Lake Michigan has been a familiar and well-loved shoreline since my earliest memories. My siblings and I grew up loving both the Illinois and Michigan sides of the lake, while our California cousins grew up on a different shoreline, next to different waters. They fell in love with the mighty Pacific Ocean and its beaches.

All of us appreciate our pasts on different shores and try still to “beach it” frequently. These wonders, shells, rocks, white powdery sand, tan squeaky sand, salt water, fresh water and sea glass, fascinate us. The rocks, especially, bring delight to me. This week, while looking over my multiple buckets of stones, each one picked up because of its beauty, I came across my small stash of heart-shaped rocks. None are more precious than the 16 hearts the Lord hand-delivered to me on one beach walk during Nate’s struggle with cancer.

Although I might go many months without finding one heart-stone, that day I came home with 16, one for every member of our family including the three then-unborn babies. It was a bonanza of love poured down from my heavenly Father. Although his love surrounds all of us every minute of every day, he knew I needed a visual reminder and delivered it with excellence. (See Oct. 18 blog post, “Take Heart.“) Since that unusual day seven months ago, I’ve found only two additional heart-shaped stones.

This week I chatted with my friend Linda, an artist and lover of all things beach, about the possibility of framing the 16 hearts. She gave me the ideas I needed to pursue the project this summer. Once this collection of hearts is hanging on my cottage wall, it’ll be a steady reminder of God’s ever-present love, available in abundance and surrounding us continually, even when we can’t see it.

Recently I received a package from far-away California sent by a beach-loving relative who has the same high regard for stones that I do. The small box my cousin Patti sent was filled with sweet love, and it means a great deal to me. Attached to the sand-colored box was her intriguing note: “From my beach to yours, remembering Nate and thinking of you.” I paused to ponder what might be inside but couldn’t guess.

Lifting the lid, I saw a spectacular rock sitting atop a square of cotton fluff, the likes of which I’d never seen. Carved by nature into the layers of this sedimentary specimen were multiple hearts, one inside the other as if a sculptor had done it on purpose. And in a sense it had been sculpted, but not by a person. The Artist who created beaches in the first place is still busy producing impressive stones and most probably did sculpt it on purpose.

I know Patti would like to have kept that remarkable rock, yet she surrendered it to me, knowing of our shared love for beach stones and wanting to send love across the 2000 miles between us in a meaningful way. She succeeded, and I count her stone among my most precious treasures.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)