My Refuge

Recently we took our granddaughter out for the day to Tinkertown for her third birthday.  We packed a picnic lunch and all the other necessities for a fun day, buckled Blaique into her car seat and off we went.  She chattered happily all the way into the city, content that she could look out the window at the passing scenery, finding all the cows along the way, the river, the birds, the trees, anything that came into view of her window as we drove along.  We finally arrived in the city and as we approached the turn off for the perimeter from Pembina Wes wanted to keep up with traffic as he merged so he stepped on the gas a bit and from the back we hear this tiny panicked voice saying, “Papa, you’re going too fast for my car seat!!”

Wes and I both laughed at her comment, but, it did get me to thinking, “I wonder if this is what my relationship with God sometimes sounds like?”  I thought about that on and off all afternoon as we hopped from one ride to another, sharing our special day. 

If I’m going to be honest I would say that generally I like feeling safe in my relationship with God, but there are many moments when perhaps I would like to feel safer and I would really love it if life would be clear sailing.  Yeah, I'd like that, as most people would.  It would be fantastic if life here would be without any bumps or turns, but unfortunately it’s not and I sometimes need to remind myself that yes; God is in control of any given situation that I’m feeling panicked or anxious over and I have to completely trust that He is driving my life in the right direction.

Our granddaughter was content as long as the vision in her side windows were things she could recognize and appreciate, but, it was when she was unable to look ahead past the headrest to understand why Papa was speeding up that she panicked a bit.  And because of that insecurity she expressed her fear, in the cutest possible way!  And so it is with us in this life.  We can’t see the future, we don't know what's ahead.  Do we brace ourselves?  And what are we bracing ourselves for?  We have no idea where this life will lead us, as much as we'd like to believe that we are in control, we aren't, but we know that our Father in Heaven who loves us more than we can ever know or understand sees everything that is coming up ahead of us and He is in complete control and He will be there with us every step of the way. 

We can also be rest assured that His love will be surrounding us as tight as those child restraints were for our granddaughter that day.  Through every joy and sorrow that we will need to deal with as we go through this life, His love will carry us.  And that's a simple bold truth that we need to hold on to and believe with all our hearts.  God's love will never fail...EVER...even during those times when we are feeling out of control and we are tempted to say, “God, you’re going too fast for my car seat!” He reaches back to hold our hand and suddenly, seeing past the headrest no longer matters.

“But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge…”  Psalm 73:28