“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8
“Mommy, I really like sleeping in your room,” said my 7 year old the night an ice storm was coming through our area. My husband and I had decided to let the kids stay in our room in case we lost power or tree branches started falling. We put their mattresses on the floor and had a giant “sleep over.” I knew my kids were loving the idea of being in our room, but what I didn’t realize was that they were about to teach me a lesson and help me SEE my relationship with God in a new way.
My kids, who often have trouble going to sleep right away and who often wake up early, went right to sleep that night and slept far later than usual. I asked my 7 year old the next morning why she thought she slept so much better in my room. She looked at me as if I was missing something so obvious and said, “It’s because you were with me. I felt safe because I knew that even if I had a bad dream or heard a scary noise, I wasn’t by myself. I knew you and Daddy would take care of me and so my brain told my body that it was ok to just sleep.” She smiled her carefree little smile and went on her way.
I, however, sat completely still as I felt my heart begin to pick up the pace. That same night, I had been lying in bed feeling anything but safe. “Lord,” I had silently cried out, “what is happening to our world, our country? 21 Christians died brutally at the hands of pure evil. My kids are asking me why people hate Christians, and if they are going to die one day because they love Jesus. Our country seems to be imploding, the world is becoming more and more evil and no one seems to be doing anything to stop it.” My thoughts took me to dark and scary places and with the added fear of an ice storm coming, I slept very restlessly that night.
But then my little girl and her plain spoken answer to my question, caused me to repent. “Father, you are always with me, always. And yet instead of keeping my mind on You and resting in You last night, I ran from You. Just as my sweet girl said, even if bad things happen, I know that You are with me. Please keep me close to You and help me to trust You.”
The fact is, I don’t know what is going to happen. Although I do know that things will get worse before they get better. But I also know that my God is far stronger than anything this world has to offer. I trust that even if I don’t understand something or when evil seems to be winning, that my Almighty God is still in complete control and He is bringing this world to just the right moment when He will send His Son to put an end to evil once and for all.
So I will choose to stay close to my Father and rest in Him because He is with me. Scary things might happen, but I know that my soul is safely tucked in the arms of my King. I will choose to SEE and focus on His goodness and not my fears.
May we SEE You as the Father who is always with us.
[…] Middle of the night snow storm: When you awaken in the middle of the night to realize that you have no power and that wet heavy snow coated in freezing rain is snapping limbs from trees all around your house, you realize how little control you really have in life. As I laid in bed watching the flashes of transformers blowing and heard the cracking sound of limbs plummeting to the ground below, I began to panic. “God, we have so many huge trees around our house, and we have no power. It is so cold already. What if a tree falls on the house? How will we even get out?” As quietly as the snow was falling, was the voice I heard in my heart which said, “Remember what your little girl said last week?https://seekingeverydayencounters.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/may-we-see-you-as-the-father-who-is-alway… […]