on Safe Places
“If my fear happens, then I won’t make it.” This is how I threaten God.
It’s been a year of being shaken out of my safe places, as an ant from an ant collection.
I’ve left deep claw marks in some invisible places: in the marriages of people I love, in the number that shows when I step on the scale, in my health, my friendships, and especially in my plan (an Ethiopian adoption that I thought would have begun last Spring).
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O LORD,
you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed [in other words, shaken]. (Psalm 30: 6-7)
I’ve been shaken just enough to cling harder to what inevitably fails. I have been so disappointed, shaken enough to give up and let go, enough to wake from a daze and see that God carries, which is the humility I asked for,
which is the peace I asked for,
which is the rest I needed,
in the One and Only true Safe Place.
Resolution #7: I will pray to never be shaken. God will never be shaken.
- December 30, 2009
- 15 Comments
- 0
- humility, invisible, Issues of Faith, safe place, shaken
Kelly
December 30, 2009Resolution - "I will pray..." My heart quivers at this - desire, poured out. Desire for Him, for more of Him than we could dare on our own as we cling to the familiar, to the safe. This is faith indeed.
Debbie
December 30, 2009Yes, trusting Him in all things. There's no other way. This life is enough to shake us but how wonderful that we can remember that God is in control.
Blessings,
Debbie
Brooke McGlothlin
December 30, 2009One of the characteristics of God that I love most is that He is never shaken. He remains the same when everything else changes. And as if that isn't enough, He provides comfort when the world is shaken.
Esther
December 30, 2009To be shaken and lose your grasp, only to feel Him hang on tighter...what a ride.
Angie in GA
December 30, 2009Beautiful! I love this "in the One and Only true Safe Place." Be Blessed,
Angie in GA
Monica Sharman
December 30, 2009Thank you for this. I have been in the middle of a (recurring) prayer for humility and death-to-self.
Lisa notes...
December 30, 2009I love Resolution # 7. This is a wonderful post. The metaphor of leaving claw marks hits home with me. Blessings to you.
Traci
December 30, 2009How is it that... your posts always leave me with goosebumps.
The good kind!
Pondering and looking ahead to the new year, with DESIRE...
Hugs,
Traci
Wallflower
December 31, 2009I FEEL your heart!!! 2009 has ended and left me heavy and hurting! I was surprised how much alike our stories are.. our adoption journey will be closing soon (after almost four years) and my soul aches over this! Our journey has been with the foster system and has been a nightmare leaving us aching for the children lost in the system!
John
December 31, 2009Just a thought from the mountains...the wording of John 14 hints at definitely being shaken (part of this vale of tears) but not being stirred, as in something being able to reach inside and rip you from his let-not-your-heart-be-troubled-hands...shaken not stirred - I realize that sounds like James Bond theology, but we come up with some cockeyed stuff here in in the mountains...low oxygen and all...
Faith Barista Bonnie
January 1, 2010"the rest I needed,
in the One and Only true Safe Place."
He is the Place I circle back to ... time and again ... I hope 2010 will be a year I can increasingly stay there longer and when wandering, return sooner each time.
I'm zeroing in on stepping out of 1 of my safe places -- a baby step -- to risk again while in the One & Only true Safe Place.
Jo@Mylestones
January 2, 2010I can't even begin to tell you how this encouraged my fearful heart this morning. Thank you, friend.
brittney
January 3, 2010I may be misunderstanding today, but sometimes I need to be shaken in order to grip on to God and His promises and His steadfastness even stronger.
I look forward to the journey God has in store for you in 2010; He uses you as such encouragement for so many.
Amber
January 3, 2010Oh Brittney, I don't think you misunderstand at all. I think God shakes my safe mountains, Himself. Not for a second do I think He does it unlovingly.
"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)
I feel like I failed a few tests this year, but now (later on) I'm asking to receive training and wisdom from my mess. A harvest of righteousness and peace is at stake.
Right now. I keep telling Him in prayer, "I can't do this without you. Not only that - I don't want to." My want-to has changed, and that is a good thing, even if a took a beating to get there.
Thank y'all for blessing me.