Our Fortress

Are you holding an SOS flag in your hand right now? Do you feel caught in waiting for an answer to yet another problem in life?

2 Peter 2:9a states: “. . . the LORD knows how to rescue the godly from trials.”

Are you experiencing yet another trial in life? Have you been able to move away from asking God “why?” Have you examined where your shield of faith might have a hole in it, and you are then open to being vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy? What do you worry about most? Is it your children, finances, health, work, friends, or the future?

I have, to be honest. What do I tend to worry about most? It has been my husband’s health. I have also had anxiety in the past about the lack of finances, work, my children, and our financial possibilities in the future. I have realized however, all of these are really out of my control, including my husband’s health.

I wrote down this past summer every major trial in our life that we had experienced in my husband’s and my forty-two years of marriage together. I made a list of each one of them on paper. It appeared to me that I had to merely trust in the Lord to bring us through every time. I couldn’t fix any of them myself. There was nothing I could do to change things but to wait on the Lord for His rescue in each trial. He did answer, restore, and taught us things we couldn’t seem to learn in any other way at the time. God’s timing is never late and always just on time. I do know that, but when you are in the wait it is never easy. But God’s word brought peace in my heart and mind by seeing a special verse or promise that I read during each hard trial. In one particular trial God gave me Psalm 27:13: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” That verse was instrumental in God revealing to me that we were to move to California. That it was God’s will for Steve to accept the job offer that he had been approached about for two years. We have now lived here for almost twenty-five years. California was and is “the land of the living,” for us.

Then there was a major financial trial we lived through. God gave me Psalm 119:92: “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.” Then my prayer became: “Teach me Your word during this season of my life like I have never known it before, and make this verse my testimony when I emerge from this place!” This particular verse has become what I call my “signature verse,” that I identified with when going through a very specific financial trial. We wished we had done things differently or not at all. We spent a lot of time in regretting a decision and action that cost us financial consequences that could not be reversed. But God walked with us through this experience, and it developed more perseverance and steadfastness within our physical and spiritual core. His almighty rescue came as quite a surprise and in a way that we had not fathomed was possible. But we did lose a significant amount of money. That did not change.

Do you feel you might need to use a life boat right now? Are you able to move past the “why?” Are you feeling anxious? Review past answers to prayers God has given you. I keep a gift box in my living room that is placed on our mantel. The gift card on top says: “To: Steve and Linda and family. From: God.” I write down on cards answers to prayers and keep them in this special box to remind myself of precious answers to burdens that God has answered. I date them. This also helps remind me of Romans 8:28 regarding God working everything out for my, or our good because He loves us. He loves me. That doesn’t mean that I understand it all at the time, and I may never fully understand the why part. But it causes me to have a thankful heart and give praise and glory to God for His shield of protection and blessings as my shepherd and overseer.

As my Grandma Helmers always told me: “This too shall pass.” My Pastor, Todd Smith, also said to me one time: “There will be an end to this. Believe on that fact.” He was right.

Yes, the Lord does know how to rescue the godly from trials as He promised in 2 Peter 2:9. There is an end in sight dear one. Rest in the Lord. Relax in His care. Rejoice that God has this!

Let your prayer be Psalm 62:1-2(NLT): “I wait patiently before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.”