More from Mary Hayes Jackson

I grew up with The Upper Room. My mother, a very faith-filled person, read it religiously every day. She sometimes would read it to us three kids, too. This became very important to me when, as a teenager, I was struggling with my own faith. During this time, Mother shared many Upper Room articles with me, read Bible verses, and assured me of God’s goodness and love. God was her Rock, and she wanted me to know that same God as well. Ours was a church-going family, and our religion was important. The Upper Room helped underscore how God works wonders in our lives every day.

So it was not totally unexpected that I would take the opportunity to submit an article for publication in The Upper Room, and particularly one that speaks to God as a rock. And it was my sister Martha’s experience with cancer that provided for my devotional a rich example of God’s strength, presence, and love in all circumstances. My sister, like my mother, was very faith-filled and knew God was beside her in comfort and promise as she faced the life-threatening “wrath” of cancer. In my devotional I speak of how God lifted her through the gift of rocks on her long journey with this disease.

The rocks I sent her were not fancy rocks but rather ones I picked up here and there, such as on a beach or a mountain road. I liked to describe them as rocks from God. And it was definitely God who nudged me to send those rocks to my sister, guiding me here and there, “pointing them out to me” to send to her as a way for me to be alongside her and to remind us both of God’s everlasting, steadfast love.

Martha died a few years ago. The rocks laid close to her. She died with great faith and knowledge that God, her Rock, was with her and would continue to be with her through eternity.

I have many fond memories of my sister, and in them the rocks often come to mind. Sometimes they bring tears, but also great smiles. For example, over the years, Martha had grown quite a collection of rocks from me, and she always kept some with her on her trips for medical exams. At one point we feared, laughingly, that the rocks in her pocket would “short-out” one of the scan or MRI machines, or perhaps worse, “kick-off” an alarm alerting the medical staff members that she had a dangerous, rock-like growth along her hip! At another point, Martha shared with humor that she had to confess to a nurse that she had not, indeed, gained the needed weight but rather that the culprit was a collection of rocks in her pocket—their weight akin to that of a boulder!

Thanks be to God, and thanks to The Upper Room for being God’s messenger of hope and love.