Shields and butterflies.

“With brave wings she flies…”

I’m participating in a week-long daily post in Facebook where I post a sentence about God every day. Today’s sentence was, “God is my shield.” As it is summer and I have time to, I am sitting in my hand-painted rocking chair on my back patio with my baby – a wire-haired terrier named Ginger. She is ‘sunning’ herself while I am sitting back in the shadow of my porch roof because although it is still morning it is already blisteringly hot. And it comes to me that my roof here is like God. I can feel the heat from the sun but cannot get burned. The analogy being-I can feel the heat from life, but because of God’s grace I cannot get burned by it. No matter how hard it tries to consume me, I am saved from that. And to not feel the pain of a third-degree sunburn, all I have to do is keep my eyes on Him.  I used to compare myself to a butterfly, not for the usual girly reasons. But because I consider butterflies to be fragile yet strong and courageous. All it takes is the slightest touch on their wings to hinder them, yet look at how they fly.  They fly great distances….sometimes alone, sometimes in groups.  They fly very close to these giants who can easily destroy them into a colorful smudge. Yet they face the wind, the dangers, the predators head on  they don’t cower or turn back.  I moved a long way from all that I know and love almost 20 years ago.  I’m still far away but visit when I can.  Sometimes I’ve been alone in my storms of life here, others I have had friends and family with me to keep me steady. And through it all, I am still standing. Life and others have tried to hinder me, destroy me, but still I stand.  “I am a woman. A woman phenomenally.” A woman of God. With brave wings she flies.