Ebenezer Stone

Ebenezer Stone

I have always liked rocks. Some people buy souvenirs when they travel to different areas and I just pick up pretty rocks. I have red rocks, green rocks, blue rocks, rocks in different shapes that resemble other objects, and some rocks to remember someone or an occasion, so crazy as it might seem, I have a pile of rocks.

We once lived for a few years in South Missouri. It was a rock lover’s paradise where people even created fence posts with rocks. It was, however, a little difficult if you wanted to plant a garden, unless it was a rock garden, because there were many rocks to remove and I ended up with a large pile of rocks while living there.

Just recently a different kind of rock or stone was brought to my attention. It was The Ebenezer Stone. No, the stone didn’t belong to Ebenezer Scrooge, the character in The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but The Ebenezer Stone has a lot of meaning.

The Ebenezer Stone is mentioned in the Bible and Ebenezer means Stone of Help or Thus far the Lord has helped us. After God gave the people victory over their enemies, “Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, Thus far the Lord has helped us. It commemorated the victory for all to see and remember.

The reason The Ebenezer Stone was brought to my attention so recently is because I have a friend in my extended family who has been sharing her Ebenezer Stone stories. She has gone through some serious difficulties and what a blessing it is to hear her tell of her Ebenezer Stone stories. She writes them down and shares how Thus far the Lord has helped us. They include a missing child, cancer in the family, a financial crisis, a difficult pregnancy, and nearly being hit by a semi truck. All of these stories and more were an Ebenezer Stone occurrence for her. These stories are not to say that everything always comes out perfectly but they are to say Thus far the Lord has helped us and was with us all the way. They are stories of encouragement for all of us. I’m thinking many of you out there also have a few, if not many, Ebenezer Stone stories. If you do, please share them with others. We all need encouragement in these times that we live.

As an old hymn says: “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”

(Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,Robert Robinson 1758 public domain)

By Pamela Perry Blaine

February 2022