Remote Refuge

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Is your coffee table overrun by fifty thousand remote controls?

Seriously…all this technology comes with a price. The price of cluttering up my coffee tables and wasting countless hours searching for the right remote that always seems to go AWOL at the most inopportune times. #firstworldproblems

I know it’s a minor detail, but digging a lost remote out of the couch the kids dominate is like a game out of the old Fear Factor show. You never know what you’ll come up with.

Gross.

When I saw this sweet little box at a garage sale for $3 I didn’t even bargain for a better price. A remote wrangling  job was waiting for it at my house.

Old silver boxes, jewelry boxes and knick knack storage tubs are laying around everywhere, and they couldn’t be easier to transform. After I saw how Christy at Confessions Of A Serial DIYer makes over silver flatware boxes I have felt inspired and was on the lookout for a box to re-do.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

I started my makeover with some cream chalk paint and then lightly distressed the paint.

Earlier this year my hubby and I spent a weekend in Atlanta and went to the Scott’s Antique Market. These findings had me enthralled…the seller had tables piled up with them. We dug through the treasure chest until I found some favorites to come home with. They have been waiting for the perfect project!

When I was thinking about how to decorate this box a favorite verse came to mind and it just happened to go along with a finding I brought back from my trip. I paired the verse and feather together to complete the project.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4

Isn’t that a beautiful verse?

I have been struggling with the ugliness in the world lately. I know it’s there, always will be and it gets increasingly worse. Sometimes I come across stories that are harder to swallow than others. I can’t understand why God allows some things. Do you ever feel that way?

When I read the entire Psalm 91 the bigger picture comes into focus as more details emerge and I’m reminded that God never says that life will be without trouble. In fact trouble and trials are the very things that draw us near to God. They are the events that make us run to our Savior for protection and refuge. Without trials we would be able to handle everything on our own, it’s easy to take credit for good.

Psalm 91 goes on to say that God will command his angels to guard us (vs. 11) and that the Lord himself will be with us in trouble (vs. 15). See…right there! It doesn’t say he will remove trouble, he will just be with us in it!

We are constantly questioning and fearing as humans, at least I am, and God constantly reminds us that He alone is our shelter, our refuge.

There is one small key to the whole scenario. We have to ABIDE in Him.

Dwell in Him, seek refuge in Him, love Him, acknowledge Him and call upon His name. That’s Psalm 91’s words, not mine.

God doesn’t want us to just be with him when we’re in troubling times, running to him for rescue then venturing out on our own when the coast is clear, only to come scampering back when things get rough again. He wants us to be with Him when things are good so he can walk in protection with us. All to often like a child testing my boundaries I venture further and further away until my father softly (or sometimes not so softly) pulls me back under His wing. When I am snugged up tight next to him I can see the worldly atrocities through a different lens. I’ll never understand them, but I can accept that God is in control and has a plan bigger than I can comprehend.

Sometimes the protection and refuge he provides dosen’t look like enough to our human eye. Honestly – I want Him to do more. I want Him to fix things to my liking. We want peace, healing and perfection today.

Now.

In this lifetime.

For some, full peace and rest may not come this side of Heaven, but it will come for those who proclaim His name and abide in His unfailing love. I can only remember and accept this truth when I’m resting in the Lord.

It may seem silly to relate all this back to my remote control dilemma, but it’s just how I see things. This remote control containment plan is only good if we put the remotes back in the box. If they abide there. Then we always know where to find them, we save them from the disgusting dark depths of our couch and they are on deck to serve their purpose.

The same goes for you and me. When we dwell in the shelter of the Most High (vs. 1) He knows where to find us, saves us from darkness and we are available to be used to our full purpose.

It’s never to late to rest in the Lord. Read Psalm 91 today and put your fears to rest and your salvation in Christ. Then go make a box that reminds you to abide in Him! 🙂

I love you friends and I love that I get to share these crazy thoughts and ideas with you all. Thank you for all your kind words and encouragement.