Good Morning!
I Samuel 7:1 "...and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord. And, Samuel said, "If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of foreign gods...and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only...So, the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only."
Verse 12 "Then Samuel took a stone and set in up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us."
It's officially here, SPRING! Across the street I get to enjoy a beautiful forest of dogwoods in my neighbor's yard and her white azaleas. In my backyard is a blanket of pink azaleas. Everything is so beautiful!! I also have in my backyard, a hydrangea bush that is starting to green again and I hope will soon have some beautiful blue blooms. It's not just any hydrangea bush. This hydrangea is my "Ebenezer". This is one of my reminders that "thus far the Lord has helped us." This hydrangea was a gift from my four sisters when we learned that my younger son, Daniel, had a chronic liver disease in 2004. Daniel had Wilson's disease, a condition where your body doesn't get rid of copper. The copper had pretty much eaten up his liver and he had to have a liver transplant. As difficult and horrific as they may sound it was still one of the most awesome times of our lives. We saw firsthand the mighty hand of God and truly felt His presence with us each and every step of the way...from beginning to end. God performed a miracle in Daniel's life and I am so very thankful I got to watch!!!!
So, when I see that hydrangea bush starting to bloom, it's just one of many reminders of God's faithfulness and how He helped us through that difficult time. Just having the privilege of looking at my son everyday is another reminder. Thank you, Lord God, for your goodness to us!!
Here's something to think about today. Do you have an Ebenezer? It doesn't necessarily have to be something tangible. It can be a time you remember God's faithfulness to help you through a difficult situation. The point is to REMEMBER! Maybe you've forgotten and you need a reminder today that God is faithful and that God is good. If you're facing a difficult situation and feel like God is far, far away then you may need to do as the children of God did and mourn your sin and seek His face and repent and ask God to help you through.
"Come, thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise;
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine EBENEZER; Hither by thy help I'm come;
And, I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home;
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee;
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above."
Robert Robinson
1 Samuel 7:12
