A new kind of interesting.... a refuge from the storm

I spent part of one of my days this week with Dr. L discussing upcoming events and with him filling up my calendar... which he once has already filled. He used to be a counselor, but I tell him that now he does different kind of counsel... oops, I mean cancel. He's now a very good "cancel"er.... he cancels a lot of what he has already planned and reschedules other things in their place! Cancel-on, Dr L,... I work best on spontaneity!

The day that we met we planned for our National Day of Prayer event (which was yesterday) and the DOC picnic (which I'll be Paula Abdul-ing in!), plus visits to this prison or that and so forth, and then....

He has me scheduled to do Stress Management Training (1st training session starts in two weeks). This will be for a "team of ten" that he's building which is training for Crisis Events (i.e. riots or shootings in prisons, stabbings, bombings, school shootings, huge crisis of any kind that leaves emotional and lots of stress). This team will be called immediately onsite when something horrific has happened and will stay until however long is needed. It will be to "debrief, not counsel" those involved. The lady training us (Under the Shield) lives in Birmingham, Alabama and was one of the first ones called to New York immediately after 911 happened. Dr. L said that it is possible that our team won't only be called to areas in our own state, but to disasters in other states if needed as well. When we're called we will actually be paid for it (my husband will love this!). He told me it's very serious and very critical... and that he won't expect an answer from me of whether I will be willing to do this or not until after the first training sessions, "Because," he said, "it's not for everyone."

Oh wow! Interesting! Who knows in this new journey I have recently embarked upon where I'll be going next?

I'm scared daily ((*smile*))! But I cannot help but keep remembering what a very close friend recently reminded me of in her encouragement to me. She told me, "You didn't go out seeking this, Sharon. God brought all of this to you after He's been preparing you for this for years... which you very well know He has been."

She's right. I do know. He has! I just hadn't a clue of how big it was! How far! And how fast!

You cannot know how much peace that one statement has given me!! Every time I begin again to question this or wonder why or wonder what in the world I'm doing, I remember again what she said. God put the exact words in her mouth in the very moment I needed to hear them... and He has repeated them to me countless times since. Wow, in my feebleness, what a great reminder and how much it's helped!

Back to Dr. L's tentative invite of possibly being one of the team of ten.

My first reaction? "Who am I to go? How could I possibly help?"

My second? "It is NOT who I am. It's Who I know,  whose I am, Who He is, and what I know that He can do! Why would He not send me so that I could go help and tell?"

I recently heard a lesson by Beth Moore where she talks of us being a refuge in the storm. In her lesson the text of the scriptures she uses are in Isaiah 32:1-4. It reminds all of us what we are to be to others in the storms of their lives. WOE, at how perfectly fitting these scriptures are to my immediate situation's offer!

Isaiah 32:1-4 says, "See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those who hear will listen. The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear."

God Himself is the Ultimate Shelter, Refuge, Stream of Living Water, and Great Rock.. but He wants us to be so close that we become that shadow that people who cannot see Him knows that He's there because we are the shadow that shows that He is! Each one of us living under the Kingdom reign of Christ Jesus.... when we allow Him to literally reign over us, bring His kingship over us,.... we become a shelter, a refuge in His name, a stream of living water that people can taste and see and know that He is good, and a shadow of a great rock in a very thirsty land. We were left here after our salvation to do some good! To be of benefit! And to show others the Jesus that they can't see. We're left here to be about our Father's business and to be His witnesses upon this earth.

So. Why would He not call us in crisis, to run to help and be a refuge to those who are suffering shock and devastation all around them, who has just experienced a stressful or traumatic event? Why would He not call you? Why would He not call me?

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble" (Ps 46:1)..... and maybe sometimes that "very present" part is the very present of Him being present inside the person He's sending to be His arms, His hands, His heart, and His feet. Us!