Nowadays, the term refugee tends to be negative, as it usually refers to a person who is fleeing war torn countries to find an environment that is safe and life is protected. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines refugee as a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution.

From the same dictionary refuge is where one goes to escape danger or distress, a place that provides shelter or protection. I, like David, am a refugee.

David wrote often in the book of Psalms about being a refugee that sought refuge. Whether in Psalm 9:9, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 91:2 and other passages of scripture, there is One who is the refuge. Where the dictionary describes a place for refuge, the bible gives a source that is a person: it is God. Many run this way and that trying to get a break, a time out if you will, from life’s storms and difficulties. Others go to substances to get away from it all temporarily, and when the high has ceased, the refugee discovers that was no permanent solution. Experiencing retail therapy may be fun, but when the bills arrive which causes a lack of funds, there is yet another problem to solve: monetary deficit. But there is a place I have learned I can run to and hide. Actually there is Someone I run to and find solace, as described in Psalm 62:7 & 8:

In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

So take the time to think on these things. Should you be in a season of despair, and your umbrella of finding refuge has turned inside out and is no longer covering you, find God. Learn of his strength in a way that no one and nothing can provide. I may not have answers right now. I continue to be very tired, trying to do my best at being a caregiver, and the many calls I receive from my mother to fix this and do that, all the while wondering how I can get things completed for me and live my life. But then, I remember I am a refugee that has the availability of a get-away-from-it-all asylum. I have a Refuge that I can go to and find the grace I need to get through the next minute and hour, the evening and next day, the rest of the week…

For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Isaiah 25:4

Be encouraged…