From the archives of eat.live.make, originally posted on January 10, 2013

Since I have been a hiker I have been a lover, admirer and builder of cairns. 

The cairns in Arches National Park once helped me find my way back to our trailhead in the deep snow when footprints weren't visible. 

And for a while, this photo hung in our living room above our couch.

Not necessarily because I thought the photo was amazing, but to serve as a remembrance.

To help me remember where I came from, and where I am going. 

I don't know if your aware of this, but the first "cairn"(or then God called it an ebenezer)  was built by the Israelites as a reminder  of where God had brought his people. 

So that when their children, and their children's children asked about the stones, they would be told of the way the Lord brought the 12 tribes of Israel and the Arc of the Covenant  through the cut off waters of the Jordan River . 

Since then, people have built these simple structures of stacked rocks to serve as a guide when traveling or hiking in the wilderness. 

They serve as a way to help the hiker find themselves safely home.

But to me, cairns mean so much more. 

I have walked through several hard seasons of life. 

Many heartaches, many disappointments, many triumphs, and lots of pain and uncertainty. 

And during each season, during each heartache, I am reminded that I need to remember.

Just as the Israelites were told to build an ebenezer to remember where the Lord brought them, I must too remember. 

For my sake, for my husband's sake, for our children's sake and their children's sake. 

That my journey can serve as pillars of remembrance  of God's providence and deliverance. 

In life, I am not able to build structural cairns to remember each deliverance and each journey. 

So I get creative. 

I have prayers I keep. Journals I keep to remember. Paintings and art I have created help me remember. And tattoos help me remember. One of my next tattoos is  going to be a simple cairn. 

So that I can remember, and give testament for the rest of my life to God's faithfulness