Lions and Tigers and Big Spiders

Finally, after torrential rains, a sunny spring day emerged, and a great time to take the grandkids to the zoo.  Apparently, everyone else had the same idea.  I have never seen so many people there.  And having come through the past two years of covid, I have not seen so many people. Period.

In some crowded sections, I did not call out "Stay where I can see you," because somehow in their minds, grandmothers have super-powered vision that can see through walls.   And so, I advised, "Stay where you can see me." 

There have been many times in my life, distracted by so much, overwhelmed by all that is going on, that I feel like God has said the same to me.  Go.  Enjoy.  But be aware of My Presence.  "Stay where you can see Me."  And sometimes even  go where you can see Me. And that gives me immeasurable freedom.  

Don't get too far ahead.  Don't lag behind.  Run with Him.

There were crowded areas in this river of people where I would suddenly feel a small familiar hand reaching for mine, one of our little ones realizing his need for someone safe.  And then, we entered the reptile house -- which always gives me the creeps.  Not because of the scaly reptiles, bats, and enormous arachnids all in thick glass shelters there, but because it is really dark inside.  And it was there that I reached for their hands, not to hold them back, but to keep them with me.  At one point, one of our five-year-olds looked up.  "Oh, you are here."  In that shadowy place, it is easy to forget.

And often in those really dark places which we ALL find ourselves at one point or another -- those unexpected bottomless pits,  dark and stormy nights, power out, no batteries in the flashlight, the sound of intruders down the hallway, where in the world am I? --we forget that we are not alone and Who has a stronghold on us.  

God has reminded His people over thousands of years in a billion different situations on foreign lands, places where we are oblivious of His Presence,  in the familiar on the most ordinary days, and right here in the crisis:

 

For I, the LORD your God,

      hold your right hand.

It is I who say to you,

"Fear not,

   I am the One who helps you."

                       Isaiah 41. 13

 

Take My hand

    and trust Me in this. 

Right here with you.

God changes what we see.

    And that would be His faithfulness.