No matter what has happened in my life, I have counted on God to be there for me and He has never failed me. He is my refuge and fortress, and I hope that he is yours, too.
Tag: refuge
God Is My Refuge
www.bible.com/1171/psa.62.1-2.mev
I had a rather rough day yesterday with some disturbing results on medical tests. Nothing terribly major for now. It’s just that my single kidney has lost more of its function, so now I am in stage three. My physician was not very forthcoming on what that means for me, but he did tell me to limit eating foods with potassium since my filtration system isn’t working well right now. That means limiting oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, melons and bananas. I was already on a limited diet because of my stroke (low sodium, low sugar), so this seemed like a heavy blow to me. I cried and mourned the loss of more things I enjoy, but God got hold of me and showed me that He is my refuge. He is my shelter. The absence of certain foods in my life should not totally shake me up. It’s just one more thing to deal with as I age with my numerous medical problems.
I am thankful to be alive. Do I wish that things were different? Of course! But there are worse things. Meanwhile, I am going to see my PCP and talk to her more about this Stage 3 thing and ask about a referral to a different nephrologist. This is the first time I had seen this doctor although I did have three virtual visits with him via the phone. On one of those calls, he decided that I should be taking a new blood pressure medicine. I filled the prescription and took it and the next morning, my BP was 80/40 and I was very dizzy. So, I called his office and he returned my call, telling me that if I could not tolerate that medication, I would need to see my cardiologist for advice about what to take. I did see my cardio and he changed my meds, telling me that the med the nephrologist had started me on often causes BP to suddenly drop. Hmm. So, after yesterday’s visit and his lack of communication, I’m ready for a change. I was asking questions and he was typing away on the desktop. Since being ignored was not helpful, I think that I should seek medical assistance elsewhere. But I am first and foremost depending on the Great Physician.
I did not sleep well last night. Insomnia has become a regular thing with me, and I usually get about five hours of sleep. Anyway, I awakened this morning with the Scripture that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God made me, not the physicians. God is taking care of me, not the physicians. The doctors are God’s helpers on earth and some are better helpers than others. That being said, back to the verse above. God alone is my rock, the One on whom I can depend; He is my refuge, the shelter for me when my world seems to be shaking. Everything around me might shake, but God is still the same and He will not allow me to be shaken as long as I am trusting in Him.
I hope that I have not bored you too much with my medical status today. I also hope that you will remember me in your prayers, but mostly I pray for God’s blessing on you and your day. May you fulfill His purpose in your life!
Blessed to be a blessing!
God Is Our Help
Every day, there is more bad news. Another criminal shot and more riots. A President who is seemingly unaware of the chaos he is allowing at our border. A pandemic still raging and vaccines with heavy prices to pay if you take them and if you don’t. It’s all bad news. But the good news is the promise that God is always our refuge, always our strength, always the one to whom we turn. Nothing that is happening has caught God by surprise. He’s still there, caring for His people.
I look at everything happening and I say, “But God…” I guess I’m really questioning my own faith at times. Where is God when all this is happening? Still there, still quietly waiting for all of us to acknowledge Him and ask for His wisdom and guidance and protection.
Andrew Murray: “Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what he can do.”
This quotation, along with the Scripture, spoke to my heart this morning. We don’t want to limit God by thinking that we know what He can and is doing. We cannot see all of His work, but we do know that He is still working on our behalf. We cannot imagine all that God can do, even if we tried. It is in our limited scope of mind that we try to think about solutions. It is our Infinite God who has the solution.
I listened to a song during my devotional this morning. It is by Steven Curtis Chapman, the last artist that I went to see before my stroke. Now, I cannot go to concerts because somehow loud noises reverberate in my brain and I have to wear noise-cancelling headphones frequently in loud settings. Anyway, that being said, SCC is still one of my favorite Christian musicians and one of his latest songs spoke to my heart, especially today. Everything is God’s. Everyone is God’s. With that in mind, it is easier to pray for our nation, its people, its unrest and its sinfulness. God is aware and is working, maybe openly or behind the scenes, but He is always working.
Yours by Steven Curtis Chapman
“When you feel lonely and wonder where God is, know that He is about you, above you, after you, amidst you, around you, among you, before you, behind you, beneath you, beside you, beyond you, by you, for you, inside you, near you, and over you. He is everywhere, all the time. Always and forever, He is near us.” From Devotional: “Good News: Encouragement for a World in Crisis.”
“When fear knocks on your door, let faith answer.” -Joyce Meyer
Blessings today and every day for a faith that faces fear, knowing that God is always there for you.
My Refuge
www.bible.com/111/psa.91.2.niv
One of the favorite games of my little granddaughters in Maryland is to play virtual hide and seek with me. They hide and their daddy uses his phone and my voice to tell him where to look. The giggles are so precious, even as I am seeking them. And they are young, so hiding in the same place repeatedly is a thing with them. Recently, the youngest (who will be three in a few weeks) grabs her mommy by the hand and insists that her mommy hide with her. When I read this Scripture verse this morning, this game came to my mind. Evie’s refuge is her mommy; she knows that she is “safe” with her.
Likewise, I know that I am safe in the arms of the Father. He is my refuge, no matter what the circumstances. The last two weeks have been hard. I mentioned something previously about our home in Pennsylvania. It was the first house we had ever purchased after over twenty military moves, and I was like a momma bird with her nest. I ordered carpeting, decorated and put up curtains that I had actually picked out. We had planned to make that our real home together, pouring time and energy into making it a refuge. But then, the unthinkable happened. I couldn’t find a teaching job in PA. I tried everything that I knew to do, praying constantly for God to show me what He wanted me to do. In the end, we left our home in PA and I got a job in MD. Our home that I had created was rented to various other people and has been for the last thirty years.
Two weeks ago, we discovered that our property management company had sought approval to put our house under Section 8 rentals, without our prior knowledge or approval. My husband, who worked in real estate after retiring from the Air Force, was visibly upset. Section 8 housing usually means lower property values and can often mean renters who do not take good care of the property. We tried in vain to contact the owner of the office in PA, but he never returned our calls. Frustrated, I called the home office in TX and got in touch with a nice lady who promised to investigate what was going on. She called back and told us that the house is already leased under Section 8, again without our knowledge of approval. We cannot get out of the lease, so we are stuck. That puts us in the uncomfortable position of having to try to sell the house when the lease is up. My husband and I prayed and think that will be what’s best, but we will continue to pray. We don’t want to be sued for discrimination, but neither do we want to have a home that is losing value annually.
Anyway, throughout this nightmare, my stress level has been high, so I have been praying a lot. God has reminded me daily that He is right there with me. He is my refuge, the place I can go to be safe from all of the cares of the world. I am trusting Him to show us what to do when the lease is up and when and how we should move and leave Virginia behind. I have to be reminded daily because somehow I am hard-headed enough to try to handle things on my own, get stressed and then God’s Spirit gently reminds me that He is walking through this with me. He is helping me on the multiple phone conversations with the nice lady in TX who has taken over our account, he is guiding me as I write e-mails to the office in PA concerning the errors on their invoice and their changing our property without our permission. He has even been there when I angrily cried out that the man in PA who was supposed to look out for our best interests betrayed us and lied to us. God reminded me that I must forgive him and move on. Honestly, I am working on that. When he comes to mind, I ask God to help me to forgive him and his costly errors that have already cost us thousands of dollars in repairs that may not have even been necessary. Like little Evie, I have to have God’s presence with me so that I feel safe from all that is happening.
Is there something hard that you are faced with today? God is your refuge, your place of safety. Are you feeling assaulted by the things of the world that you can do nothing about? God is your refuge, your place of safety. I thought I knew these promises, having leaned on them for years. But then, the enemy came and showed me that I was not leaning or hiding in God; I was trusting myself to make things right. That never works because God is my refuge, my place of safety. I’m still learning daily to let go and let God be God. As someone said, this, too, shall pass.
Blessings, my friends, for a lovely day filled with insights from the Heavenly Father!
Be Glad in the Lord
These are troubling times, no doubt about it. But we who belong to the Lord should not be going around with sad faces or an attitude of hopelessness. For our hope is in the Lord God who made everything and He is able. My devotional this morning was about King Hezekiah who was facing the great army of Sennacherib and had basically been told just to give up because his cause was hopeless. But, God was with him, so he was able to prevail. No, we cannot fight this battle alone. Everyone’s battle is different these days, but God is the same for all of us. He will be with us; He is always for us. He fights for us, no matter what we are facing. So, with that said, I can be glad because He gives me hope.
God Is There For Me
Well, my friends, it has been a rough week. On Tuesday, I went to the emergency room with chest pains and shortness of breath. I was resting at home when my brother called, the one who is a Chief Firefighter in Florida, and told me that a little “birdie” had told him that I wasn’t well. He told me that I had to go to the ER right away since my symptoms were those of a heart attack. So, my husband and I headed out about eleven. After multiple tests and needles, I was sent home with the diagnosis of pleurisy and an hiatal hernia. No problem, right? Just rest and take meds that they gave me. Not so fast! I was told to contact the surgeon whose name they had provided as soon as possible. When I did, the surgeon wanted to see me yesterday. So, off I went again. This time I found out that I have a para-esophageal hernia, an hiatal hernia that is not as frequent and that is also very risky. According to the surgeon, my entire stomach has left my digestive cavity and is in my chest cavity next to my heart. Surgery is not an option but is absolutely necessary (the sooner the better) since my stomach can get twisted around my heart. So, on Monday, I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist for a consultation for him to run a camera down my esophagus. On Wednesday, I have to swallow that yucky stuff for an upper GI series at radiology. And I have to call my cardiologist for an appointment as soon as possible so that he can clear me for surgery. While I am pondering all of this, what hit me like a brick is that I probably won’t be able to travel to see my grandchildren, a trip planned for a few months now. Disappointment has overwhelmed me, sidling up to the fear that comes with facing surgery again. Plus, I am on a special diet, more restrictive than my diet after my stroke: no bread, no crackers, no cookies, no nuts, no berries, no carbonated beverages, no chips or popcorn, no fried foods, and no meat of any kind except fish. The list goes on and on, but it took away a lot of the things that I can normally eat and left me eating things that I don’t really like along with the restrictions on sugar and salt that went with having a stroke. Why am I complaining to you this way? Because on Tuesday, before I went to the ER, the Lord gave me several Scriptures. Then, yesterday, before heading out to see the surgeon. He gave me a third one. These are the rocks that I am standing on, and I wanted to share them with you.
This is the verse that God gave me when I read my devotional on Tuesday, the day that I spent in the ER. God is my stronghold, no matter what is happening to me. I thought about that and I figured out that He has a strong hold on me, just as I have a strong hold on Him. He is not letting me go, no matter what I have to go through. He is caring for me as I hide behind Him. Could He heal me and then I would not need the surgery? Of course! And I will continue to pray and believe for that (although I confess that my belief is not as strong as I would like it). But even if He doesn’t heal me and I do have to have the surgery, God is still caring for me. Awesome!
This is the other verse that God gave me on Tuesday, keeping me calm during my ordeal at the hospital because I knew that God was right there beside me. He is still working out His plan for my life. He is not leaving me alone; my Creator knows just what I need and He will supply it, even making sure that I see a competent surgeon yesterday, and one whom I trusted right away.
God is walking before me; that is the verse that He gave me yesterday. He has blessed me for all the years of my life, but especially for the last forty five since I met Him as my Lord and Savior. No, I may not get to see my grandchildren for Christmas because of the risks of traveling as well as the risk of waiting to have the surgery. But, Christmas will still be in my heart because it is the day that I celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world! And thanks to the miracle of technology, I will be able to see my grandchildren open their gifts on Skype. Ideal? Of course not! What I had planned and hoped for? No, but when my plans don’t work out, I have to trust that God has a better one, like making sure that I am healthy to live more years and to continue to enjoy my grandchildren as they grow up.
So, if you are making plans and there is certainly a halt in your plans, don’t worry or fret. Just be aware that God is in control, that He is working out a plan for you and that He will be your refuge and stronghold through the valleys that you may have to go through. Remember that you are going through the valley, not staying there. I am headed for a mountaintop, with God right beside me, and I hope that is where you are headed, too. By the way, if you have any low-sodium recipes for baked fish, please pass them along. Thank you and many blessings to you and your household!
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