Week 21 --- 1 Samuel 7:12

Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!”


I love this scripture. Anything with an illustration always helps me understand. I made my own Ebenezer stone to give to my dad for Father's Day. I feel like my family has a lot of changes coming up, and what a great reminder that up to this point, the Lord has helped us! --- why would he not continue to?

I was thinking about the phrase, 'up to this point'...and it really made me want to go back and look at the past a little. A couple summers ago a friend really challenged me on the issue of trust. I was struggling with fear and anxiety, and she said I should go through and write out my "even if" statements. Basically identifying the things that I was afraid of and then writing out that even if this happens, I will still trust the Lord. I looked at the journal entry that I wrote three years ago, and it just broke my heart that every single thing I wrote has happened. They weren't huge life altering things, just the small worries that never went away.

07/12/08

God I will trust you even if no one chooses me
God I will trust you even if I am in retail forever (this one makes me smile today)
God I will trust you even if the people I love, love other people
God I will trust you even if all of my friends have babies, even if I don’t
God I will trust you even if I’m scared
God I will trust you even if I fall asleep alone every night

Oh it just makes me tear up!!! But what a blessing to know for sure that God is bigger and stronger than my fears. Up to this point the Lord has helped me. What a blessing to know that I will still trust even when my life is difficult. I have decided that sacrifice is such a priviledge. I feel like God is asking me to sacrifice the picture/idea I have of home, in exchange for the work that He wants to do for the kindgom through my Dad. And my response is that I'm all in. :) I was hesistant and a little angry at first, but now I know for sure that when faced with that question, I pick Jesus and His ministry first. Always.

God is doing so much in my heart I could just burst. I feel like I have a lot to say. More to come. :)