"I will build an altar, And stack it stone by stone
'Cause every Ebenezer says I've never been alone
My faith will surely falter
But that don't change what You've done
'Cause every Ebenezer points to where my help comes from"
(Still Just as Good, Chris Renzema)

In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, the word Ebenezer comes from a time when Samuel marked God’s defeat of the Philistines by placing a stone and proclaiming that God was the source of the Israelites’ help. Ebenezer means “stone of help”.

The unit of “Experiencing God” that I’m studying this week places an emphasis on spiritual markers, on recording those times or events in our lives when we heard God clearly, when we saw His hand at work in our lives, when our faith in Him grew, when we knew He was there with us and for us.

The practice of identifying or placing spiritual markers is not something I’d ever done, and, up until recently, I have always been more likely to ask God to bless what I was doing or planning to do than I was to watch for and write down what He was doing or had done for me before.

But yesterday morning, the importance of intentionally recording the spiritual markers in my walk with God and rehearsing the history of His faithfulness to me is hitting pretty hard.

You see, yesterday morning, I woke up in a spiritual battle of worth and purpose. Before I even opened my eyes, my mind was filled with questions about the present and the future, and a sense of hopelessness set in:

“What am I doing with my life? My consulting calendar isn’t booked up like I thought it would be. All my entries to publishers or devotion sets have been declined without feedback. I don’t have a writing plan right now or even feel much like writing. I must have heard God wrong.”

Then came the crushing fear that God doesn’t have a specific plan for me, that I’m not good enough, that I’ve made too many missteps, been too headstrong, too rebellious, to have a destiny with Him like all the studies I’ve done recently promise, and a series of doubts began to overwhelm me, pushing me back toward the prison of needing to prove my worth to myself, of over-reaching and striving and straining and seeking control.

Oh friends, sometimes our minds can take a turn down a terribly dark road.

But every Ebenezer says I’ve never been alone.

Standing in my kitchen, numb, trapped in my own head, vaguely aware of the sound of the coffee pot spitting the last few drops of pumpkin spice goodness into my cup, the chorus of “Still Just as Good” began to play through the doubts and the fears.

Every Ebenezer points to where my help comes from.

That morning, I was feeling a little lost and more than a little fearful.

But that morning’s episode is not the story of my life. The story of my life is dotted with Ebenezers, with time and time again that God has rescued me, redeemed my situation, transformed my thinking, grown my heart, healed someone I love, protected me from harm, opened doors and closed doors. The story of my life is part of God’s story and God’s story is filled with His faithfulness to His children, with His promises and steadfast love.

It took some time, but rehearsing these truths and the Scripture that proves them has calmed my heart and mind enough to write this reminder:

Everyone has a purpose in God’s story, and His plan for each person is always good (Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 2:10).

Sweet friend, God doesn’t even think in terms of “good enough”. Deservedness went out the window when Jesus paid our sin debt, and in His great love for us God replaced law with grace.

Dear heart, to see God’s perfect purpose and plan working in our lives, we must simply make ourselves available to Him: seeking Him first, giving Him our daily offering of time, talent, treasure, holding loosely to our plans and our dreams so our hands are better able to take hold of what He has in store.

After I hit “post”, I intend to get to my journal and continue recording more of the history of God’s faithfulness. If you don’t have a practice of recording and rehearsing spiritual markers, may I encourage you to start today?

Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel…the practice of stacking stones to mark the history of God’s faithfulness is as old as time for a reason:

It works to remind us that we are not alone. It reminds us where and from Whom our help comes. It gives us the evidence we need to push back the enemy during times of spiritual battle.

I’m going to stack stones by putting pen to paper and then fingers to keyboard.

Will you join me? I’d love to hear about some of your Ebenezers in the comments, and I’m sure they’d be an encouragement to others as well.