My Ebenezer Stone...

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12

I have been thinking and thinking about our memories this week, and how important a "feature" that is in the human being. As I prepare for this next school year and all the new experiences we will have, I can't help but get nostalgic. And as I look back at our life since May of 1998...I have to say, I wouldn't change a thing. Mistakes and successes, tears and laughter- how could I take one thing back, because it has all brought us to today?

When I read Samuel's words "Thus far has the LORD helped us", I get goose pimples, because that is so what I can say- "Thus far the LORD has helped me". He never said die, never said quit, and is continually patient and faithful to a stinker like me. How can that not put a smile on my face? Now, I might not have heard him thunder over my head, and throw an entire Philistine army into a panic so I could whoop their butts (1 Samuel 7), but I have certainly heard Him whisper love in my ear, felt Him fight the internal demons of despair and self loathing, and I have watched Him grow and mature the most beautiful people in my life in miraculous ways. Oh, if I could remember these days- "Thus far the LORD has helped us".

Now I need to go for a walk and find my own Ebenezer Stone for the patio- one that I might "set up (stand on end)" to remind me always what the Lord has done.