Shelter in Place

It’s a new term to me – first introduced a short time ago when we Americans were told to stay home!

My home is indeed a shelter. In the middle of the Michigan mitten, about halfway between Detroit and Chicago, our country home becomes the perfect year-round shelter. Cool in summer, surrounded by sycamores with leaves larger than dinner plates and abundant maples with deep green leaves – thousands of leaves – all creating shade from the hot sun. Comfortably warm in winter, heated by a massive outdoor furnace, boiling and pumping water through pipes, radiating throughout the house. So the home itself is a greatly appreciated and welcomed shelter, but staying there – sheltering in place, day after day, week after week, month after month – is quite another thing, isn’t it?

Natural disasters draw me home. Man-made or mistakenly-spread disasters, such as COVID19, also draw me home. I feel safe, secure, and comfortable in my home. It’s where I most often want to be. But it’s not where I want to stay or truly shelter.

My body is comfortable to Shelter in Place,
but my spirit yearns for more.

When I became a Christian, I became a new person in spirit. And ever since, my spirit yearns to shelter in the Father. The Psalmist (Psalm 91) refers to that place of shelter as the secret place of the Most High God, El Elyon. And when we dwell, actually reside, in that secret place, we find rest. Rest of mind – peace – assurance. Isn’t rest what we really want? I do.

I look for that secret place.
I yearn for that secret place.
And I find that secret place.

The term secret place most often refers to the way our soul is in relationship with God. It is the place Jesus speaks of when he instructs us to go to a room with the door shut when we pray – a place of solitude with God – a place set aside for time alone with God. It is an intentional decision to spend time in the Word, praying and listening. God meets us there. It is in this secret place we discover Him as “our refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.”

The stay at home order from our government is nothing like the stay at home offer from God. God doesn’t order it. He offers it.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1

Charles Spurgeon, renown preacher of old, wrote about this first verse of Psalm 91: “The blessings here promised are not for all believers, but for those who live in close fellowship with God . . . all do not dwell in the most holy place; they run to it at times, and enjoy occasional approaches, but they do not habitually reside in the mysterious presence. Those who [do] . . . become possessors of rare and special benefits, which are missed by those who follow [from] afar.” He refers to those believers who reside in God’s secret place as “constant guests,” remaining under God’s protection.

Psalm 27:5 tells us that in our days of trouble God will keep us safe in His secret place- He will hide us there and shelter us in place.

So, while I am in mid-Michigan, sheltering in place in my comfortable surroundings, my main focus will remain finding shelter, being a “constant guest,” in the Father’s secret place. That’s where I – and you – will find true refuge – not just through the COVID19 crisis, but every day – forever.

John 3:3

Psalm 91:1,2

Matthew 6:6

Psalm 27:5

Look for Kathi’s other articles: Today’s new language. Informal discourse from a stay-at-home English teacher.

February 17, 2018February 17, 2018

Full of the Holy Spirit . . . led by the Spirit . . .

Beginning on Ash Wednesday, the period of Lent is 40 days. Why 40 days? Although there are many references to the number 40 in the Bible, the connection to Lent seems to be that Jesus went into the wilderness, the desert, where he fasted and was tempted by the devil for 40 days.

Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist directly preceded His 40 days of temptation. Three of the Gospels report it. I especially like the passage from Luke. There is so much to contemplate, but today, I’m focusing on two phrases in just the first sentence!

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. (Mark 4:1,2a)

full of the Holy Spirit,

led by the Spirit . . .

How could I possibly approach any trial or temptation without the filling and leading of the Holy Spirit? I couldn’t.

Will write more later . . .

June 7, 2015June 6, 2015

Never lose hope, your expectation!

. . . and your children I will save. Isaiah 49:25b

Your children I will save!

Awesome words!

Powerful words!

Promising words!

Healing, encouraging words for the parent and the grandparent.

The promises are so great!

I don’t know God’s will about my job, about which car to drive, about whether or not to replace the carpeting in my living room. But I do know His will about my children! The Bible is filled with promises about my children — so many that as I read them, I list them and often return to remind myself of God’s desires.

I know it is God’s will that my children honor Him.

I know it is God’s will that my children will be taught by the LORD, that

they are established in righteousness,

they continue the heritage of His kingdom,

they are blessed by Him,

they have plenty,

they have a secure fortress and refuge in the Lord, and that

they have great peace.

He tells me to pray. And so I continue to pray.

You see, this is their heritage. And we, as parents, shall never, ever give up praying for their heritage.

He saves!

He saves my baby when he is sick;

He saves my child from danger;

He saves my child, lost in his sin;

He saves the ill, the weak, the down-trodden.

I pray for the baby.

I pray for the child.

I pray for the lost child.

I pray for the ill, the weak, the down-trodden.

Again I return to those words. I unfold those words. I cry out to God. It is my heritage.

And it is your heritage. Unfold those words. And never give up. Never lose “hope,” your expectation!

Pray the Word for your children: I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1: 17-19

Further reading: Psalm 24:6, 25:13, 119:130; Proverbs 14:26; Deuteronomy 28:4; Isaiah 54:13, 17b, John 14:11-14

February 26, 2015February 26, 2015

Is your world shaken?

He whispered ~

I love you with an unfailing love, Kathi. Though your world is shaken, my love for you is not. I am going before you. I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.
(From my book in progress, yet untitled.)

Three years ago, during the darkest time of my life, I depended on these promises from the Lord, reading and speaking them, over and over and over . . .

He was faithful then and He is faithful now.

Is your world shaken? Speak His word. Put your name in place of mine. Let Him whisper to you!

February 25, 2015

Enlighten my heart so I might know!

His Whisper to Me ~~

Kathi, I’ve chosen you – I’ve adopted you through Jesus. I’ve redeemed and forgiven you with the riches of My grace. I’ve enlightened your heart so that you might know the hope I give you, and the riches of my inheritance, and my incomparably great power. It’s for those of you who believe.

He has chosen you, too! Click here to learn more about becoming a believer.

Pray:

Father, thank you for choosing me.

Read:

Ephesians 1

February 24, 2015February 24, 2015

Even to their old age . . .

His Whisper to me ~~

It’s been three years since both of my parents passed. They were old; they had health problems; but those details did not lessen my loss. After their passings, I looked back upon their last minutes, their last days, and their last years. I saw the fulfillment of God’s word to both my Daddy and my Mama:

“I will be your God throughout your lifetime until your hair is white with age,” He said. “I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” (ESV)

And I’m so thankful He did – care for them, carry them, and save them.

As I think about those last years of their lives, I wish I had been a bit more patient with them, a bit more loving to them, and a bit more compassionate for them. In other words, a bit more like the Father.

If you still have your parents or grandparents, how will you carry them along until their “hair is white with age”?

Pray:

Loving Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness to me, even through my old age. Help me to be faithful to my parents and my grandparents through their old age.

Read:

Isaiah 46:4

Psalm 71:17,18

1 Timothy 5:8

July 13, 2013May 10, 2024

The beautiful, bountiful, broken cherry tree.

I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10 NIV)

We were busy that summer, several years ago – so busy that my husband, Ron, didn’t have the time or the opportunity to cut down the dead little cherry tree and chop it into a small pile of firewood for the coming winter.

Not a single leaf had developed on the tree that spring. No blossoms in late spring. No cherries in the summer. The branches were withered and barren. The once beautiful and bountiful domestic cherry tree was lifeless. It must have been the hard winter, we each thought, and we spoke about it occasionally throughout that busy summer. After all, cherry trees have a life span of about 20 years. This tree is already nearly 30 years old.

As winter neared, Ron began cutting wood, but he had his eye on bigger trees, providing mega piles of wood, so he still neglected cutting down the dead little cherry tree in the northeast corner of the yard.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Winter came. The house was heated from maple, ash, and walnut – not from the wood of the dead little cherry tree. As spring neared, we talked about getting rid of that dead little cherry tree before we got busy on other spring projects.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Finally spring arrived. As usual, we marveled in the delight of new life outdoors. We started the yard work. When we went to the northeast corner of the yard and saw the little cherry tree, we were in awe! It was no longer dead!

The little tree had budded with leaves.

Shortly thereafter, it burst forth in blossoms.

Then those blossoms turned into cherries, and the tree flourished again!

We had given up on the tree, but it still had life!

New life!

Full life!

You see, Ron and I don’t know much about cherry trees. We had merely looked at it from the outside, unaware of all it had to offer us – unaware of its potential.

Since its dead summer several years ago, that cherry tree has repeatedly produced fruit. In fact, its harvest was so great this summer that the weight of the cherries split a limb off the tree. – further evidence that Ron and I don’t know much about cherry trees.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

It should have been trimmed and pruned. It needed care. We had neglected it.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

The way we cared for that cherry tree is SO unlike the way our Heavenly Father cares for us!

He takes what others perceive as dead – and He brings new life!

He offers full, abundant life to us.

When we open His Word, we find it.

We bud.

We bloom.

We flourish.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

That beautiful, bountiful, broken cherry tree

and the awesome, stirring Word of God

speak to me.

I look at myself.

I look at others.

And in place of dead, withered, and barren, I begin to see life.

March 13, 2013April 21, 2015