Sometimes, on rainy days, we build little forts like this one. And I still love to snuggle into them. Aren’t we humans often looking for a safe place – a respite from the wild world – a retreat for a few moments to gather our thoughts and remind ourselves that it’s all gonna be okay? I lived with a deep sense of fear for a lot of my life. Always on my heels, it came in many forms, and I did my best to ignore it, to shove it down, to just try and make it go away...but it never did. Until I learned how big God's love really is. Until I asked for Him to come and live within me. Until I realized that He surrounds me like oxygen. He is no further away than my next breath. ("For in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28). There is never a place that I will be where He is not. Big, scary things may happen. My story may have some chapters I wish I didn't have to live through. I may struggle to find faith in the darkest moments. BUT, I will never leave the safety of His love. And like those rainy day forts, I return again and again to the truth that He is my hiding place (Psalm 32:7) I know that even death -- the greatest fear of so many -- is simply the entrance to everything I've ever hoped for. What freedom we can feel when we live the truth of this. We can walk in the confidence that nothing will touch us that doesn't pass through His hands first. And there He will be, above, below, behind, before and within us to carry us through this broken world until the day He welcomes us Home...and fear won't even be a memory.