Gathering Stones: Remembering All That God Has Done For You

By Sara W. Berry

A forty-day devotional that calls Christians to remember who God is, what He has promised, what He has instructed, and what He has done.

There were many times in the Bible when believers gathered stones as reminders of the great truths of God’s power and grace. Remembering these truths is a conscious act?an effort that provides great reward for one’s soul. Deuteronomy 4:9 (NLT) says, “But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.” Follow the journey of Sara W. Berry as she shares some of her own “stones of remembrance” stories and inspires readers to see the miracles of God wrapped up in ordinary life. Gathering Stones is the perfect devotional for any need of spiritual inspiration. It encourages readers to collect their own stones of remembrance as they see Him more clearly in everyday life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781631956164

Sara W. Berry

Sara W. Berry is an award-winning author, publisher, and teacher, and is the founder and CEO of Integrity Time, a character-building educational company. Sara is married to Dr. Mont Berry, and is mother to seven children and three children in-law. She lives in Tupelo, Mississippi. sarawberry.com

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DAY 1

Remembering Why We Must Remember:

Why Forty Days?

Welcome to Day 1 of a 40-day journey. Before we begin, there is something I believe is important to understand: Why 40?

There are many references in the Bible to certain key numbers. I call them holy numbers. Some of the most common are 3, 7, 12, and 40. The number 3 can be classified as holy perfection like the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The number 7 indicates completion and perfection—like the 7 days of creation. The number 12 often encompasses the family of God, representing all God’s people, and reminds us of the covenant or unending promise of relationship between God and His people—like the 12 tribes of Israel or the 12 disciples. And the number 40 is often a number of cleansing and preparation for the extraordinary.

Remember Noah? How many days did cleansing rain fall to the earth to rid it of wickedness? Yep, it was 40 days and 40 nights. The Israelites wandered for 40 years as they were cleansed and prepared to enter the Promised Land. Even in church traditions, 40 is a significant number as evidenced in the 40 days of Lent, the time of preparation before Easter.

So the answer to Why 40? is that we choose to remember for 40 days in order to be cleansed. In order to be transformed. In order to invite the preparation of the Holy Spirit to make our hearts and minds ready for God to do something extraordinary in our ordinary lives.

This bears repeating: God loves to take our ordinary lives and make them extraordinary. Trust Him. Wait and see. Be still and know that He is God. He is with you. He is for you. He wants to show you how lovingly He can transform you and take you to the extraordinary places of His purpose for your life. And it begins with remembering.

Focus Verse: Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. ~ Psalm 51:10 (NASB)

Focus Prayer: Lord, may we know that You, who began a good work in us, will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. In Jesus’ Name, amen. (Philippians 1:6)

DAY 2:

Remembering Why We Must Remember:

Why Be Strong and Courageous?

The Israelites in days of old were a lot like me. They acknowledged God, but they often let their hearts grow hard. They had been miraculously rescued from slavery in Egypt, yet their trust in God quickly failed. They reached the edge of the Promised Land, but they were afraid to go in. They were scared of the giants in the land. They thought they might be safer on the outside looking in than on the inside gathering all that God had promised them.

Only Joshua and his buddy Caleb believed. So the Israelites were punished with a season of wandering. They wandered for 40 years. There’s that number again. They needed cleansing. They needed preparation. So that is what God orchestrated on their behalf. In fact, they wandered until the entire unbelieving generation had died off. Caleb and Joshua alone were prepared to lead the next generation into the Promised Land.

When the 40 years were complete, the time had come. I bet God was excited—just like I am when my kids open their presents on Christmas morning. And He had picked just the right person to lead them into the Promised Land. Joshua wasn’t perfect, but he had humility of heart.

Joshua is a person to whom I can relate. He outwardly appeared strong and courageous, yet inwardly he must have dealt with fear and insecurity, confusion and discouragement.

In the first chapter of the book of Joshua, we see that God told Joshua three different times to be strong and courageous. Three different times God reminded Joshua that He would be with him and that He would never leave him or forsake him. And that is just in the first chapter!

Why did God have to tell him to be strong and courageous so many times? I think it is because Joshua was an ordinary man who was called to an extraordinary job by his extraordinary God. And because he was ordinary, just like you and me, he waxed and waned between great seasons of faith, courage, and confidence and fear, doubt, and discouragement.

When he was tempted toward fear and doubt, Joshua knew where to go for help. He continued his faithful obedience to God, listening for instruction and courageously following what God said. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to press on despite the fear. And Joshua knew that true courage comes from the Source of all good things—God. Ask God to give you courage