This is the verse that comes to mind: 'They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.' Rev 12:11

    I have never felt as 'less than' because my story isn't the same as yours. I know the Lord has a plan for each person and he will reveal the things he wants us to know in his own way, and the ways that he blesses us will be unique. To not thrive in that truth is to not believe that God is enough for every one of us.

    By the way, I have been refreshing your site MULTIPLE times today; can you please get that post up before I have to head to a swim meet??? (smile)
    Kim

  11. Memorial Box Mondays are some of my favorite posts, and I always try to read as many of the linked stories as possible. It is so encouraging to read stories of God's work in individual lives. Many times your stories have brought me to tears of praise for God's provision, and sometimes I go back weeks or months later and re-read them.

    I think -one- of the reasons your family has had so many stories of God's blessings and miracles is because you have taken so many risks for His sake. Not only do you have a large family, but you have adopted children with difficult circumstances. You're making God work overtime, which no doubt thrills Him! I think He's a God who loves a challenge, and there you are so generously ready to provide one (or a dozen). 🙂

    I want to have a memorial box in our house, but I am thinking about using one of those large "groupings" of photo frames, you know the kind that are already grouped as one unit, with openings of maybe 5×7 or 3×5? The top half of each photo would be a picture or image that helps us remember, and the bottom half could be a brief, written story about it, so that not only our children can remember, but guests coming to our home can read the stories and see that God has been at work. I think this would work well since our family moves often. Another idea for a family with limited space or who moves a lot might be to have a three-ring binder on a stand in a prominent place, and one side of the open pages could have a photo or image, and the other would have room for the written story.

    I also like the idea of the physical objects *without* a written story because it would cause children and guests to ask about the objects, and the parents to interact as they tell the story. Just seems to me like the written story would work better for our individual situation.

    Love your blog! Thank you for sharing with us and encouraging us!

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