The Castle of my Heart

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.  Prov. 18:10

As a young girl, my mind always associated castles with princesses, princes, pageantry, and power. Scenes from Cinderella and other fairy tales colored my mental image, making it seem much more beautiful and elegant than my little ordinary life.  I could easily imagine it.  In the huge banquet hall, the tables were set with sparkling dishes, servants bustling in and out of the kitchen, bringing in platters of choice meat, fresh fruit from the orchards and vegetables from the gardens.  Candlelight filled the space with light, and a small orchestra softly played in the background.  Then, the music crescendoed and suddenly stopped, and the guests hushed their speaking.  A herald announced, "Bow before your King and Queen" as the two most powerful people in the kingdom stepped into the room.

It was so easy for me to imagine.

What was not as easy for me to imagine was other days at the castle when a watchman on one of the high towers spotted an enemy and raised the alarm. Soldiers ran to put on their armor and went out to defend the castle against the enemy. Then the sounds of battle filled the air. Children screamed and ran to hide from the noise and smell of blood as men and horses fought to save their castle, and more importantly, their King and Queen.  

Luxembourg is a tiny country filled with castles and ruins of old castles.  We visited the ruins of Esch-Sur-Sure castle and the reconstruction of the Vianden Castle. It was easy to see why these spots were chosen to build a castle. They both sit high on a hill overlooking the valley below. Beyond the castle was a wall that encompassed the town, with defensive towers. Watchers in the towers would be able to see people approaching and know if they were friends or enemies.

A watch tower

Castles are not primarily for pageantry, but for protection.  When the enemy advances, there is protection within the city walls, and additional protection lies within the gates of the castle.  The stone walls stop the arrows and are impervious to incendiary devices.  

So when the enemy of my soul advances and troubles me on every side, I can run to the protection that the Lord has given me - His very own name.  His name represents his character. His name carries weight and power and strikes fear into the heart of his sworn enemy.  

Inside the castle of God's name,

The wall protecting the castle grounds.

• I find mercy because He is merciful and gracious and abounding in mercy.
• I find light in my darkness because God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
• I find joy because He is a god who delights in His people. 
• I find strength in my weakness because He is all-powerful.
• I find hope even when things seem hopeless because He is my hope.
• I find peace because He is the Prince of Peace.
• I find safety because He is my strong tower.

Now when I look at castles, I see strength and protection, and not just pageantry and beauty.

I am glad that God has given us Himself, His name, and His reputation as the perfect castle of protection for our hearts.

Peace Under Pressure

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3

On Thursday morning, I looked at my calendar for the rest of the week. That day I planned to spend the day watching three little children. On Friday, I would spend most of the day decorating for our Mother-Daughter banquet. On Saturday I was speaking at another church’s Mother’s Day Luncheon. In the afternoon two sets of guests were arriving – one couple and one family of five. In the evening, we had our own Mother-Daughter banquet. I also needed to put together the worship bulletin for Sunday morning and figure out what to do about meals on Sunday. I didn’t have enough food in the house to feed dinner to seven additional people, so I needed to make a grocery store run too.

I looked around the house at the cleaning that still needed to be done so that the guests would have clean rooms and bathrooms. I looked again at my calendar and said to the Lord, “Lord, you see my calendar. I don’t see how I can possibly get it all done. But you said that your yolk is easy and your burden is light. So I give to you my schedule and ask you to compress the responsibilities into the hours I have. And I give you any expectations that are not Yours, but my own pride.”

I got up from my prayer time confident that God would work things out. I went to school to meet the mother of the three children and pick up her preschoolers. She told me that her schedule had changed and she would meet me at lunch to pick up her children. Suddenly I had an afternoon free. God was already answering my prayers.

On Friday I went to church to decorate. A friend and her children met me there. As we were decorating, she asked me if she could bring lunch to church on Sunday to feed my houseful of guests. Once again, I saw God step in to answer my prayers.

That evening at 6:00, I looked at the few things that still needed to be done at church and called my husband. “I still have one errand to run, more napkins to fold, an arch to finish, and I haven’t done anything about supper.”

He responded, “Would you like me to come and help?”

"I would love it!" I exclaimed. Once again, I saw God’s answer to my prayer. Charlie came and we finished.

The next morning, I had enough time to finish cleaning and get ready for the rest of my day. I still needed to stop at the grocery store to make sure I had enough food for breakfast. I also still needed to finish a game I was creating and set out the place cards. I trusted that there would be time enough in the afternoon to get all of that done.

When I returned from my speaking engagement, a box of bagels sat on the table. My husband had attended a breakfast meeting that morning. When the host church heard about our guests, they gave him the leftover bagels. That supplemented my breakfast food enough that I would not have to go to the grocery store that day.

This morning I read Isaiah 26:3. I marveled at the peace I experienced over the past four days. While my schedule was non-stop from morning to late night every day, I did not feel overwhelmed. God had truly given me His peace. He had also gone beyond what I could have dreamed when I prayed that simple prayer on Thursday morning by taking care of so many details in my life.

So today I give Him praise for His wise management of my schedule and for giving me the grace to trust Him so that I could be at peace during all the busy-ness.