Here I Raise My Ebenezer: God Is in the Details

Back in February, fellow DND author Heather MacFadyen and I had the opportunity to visit at the MomHeart conference in Irving. It was during a conversation in which I shared the story you are about to read that we hit on the “Here I Raise My Ebenezer” idea.

We were both so encouraged by this story, and by other stories of God’s work in regular people’s lives, that we wanted to hear more! More stories! We wondered… what if we all shared our Ebenezer stories? Wouldn’t we all be so encouraged?

But first let me share with you the story that inspired us…

It was the first morning of the MomHeart conference and I did not want to be late. I had signed up for the morning tea, and even though my roommates weren’t quite ready yet I said, “I’ll just head down and grab us a spot.”

I rushed to the tea room, certain I was late as usual, and was surprised to see few women there. It soon became clear that I had gotten the time wrong and was 30 minutes early. Me? Early?

I sat down at an empty table decorated with chocolates and teapots and started fiddling with my phone while I waited for my roommates.

“Excuse me? Are you here alone too?”

I looked up to see a smiling young woman taking a seat across the table. Kimberly introduced herself, and we moved our chairs closer to get acquainted while we waited.

A young mom with a soon-to-be kindergartener and two younger children, Kimberly was eager to homeschool but had no support. She had come to the MomHeart conference hoping to find encouragement, and to ask Sally some questions.

When the tea was over, I invited Kimberly to join our group for lunch, and got to know her a little better. Not only was she making a big decision about homeschooling, she was also about to pack up her family and move to a new town. She was a woman who was heading into some big transitions.

After lunch we went to our rooms and agreed to meet up again to sit together during the conference. When I arrived at the conference room before the first session, I discovered that many of the tables had been reserved. I finally found a table that would fit our group. There were several chairs reserved, but only one woman sitting there.

I introduced myself and asked if we could join her group. “Actually I’m here alone,” she smiled. Just then, Kimberly walked up.

Introductions were made all around, and when our new friend Mica told us the town she was from, Kimberly smiled wide and said, “I’m going to move there in two weeks!”

In a few short moments (as goosebumps prickled my arms), these two young women, who were several hours from home, discovered that not only were they about to live in the same town, but that both had children the same age, were homeschooling, and had unknowingly been at the same church one Sunday. On top of it all, Kimberly’s husband was working in the same place as Mica’s brother!

It was awesome.

I just stood there smiling like a fool. God at work. At work in every detail (including me being early twice – miraculous!), and meeting needs in such a specific way.

Coincidence? No way.

It was totally an Ebenezer moment.

And here is where “more stories” come in. We want to hear about God’s work in your life! From dramatic conversion stories to “little coincidences” that aren’t… we want to hear it. Raise your Ebenezer and encourage the world!

We will host a link-up here at Do Not Depart that goes live on Wednesday May 16, so start writing!

Postscript: I’ve kept in touch with Kimberly and Mica since February. Kimberly and her family moved to Mica’s town two weeks after the conference. After meeting Kimberly’s husband, Mica realized that she had met him once before, when visiting her brother at work. And just this week Kimberly wrote to tell me that both families have been attending the same church for the past month and a half, and are almost finished going through the book “Mission of Motherhood” together.  As Kimberly said, “The story just gets better and better!”