Anyone who visits our house can’t help but see my love of rocks. My sweet husband didn’t realize the extent of this love until he was in the midst of our landscaping projects that involved the many purchases; then the hauling and distributing of multiple loads of Arizona River rock. When the final project was complete, the grand total of rocks for the newly designed flowerbeds was over six tons! I will confess, by the end of that sixth ton, we both were saying, “NO MORE ROCKS”!

What most people might not initially see is my love of rocks extends to the interior of our home. The rocks inside carry a much different meaning than those in our flowerbeds. All the rocks you find inside our home carries a memory for me. The rocks throughout our home are tangible objects I can look at and remember a specific time, an event, the people I was with! Every rock has a story attached!

As my love for rocks has grown over the years, the Lord has used this to show me a spiritual side of the rocks. These spiritual rocks have become my Ebenezers; the reminders of what the Lord has done in my life.

We see throughout the Old Testament that God’s people were instructed to set up actual stones as memorials. These memorials were to be reminders of what God had done for His people.

In Joshua 4, the Lord instructs two sets of twelve stones to be set in place. The first set of twelve stones were to be gathered from the middle of the Jordan River and placed at their first campsite in Gilgal. The second set of twelve stones were to be set in the middle of the Jordan River, to mark the place where the priests stood, with the ark of the covenant, while the people crossed through the river on dry land. The memorials were set in both places with instructions that the stones were to be a sign among the people. This sign would cause their children to question the meaning of the stones. Their questions would offer opportunities to tell the story of the Jordan waters being cut off, so the people could cross to the other side.

The stories connected to each of the memorials were shared with generation after generation. Every time the story was told, that generation would know what God had done on behalf of the sons of Israel. The stories were reminders; reminders of what God could do for them as well.

When I look at my life, I can see the importance of setting my own “memorials” in place; my own Ebenezers. My Ebenezers mark the places where the Lord has worked in my life. These Ebenezers may not be an actual stone monument, like those set-in place by the children of Israel, but these are spiritual memorials to show the workings of our mighty and powerful God.

Without our Ebenezers in place, how will others know what God has done and continues to do in our lives? Our Ebenezers are spiritual reminders for us all.