Dear Tired, Weak, Worn Sister:
Dear tired, weak, worn mommy, sister and friend:
What if I told you that there was a place you could go to hide away, feel safe and be comforted?
What if I told you that this was a place of true rest? One where your spirit is restored, your heart is protected and your footing secure?
There is such a place.
As little girls, we want to feel safe. We put on our prettiest dresses to impress, we twirl around in fast circles to amaze the crowd and swing the highest on the playground all the while yelling, “Daddy look at me! Look at me!” Our tender little hearts desperately want to be loved and feel safe in daddy’s arms. Daddy’s arms either bring safety, security, and a sense of identity or they can bring emptiness, hurt and pain.
My father’s arms were never a place of safety and rest. If anything when I sat in my father’s lap seeking a safe place to cry or feel cherished it was his arms that pushed me away. And the truth is, this was a deep need that was never met by my father before he died.
But the need did not die with him. It is there. It has always been there. Many of you can identify with me. And praise God many of you had father’s who cherished you, and cared for you in such a way that you felt as if the world could never hurt you.
But we all grow up, and we grow larger than our earthly father’s arms.
And now where do we turn? When our friend turns against us where do we go? When the doctor calls with bad news, who will bring that “everything will be okay” feeling? When our own children lie to us, scream all day and night, and are rebellious, who will give us the strength to keep going? When we look in the mirror and don’t like what we see and the wrinkles just keep coming, who will make us feel like the most beautiful woman in the world? When our husbands hurt us or we are so lonely because it feels like no one cares, who is there to hold us until we feel strong enough to go on?
God speaks through His Word to teach us that we are totally, completely and forever safe with Him.
Psalm 91
1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Soak this in my sister: God is our sure defense. Our safe place to hide from the elements. In His shadow true rest is found. And if we are found to be abiding in His shadow that means He goes before us. The Most High towers over us. This is not a shadow that we can ever out grow or one we could ever out run. It is steady when we are not.
Picture with me a little girl scared from an encounter with a stranger. She runs behind her father and feels protected because she is in daddy’s shadow and he stands between her and her fear. She now feels secure. Daddy made it all better.
As I read these verses and began to picture myself as a little girl running into the shelter of my heavenly father, I knew something was wrong with that picture.
I am not a little girl anymore. I am grown woman with children of my own. And then the picture changed. In my mind I saw myself as I am now, running into the arms of our heavenly father and resting safely and securely under His shelter and in His shadow.
He is our covering.
There is no limit to age, size, or season because God is the Most High. We can never out grow Him, never out live Him, never out smart Him.
And as we choose to dwell in His shelter, to rest in His shadow and find strength in His everlasting arms, we too will say confidently of the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
It’s time to let down our guards.
It’s time to embrace our weakness.
It’s time to run fast into His shelter and forever dwell in His shadow.
Dear tired, weak, worn mommy, sister and friend:
We need a Daddy too.
