It is officially my birthday and I am so excited to be celebrating with the ones I love and to start my morning with some of my most favorite things – a good cup of coffee, a journal and the word of God.

I pray that today’s journal notes are an encouragement to you and that your 2019 is off to a great start!

What is it like to have God protecting you?

For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
    He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing
    from those who do what is right.

Psalm 84:11

I recently cracked my phone, like REALLY cracked my phone! Do you know the type of crack, the one where chards of glass seep through and you fear a cut every time you answer a text? Yes! My phone was in VERY bad shape.

It all started with a tiny drop that seemed like “no big deal”. Once I recovered my phone from its tumble I spotted a small crack towards the corner of the screen and moved on without giving it much thought. Days went by without incident and all seemed well.

BUT THEN I dropped my phone again and what was once just a tiny crack cascaded into a spider web of cracks. It was bad, y’all! My phone was damaged! It looked really bad and it felt a little scary to use it. So I decided to call in a claim to repair my phone. No need to live in fear of cuts right?

Tempered Glass

In just a couple of days I had a repair technician at my home. The first step to repairing my phone was removing the protective screen, the tempered glass. I KNEW I had a protective covering but I didn’t understand its power or purpose until it was removed.

Once the protective covering was removed, it revealed one small crack at the edge of the actual phone screen. My protective covering has sustained significant damage but it had protected my phone. 

I had no idea that nearly all the damage I saw and feared was actually protecting the very item I cared about.

God is our Shield

Isn’t our life like this?

The Holy Spirit began to remind me of the times God closed doors to me. It did not feel good and sometimes it outright hurt but looking back I can see His divine plan slowly unfolding through the open and the closed doors of life. I see Him leading and guiding my way when the path felt uncertain. It was His guiding hand and protection over my life that brings me to this very day, this very moment – He is my tempered glass. He is my shield.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 

Psalm 46:1

There were so many times I seen and felt the pains and cracks of life. Even times where I wondered where is God in this, not knowing that underneath, I was in a safer place – His divine protection – even when it hurt and when it was a scary lonely road. He was with me. He is my refuge, He is my strength and He is my help.

In Jesus – We are covered! We are protected! We are sealed!

Even when we stumble, even in our struggles or times of failure, even when we feel like we headed down the wrong path – God is so much BIGGER than our imperfections. He is so much bigger than our mistakes. His grace is so much greater! God is not upset with us for our shortcomings.

God is our shield. He is our protector and through Jesus we are His children. We may come away with some scrapes and cuts but we are sealed and protected by the power of the MOST HIGH GOD.

There is nothing too great to separate us from God’s love and saving grace.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

If you feel that you are in a place where life has left you with some cracks and God seems so far off. I hope that you are reminded that He is your tempered glass. He is your shield. He has not left you but we are not meant to walk this faith journey alone.

Is it time for you to seek a community? Is it time for you to get back into community with others in the faith? We need community! We need others that can walk along side us – to encourage us, to help us see God’s work in our life when we cannot see it ourselves. We are not meant to do life alone and we do not have to do life with people who speaks curses over us instead of blessings. Is it time for you to make the change?

Let’s allow Jesus to be our shield in this crazy hectic life.

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
    my glory, and the lifter of my head.

Psalm 3:3

Many Blessings,

Misty