UNDER HIS WINGS

“He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”
Psalm 91:4(NLT).

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you are fighting a battle, when you are scared, you just want to run and find a safe space where the rest of the world cannot find you? A bad diagnosis might come along, sickness creeps in, and no matter how much you pray, you still worry that things just won’t get better. Your faith feels like a tiny vapour, and you are just holding on, hoping things will get better. Your health is in other people’s hands, and things feel completely out of your control. The choices you once were allowed to make are no longer yours to make, and you feel almost homesick for the way things used to be. You just want things to be put back together, but no matter how hard you try to fix it all and make it all go away, it just seems to go in the opposite direction.

In the moments of weakness, God has been so faithful to me. I have been walking that road, worried about my health. One diagnosis after another, and in the midst of it, I cried out, “God, please help me! Show me that you are with me. I can’t do this on my own!”

Recently, while walking that very road, I was in prayer when I saw the wings of a bird. I could see the details of the feathers, and at that moment, I could feel God saying to me: “I will shelter you under my wings.”  Recognizing those words as part of Psalm 91:4, I had found comfort and could picture myself safely tucked away in the shelter of His wings. Little did I know, He would continue to remind me of those very words. While scrolling through Instagram, devotions that came by email and online, a text message from my mom with a picture of that same scripture, and a friend telling me she had specifically been praying this over me – all led me to those comforting words. Then one day, while standing in my family room, I was looking out the window when all of a sudden, a hawk swooped down in the middle of my suburban backyard and perched right in front of the window. I called my husband to come and see it. It was then that Psalm 91:4 again came to my mind, and I slowly moved towards the window to get a closer look. The details I had seen on the bird while praying were just like the bird I was now looking at. I knew at that moment that God was with me. I felt that no matter what, he was sheltering me under his wing, and he had brought that hawk to get my attention and remind me of it. I had asked Him to show me, and He certainly did! Now, when I feel overwhelmed, I close my eyes and remember his promises: that He will never leave me, and in the shadow of his wings, I will find refuge. His faithful promises are my protection.