You Brought MeThis Far

This morning, my church had a special surprise: we were able to worship together in our own building! After more than a year of meeting at our local high school while our building was being remodeled, our city finally granted occupancy for our regular building only a couple of days ago. Because of a fluke with the locks at the high school this morning, we spontaneously decided to hold our church service in our beautiful new building.

Last week, Geary preached about remembering the times that God worked a marvel in getting us through a wilderness. (You can listen to that sermon here.)

This week, Pastor Jon shared about Ebenezer stones: a special stone that Samuel set up in commemoration of God's help to the Israelites in their victory over the Philistines at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:12). The Israelites set up other stones of remembrance, too, they just weren't all named "Ebenezer." Jon talked about the stones being a reminder that God brought us this far...and he will continue.

God bringing us "this far" has been an important idea to me before. It's part of why how we chose Miles's name. Miles means just what it sounds like. Miles. Distance. Journey. God has taken us on a journey, is taking us on a journey, toward Himself. And we are marveling over the fact that He has even brought us this far. I am reminded of David's prayer after the Lord established his covenant with the king,

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said:
"Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? (2Samuel 7:18)

And of course, all those thoughts, remembering the wilderness, ebenezers, and celebrating being back in our church building, brought a song to my mind: Make a Way by I AM THEY. Give it a listen.

After listening to this song a few times, I decided to finally execute an idea I've had in the back of my mind for years. Introducing the Linhart Ebenezer Door:

This door is in our kitchen and I plan to record here all the times that God brings us through a wilderness or provides in a special way. I already wrote down a few things like the births of my children, moving to Newberg, and the most recent trial--a kidney infection that me down for a couple of weeks (you can hear all about it in Geary's sermon above).  It doesn't look like much...yet.  I hope that soon it will be FILLED up with colorful reminders of what God has done in our family.  If we ever move, we'll just bring the door with us (and record that moment on the door, of course)!  

Today's sermon from Pastor Adam was about Jesus opening eyes.  I'm praying that my eyes will be opened to see the great and wonderful things he's done for us and will continue to do.  To God be the glory forever and ever, amen.

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So, hi!  It's been a while since I've blogged!  I stopped for awhile because my kids were getting older and not really loving their whole lives being shared publically.  I wanted to honor them and respect their privacy.  And then I went through a period of deep grief after my brother died in 2015.  And then life was just...different.  It's taken me a little bit of time to find my writing voice again and how to move forward from just stories about my kids.  But now I know that I want to keep recording our journey here.  Especially, those ebenezer moments.