Raising Your Ebenezer: How Remembering God’s Faithfulness Strengthens Your Faith

In a tough season? Learn how remembering God’s faithfulness, like raising an Ebenezer, can deepen your faith, restore joy, and strengthen trust.

I don’t know about you, but I am forgetful.

Not just in the where did I put my phone again? kind of way (though, yes, that too).

I mean spiritually forgetful.

I can experience God’s goodness on Monday and doubt His provision by Friday.

I can watch Him work miracles in one season…and then panic in the next.

And maybe you’ve been there too.

We live in a culture that pulls our attention in a thousand directions – hurry, hustle, distraction, notifications, comparison. There’s always something louder than stillness, something more urgent than reflection.

And all of that noise makes it easy to forget.

• Forget the prayers He’s answered.
• Forget the peace He’s given.
• Forget the ways He’s provided and protected and sustained you when you didn’t think you’d make it through.

And when we forget, we grow anxious. We worry, we strive, and we start to carry burdens we were never meant to carry alone.

But God gives us an antidote for our forgetfulness: remembering.

The Gift of Remembering

All throughout Scripture, God’s people are invited, again and again, to remember.

“Remember the wondrous works that he has done.” – 1 Chronicles 16:12 (ESV)
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” – Psalm 103:2 (ESV)
“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God…” – Deuteronomy 8:11 (ESV)

This isn’t just a mental exercise. Remembering is worship.

It’s an act of anchoring our hearts in who God is and what He has done, because our hearts are so quick to drift.

1. Samuel’s Ebenezer: Remembering God’s Help

In 1 Samuel 7, the Israelites were terrified. The Philistines were attacking again.

But as Samuel prayed and offered a sacrifice, the Lord thundered from heaven and threw the enemy into confusion. The Israelites won the battle that day, not because of their strength, but because of God’s.

In response, Samuel took a stone and set it up as a marker between Mizpah and Shen.

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, ‘Till now the Lord has helped us.’”
— 1 Samuel 7:12 (ESV)

The Hebrew word Ebenezer combines eben (stone) and ezer (help), meaning “stone of help.”

It was a visible reminder: God helped us here.

Every time they passed that stone, they remembered…*this* was the place God came through.

2. Joshua’s Stones at the Jordan: Remembering God’s Deliverance

In Joshua 4, after forty years of wandering, Israel was finally crossing into the Promised Land. The Jordan River was overflowing, but when the priests stepped into the water carrying the ark, the river stopped flowing, and the people crossed on dry ground.

God then instructed Joshua to have one man from each tribe take a stone from the riverbed and set them up as a memorial.

“When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’”
— Joshua 4:21–22 (ESV)

Those stones weren’t decoration. They were a declaration.

A story set in stone, so that every generation would remember God’s power, presence, and faithfulness.

When life got hard later (and it did), those stones reminded them: He brought us through the waters. He can do it again.

3. Jacob’s Stone at Bethel: Remembering God’s Presence

Back in Genesis 28, before Jacob became Israel, he was alone, fleeing for his life. He laid his head on a stone to sleep and dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven, with angels ascending and descending.

When he awoke, he said:

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
— Genesis 28:16 (ESV)

Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. He named that place Bethel, meaning “House of God.”

That stone became a marker of God’s presence in the middle of fear, loneliness, and uncertainty.

Sometimes our own “stones” are like that – reminders that God met us in a place we didn’t expect Him to show up.

Why Remembering Matters So Much

When we remember, we’re doing more than recalling facts. We’re rekindling faith.

Here’s what remembering really does for our souls:

It Deepens Trust

Looking back reminds us that we’re not walking with a new, untested God. We’re walking with the same God who’s been faithful all along.

Remembering His help in the past gives us courage for what’s ahead.

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.”
— Psalm 77:11–12 (ESV)

It Cultivates Gratitude

True gratitude isn’t a pasted on smile, “faking it ’til you make it” through a tough season. It’s a settled confidence that God has been good and will be good again.

Remembering softens our hearts and turns anxious striving into humble thanks.

It Restores Joy

When we rehearse God’s faithfulness, joy begins to rise again. Not because everything is easy, but because we remember that He’s still here.

We remember that His mercies are new every morning.

It Realigns Perspective

Remembering helps us take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).

When fear starts shouting louder than faith, we can whisper back: I’ve seen His goodness before. I’ll see it again.

It Strengthens Relationship

Remembering draws us closer to the heart of God.

We don’t just recall His works. We relive His nearness, His kindness, His steadfast love. It’s an act of relational intimacy, not religious duty.

And the more we remember, the more we recognize His hand in the small, ordinary moments too.

Creating Your Own Ebenezer Stones

You don’t need to build a stone altar (though you could!). But you can absolutely create your own ways to remember God’s faithfulness in your story.

• 📖 Journal Timeline: I have a page in my journal with a timeline of my life. Along the line, I’ve drawn little stones, each labeled with a season where God carried me through something hard.
• 🪨 Faith Jar: Collect small stones or shells and write on them moments of God’s help: “Healing,” “Provision,” “Peace.” Keep them in a jar and add to it over time.
• 🕯 Family Tradition: Around the dinner table, share weekly “Ebenezers” – one way God showed His help that week.
• 📸 Photo or Memory Board: Print photos or write stories of answered prayers and hang them where you’ll see them often.
• ✍️ Prayer Journal Section: Dedicate a page or two just for listing “stones of help.” When discouragement creeps in, reread them aloud.

Each of these practices helps make remembering a rhythm. Something that forms our faith rather than fades with time.

Remembering as Resistance

Remembering isn’t sentimental…it’s spiritual warfare.

When the enemy whispers, “God’s forgotten you,” remembering says, No, He hasn’t. I remember.

When worry says, “This time will be different,” faith answers, He has never once failed me.

When shame tries to remind you of your failures, you remind it of God’s faithfulness.

Remembering turns our attention from fear to faith, from chaos to calm, from self-reliance to surrender.

It’s not pretending life is easy…it’s remembering Who walks beside you in it.

A Blessing for You

May you take time to remember the ways God has already carried you.

May those memories steady you when the road feels long and your heart feels weary.

May your own “stones of help” remind you of the God who never leaves, never forgets, and never fails.

And as you rehearse His faithfulness, may your trust deepen, your joy return, and your love for Him grow richer still.

Amen.