How often do you take time to think about the good things God has done for you over the years? If you are like me, you don’t do it as often as you should. It is so easy to focus on life’s difficulties and develop amnesia about the wonderful things God does for us.
Recently I read 1 Samuel 7:12 and it gave me cause to pause and think about the many ways the Lord has helped me over the course of my life.
1 Samuel 7:12 (NIV): 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.”
I could fill an entire book with all the good things, blessings, and help I have received from God, but all too often I choose not to remember them. Jesus is not blessed by my forgetfulness!
Today I want us to take some time to set up our very own Ebenezer stone. I want us to use today’s post and the corresponding comments section as a stone of remembrance that we will name “Ebenezer”. On this post, our Ebenezer, we will recount ways that ‘thus far has the LORD helped us.’ This will be a way to remind, not only ourselves, but those who stop by and read that God is good and He is still all about blessing His kids, even in the midst of difficult days. So, what is your ‘thus far has the Lord helped us’ story? I’ll tell you one of mine and then you share yours. Come on, join in and let’s encourage one another and bless the name of our God!
In 2006 Greg and I purchased land from my sister which joins our property. There was a partially built home on the property consisting of a finished basement. Despite a warning in my heart, we moved ahead to finish the house and put in on the market as a spec house.
Midway through construction the economy started going south, so when the house was complete we were basically stuck with it. Stuck for several years. We listed it with real estate agents and had lots of ‘lookers’ come by, but no offers at all. Each month when the mortgage came due, I became physically sick. We now had two mortgages—our home and the spec house.
We did everything we could to make the house attractive to buyers—and it was. It was a beautiful home. The problem was not in the home itself. The problem was the economy. Our local economy is driven by the Florida economy which was in worse shape than the Georgia economy. If Florida folks can’t sell their Florida homes, they cannot buy homes in the north Georgia mountains.
Over the course of two years, we lowered the price on the home several times, just hoping to get out from under the mortgage. We even considered putting our home on the market and moving to the spec house if our home sold. Believe me, I went through every mental gyration possible over this house.
I prayed diligently for the Lord to send buyers. I repented over the fact we had built the house to start with. I knew in my heart we should not have done it, but it was done and we had to live with the consequences. Understand, I am the type who can worry about something so much that I turn a hang-nail into cancer in ten minutes flat. I was convinced we would lose everything we had and be forced to live in our 5th wheel camper. Bottom line, I was terrified of the consequences of our disobedience in building the house.
Finally, in early 2009 we sold the home and property. The loss on the home and land was in the six figures range, but let me tell you, I’ve never been so glad to lose so much money in my entire life. We did not lose our home or anything else. God was so merciful to us and I was rejoicing in the fact that we were out from under the mortgage, insurance, upkeep, etc.
What I did not think about were the possible blessings that I might come out of this. It never entered my mind that God would bless us in any way in spite of our disobedience. Nope! It never occurred to me.
Well, He did. When tax time rolled around in early 2010, we got money back from the IRS because of the loss on the house. And do you know how much we got back? Almost exactly enough to pay our son’s college tuition for all four years!!!
Blessing!!! Delight!!! Amazing!!!
Thus far has the Lord helped us!!!
Now, it’s your turn. Share your ‘thus far has the Lord helped us’ story. Come on, I know you have one. Spill the beans!!
