Stonecroft Women of Katy (formerly Katy Christian Women's Connection)

The Prayer Connection for March was held at Betty's house. After studying about Hanna's story, we made Ebenezer Stones - or help from God stones.

Samuel then took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Jeshanah; he named it Ebenezer, explaining, "To this point has the Lord helped us." - 1 Samuel 7:12

We had lots of beautiful items to decorate our stones: colorful pebbles, broken mosaics, rocks, marbles, etc.

Ginny Williams and Kyllie Watts choose items for their designs.

Joanne Dyer and Betty Fancher mixing up the concrete.

And here we are working on our stones:

Janice Spain and Ginny Williams.

Marian Smith and Deborah Bell.

Toni Hall and Janice Spain.

Kyllie Watts and Debra Hill.

And here are our beautiful creations and their descriptions:

Joanne: God has helped my family through out the years in many specific ways on many occasions. My Ebenezer stone honors God at this time. My husband and I lived in PA until we finished college. We moved to LA on our first job assignment. We purchased a home there and raised three sons. Each of our sons married and had children in LA.

It was time for us to downsize and move into a smaller and newer home. We knew we should leave LA. Our oldest son found employment in Houston and he moved to Katy. After 35 years in New Orleans, the thought of leaving our home, friends, church, and neighborhood was frightening. It was constantly in my prayers for guidance and discernment in making the decision to relocate. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with a vengeance. Flood water never entered our home, but there was extensive roof damage and mold. In a minimal amount of time, all repairs were made, our home was sold, and we purchased a new smaller home in Katy and moved into it. One son and his family also relocated to Katy and the other son's family moved to Phoenix. We are grateful to be here and we thank God for helping us every step of the way. Hence, an Ebenezer Stone which means "God Helps".

I chose stones that are outside and around the base of my new home. I immediately found a beautiful white stone (holy, sin free, purity) with a triangle shape on the stone itself. The triangle represents the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This stone is in the center. Multi colored small stones surround it representing precious jewels. Around God's stone I have placed a stone for my husband and myself, one stone for each son and his wife and a smaller stone representing each of their children.
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The Lord is my portion." Psalm 119:57a. To Him be the glory.

Betty: My stone represents a clock without hands. However, there are a number of colored stones in the middle which represents the timing that God will use in answering our prayers just as he did in answering Hannah's prayer. He answers according to his purpose, and certainly we just rest in that assurance not knowing where the hands are pointing.

Debra: The outer circle stones are similar to a clock-God's Timing is perfect and He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The pottery in the center has vine and leaves because God is the vine , he is life-in Him we move and breath and have our being
The top 2 seashells are me and my husband, Michael. The next seashell down to the right is son, Preston. The blue stone/jewel is his wife, Christy and the green one is our grandbaby Isabella due in May. Her stone is green for new life. The next seashell is for our adopted baby girl, Carina. (We have been foster parents for a few years). The next seashell is daughter, Stephanie. The next seashell is son, Robert. The final seashell to the left of the top is son, Chris and the blue stone/jewel is his wife, Shelbie.
Our family is grafted to the vine and we surround it. God is the source of life and the center of our family. (All of my kids are living for and serving God. Preston & Christy, Robert, and Stephanie all are on praise teams at their churches. Stephanie graduated Bible College and Robert is already an assistant youth pastor.) The fruit of the vine is us...we bear fruit for God our father. I used seashells because they are made by God; they are fruit of the sea. When I had my children I was already in ministry, but I purposed in my heart that my children would be my first fruits and my first mission field. From the beginning I have taught them to love God, his word and his ways. They have been a joy and pleasure to raise. My primary heart's prayer has been that they would always remain close to God and close to my husband and me.

I used colored stones of blues for God's water - cleansing, renewal, being in the flow of His river. (If there had been purple I would have used that). Also, the outer stones represent the body of Christ, family and friends that surround us with love and support-We are not alone. Life is a never ending circle. The answered prayer this represents: Getting my kids raised as I said before, staying close to God and me. There were minimal trials or rebellion or mistakes. Our trials were sickness: Chris was diagnosed with Leukemia and was miraculously healed. Robert was still born and was raised from the dead after 7 minutes...with no brain damage or crippling! He is smart and graduating from A&M. Preston sustained an injury to his 5th lower lumbar vertebra and was healed instead of having surgery to fuse his spine back together. Stephanie has dealt with Tourette's Syndrome and OCD. What a painful trial that has been. She received a substantial healing at Bible College. God waited to heal her on her own faith instead of earlier on our faith. After several foster baby boys, Carina was brought into our lives after she was born with cocaine, alcohol, and nicotine in her system. God enabled us to adopt her and give her a new life and redeem her.

We are a family who worships our God from the bottom of our hearts; he has done so many great things!!! He is faithful, He is just, His promises are yes, and amen!

Elizabeth: I chose a flower to represent the miracle of life. My mother, who had breast cancer and was given 6 months to live, was our miracle from God. She lived another 10 years after receiving the healing power of God.

Jonnie: My story shows family unity with Christ as our center: the pure white cross in the center. The red stones on each side are His blood He shed for us. The large two stones up top are my husband (Joseph) and I. underneath us are two stones that represent our two boys (Ezekiel and Zackary) then below them are two stones the same color, on each side which are our two goddaughters who are identical twins (Krista and Iyana) . All the orange marbles around the out part of the circle of the stone is to show that his love will cover the universe and all that is in it.

Ginny: I can tell you that my stone was of a dogwood tree bloom. I remember back when I was a little girl, visiting my grandparents they had dogwood trees in their front yard. My mother would tell me the story of the dogwood tree blossoms. The ends of the four petals resemble the wounds that Jesus suffered after being nailed to the cross. The white petals represent Jesus being sinless and the center of the flower represents the crown of thorns. Every year, during spring, when they bloom I reflect back to that time in my life and how I was in Ahh over Jesus and how God could make such a prefect flower. I have not seen too many dogwood trees blooming around here but, this stone will remind me of them all year long. Thanks for asking me to share my story.

Jackie: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are watching over me and my family. We are blessed.

Marian: In the middle of the stone is a small cross. The white stone in the middle is Jesus, representing purity. The 4 stones around it are my family members, including our dog. The 4 marbles around the cross show that even if we lose our marbles, Jesus is in the center of it all, keeping us together. The blue stars represent the many blessings God has bestowed on us from above. The green stones represent everything we are doing as a community to keep God's planet beautiful by "going green." (We bring our own shopping bags when we go to the store and our neighborhood is petitioning for recycling). The 2 gold square stones represent how God will bless my husband and I (2 squares in their golden years) in our future retirement years, even though we have not saved nearly enough for retirement. The "mirror" stones represent what our earthly eyes see, and the white see-through stones remind us that God looks at the heart inside of us.

Kyllie:
Black Top Stone – my sinful state before salvation
Heart Stone – (found in ocean in Venezuela) God’s love for me as evidenced by Christ’s redemptive work on the cross
Yellow Stones – Christ & the Holy Spirit working in unity
Red Stones – representative of the blood of Christ under which I am sealed
Leaf Pottery – representative of new life as we are transformed into His image
White Stone – Is Me
Blue Stone – My Husband
Green Stones – representative of my extended family and my church family
6 Gold Stones – represent my children (and two in-law children) who have all accepted Christ as their savior
White Stones – the hope we have in eternity