Looking to Our True Source of Safety in the year 2018

Hello Everyone,

    I pray that you all had a blessed Christmas and a bringing in the new year of 2018! It has been a busy couple of months and I apologize for the period of silence, but I will be posting a new year update soon. 

     As I have been reflecting on this new year, I came across a poem by Paul David Tripp which talks about our safety in Christ. It speaks of our True Confidence in the face of personal, political, national, or international uncertainty. I hope you are encouraged as I was.

May the Lord richly bless you with being safe in His arms wherever He leads you!
Rubanga kolu anyito (God be with you),

Jonathan and Joyce and Patience

"For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling.." (v.5)

I am safe,
not because I have no trouble,
or because I never experience danger.
I am safe,
not because people affirm me,
or my plans always work out.

I am safe,
not because I am immune from disease,
or free of the potential for poverty.
I am safe
not because I am protected from disappointment,
or separated from this fallen world.
I am safe,
not because I am wise or strong.
I am safe,
not because I deserve comfort
or have earned my ease.
I am safe,
not because of money
or power,
or position,
or intellect,
or who I know,
or where I live.

I am safe because of the glorious mystery of grace.
I am safe because of the presence of boundless love.
I am safe because of
divine mercy,
divine wisdom,
divine power,
divine grace.
I am safe,
not because I never face danger,
but because you are  with me in it.
You have not given me a ticket out of danger.
You have not promised me a life of ease.
You have chosen to place me in a fallen world.
I am safe  because you have given me
the one thing
that is the only thing
that will ever keep me safe.
You have given me
You.
I am safe from my evil heart
and this shattered world,
not because I can escape them both,
but because in the middle of
temptation and trial,
danger and disappointment
sickness and want,
You give me everything
I need to  fight temptation
and avoid defeat
and to point others to the safety
that can only be found in You.
So, I will wake up tomorrow
and face the anxiety of not knowing,
the fear of my own weakness,
and the reality of the fall.
I will live with
faith,
courage,
perseverance,
and hope.
And when danger comes,
and it will,
I will whisper to my weakening heart,
"Emmanuel is your shelter,
You are safe."

Devotional on Psalm 27 by Paul David Tripp