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Every week, we gather around a single prompt and write our hearts out for five minutes flat. If you’ve never tried it before, I dare you to give it a shot! Careful, though — you might even have a little fun. 😉
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This week’s FMF prompt is:
[Tweet “Join us as we write for five minutes on the prompt, PROTECT!”]
Setting my timer for five minutes, and … GO.
As we gear up for the Fourth of July weekend here in America, I’ve been thinking about the cost of freedom. About how many sacrifices have been made on so many fronts in the name of protection.
I’m so grateful to all who have given their time, energy, even their lives, that my family and I might enjoy the lives we do.
And yet we fall short.
[Tweet “There’s no 100% guarantee of security, apart from in Christ Jesus.”]
No matter how tight our defenses, how strong our walls, how well analyzed our intelligence — there will always be gaps. We can’t block every leak.
As I type this, I have a kid with a high fever and a text message on my phone telling me a relative has just been admitted to the hospital. I may be able to press a cold cloth to my child’s forehead or fan her face in the middle of the night. I can give her popsicles or stand by a hospital bedside — but my reach only goes so far.
My arm is not long enough to protect.
My daughter, my sick relative, and I all need a greater defense.
So I type “protect” into Bible Gateway, and I’m comforted by these words from my Father:
Psalm 91
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
Amen.
[Tweet “”With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 136:12″]
STOP.
Join us with your own five minutes of free writing below! And be sure to visit your FMF neighbor to share some encouragement in the comments!
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Thanks for being here! Happy 4th of July, and happy writing!
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Kate, such beautiful words here. And I love Psalm 91. I’m so glad God’s arm is longer than ours. That He has the capacity to protect, comfort your daughter and your hospitalized loved one in the most perfect of ways. I’m praying for you.
I think our minds went in a similar track for this word. Love when that happens.
Kate, I pray healing for your precious daughter and family member in the hospital in the powerful name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. May the long arm of the Lord cover all of you.
May favorite verse is Psalm 91:11. I call it my 911! Prayer. The version I first read says: For He orders His angels to protect you wherever you go.
Lord, order Your angels to protect Kate’s daughter and family member. Thank You for the Word, Your holy Bible, that equips us to call on You in faith, trusting You completely. In Jesus’ name. Amen
As I read your post, Kate, I thought of that verse in Isaiah. The Lord’s arm is not short nor is His ear dear that He cannot hear our cries and reach down to us.
Are we not of all things BLESSED?
I do hope and pray sickness leaves your home and your aunt is on the way to healing and wholeness.
xo
Saying prayers for your family, Kate!
Happy 4th to you and your family. Prayers for your friend and daughter and thank you again for your beautiful works and inspiration.
The seven letter word, calling to all men, is the same seven letter word that all men are hanging up on: protect. Slyly putting it on vibrate, until the noise gets on there nerves’ silent, until they can’t stand there own thoughts’ vanished, until they begin the persistent cycle once again.
And this is why are nation, is no longer ‘under God’. Why, July 4th is only recognized as a ‘get together BBQ festival’ (Where you keep your neighbors up with bombs. The same bombs that the colonists used to fight for our freedom, is the same bombs that our neighbors are being entertained by…Just a thought.) Where protection is only perceived as a government funded taxing spree.
But as we look closer to home, we see that as the Church (Christ’s sons and daughters) protection is shoved under the rug. Hoping that it will take care of itself as– our families crumble underneath the shrapnel of greed. As our fathers look to pornography more than they do their own wife. As our daughters look for fulfillment in the guy in the pew next to them. As gluttony vaporizes into the church potlucks and Easter ‘brunches’ or Christmas ‘finger foods’. As abortion is becoming a justifiable method of murder. As marriage is getting torn down and slashed into a million different methods of adultery. Protection is no longer a God given duty. It’s not a pleasure that we gladly take up and carry. Something that we wrestle with and grasp for and yearn for and desire.
Today, protection has turned into a preeservation of our idols. But may we repent from the sin and evil as we protect our families. Where we steward our finances to the furtherment of the Kingdom. Where we uphold and strengthen and respect our wives. Where we lead and guide our daughters in the paths of righteousness. Where we hold our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Where men and women and their unborn human baby is cared for and nurtured and loved. Where marriage is and can only be defined as the unity of one man and one woman, according to the Scripture. Church, we have failed, but may we rise as Christ’s army and preserve Jesus and his people. May we protect.