“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”
Psalm 91:1–2 (NIV)
In my early twenties, I was hidden in a boutique among antique farm tables stacked with table linens and pottery while my ministry dreams languished in a worn journal somewhere in the basement at home.
Years later, I was hidden, childless, at baby showers in a roomful of women swapping birthing stories and maternity clothes.
I was hidden under mounds of paperwork and the debt of adoption as my friends nursed their babies.
I was hidden in a guest home in Ethiopia with a newly adopted child who cried for hours, and realized that none of my friends back home would ever understand the sweat I’d shed in just a few days of motherhood.
Most recently, I am hidden in sweatpants at home with six children—children whose needs render my days a forgettable blur unless I document them online. I am hidden when I sit alone at the end of these days, too exhausted to even fold laundry or help little fingers hold a crayon.
There was a time I lumped all of these experiences together and labeled them unproductive. Wasted and lost. But now I see them differently. These are paramount days—the most important ones—each filled with hours in which I can choose to hide myself in God.
No moment is too small, too mundane, too insignificant to hide in God and “waste” time with him. We may feel veiled and unnoticed, but God is training us to turn our eyes toward him, to find him there.
Our hidden places aren’t signs of God’s displeasure or punishment. The psalmist says that the one “who dwells in the secret place of the Most High” has a refuge and a fortress in God (Psalm 91:1, NKJV). God doesn’t banish us to this hidden place. He invites us.
Reflect:
Read Psalm 91:1–2. Reflect back on your own experiences of hiddenness in your life. How was God your shelter and refuge during those seasons?
Pray:
Pray by recounting ways God has been a shelter and refuge for you. Name specific experiences; speak words of gratitude to God.
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