July #jammed: Grace serves.

Day 182: Swept clean.

“Thus far the Lord has helped us.” 1Samuel 7:12

“What happened to the car, Mom?” my daughter slowly reached for her seatbelt as if she was unsure she had gotten in the right vehicle.

“Hey …my trash is gone…” my other daughter reveled as she glanced toward the door pocket that collected the remnants of her nose each morning before school.

“It’s clean.” I responded, shocked at how used to all of the garbage that I’d become.

We’re often blindsided by blessings. If we’re not privy to take account in daily prayer for all we’ve been given, there’s a good chance some of God’s goodness will go unnoticed.

Today’s verse tells the story of a stone. A stone named Ebenezer. It was a symbol to commemorate the shock of a clean slate. God’s people had confessed and repented their sin against God, and Samuel knew they would soon forget again, if not for a visual reminder of the transformation they’d been through …and the God they serve.

Often, our lives are marked with occurrences of shock and awe. Both painful and joyous, life is earmarked with growth. When we walk with Jesus, we glance back and see Him in every stage. In the moment, life doesn’t always seem safe in God’s hands. That’s why we need to remind ourselves that it is.

We need to hold onto our earmarks so that when times get impossibly hard, as they are promised to, we remember how we will get through.

Samuel was a prophet born in answer to his mother, Hannah’s, prayer. When we look upon our lives, do we see the answers to prayers of our past? We know for certain that God is always listening, and that He seeks to help us.  I wonder if, because God’s answers don’t always look the way we want them to, we recognize them at all.

“Thus far, the Lord has helped us.”

Despite our default and deficiencies, we can be sure that God has helped us thus far. Let’s take a moment or two today to look back and list all of the answered prayers of our lives, and perhaps thank God for the answers we still don’t recognize. What if we piled up a stone for every answered prayer that we can recall, or painted one in honor and reminder of all of those that we have experienced?

Father, Praise You for hearing and answering our prayers. Thank You for loving us and justly righting wrongs Thank You for uplifting our lives. Forgive for our lack of gratitude for answered prayers, and help us to remember to thank You more. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace! 

#greatgrace17

Happy Thanking,

Megs

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