We had some work done in our garden last week; nothing too exciting: a new fence, a bit of pruning, and a bit of levelling off of the ground. Our garden is quite small so every part of it is precious and much needed! We have three daughters, including a very inquisitive preschooler who loves investigating outdoors, so we were thrilled when the work was done and the limited space in our garden was maximised.
As the guys were finishing off, they were levelling the ground and discovered a BIG stone in the
ground. They were really surprised at its size, and it took the two of them to move it onto a level surface to investigate it. After a bit of debate and cleaning off, they decided it was a “cornerstone,” probably from the house next door, which used to be a manor. (Just to clarify, we do not live in a manor of any kind! Our house is messy, well-loved, used, run through with an the array of crunched up potato crisps on the sofa, paint spillages, dirty clothes and everything else that goes with a house of three girls!) The guys surmised that it probably would have been part of a wall at one time, bordering our house. The shape of it and the way it had been chiselled certainly seemed to fit with the description of a cornerstone. It was covered in dirt but, at the same time, it was beautiful.
When they told me they thought it could be a cornerstone, my heart leapt and my thoughts immediately turned to the song by Hillsong Worship “Cornerstone” (insert link here) and the fact that God is our cornerstone. Praise him! This song has helped me through many seasons of my life.
When we struggled to have a baby early on in our marriage, I really felt that God had forgotten me, that I had done something wrong, and that he was punishing and rejecting me by not giving me a baby. I even remember saying to my husband that he should divorce me and go and get married to someone who could give him a baby! (Needless to say, he ignored me and we are still very happily married!) It was a tough time. So many tears and so much sadness, but God gently led me from a place of bitterness to a better place and we were delighted to adopt two beautiful girls in 2007. In 2011, we were elated to find out that I was pregnant!
God is good. He can use any circumstance, any sadness, any loss for GOOD and I praise him for blessing us with the three beautiful (and at times, challenging!) girls we have today. He is the cornerstone of all that goes on in our lives. He is in control! When I have struggled with God’s timing, he gently reminds me that he is in charge and he will lead us through. When I have struggled with feeling rejected, lost, or frightened, God reminds me that he has never left me nor forsaken me. Every time I look at that cornerstone in our garden (because of course we had to keep it and “display” it!) it remains God’s gentle reminder to me.
Ruth Bartholomew
Post a Comment