Finding hope in difficult seasons

Martha Brangenberg Dec. 3, 2021

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I grew up with pictures everywhere—portraits and snapshots. My dad was a photographer who worked exclusively in film, so we had boxes and boxes of printed images on paper and canvas.

Whenever I look back on his photographs—whether in an album, in a box, or on a wall—it brings back a flood of memories, from where we were, to what we were eating, to the people we were with. I get transported back in time. Of course, we also have a lot of pictures from before I was born. But these photographs, too, have memories attached because my mom and dad often tell me the stories of what was going on and who the people captured in the image were.

Photographs are a way to catch a moment in time and then recall and reflect on it later. Without them, we might forget some of these special memories. After all, how many times have we looked at a picture and exclaimed, "Oh, I almost forgot about that!"?

In ancient times they didn't have the benefit of cameras, so they had to do something else to mark significant moments in time. For example, in Joshua 4, after God had created a dry path through the mighty Jordan River for the Israelites to pass through, He told Joshua to have a man from each of Israel's twelve tribes take a stone from the middle of the river and place it on the opposite shore. These stones were like their photographs. They were collected and put together so that future generations would see the twelve stones and ask why they were there. They served as a reminder of what God had done.

I like to call these stones "memory stones."

Sometimes when we are going through something incredibly hard, it's easy to forget the ways that God has provided for us in the past. While in the midst of incredible pressure and despair, David wrote in Psalm 143:4-5:

"I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear. I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done." (NLT)

David knew that when it feels like God is far from us, the best remedy is remembering who God is and how He has worked on our behalf before. What are your mental photographs of God's faithfulness? What are your memory stones? Do you have verses underlined in your Bible, have you written down answered prayers, do you have a tattoo or a special trinket on a bookshelf to help you remember a way that God has provided for you?

Recently, Jim and I were working on a project in our yard and uncovered some large stones. Guess how many there were? Yep, twelve. I'm going to spend the winter planning the best way to incorporate them into our landscape so that they can become a memory stone reminder. A place that I can look at and remember the faithfulness and greatness of God.

Are you having a challenging week at work or a challenging season of life in general? Find a way to remember and mark God's goodness and faithfulness to you in the past. I promise it will help you move forward with confidence.

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Martha Brangenberg is a gifted developer and communicator, who has worked alongside her husband, Jim, in various entrepreneurial ventures over their 35+ years of marriage. In 2013, God called them to begin the iWork4Him Talk Show, where they have had the privilege of challenging thousands across the globe with the simple message that your workplace is your mission field. In addition, she and Jim have co-authored a series of collaborative books, iWork4Him, sheWorks4Him, and iRetire4Him. Learn More »

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