Shielded by God's Power

Last night I lay in bed wide awake for hours after drinking coffee too late in the day (I’ve always been sensitive to caffeine) and thought about an ongoing topic: protection.

Safety; security; protection. These are human needs, and yet it seems the female gender has a unique perspective since women, more than men, long to be sheltered (hearts/souls as well as bodies).

It’s the guys who terrorize each other with swords as little kids. They may use aluminum garbage can lids as shields (that’s outdated, but you get the drift), but victory is worth any potential wounds. They dish it out and they take it; they must overcome.

Then these little warriors grow up and take to the football field where they willfully slime each other, all in the name of recreation. Again, they wear pads and helmets – and yet how many adult men do I know who are dealing with lifelong “sports injuries?” Quite a few.

This testosterone-driven conquering spirit is tamed in adult men only enough to be civilized, and they are still often possessive, decisive, and/or competitive by nature. At least this has been my experience.

You just don’t often find girls following this same pattern. Girls are the ones in need of the conquering hero (the knight in shining armor on his white horse). They would rather sit in their high towers and wave their filmy scarves from a safe place.

I’ve been feeling overwhelmed lately, as if threatened or attacked by enormous opponents and obstacles in the heat of battles of indecision, need, physical exertion and general inadequacy – and have told myself to take one day at a time and allow God’s strength to be made perfect in my weakness.

With that in mind, I finally wafted off to sleep last night in the wee hours of the morning when I dreamed about running away and ending up in a seemingly safe, protected place where tenderness and compassion ruled – except it really wasn’t safe at all because my very person ended up being tested and violated.

A couple of nights ago we went to see the movie Slumdog Millionaire with one of our sons at the recommendation of our other son. I don’t go to movies anymore because of my crummy hearing, but I got the techno-headset that was available (which helped a little) and willed myself not to get tense or frustrated over what I missed (which was significant since there were lots of foreign accents). The plot was graphic, powerful and emotionally gripping, and I’m glad I went. It spoke clearly to the topic of danger, insecurity, and flagrant vulnerability in the face of overwhelming circumstances – and the fact that life comes down to choices.

So, while I sometimes feel like throwing in the towel and/or retreating, I realize there is no running away from life (circumstances, people, whatever)…and I must face the choices before me squarely and seek God’s direction. Ultimately it isn’t about the actual circumstances at all, but the sure knowledge that He is with me in the midst of them.

I Pe. 1:3-7 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come to you that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”