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I’m currently in coastal South Carolina for a retreat with other Christian communicators. It gives me great pleasure to invite longtime friend Lynne Rienstra to share with us today. Lynne serves Samaritans Purse as Regional Director for Church Engagement in the Southeast. In her work she's witnessed crisis situations throughout the world. Lynne is also the author of the new book Sacred Refuge: Finding Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis
Welcome, Lynne!
“For a while now, you may have woken in a state of panic.
What will today bring? What new problems will demand my attention? How will I be pulled in yet another direction?
We’re living in volatile and uncertain times, with new crises and conflicts emerging daily that threaten to tear our culture and world apart.
Many of us are stumbling through our days, just trying to get through it all. Pay the next bill. Keep the kids rolling through school. Fight traffic. Fight with our husbands. Fight our belly fat. Fight the good fight.
Like me, you may look at the state of our world and fight the urge to cash in your 401(k) and move to an island. Tempting, but I’m pretty sure that’s not God’s plan for us at this moment.
The times we live in may feel scary, but God has so much better for us than hiding. He has so much more for us in his presence. In love and compassion, he’s inviting us—right in the midst of our crises—to begin living under the shadow of his wings (see Psalm 91:4). Not just retreating there every once in a while or running to it when we hear the piercing sirens, but actually dwelling there every day.
So often, though, we hide from the stress and chaos of life in places outside of God’s arms. Many of us are hiding out in our own lives, year after year. Some of us, as I have, are hiding in plain sight.
Suzanne hides in her faithful workout regimen. Hilary in food. Kaneisha hides in perfectionism. Jen in an R-rated Netflix series that seems to satisfy something missing in her life. Taylor in steamy bodice-buster novels. Chen hides in busyness. Maria in becoming the world’s best mom. Jill hides in her growing investment portfolio. Kaitlyn in pursuit of the corner office. Tanya hides in her social media feeds.
The enemy of our souls loves all this. It was his idea from the start to send us hiding. He’s downright terrified of what will happen when God’s daughters shake off the spiritual slumber of their hiding places and start living from sacred refuge.
What might happen if we began powerfully fulfilling our God-given design as life-givers (both spiritual and physical)? What if, having been sheltered ourselves, we begin to shelter others? That would grow God’s kingdom. That could change the world!
And the enemy can’t have that.
Here’s why Satan is threatened by what happens when we finally enter—and live from—sacred refuge.
It is where we encounter God.
It is where God tells us who we are.
It is the place of knowing and being known.
It is the place of healing.
It is the place of renewal, rest, and refreshment.
It is where God empowers us to live out our callings.
It is where we discern God’s voice and battle strategy.
It is where we begin to shelter others.
Sacred refuge is where we receive God’s love and love him in return. It is the place we discover our life-altering identity as “the Beloved.”
It is also God’s blood-bought gift to us in Christ, the place where we discover abundant life, peace, love, forgiveness, belonging, joy, provision, and every other good gift God has for us.
But here’s the catch: sacred refuge is most often found when God allows crisis in our lives. Is it because he’s cruel and capricious? The enemy would try to tell us so. But don’t fall for that deception. It’s the evil one’s attempt to rip you off from the riches God has for you in dark times.
Right in the middle of our crises, God is extending us a holy invitation. Even now, if you listen very carefully, you may hear his voice asking you these questions:
What if the deepest desire of your heart turned out to be what I most long to give you?
What if your crisis turned out to be the means through which you receive it?
Last fall, I underwent surgery after a cancer diagnosis only to have our car T-boned on the way home from the hospital. This past year turned out to be a living laboratory in which God challenged me to road-test its truths.
Is God really good?
Does he really see or care about me?
Can he protect me, heal me, provide for me?
God answered my questions with a resounding “Yes!” It’s the same answer he gave to our sacred sisters throughout the Bible.
My prayer is that you, too, will discover (or perhaps rediscover) the heart of a God who loves you with tender affection, surrounds you with fierce protection, and longs to give you refuge under the shelter of his wings.
He is all we have.
He is all we need.”
- Adapted from Sacred Refuge: Finding Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis by Lynne Rienstra, Kregel Publications, 2024. Used with permission.
If you’d like to win a copy of this beautiful new resource, please include the word “home” or “refuge” in your comment. Two winners will be selected on Friday, Nov. 22.