This Post Should Have a Title, BUT I Can't Think of One

I just had the most wonderful weekend.

I was at Maranatha Bible & Missionary Conference speaking for a women's retreat. And God was present in a very real way. So thankful for how He showed up in these women's lives.
Sunday morning I gave my final talk, wrapping up our study of Exodus 14. Specifically, we looked at verses 29-31. I introduced this talk by sharing with the women one of my greatest insecurities, and followed it up by telling them how God has changed my viewpoint. And after the whole thing was over, one of the ladies gave me this stone - because it reminded her of what I had said in my introduction. She said, "I hope you won't be offended, but I want to give you this stone."

Can you guess what it is?

Go ahead, be honest. What does it look like to you?

Let me help you out.
Sunday morning I told a few (now) funny stories from my young teen years when I was teased by boys. (The stories were sooooo not funny when I was a young teen. *ahem*) At summer camp a group of boys dedicated the song "Fat Bottomed Girls" to me. Sang the chorus to me frequently throughout the week. That was also the week "Hippo" became my nickname. And the following school year another boy started calling me "Buffalo," because he said I sounded like a heard of buffalo running down the steps behind him after our first hour class.
Needless to say, I became very insecure about my body. Specifically the back-side of it. I hated my shape, and every reference to a "big butt".

Imagine my surprise when God showed me over and over again that His very Word is full of big BUTs.

If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.
Psalm 66:18-19

But you, O God, are my king from of old;
you bring salvation upon the earth.
Psalm 74:12

But you, O LORD, are exalted forever.
Psalm 92:8

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Romans 8:10

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Galatians 2:20

And the one we looked at Sunday morning:

But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
Exodus 14:29-31

Do you see them? The big BUTs in God's Word.
They're all over the place and they remind me that things are different in God's economy.
The things of this world may go one way, BUT with God - they go another way.
On my own I have no hope, BUT with God my hope never ends.

And that's why I can now say, I love a big BUT. As long as it's God's big BUT.
*wink*

So, now take a look at that stone again. Do you see it?

Yep, I've got my own little "butt" to carry in my pocket - to remind me of God's big BUTs. And the never ending hope I have in Him because of them!