A Good Word Wednesday #43 SAFE

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May 17, 2023

This isn’t where I feel safe — on a small boat on a big, open sea. I wrote a story about this adventure. I’ve included the link for you below. But the ironic thing about this situation is that I had just begun to work for an organization called She Is Safe. (Link below.) The thing is, I knew I was safe… ultimately. I knew God held me safe in his strong arms. Trying to convince myself of this truth while in the middle of the Indian Ocean was challenging. In this photo, I was traveling with our She Is Safe team to visit women on a remote Indonesian island who truly weren’t safe from many things — from their families, their environment, and sometimes from themselves. We were bringing them messages of hope, of ways to help themselves thrive and of ways to be safe in the storms life brings.

People often asked me during those years, “Were you ever in danger? Weren’t you scared?” Yes and yes. But God supplied much peace in stormy situations. God doesn’t always ask us to stay in our safe, warm, cozy homes. Sometimes He asks us to go to unsafe places to share light and life with those who need it. Sometimes we go on an airplane, or in a boat or walk to the house across the street. And always, He is there.

When I think of safety, I immediately think of the image of God as a mother bird tenderly protecting her chicks.

“How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Matthew 23:37

Doesn’t that scripture make you feel safe, nurtured and loved? It doesn’t mean that hard times and tests won’t come, but it does mean that He is there with us in the trials holding us close— just like a momma bird caring for her babies.

We’ve just celebrated Mother’s Day. Many of our memories include us feeling safe and snug in our mother’s laps, holding her hand, eating her food and sharing our hearts with her. Safe.

Let me know where or how you feel most treasured, seen and loved. It’s the question of the week below.

Wednesday in the Word

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2
“The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10
“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8

Share Your Good Words

Question(s) of the Week: Where do you feel the most safe? How do you help others feel safe?

Good Unseen People

This story will be included in my upcoming book, Unseen People: Sharing Life and Light with Your Neighbors and the Nations.

Read On A Boat, On an Angry Sea, In Indonesia

Unseen People book

Good Words I Recommend

A Good Blog: Why Do You Want to Go There? This was the working title of my book that has evolved into its current form: Unseen People. Look for this story in my book soon to be published.

A Good Non Profit: She Is Safe If you want to help bring new life to women and girls most in need, check out this organization. I worked with She Is Safe for almost 10 years and I can tell you story after story of how they are helping to free and equip women and girls, trapped in sexual slavery and abuse, to become who God created them to be.

A Good Song: Safe by Alisa Turner “Safe. You Hold Me Safe…. Love that sings my name…”

Another Good Song: He Will Hold Me Fast “… for my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.”

A Good Book: Safe All Along Trading Our Fears and Anxieties for God's Unshakable Peace by Katie Davis Majors

Another Good Book: Forgotten Girls: Stories of Hope and Courage, Strom and Rickett

NOTE: Please share with me some of your favorite blogs, songs and books. I’d love to know.

Some of the links above are associate links. That means, when you click and purchase, I receive a small percentage of that sale. Those funds, as well as funds from paid subscribers, supports my writing this piece each week. Thank you! I commit to forwarding a minimum of 10% to the amazing nonprofits: She Is Safe and The Red Cord. They help raise awareness of sex trafficking. They help prevent, rescue and restore victims to new life.

A Final Word

I received an exciting update about my book! Click here to find out: The Book: Unseen People. It is #10 on the book birthing list. Thank you for joining me in this process. Please be prayerful that every aspect of this book — the stories, the editing, the cover— all of it will open new ways to see unseen people.

I didn’t include the following scripture in the section above because I wanted this to be the final word today:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:7-12

Light in the darkness. Reminds me of nightlights in a frightened child’s bedroom. Safety in the shadows. My prayer for you this week is that you know the Father’s love, safety and hope.

Let me hear from you this week. What’s on your mind?