Place of Safety

For the past couple of weeks I have been carrying a heavy heart. I have some friends who are walking through difficult situations and because of the closeness of our friendship I carry their pain. In recent conversations with these friends about life challenges and issues we are walking through, someone made the comment that our friendship is the safest place they know. I’ve never thought of it that way before, but instantly I could feel my heart agreeing with my friend’s statement. There is no place where I feel safer than in the heart to heart connection between true friends.

When I was in college I experienced something that made me feel very vulnerable and unsafe in my college dorm. Even just walking into my room, a place where I normally never questioned whether or not I was safe, now made me feel nervous and uncomfortable. After a day or two of living in fear I called my friend John who was home for the summer and hours away from me. John’s solution was for me to get on the next train and come to his parent’s house so I would be in a place of safety. But that was not what I needed; I simply needed to tell him what had happen. I did not need a location of safety; I needed a relationship that held me safe.

For all of us there are places in our heart that are vulnerable and make us fearful. There are unmet desires, broken promises, dreams that seem unreachable, personal let downs, all of which are carried in the deepest part of us. To share our hopes and pain requires a place of safety, the kind not found in location but in relationship.

I hope for all of you reading this that you have close friends as I do. I pray that you have friends who could be miles away from you, and yet bring you safety because of the honesty, accountability, and love that they bring to your life. But I know from experience that despite the close friendships you may have, there are seasons of loneliness that we sometimes have to walk through. The promise for those seasons is the safest place possible, the relationship found in the Presence of Jesus. It’s in the heart to heart connection of our Savior that all pretenses can be dropped, that real honesty and vulnerability happens. But it’s also there that healing happens, faith is restored and hope arises.

For whatever situation you may be walking through today that is causing you to carry a weight in your heart, chose today the safety of our God who promises us that “he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1)

I can think of no greater place of safety.

Written by: Tricia Gibb