“He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge …” psalm 91:4

i have been basking in this season of blessed life, all the more so because i know that, just as every cycle in life has a passing, these easier days will end and the difficult ones will come into clear view, designed to weed out what doesn’t thrive in me and refine what remains in my soul. for now, i’ve arrived at this refuge God has breathed over me, the place of security and peace that comes with knowing you’re where you ought to be, because you obeyed the bigger plan constructed by Someone bigger than you. and that is something to be recognized when we come across it, because nearly every aspect of our lives will try to pull us away from there.

yet, reality still grounds me. i’m not under some illusion that all is well with the world. in fact, i’m more aware of our world’s heartbreak than ever as i read “the hole in our gospel” by world vision president richard stearns, which examines humankind’s (particularly the church’s) reaction (or lack thereof) to our globe’s imbalanced distribution of wealth and resources. he devotes many pages to just drinking water – how many people don’t have it and are in desperate need for it, how long and far they will travel to get to it, how many children cannot properly develop without it and how, without some sort of massive intervention on a global scale, these people will continue to die without it, or even with it, depending on their water’s quality.

“i can imagine my own life without many of the so-called necessities that i have. you can take away my car and i would find a way to compensate by using public transportation or carpooling with a friend. you could take away my computer and my internet access, my television, stereo, and radio, and i could still have a full and prosperous life. you could reduce the size of my house and my income by half, and even take away my education and i could survive and perhaps even thrive. but if you take away water and sanitation, you take away my health and that of my children. if you take away my health, you have taken away my energy and industry. if you take away my energy and ability to support my family, you have taken away my dignity; and if you take away my dignity, you have taken away hope – for the future, for my children, for a better life. this is the harsh reality for more than one billion people in the world who live without access to clean, safe water.

“in africa they don’t say that water is important to their lives; they say that water is life. it is absolutely the foundation upon which civilization and human life is built, and the best news is that we have the knowledge and the technology to provide it. all we lack is the will.”

many of these families are forced to leave their homes, their towns, their lives and completely relocate in the pursuit of water – something accessible to us with just the pull of a handle, in whatever temperature we prefer. they become refugees to survive. their reality is one we’ve never had to face, and quite honestly, will probably never experience.

but we can still relate. in our own between times of prosperity and desolation, aren’t we all refugees, forfeiting our comfort in search of safety, in search of what will sustain us abundantly? isn’t that something we all hold in common? and if so, shouldn’t our understanding go beyond head and pierce the heart to take action?

i was on a women’s retreat last weekend and we recited this invocation:

“will you come and follow Me if I but call your name?
will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
will you let My love be shown, will you let My name be known
will you let My life be grown in you and you in Me?

“will you love the “you” you hide if I but call your name?
will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around
through My sight and touch and sound in you and you in Me?”

i thank God for opening my eyes a little wider to the vast suffering undergone by many. i thank Him for making me so that by reading this book i will never be the same. i can’t be the same. knowledge opens windows and doors, and to stand idle would be lazy and foolish, a slap in the face.

thank you, Christ, for extending your wing to my protection. now make Your wing cover us all, so that we are no longer refugees, but citizens, family, under You and You only.