Praying in Faith

I'm a visual person...and there's nothing I love more than a tangible example of something to push me forward in pursuit of it.

My visit to the prayer chapel before our reception was my visual reminder of God's answer to weeks...months...years of prayer prayed in that very pew...for a husband.

My ruby ring was a visual reminder to me to become a Proverbs 31 woman...and I wore it until Ryan replaced it with my engagement ring.

And on our wedding day, rather than doing a unity candle or a sand ceremony, we elected to place engraved stones in a bowl...each of us placed one there, and both stones bore a Scripture passage we'd chosen. In placing those stones, we declared to our tiny cloud of witnesses that we chose to lay a foundation together, based on the Lord.

And on our reception day, together, we placed one more stone in that beginning of a family altar. A stone that held another Scripture reference that we chose together - this time declaring to a bigger cloud of witnesses that we were committed to our vows, to the Lord, and to each other.

Our intention is to build on this altar as we go throughout our lives...placing a stone in the altar each time God does something profound in our lives. We don't know what those stones might be...but we will place them there as God moves.

A few weeks ago, after Ryan did some work on his house we're trying to sell, he came home with a rock, and he put it on the kitchen counter. I asked him what it was for and he shrugged. "I was working under the house and found it there. Thought I'd keep it."

I put my arms around him and said, "It'll be our faith rock. When the house sells, we'll put the date on the rock and put it in our altar. It's perfect."

The rock is sitting on the kitchen shelf, just above the sink, next to our little piece of Christmas tree trunk that we're making an ornament from...and every day when I work in the kitchen, I see the rock.

I'm reminded that one day, we'll get to pull it off the shelf, write a date of thanksgiving on it, and deposit it in our family altar - a testament to the day God answered one of our first big prayers as a married couple. And until that day comes, I pray in faith, believing that one day, the rock will become a rock of thanks.