Monday morning encouragement

I don't know what your Monday morning has been like so far. Here it was overcast and just well dull. Because I am here in the Deep South and it is MLK day the whole city feels like it is taking it's time getting out of bed. I had plans to meet a dear new friend for coffee and as I'm processing the conversation I had with her it sparked an idea, or more precisely I had an idea that I couldn't quite figure out and the pieces are kind of falling into place now. In the wake of inspiration that, today, took the form a friend.

I want to start posting these mini-Bible study snippets. Mini-Monday-Morning encouragements. Just a scripture that has spoken to me and maybe a thought about it. We'll see...

Today as I was reheating my leftover white chicken chili I knew exactly what very I wanted to share with you:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress,my God, in whom I trust."For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowlerand from the deadly pestilence.He will cover you with his pinions,and under his wings you will find refuge;his faithfulness is a shield and buckler  

Psalm 91:1-4 (ESV)

I always feel like looking up the definitions of these words helps me to understand the verse more fully and it is how I meditate on a verse because I am going over and over each word, turning it over in my mind, trying to notice the sparkly little bits. Here are a few from verse 1:

The word translated "dwells" in these verses literally means to inhabit, to abide or remain, it literally means to sit down.
The word translated "shelter" means to a secret, hiding place, a place of protection.
The word translated "abide" can also mean to pass the night, to remain and to dwell.
You can look up more definitions for this passage at Blue Letter Bible.com


I don't know about you but I need the truth of these words to sink deep down into my subconscience. I have been learning more and more fully the beauty within living the word abide. It is such a beautiful word full of rest and trust. There are seasons for doing battle, but there are also seasons of just resting under the wings of our Heavenly Father. Sometimes I need to pass the night hidden, safe, protected and finding refuge in arms of the Almighty.

See these other verses: Psalm 5:11-12, & Psalm 17:6-8

image credit: My sister Abigail Cauble took this photo of Grayson in my arms the day before his surgery at three weeks old.