Surely He Will Save You

We just returned from several back to back trips, all good, but we are so glad to be home for a couple weeks. Traveling is tiring, even when you are seeing people you love and doing things that help equip you for the task at hand. Home is somewhat arbitrary at this stage in our lives, but we call this sweet house "home" for now and embrace it for all it's worth.

We traveled to Arkansas for Thanksgiving to be with Nathan's parents, his sister and her family. It was sweet to be together and celebrate together by eating traditional Irwin foods. The kids played well together and even though it rained for part of our time, and the house was filled with young children's energy and excitement and all the noises that accompany them, we had a good time together.

After that we had a pretty quick turn around as Nathan and I headed to Idaho and our kids went to Muskogee. Nathan and I spent two very full days in a personal safety/security training. I was rather hesitant to want to go, mostly because I don't like to be away from my kids for extended periods of time and this was my first time leaving Ezra (I know, I know, he's well over a year old, he was perfectly fine), but also because I knew what the content of the training would be. I felt my body becoming tense and totally uptight throughout the training. It was hard material to cover, but so necessary. And although I don't think, at least I hope and pray, that we will ever need to know the hard things, I am grateful for the knowledge. It was an exceptional training that I highly recommend to anyone headed overseas for any amount of time, short term or long.

We spent a good amount of time in the first part of the training talking about how to be wise in other cultures, how to avoid getting into crisis situations, how to be "gray" and blend in rather than sticking out unnecessarily. And those pieces gave us much to think about. There were six students in the class including Nathan and I, and five of the six of us are headed to West Africa. It was an honor to be there with others who are headed to our part of Africa, those were just neat connections.
Throughout the training there was role playing that we were somewhat forced into. That was for sure the most anxiety provoking for me, even though I knew it was just pretend, it was nonetheless intimidating and totally scary at times. They called the role playing "stress inoculation"...indeed. It is part of what made the training so effective I think.

We left the training and headed back towards the airport where we had a hotel for the night before catching an early flight home. We had some extra time so decided to see a movie and chose the newest and last Hunger Games installment. I was a nervous wreck. After such real, up close, difficult training material and the tension and stress, I was needing to calm down, so that was probably not the best movie for me to see. (Though it was great and I'm glad we saw it.)

Flying home the next morning, I wanted to read through some Psalms. I opened and read Psalm 91 and heard the sweet, comforting, calming voice of my Father as I read it.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." 

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. 

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;

 his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 

nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 

You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 

If you say, "The LORD is my refuge," and you make the Most High your dwelling, 

no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. 

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 

they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 

You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." 

Amen.