One Year at Wingshadow

This post was intended for May, our anniversary month in the new-to-us house, but Ebony's illness and death altered the trajectory of the end of May and much of June. Since then, I have received and had to decline a bucket-list opportunity that required travel too strenuous for me, celebrated Father's Day with a family movie, held down the fort without Special Agent Hoover's help so Amore could move his mother to north Texas, started chiropractic treatment, hosted a foster dog for 5 exhausting days, and tried another foster dog for a week who turned out to be a keeper (but still exhausting...ha ha). We wrapped up the summer with a week of Minion Camp and a big family celebration of 2 milestones that occurred within days of each other.

(Another milestone, the eighth anniversary of this blog, passed unnoticed in that blur, save in my heart and mind. Happy belated birthday, Crumbles!)

The chiropractic treatment, with a specific practitioner at the prescription of my physical medicine/pain doctor, seems to be helping, although I'm sore for a day or so after each one still.

But I digress. The first week of May marked one year in residence at the house in my parents' neighborhood. After months of deliberation, we named it Wingshadow. The trees overarching two sides of the house remind me of the shadow of God's wing over us, protecting us. Several verses from the Psalms refer to this:

Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who surround me (Psalm 17:8-9).

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 36:7). 

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by (Psalm 57:1).

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:8).

In the wilderness, whether minding his sheep or fleeing from Saul, David, the shepherd-king, had perhaps observed mother birds sheltering their young under a wing in stormy weather and taken similar refuge in Yahweh when he so frequently needed protection.

On a similar note, David wrote, "He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler" (Psalm 91:4). The version of this Psalm in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer reads, "He shall defend thee under his wings, and thou shalt be safe under his feathers."

Little did we know when we moved how much we would need that truth in the forefront of our minds. It has been another hard year in a series of hard years... almost a decade of them now. We lost Cindy, Ebony, and Amore’s favorite job he’d ever had (when his employer was acquired). We’ve had health setbacks, home maintenance surprises, and family crises of varying degrees. The Moore family home no longer has any Moores living there.

Yet we are no less sheltered beneath the shadow of God’s wing. No hard or happy thing can touch us unless He permits it, and He only appoints what is for our good and His glory. So it is for you, dear Crumble, if you are His child. Courage, dear heart!

Here are the first 16 months at Wingshadow in photos (minus the gazillion photos of the young nephews here, which I omit out of respect for their privacy, but which do very much exist... should their grown-up selves ever come across this post and take offense).

Hope for the First Monday of a New Year

The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:22-24, ESV

Full moon, 5 January 2015

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

~Thomas Chisholm, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"

Our hope today lies not in our circumstances,

Not in our emotions,

Not in the faithfulness of our discipleship,

But in the unceasing lovingkindness of Yahweh our covenant-keeping God;

In His unending mercies;

In the greatness of His faithfulness;

In His sufficiency as our portion.

He will not fail you, dear crumble.

Therefore may you hope in Him.

Refuge from God in God

This is Ebony's "again with the camera?" face. 

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf....

Hebrews 6:17-20a, ESV

The duties and delights of the week do not permit a longer farewell to "refuge," my word for 2014. Perhaps later I may come back and remedy that, but for now, please allow me to bid the year adieu with two "refuge" quotes from a favorite little book on the attributes and character of God.

"And to us who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us in the gospel, how unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us, no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us" (88-89).

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"Since God's first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of creation are inseparably united. God's wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys. He hates iniquity as a mother hates the polio that takes the life of her child....

"No honest man can say, 'I am holy,' but neither is any honest man willing to ignore the solemn words of the inspired writer, 'Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.'

"Caught in this dilemma, what are we Christians to do? We must like Moses cover ourselves with faith and humility while we steal a quick look at the God whom no man can see and live. The broken and contrite heart He will not despise. We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by. We must take refuge from God in God. Above all we must believe that God sees us perfect in His Son while He disciplines and chastens and purges us that we may be partakers of His holiness" (166-167).

A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

In our storms and in our celebrations, dear friends, our God is a sure refuge to those who belong to Him through Jesus. Our Savior has dropped anchor for us in the Holy of Holies that we might always hold fast to hope, knowing He holds fast to us. Wherever this juncture of years may find you, crumble, may you hide yourself under the wings of El Shaddai, our Almighty, All-Sufficient God, and find peace and rest in Him.

Until 2015,
tinuviel

Come to the Feet of Jesus

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, HCSB

This butterfly we believe to be an Eastern Comma was taking a rest just outside our front door Saturday night as we left for supper. (S)he waited very patiently until I had captured the photo I wanted and then fluttered off.

Come to Jesus.

He promises rest. But far better than rest of body is rest of soul. It is wretched to be a slave, to groan, bleed, toil; but far worse to be Satan's bondman, dragging about an evil conscience and an aching heart. Rest from this cannot be had but by coming to Jesus. And, if we come, He will lighten every other load. Are you poor? Come, and He will make you rich forever. Are you sick? Come, and He will cure your worst disease [the very worst being those of the soul and spirit, even more than of the body]. Are you sad? Come, and He will wipe away your tears. Are you bereaved? Come, and He will be to you a brother in adversity, who changes not, and never dies. Is sin a burden? O then, come to Jesus and He will take it all away. Do you dread the day of death and judgment? Come, and that day will be the dawn of life and glory. O then, come.  --Newman Hall (1816-1902), Come to Jesus

Coming to Jesus, falling "At the Feet of Jesus" is where I have needed to start my days lately. So if you're looking for me today, look for me "in the shelter of my Savior’s embrace /Hidden safely in the refuge of His mercy and His Grace/And I Will Sing Hallelujah to the One who sets me free/And you will find me in the arms of Jesus" (Steven Curtis Chapman, "At the Feet of Jesus," The Glorious Unfolding). Perhaps another Crumble needs to hide in His refuge too?

At the feet of Jesus I will lay my burdens down
I will lay my heavy burdens down
In the stillness I can hear my Savior calling out
Come to me and lay your burdens down

So I will lay down my struggles
I will lay down my shame
All the fear I drag around through this life
like a ball and chain
(All my questions and confusion)
I will sing Hallelujah to the One who sets me free
And you will find me at the feet of Jesus

In the arms of Jesus I will find my peace and rest
I hear him calling come to me and rest
Carried by my shepherd cradled tightly to His chest
There and there alone my soul finds rest

So I will rest in the shelter of my Savior’s embrace
Hidden safely in the refuge of His mercy and His Grace
And I Will Sing Hallelujah to the One who sets me free
And you will find me in the arms of Jesus

At the feet of my Savior
At the feet of my King
I will bow down and worship
I will lift my voice and sing
Hallelujah Hallelujah to the One who sets me free

You will find me at the feet of Jesus

~lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman's website


May you have a truly restful weekend, my Crumble friends.

{To view the video on the Web, please access this blog post at the crumbs site.}

For Those Who Take Refuge in God

Yahweh is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble,

And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

Nahum 1:7, NASB

Every word of God is tested;

He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

Proverbs 30:5

A Trustworthy Refuge {One Word 2014}

My soul, wait in silence for God only,

For my hope is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.

On God my salvation and my glory rest;

The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

Trust in Him at all times, O people;

Pour out y’all’s heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Psalm 62:5-8, NASB with "Texan Bible" Chrome app edit

In context, David is under attack when he pens these words. As enemies surround him, (see vss 3-4), he encourages himself in God by focusing his gaze on His character. The assailants are living a lie, and under their attack he feels "Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence" (vs 3).

Although he may feel he is tottering or on the verge of collapse, he talks to himself. "My soul," he says, "wait in silence for God only." He tells himself to hush in the midst of the lies the enemies spout and to wait for God and God only. As he waits, he remembers the many ways God is the provision of his needs in this battle.

The God for whom he waits is:

• his source of hope (5);
• his stability (his rock, in whom he will not be shaken or "upended," NET, vs 6);
• his salvation, his rescue, his deliverance (6);
• his security (stronghold, 6);
• his support (his salvation rests on God, 7);
• his significance (glory, 7);
• his strength (rock of my strength, 7);
• and his shelter (my word for 2014, "refuge," 7 and 8).

In short, David finds in his God everything he needs at that moment, in that trial.

He makes the application clear in verse 8. He has been talking to himself, but now he talks to us:

Trust in Him at all times, O people;

Pour out y’all’s heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.

He exhorts us to trust this safe, strong, stable, sure refuge at all times. He summons us to pour out our heart in "earnest prayer" (ESV Study Bible note, s.v. 8) before the Lord. He invites us to make his refuge our refuge, too.

Meditating on these words has blessed me this morning, friends, and I pray the Lord makes them a word of sustenance to some weary reader, too (Isaiah 50:4). The Lord is our hope, our stability, our salvation, our security, our support, our significance, our strength, and our refuge. Let's trust Him and pour out every sorrow and joy in our hearts to Him today.

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Thanks be to God for His good gifts this past week:

His living Word,

the freedom in Christ to dump the junk drawer of my heart out before the Father without fear,

my sure refuge in Him,

those who minister to the congregation in song Sunday mornings,

the adjustment process to my new orthotics,

an interview scheduled for a loved one in need of employment,

profession of faith in Christ by my nephew Thunder,

a beautiful, warm March 1 for Mezzo's birthday,

much laughter, food, and encouragement at her tea with friends, Terza, Mom, and me,

more laughter and lots of hugs from the after-party with family only,

my whole immediate family together to celebrate,

another upper respiratory infection,

Bradford pear trees beginning to bloom out,

shelter from yesterday's ice storm and "thundersleet,"

& freedom to stay cozy at home today.

(#626-640 on 2014's 1,000 gifts count)