My hiding place . . .

 

  

Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble;

thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.

~Psalm 32:7

Sometimes it is really hard to remember this. We live in a big scary world and it can often be hard to find God's face in it, especially when we are facing troubles and trials . . .  

Mary had just hung the last towel on the clothesline when her daughter Jane came out of the barn carrying an orange and white stripey cat.

"I see you found Tigger," Mary said, as Jane brought Tigger over to her. "I haven't seen her around for several days and figured she must have gone off somewhere to have her kittens."  

Jane nodded. "Pa found Tigger and six kittens wedged between the horse stall box and the outside wall, and its such a tight fit that Tigger has to lie on her back to nurse her kittens." 

"So what's your dad doing about it and how come you are holding Tigger?" 

 

"Pa's fixed her a nice bed in the hay, and he's putting the kittens in there now." said Jane, as she stroked Tigger's ears."I brought Tigger outside so she wouldn't get upset while he moved them." 

"I hope it works,"  said Mary as she picked up her laundry basket.  "I'll call you when I need you to set the table for lunch." 

  

Some time later, as Mary was slicing some bread for sandwiches and Jane was setting the table, Pa came into the kitchen, shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" asked Mary with concern in her voice. "You look frustrated."

"That silly cat of ours won't stay in the nest of hay I made for her and the kittens," Pa said.  "As soon as I turned my back, she carted them all back to that narrow place in the horse's stall." 

"Maybe she thinks her little ones are safer there," said Mary. "Its possible after her last litter all died, that she has decided that the best way to protect this one is to keep them well hidden away." 

 

 

 Pa smiled, kissed Mary on the cheek and patted Jane on the head. "I guess she's just trying to take care of them, like we do with our little ones and like God does with us." 

Just as a mother cat cares for and protects her young, or as we do our own children, our loving Heavenly Father watches out for us.  We are His children. When we are in danger, God hides us in the cleft of the rock, under His wing and in the Shadow of His hand.  It is very easy to forget this truth when our lives seem to be turned upside down.  We just need to be patient and keep trusting. Keep trying.  Keep believing.  Keep growing. 

 

When the world around you is crumbling, God is the rock

on which you can stand. 

Our grocery order came last night about 7 pm. It wasn't much.  I had ordered dog food, enough to keep Mitzie for about a month and a few other bits.  I had thought that as I had gotten a slot for delivery that I would be able to go back and edit  my order after I had had a good think about what we needed, but that wasn't the case, so I was left with the few bits I had managed to put on it.  Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for those bits, but next time I will know better. 

Todd carefully gathered the bags in from the doorstep, holding each bag carefully with his gloved hands.  He then emptied the bags, one article at a time, into my gloved hands while I sanitized each item with a clinical wipe.  (Thankfully I had thought to get two packages of clinical wipes and some disposable gloves before this all kicked off.) 

As I carefully wiped each thing down, I thought to myself, who would have ever thought at midnight on the 31st of December 2019 this was what the year 2020 would be bringing to each of us. Life sure has a way of surprising us.  This is almost like 9/11 in a way.  It is something which has hugely impacted our world and I am not sure that our lives will ever be the same again. 

For one thing I don't think I will ever be as complacent about or take my blessings for granted ever again. Todd said last night (and he was born just a year before the beginning of World War 2) that he had never experienced anything like it in his lifetime, and he lived through the bombings of the blitz on London.  All of our lives have been turned upside down and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight at present.  I think the death toll here in the UK as of this morning is 15,464, and they say that it could actually be 80% higher than that because of a delay in how fatalities are recorded.  

It can sometimes be very daunting to live normal, and to quell your fears in the face of such statistics. There is so much unknown about this virus, except for the fact that it is a killer and that it kills indescriminately. 

 

But despite all of the unknowns . . . there are things that we CAN hold onto that we CAN know for sure.  Our God is a God of Hope and of promise.  All we have to do is to exercise our faith and trust in Him.   Keep doing the things that we are supposed to do, taking the precautions we have been asked to take. Stay home.  Exercise social distancing. Wash our hands frequently, etc.  He WILL bring us through this.  I know and believe this to be true with all of my heart. We just need to be patient and to wait, and to keep believing and trusting. We  may have a new normal at the end of it all, but hopefully we will all have learnt the lessons we need to learn and hopefully the world will be a kinder, gentler place than it was when this all began. 

As I sit here listening to the birds in the garden this morning I hear the song of hope and of promise. This too shall pass.  If the birds can still sing, so can we.  Keep your sunny side up! 

A thought to carry with you   . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *She took a deep breath

and just let it go  . . . •。★★ 。* 

 

In the English Kitchen today a bit of decadence . . .  coz we all need a treat every now and then.  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Sundae Pie. 

Have a wonderful Sabbath Day.  Happy Eastern Orthodox Easter to those who are celebrating it today!  Don't forget whatever you get up to! 

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And I do too!