Where’s your safe place?
The place where you can go when life gets to be too much? The place you journey to, to get a break? The place where you feel secure?
Maybe you are thinking of a special place: the beach, the mountains, or maybe like me, Grandma’s house.
Growing up, I was blessed to live across the country road from my Great-grandmother. She was this petite, gentle, white-haired woman with the kindest, blue eyes. At 88, she insisted on scrubbing her floors on her hands and knees right after frying some chicken on the stove. (“But it doesn’t taste like the chickens I raised,” she’d say.)
Great-grandma’s was my happy place. I would practice piano at her house after a stressful day of high school drama. Her gentle manner and loving ways were a warm hug on my heart. She always fed me a feast for my after school snack. That feast always included fresh-baked cookies. Even today, the aroma of melted chocolate chips transports me back to her little white kitchen where she’d bustle about, feeding every visitor who would stop by, including the kittens who would jump up on her window. She was always loving, always sweet and kind; her little brick ranch resonated peace.
I was fifteen when she died.
Although her home still stood across the road, that structure no longer symbolized serenity.
Maybe you too have experienced your safe place vanishing. Psalm 32:7 reassures us of a safe place that never crumbles or ceases to exist. “You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” (NIV)
God is always a safe place.
He promises to protect from trouble. “For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:11 (NIV)
Frightened children often race to a parent, searching for reassurance. That child innocently trusts that ‘Mommy will keep me safe,” or “Daddy will protect me.”
God is our eternal heavenly father. He is always someone we can turn to, run to, trust. We should race toward Him, carrying our burdens and placing them before Him, allowing Him to comfort us, soothing us with soft song, reassuring our souls.
Not only will He comfort us in our hurting moments but He continues in Psalm 32: 8 to promise us loving counsel and instruction: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” (NIV)
God wants to permanently be our safe place. He wants us to always turn toward Him. He promises in Psalm 31 He will be a rock and a refuge to us. Forever.
And He keeps His promises.
As an adult I knew I could never return to Grandma’s house expecting the same serenity I experienced as a child. Grandma was gone. But fleeing to my heavenly Father is different: He is always there. As I grow in faith, experience life with Him, and testing His promises, I do approach Him with a new level of trust. It resembles that of trusting the moments spent at Grandma’s house were sure to be safe, sure to be joy-filled, and sure to be a place of refuge in this difficult world.
I have learned I can trust God. I know in Him I am safe. He won’t hurt me. He wants to give me His best, even in the hardest, most painful of times, He is looking out for my good.
And, in those difficult moments, I have learned that when I trust in Him, trust the some how, some way, He has even this, the load is lightened, and yes I can experience not only temporary moments of happiness, but deep down joy.
Joy that I am not responsible. Joy that I don’t have to figure it all out. Joy that He truly has me. Time with Him is truly the best time spent; He has become my safe haven, my trusted spot, my place of refuge.
Maybe you are looking for that kind of place. Maybe you never considered God wants to provide that place for you. Maybe like me, you need to stop a moment and allow yourself to feel that desire for a safe haven. Realize even as an adult, it’s okay to want that type of place. God gives His children good gifts. The safety and serenity of His arms, and time spent with Him is just one of those gifts He loves to give us.
It’s not wrong or weak to desire that gift. And it delights Him when we accept it.
I would like to encourage each of us, to take some time soon to accept His gift. Let our souls refresh in Him as we find refuge in relationship with Him. (And just maybe, at the end of that time, it would serve us well to bake some cookies!)
Prayer: Dear Lord, Thank You that You are always there, and that You invite me to run to You. No thing is too big or too small for Your concern. Thank You for loving me and tending to me, even when the mess I am is of my own making. You promise nothing can separate me from You. Thank You for commanding Your angels concerning me, and thank You for caring for me. Thank You that you are always a safe place. In Jesus’ name, Amen.