As the wife of a worship pastor, I’ve heard the explanation of  “Here I raise mine Ebenezer” more than a few times.  But there are moments when all we’ve heard transforms into all we know.

In 2007, my husband spent ten days in ICU.  Seven of those days he was on life support.  I needed a stone of help like never before in my life.   You see, for me, my husband has always been the rock, the steady one, the person who helps me.  In those moments when the only sounds were the rhythm of the ventilator and the melody of beeping from the symphony of machines keeping him alive, I hit the bottom, rock bottom, so to speak.

I was drained.  Empty.  Helpless.

These are the words God spoke to me through His living Word:

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah Psalm 62:5-8, emphasis added

He reminded me, gently and tenderly, as He is wont to do that He ONLY is my rock, my mighty rock.   

I sat there, alone, yet not alone.  Surrounded by the heavy presence of the Most High God who beckoned me softly to trust Him.  Even now, even with this.

Tears streaming down my face, blurring the words on the pages of my Bible, I cried out like the man who longed for healing for his child, “I believe, help my unbelief.”   And this God, this Rock, this Refuge, He met me where I was.  He accepted my fears, my doubts, even my anger and my hurt.

There in an ICU room in a hospital in south Georgia, I laid down me and I raised my Ebenezer.  I chose to walk in faith that the road ahead would not leave me alone, for He would be with me.  I chose to trust in Him.  And He has been my refuge.

My husband has on his desk at the church a set of prayer rocks with various words for prompting prayers.  A few years ago my daughter made sets of prayer rocks for her great-grandmother and her great-aunt.  I have a little rock myself.  A piece of gravel from the driveway of our home in south Georgia.  I picked it up one morning after Scott was home from the hospital and doing much better.  Because I wanted something to remind me … not a prompt to pray for my husband but an Ebenezer, a rock of help, to remind me of the God who is my Rock.

How has Scripture been an Ebenezer in your life?  Are there passages that refocus you, remind you of the faithfulness of God in your life?  Would you share them with us in the comments today?