Safe

Age 5. You awake from a horrible nightmare trying to scream, but no sound is coming out. Your vocal chords are failing you when you desperately need them. You need Mom and Dad RIGHT NOW. Oh, but your bedroom is big and scary and the hallway outside is long and dark, and in the darkness this house seems suddenly unfamiliar. The distance between where you lie now, paralyzed with fear, and where you want so desperately to be seems endless. Who knows what remnants of your dream will come to life between here and there, pulling you into shadowy corners? But the thought of loving arms and hushed words of comfort overpower the fear. Your decision is made in a split second. Ignoring the visions of hands reaching out from under your bed to grab at your feet and yellow eyes leering at you from behind half-open doors, you streak down the hall and land safely in your parents’ arms. Someday you’ll learn, child, that those phantoms only have power over you when you let them and that the journey to reach the safety of that waiting, welcoming, comforting love, terrifying though it may seem, is always better than staying in a room alone with your fear.

A prayer

May your opinion of me be more important than that of my best friends. May I be entranced by your Word rather than by pop culture. May I sing more passionately in church than I do in my car. May I desire you above any other relationship. May your romance be more enticing to me than the temptations of the world. May your wisdom ring true in my heart above Satan's lies. May salvation for others mean more to me than my own comforts. May your plan for my life be synonymous with my own desires. May my repentance be as steadfast as your grace is deep. And may my life be worth nothing if not filled with you.

All I have

There is a piece of you inside of me that is crying, pleading, begging to get back to where it came from. No matter how far away from you I get, there is still that piece of you that won't give you up. I feel it suddenly, a desperation that longs to be with the one who created it. I couldn't get rid of it if I tried, but I don't want to try. Because that desperation is what brings me back to you, after my wanderings have left me empty and weary. I'll always come back to you, my Redeemer.