This has been a year of monstrous change in my family’s life. Sean and I started the year by attending a marriage intensive at the Focus on the Family Retreat in Branson. I think ten years into a marriage that we didn’t take the time to necessarily start well, it was probably time to do some hard work to help the next ten years be better. It was amazing. We are better together, and better separately. God is good.
Upon returning, we promptly had to deal with real life in a variety of areas. Isn’t that always the case? Spring brought about a lot of changes in several parts of our life. We were thankful for the skills we had learned and often look back and refer back to the things that came home with us. We’re not perfect, but it’s a night and day difference from last year at this time.
We’re now just a few weeks from school starting again, because being in a teacher’s household it really ramps up about two weeks early. And it seems like this summer has flown by. We’ve spent quite a bit of time traveling and thoroughly enjoying being with friends and family. One of the big changes that has come from this summer, though, is me acknowledging and finally accepting God’s call to ministry. We are now gearing up for me to return to school full time so that I can be working toward ordination in the next few years. I don’t yet know what all it’s going to look like, but it’s amazing the relief I feel since finally beginning this process.
One of most important things that I have been trying to do as I notice each place where God has reached down and touched our story is to make sure and document it somehow. On our way home from Branson, we saw a quilt shop on the side of the road. We went in and found a quilt for our bed. It was the mark of our fresh start. Our Ebenezer. And I look back on it often and remember how faithful God was to bring us to that place and lead us through the hard stuff for our good and his glory.
I’ve always been a fan of the old hymns of the faith, and “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” certainly fits that category, in my opinion. Honestly, it’s one of my favorites. And the second verse plays through my mind quite frequently lately.
“Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here by Thy great help I've come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home”
Ever since we left Branson at the end of our intensive, it has been on repeat in my brain. I’ve finally spent some time looking into the meaning behind it in the last week. It’s certainly an interesting history. In 1 Samuel 5, there is a story recorded about Israel and the Philistines. The Ark had been lost to the Philistines in a battle at Ebenezer. The Ark was in their possession for seven months. Seven long months after that battle. These months were filled with death and destruction. Consequences, really, for the fight they picked with the God of the universe. During this time, they tried to ship it off to other places, who promptly told them where exactly they could keep it. They were finally able to get it moved by sending it, along with a ton of guilt offerings, back out of their possession. But on the way back to Israel it got stopped, for 20 years…
All the time it was missing, Israel mourned. Besides having lost 34,000 men in the battle at Ebenezer, they also lost the Ark of God. Chapter 7 picks up in verse 3 with Samuel telling Israel what they had to do to to return to God. It was a short list, really. And Israel immediately went about doing what God commanded. While they were gathered, the Philistines heard that they were all together and decided to attack again. It seems that Israel had learned their lesson, though. They asked Samuel to continue praying for them, and they went to battle with the Philistines. God answered Samuel’s prayers and thundered with a great thunder. The Philistines were confused and Israel was able to subdue them.
And Samuel placed a stone between Mizpah and Shen and named it Ebenezer, meaning ‘stone of help’, saying, “Thus far, the Lord has helped us.” He marked the moment and they remembered the salvation that had been visited on them. Verse 13 goes on to tell us, “So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.” Their faithfulness was rewarded. Not just in that battle, but for many years. God honored their return to him, and they had a marker that they could look back on for the rest of their days.
Another country tries to attack? Look at that rock! Remember when God was with us then? He will be with us now. There’s a famine in the land? Oh! Look at that stone! God took care of us then, he’ll take care of us now. The same God who showed up for that battle is present at all the battles, and when we choose to intentionally remember not only where we have been but what we’ve been called to, I believe it makes it so much easier to keep walking. Not that it’s easy, I don’t think it will be. But easier.
Upon returning, we promptly had to deal with real life in a variety of areas. Isn’t that always the case? Spring brought about a lot of changes in several parts of our life. We were thankful for the skills we had learned and often look back and refer back to the things that came home with us. We’re not perfect, but it’s a night and day difference from last year at this time.
We’re now just a few weeks from school starting again, because being in a teacher’s household it really ramps up about two weeks early. And it seems like this summer has flown by. We’ve spent quite a bit of time traveling and thoroughly enjoying being with friends and family. One of the big changes that has come from this summer, though, is me acknowledging and finally accepting God’s call to ministry. We are now gearing up for me to return to school full time so that I can be working toward ordination in the next few years. I don’t yet know what all it’s going to look like, but it’s amazing the relief I feel since finally beginning this process.
One of most important things that I have been trying to do as I notice each place where God has reached down and touched our story is to make sure and document it somehow. On our way home from Branson, we saw a quilt shop on the side of the road. We went in and found a quilt for our bed. It was the mark of our fresh start. Our Ebenezer. And I look back on it often and remember how faithful God was to bring us to that place and lead us through the hard stuff for our good and his glory.
I’ve always been a fan of the old hymns of the faith, and “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” certainly fits that category, in my opinion. Honestly, it’s one of my favorites. And the second verse plays through my mind quite frequently lately.
“Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here by Thy great help I've come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home”
Ever since we left Branson at the end of our intensive, it has been on repeat in my brain. I’ve finally spent some time looking into the meaning behind it in the last week. It’s certainly an interesting history. In 1 Samuel 5, there is a story recorded about Israel and the Philistines. The Ark had been lost to the Philistines in a battle at Ebenezer. The Ark was in their possession for seven months. Seven long months after that battle. These months were filled with death and destruction. Consequences, really, for the fight they picked with the God of the universe. During this time, they tried to ship it off to other places, who promptly told them where exactly they could keep it. They were finally able to get it moved by sending it, along with a ton of guilt offerings, back out of their possession. But on the way back to Israel it got stopped, for 20 years…
All the time it was missing, Israel mourned. Besides having lost 34,000 men in the battle at Ebenezer, they also lost the Ark of God. Chapter 7 picks up in verse 3 with Samuel telling Israel what they had to do to to return to God. It was a short list, really. And Israel immediately went about doing what God commanded. While they were gathered, the Philistines heard that they were all together and decided to attack again. It seems that Israel had learned their lesson, though. They asked Samuel to continue praying for them, and they went to battle with the Philistines. God answered Samuel’s prayers and thundered with a great thunder. The Philistines were confused and Israel was able to subdue them.
And Samuel placed a stone between Mizpah and Shen and named it Ebenezer, meaning ‘stone of help’, saying, “Thus far, the Lord has helped us.” He marked the moment and they remembered the salvation that had been visited on them. Verse 13 goes on to tell us, “So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.” Their faithfulness was rewarded. Not just in that battle, but for many years. God honored their return to him, and they had a marker that they could look back on for the rest of their days.
Another country tries to attack? Look at that rock! Remember when God was with us then? He will be with us now. There’s a famine in the land? Oh! Look at that stone! God took care of us then, he’ll take care of us now. The same God who showed up for that battle is present at all the battles, and when we choose to intentionally remember not only where we have been but what we’ve been called to, I believe it makes it so much easier to keep walking. Not that it’s easy, I don’t think it will be. But easier.