Free to Live

chris and I
This weekend as I entered the wildlife refuge for a day of connecting with God and nature, I saw the massive buffalo and the longhorn cattle. I thought about how great it was to have a refuge for them - a place where they were safe from predators. I watched the buffalo saunter along with no fear of danger. They moved slowly and ate as they went with barely a glance in my direction. My next thought was that they are free to live.

I took a deep breath and thought about how squelched it can feel like life is as a caregiver. Sometimes it feels like the life has been sucked out of you and you're just existing. Maybe it's just me. So I looked at these animals that are free to live in this beautiful refuge. Then I thought about the word "refuge." It's a familiar one, isn't it?

One of my favorite scriptures in Psalm 46:1. God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble. I thought of course of Psalm 31 - and how David declared God was his rock and his refuge. God is the caregiver's refuge. His presence is the place we can go to live and to breathe again.

Buffalo in the Wildlife Refuge
Those buffalo have no desire to leave the refuge - it has everything they need to live. Why go anywhere else? Right?

God is our refuge and we don't have to look for another place for safety - not that we could find one anyway, right? When we become content to just live in Him - then we will live. In Him we live, move, and have our source of life or our being- we are free to live. We can rest in this truth - that in Him is our life. He is our source and when we find ourselves hidden in His refuge - we are free to live in a whole new way.

Today, I will think about living in Him. I will turn my meditations to how He is my refuge and how I am free to truly live in Him - no matter what turns life's road takes. I choose to remain in Him - I choose to be free to live today - will you join me?

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