The Ebenezer of Strength

Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12
Each year the Lord seems to be addressing another area of my faith walk. Last year it was in the area of PEACE. In the midst of difficult circumstances I was filled with an awesome sense of peace all year long. This was a testimony to my advisor at graduate school, for the previous summer I had a major meltdown during her class. This past summer faced with an insurmountable problem, or so we thought, I rested in the fact that God was in control and that gave me peace -- undeniable, unalduterated and yet unchanging peace. My times are in His hands what more can be done than rest in that?
This year's Ebenezer has become the word STRENGTH. It began with a familiar song on the radio in the car on the way to Chesapeake at 6a.m. on a dark, drizzly, damp morning. The words enlightened my entire day! "Strength arises as we wait upon the Lord, as we wait upon the Lord..." As we are in the crucible of waiting You will give us the strength that we need for what is coming up in our lives. It's a deepening of the meaning of my life verse, Nehemiah 8:10, Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength. God uses the time of waiting to strengthen us if we allow Him to do it within us. Am I willing to yield and be strengthened?
Just to make sure I accepted STRENGTH as my new Ebenezer, scriptures followed to confirm it in my daily devotional reading:
In Your strength You have guided them to your holy dwelling. You have brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your holy dwelling. Exodus 15:13
But You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
The other day I played around with Picasa and a picture of stones to come up with a wallpaper for my computer entitled: My Ebenezer Stones. In it are the characteristics that I could attribute to God's fine tuning in my life. There are so many more that need to be hewn from new rocks but I'm grateful that God only takes on one flawed area at a time. These stones are reminders of powerful lessons that have been wrought in my spiritual life -- but it by no means implies that I have fully achieved or grasped any of these qualities -- they are stones of remembrance -- because I'm still a work in progress.