The Faith Box

Every family has its stories of times when God was faithful. But these stories are only meaningful if we remember them.

Our family decided to keep a tangible reminder of God's goodness right in our living room. We call it our Faith Box. It's really just a little glass-fronted shadow box with various compartments. But rather than mementoes of vacations or events, these compartments hold symbols of times that God helped us in special ways.

We began our Faith Box after hearing friends tell of framing the first dollar they earned after working off a large debt. Every time they saw it, they remembered how God faithfully helped them through that difficult time. Their model came from Joshua 4, where God held back the floodwaters of the Jordan River while the Israelites crossed over. While the priests waited in the middle of the riverbed, a representative of each tribe carried a large rock to be stacked in a memorial mound on the west bank. For years, those stones reminded people of how God kept his word to bring them to the Promised Land.

Today, instead of river rocks, we use other symbols to memorialize our own "faithfulness" stories. For example, a hospital bracelet tells of a faith-testing surgery. A little bag of broken auto glass speaks of the time God protected us when a drunk driver hit us.

Here's how to create your own Faith Box:

Make personal symbols. Our box includes a rolled sheet of paper labeled "mortgage" that reminds us how a commitment to thrift enabled us to pay off our home. Another has the words "Mammo—Psalm 90" for a cancer-free test report and the Bible passage that carried me through that time.

Check out craft stores. Some of our symbols are really dollhouse supplies from a craft store. A tiny telephone tells of the phone call that led to our marriage. Miniature bears, one with a blue ribbon, the other pink, represent the births of our children.

Include the past … and the future. In one slot I put a LifeSavers candy to recall the time my husband nearly drowned in a river tubing accident—a story our children had not heard until we assembled the Faith Box. A few spaces are empty, for we expect more "faith moments" in our lives.

One day I overheard my daughter explaining the box's contents to a non-Christian friend. That's when I knew that the Faith Box was no ordinary decoration.

—Jeanne Zornes

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