The Lord is my Stronghold...

I'm sitting in my cozy bed, wearing my cozy socks, and listening to the rain fall on my roof and onto the ground. What a comforting sound. You know, the little things in life really do matter the most sometimes. :)

The past couple months have been full. Very full. But God is good. He is good in the happy times, and the sad times. He is always good. No matter where I go, no matter what I do. He's been very present especially the last couple of months. My cousin Christina, who is like a sister, recently had her second brain surgery, and in the midst of it, she has had several set backs... from injured knees, to the flu. But through it all, her unshakable faith, beauty, and strong spirit have not faltered. What a wonderful example she is of someone who doesn't give up the task living and loving for the Lord every moment. (You can read her story at christinaahmann.com).

I just want to share one little jewel that I stumbled across as I was looking for a scripture to read. Psalm 18:2 says:

"I love you, LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

I love that verse... every word is true. But what really sticks out to me is that the Lord is my stronghold. Well what exactly does that mean? Is that just a condensed version of all the previous words? A rock, a place to take refuge, a shield? Most likely. But is there a deeper, different meaning to that word? I looked it up, and found that the word stronghold in the Greek, literally means fortress. It represents something that we can take pride in. Another definition says:

"Strongholds are walls or fortresses around beliefs and emotions to protect us from further pain."

Now, this definition definitely sounds negative. But what if we reverse it and say that if God is our stronghold, then He must be protection of "beliefs and emotions" of the outside world that cause us pain. What a comfort to know that the Lord has a huge wall around me, and it will not shake or fall. In my Art History class, we talked about Cologne Cathedral in Germany. During World War II, it was bombed. Not only from the outside, but from the inside as well. Do you want to know how many times it was bombed in total?
70 times.
Let me just say that again.
Cologne Cathedral was bombed a total of 70 times.
And guess what?
It survived.
The beautiful and fragile stained glass on the inside was destroyed, but the main structure still stood. Jesus is our Stronghold, like the cathedral. Tall, strong, beautiful, regal. The fragile windows are like us... we might crumble, but our Stronghold is completely and utterly immovable, no matter how many times it takes a blow.

So, no matter where you are, and what circumstances you're going through, just know that the Lord is your protection.
When you're battling cancer, God is your stronghold.
When you're sitting in your math class and you feel like the numbers are hurling themselves at your brain and trying to tear you apart, God is your Stronghold.
When you are attacked, God is your Stronghold.
In those moments when you just want to quit life, put on your sweat pants, and sleep, but you know you have to keep going, God is your Stronghold.
Now you hold on strongly to that truth and never let it go.