After the death of her beloved husband Frank, Kathy Lee Gifford spoke out about his life and his legacy. She shared how Frank had grown up incredibly poor but with a deep-rooted faith — something that had shaped him into the humble and grateful man she deeply loved.
In recent years they had taken a trip to the Holy Land and visited the brook of Elah where they were encouraged to pick up a stone, just as David had done in that place. The significance of picking up their stones was discovering their gift and doing what only they could do to help transform this hurting world in desperate need of God.
Kathy Lee spoke of how Frank had been transformed by that trip and that when people came to visit, it wasn’t his trophies or awards that he proudly shared but the stone that he had picked up that day in the Holy Land. He shared with them his greatest achievement — his faith.
They encouraged their children by gifting them with a stone of their own, telling them to throw them hard and well to further God’s Kingdom.
I was deeply moved by her story and encouraged to write this message.
David has always been one of my favorite biblical characters. I could see myself in his failures and in his deep love for God. I especially love the story of David defeating Goliath.
I try to imagine what it might have been like for the Israelites facing this giant, day after day.
Goliath was 10 feet tall with a bronze helmet on his head, a bronze coat of armor weighing 125 lbs, bronze shin guards on his legs and on his back a bronze javelin. The shaft of his spear was described as a beam or a fence post and the head was made of 15 lbs of iron and the man who carried his shield walked ahead of him.
Every morning and night for forty days this giant came forward and challenged them.
Goliath stood and called to the Israelites, “Why do you form a battle line? Am I not a Philistine, and aren’t you Saul’s servants? Choose a man, and let him come down to fight me. If he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I overpower him and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.” The Philistine added, “I challenge the Israelite battle line today. Send out a man so that we can fight each other.” When Saul and all the Israelites heard what this Philistine said, they were gripped with fear.
1 Samuel 17:8-11
Pretty intimidating, right?
We’ve all had goliaths in our lives — giants that challenge us day in and day out.
It may be a person, or circumstances, or the shame and guilt of our past or insecurities that hold us back — but those giants grip us with fear and keep us far from the plans God has for us.
They will continue to challenge us, day after day until we decide to stop listening to those voices that terrify us and choose instead to listen to the voice of truth.
God is for us and if He is for us, who can be against us? (<====Click To Tweet)
I spent most of my life feeling as if I had no value and nothing to offer. I’m not athletic (I can’t run and dribble a basketball to save my life), I struggle with retaining information and staying on task (which always made me feel stupid), and I can’t play an instrument or sing (although I might be able to get a recording contract in my car). I’m an artist but I always feared I wasn’t good enough.
Those giants didn’t just torment me for forty days but forty years.
Fortunately our God is faithful and so very patient. He continued to bring people into my life to encourage me and build me up. When I was completely broken He put me back together — stronger and more confident, not in who I was but in who He IS. He silenced the giants and taught me how to defeat them — He led me to that place to pick up my stone.
Today I can say with confidence that I am a writer. I don’t have to worry about not being good enough. I don’t have to try to be something that I’m not. (<====Click To Tweet) I just have to believe He is who He says He is and I am who He says I am.
That’s how David believed. He knew that it was the hand of God that had not only protected him in the past from the lion and the bear as he watched over his sheep but helped him to defeat them. He knew that the giant was no match for his God. He also knew who he was and who he was not.
Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can hardly move!” he exclaimed, and took them off again. Then he picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd’s bag and, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, started across to Goliath.
1 Samuel 17:38-40
David knew that he was not Saul. He couldn’t fight as Saul had fought so he slayed the giant Goliath in the way that he knew — with one stone.
Sometimes we try to be something or someone that we’re not. We see the way others are gifted and think we need to speak/write/act like they do to succeed but the truth is that God gave each of us our own gifts.
We all have gifts and callings that are uniquely ours and just like David, it’s up to us to pick up our stones and slay those giants.
“The goal is not accomplishing the dream that God has given you. The dream is the secondary issue. The primary issue is who you become in the process. We fixate on what and when and where. God’s primary concern is always who. And He won’t get you where He wants you to go until you become who He wants you to be.”
Mark Batterson, Soul Print
David may have started off that day as a shepherd boy but by the end of it he had become a giant slayer.
So what are you waiting for — pick up your stone.
Shared by: Lanette Haskins
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