This is Felicia Ferguson with Christian Mix 106, helping you build faith for the journey.
I have a wall of floating shelves in my apartment and on it are framed award certificates, a medal, and a copy of my latest book. At first glance, someone would say it’s a brag wall. I’m showing off my accomplishments to whomever visits my home. And yes, in a sense it is a brag wall, but I’m not bragging on myself. I’m bragging on God. And I’m also reminding myself of his faithfulness.
You see, I knew I wanted to be a writer in the fifth grade. But I went through three decades of growing, learning, and even rejections before all of those writing accolades came to being. And every step of the way, God was with me. Opening some doors, while closing others. Steering me into non-writing college and graduate school majors and then into jobs where writing wasn’t in the list of requirements.
When I look at my brag wall, I don’t see my achievements. I see God’s faithfulness to fulfill a desire he planted in my heart, to honing the gifts he gave me before I was born. That wall is my Ebenezer or Joshua Stone.
What’s a Joshua Stone or Ebenezer? After God led the Israelites through the Jordan River under Joshua’s command and before they entered into the Promised Land, God told Joshua to pick one man from each of the twelve tribes, have them choose a stone from the middle of the river, and Joshua placed them together in Gilgal where they camped for the first night. This grouping of stones is a remembrance of God’s faithfulness to the Israelites.
An Ebenezer came hundreds of years later, with the priest Samuel, but the intent is similar. After a decisive victory over the Philistines, Samuel set up a stone and called it Ebenezer or “Thus far, the Lord has helped us.”
Joshua stones and Ebenezers don’t have to be stones. They can be something like my wall of certificates. A friend of mine wears a ring as her Ebenezer. They are simply anything tangible that you can point to and say, I remember. Do you have a physical reminder of God’s past help in your life? If not, what tangible item can you link to a time or situation when God came through miraculously for you or was faithful to fulfill a heart’s desire? Then when moments of doubt come—as they always will—you will have a physical reminder to look at, to touch, to hold, and say to those doubts, My God is faithful.
This is Felicia Ferguson. Thanks for listening to Christian Mix 106.
