IN THE SECRET PLACE

Part 1

Facing the Lion

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and fortress, my God. In Him will I trust.” Psalms 91:1

I was but a young girl of, maybe 12 and my greatest dream was to ride in the parade on my gorgeous paint gelding, Chico, with my best friend ever. So that summer Sheri and I planned to ride in the parade in Newport Washington. The day of the parade, we two girls were up at dawn, catching our horses, unbraiding manes and tails we had braided the day before and brushing them until they shone. We saddled her buckskin mare and my palomino paint with borrowed saddles (we usually rode bareback) and stood back to admire our handiwork. The horses glistened, Chico’s white mane waved down his bronze neck and his silky tail almost touched the ground. We were ready for the great parade. The only hitch was, finding a ride for us and two horses to Newport fourteen miles away.   We were planned up, prepared up and prayed up, but no ride had presented itself as of yet.

You see our young tender hearts believed that if we wanted it bad enough and if we prayed hard enough God would indeed send chariots of fire or legions of angels, or even a stray soul with a horse trailer to transport us and our horses to the parade. As dawn turned into midmorning and midmorning into noon, and the parade start time was fast approaching, our hearts fell. Still we prayed and still we believed it was possible. Our ears strained for the sound of a truck engine coming up the road. Our eyes scanned the sky.

The time for the parade came and went and still our horses stood tied at the fence. Downhearted we unsaddled, jumped on and went for a ride along the county road where maybe a neighbor or two would see our shining horses.

So we learned a lesson: just because we want it and just because we ask fervently and take steps of faith, doesn’t mean our Heavenly Father will give us what we want, when we want it.

However, the year I was 13 was different. This was to be our last year in Washington since we were selling our small ranch and moving to Alaska. This year Dad had promised to take our horses to the parade. IF they would load in the moving van, he had bought for our move.

So Sheri and I spent the day before the parade washing, brushing and braiding our horses to perfection. The saddles were polished to a shine and we prayed fervently that the horses would load. We were confident this time our prayers would be answered.

My cousin Gary was there, a few years older than me, tall, long of limb, a bit spindly in built, but strong. He led our old horse Pepper, who Sheri’s sister would ride, into the truck and tied him to the rope Dad had strung tightly across the front of the van. I followed with a very nervous Chico and Gary stood beside me as I tied him to the rope.

Sheri tried to lead her mare in, but Lady balked. Of course, Lady would balk, she balked at everything. Dad slapped her on the rear. Her head went up, her eyes were wide, her front legs stiff. Sheri coaxed with gentle words.

“No!” I silently prayed, “Don’t let a stubborn Lady stop us from getting to the parade! Please God!”

Dad had enough with gentle coaxing, so taking his hat off, he waved it in the air as he yelled and slapped it hard on Ladie’s rear.

Anything moving in the air spooked Chico, not to mention yelling, a loud slap and Ladie’s hooves pounding on the truck floor as she rapidly entered the van. Chico’s eyes went wide. He reared then leapt forward stretching the rope.

All I saw was a copper chest coming at me, as I stood with Gary against the van wall. I squeezed my eyes shut and knew I was dead, crushed under the weight of a 1200 pound, fear driven horses.

No crushing weight landed on me and I heard loud thumping of hooves on wood. Opening my eyes, I looked up and was amazed to see Gary holding Chico back with one hand on his halter.

Chico’s hind quarters were bunched, his eyes still wild, his front feet were coming off the boards as he hopped up and down, but the powerful, panicked horse was not able to push against the arm of my young cousin.

Talking soothingly to Chico we soon got him calmed down, tightened all the ropes, carefully squeezed between the horses, and exited the van. Later I asked Gary how he managed to hold Chico back.

He shook his head, “I didn’t. No way could I have held that horse. It absolutely wasn’t me.”

I can just imagine a large white, shinning angel standing behind us, holding his hand against that mass of muscle, bone and adrenaline.

“If you make the Most High your dwelling, even the Lord who is my refuge then no harm will befall you. No disaster will come near your tent.

For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra you will trample the great lion and the serpent.” Psalm 91:9-13

Okay that time with the horse an angel, no doubt, saved me and my cousin. And there have been other times when I was delivered from great peril. The time in the river with Jim, my late husband, it was definitely the hand of God, or by the help of an angel that I was able to get out. Fighting the hardest fight of my life I nearly succumbed to the lure of rest in the dark depths of the freezing river, but I believe an angel nudged me awake and pulled me to shore.

I made it out alive, but my husband, who had dove into the river without a thought to save me, did not. When I grabbed rocks on the edge of the mighty Clark Fork river, I looked back expecting to see Jim right behind me, but he was in the middle of the river, a hundred yards away.

My eyes connected with his, and even though I didn’t have my glasses on and I am blind without them, I clearly saw his smile. That was the last time I saw him on earth. Some day I will see that smile when I enter the Glorious Kingdom on High.

For me it would have been better to have not made it out of the river, to have gone with my husband to Glory. However, God saw fit to send angels to deliver me out of the river and to carry my husband Home to His side.

So what do you mean, Lord, no harm will befall me or disaster come near my tent? Surely losing my young husband and the father of my ten year old son was harm and disaster.

Let’s face it, we all know there is much evil out there. Many times, even God’s own children face terrible things, hardships and much disaster.   What do you mean, Lord, that disaster will not come near our dwelling places?

The answer is branded on my heart. Oh yes, I know the answer well. He revealed His amazing love to me. His love for me is always sufficient, it is all I need. He let me fall, yes, but when I hit bottom I was standing on the Rock. When I could not stand, He held me up in His arms.

Because everything that I knew to be solid ground was yanked out from under me, and I had nothing to stand on, I learned to run to the only shelter I saw. The shelter of the Almighty God.   Oh yes, I ran and I hid under the wings of the Most High.

Because my security, my safety, my bulwark was taken from me, I learned to abide in the secret place of the Most High God. The place near His side. The place where His presence always is and no evil abides. The place of His will, where I am in His love, held up by His strength, protected by His power.

Oh it seemed terrible, it was a disaster in my life, but my God says, “Child because you love me, because you acknowledge me as your God, I rescued you. I will always protect you.”

You see harm to me does not always mean harm to Him. The death of His child is not a bad thing in His sight. Oh yes it was bad for me, it did not seem good for my son, but God meant it for good. The state or condition of our soul is far more important to God than our comforts and happiness on earth.

Hebrews 12:7   says, ” Endure hardship as discipline, God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?”

Discipline as in training, teaching, correction, buffeting our bodies so they are in shape. Think of hardship and disaster as a spiritual work out, training us for the battles ahead. So that I may bend a bow of bronze. That I may scale a wall and advance against a troop of troubles. (from Ps. 18)

So sometimes when I face the lion He sends His angels to shut its mouth, but sometimes He lets the lion take a hunk out of me. Sometimes I get a glimpse of the terror of night and the arrows that fly by day. Sometimes loved ones and friends fall at my side, but nothing comes near me that He does not sift through His fingers. This I believe with all my being.

He says “I may not take you out of trouble or keep you from trouble, but I will be with you IN trouble. I will sustain you. I will satisfy you and I will keep you safe in the palm of My mighty hand. I will deliver you and I will hold you up with my righteous right hand.

I will be a ring of fire around you, I will protect you. I will be the Glory, the Light shining in your midst.  Trust me.”  (from Ps. 91 Zech. 2:5)