Refuge and Strength

A sacred space for the weary and the searching. Here, you’ll find reflections on our unchanging worth in Christ, for the seasons of grief, and honest testimonies of the Healer’s touch in our deepest trials.

The Shepherd of the One

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

Backstory:
I was thinking about the story in Luke 15:3-7 of the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to go after the one that was lost. The thought came to me that we are each the one for Jesus. He loves each one of us and cares for us individually. He would leave the 99 to go after each one of us when we are lost. He is the personal Savior for every one of us.

The Shepherd of the One

As a shepherd tends to his sheep,
Their safety in his heart runs deep.
If one of them lost its way,
He would go after it all day.

He would rejoice once his lost sheep was found,
And the joy that he felt would spread all around.
Jesus is our Master Shepherd,
And His depth of love cannot be measured.

As one of His sheep, if I went astray,
He’d lift up His voice to the Father to pray.
He would search for me all day long,
Because with Him, I always belong.

He would rejoice when He found me,
And the love in His eyes I would clearly see.
He is my Personal Redeemer and Savior,
And because of Him, I shouldn’t feel like a failure.

He suffered for me as if I was the only one,
And fulfilled His mission as the Chosen Son.
He weeps with me when I feel pain in my heart,
And from me, He never wants to depart.

The Takeaway: Jesus, as our Shepherd, loves each one of us very much. If we lose our way, He would search for us and rejoice when we are found. He suffered for each one of us individually. He will be beside us every day. We just need to reach out to Him, and He will help us through our hardest days.

Watch the YouTube Short of me reading part of this post here:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tLxHx7GBbsE

He Helps Me Carry

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

Backstory

Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” This scripture held a deeper meaning for me this past week. The Hebrew word translated as “sustain” means to hold up or support. After pondering this meaning, I could picture a person climbing a huge mountain with a heavy backpack. Eventually, they cry out to their Savior to help them carry the heavy weight.

He Helps Me Carry

I looked up at the high mountain peak,
And my body felt so incredibly weak.
But I knew that I needed to climb
What was ahead of me at this time.

The load that I carried on my back
Seemed so heavy that I felt I would crack.
I only had myself to lean on as I started to ascend,
As I took step after another, not seeing the end.

As the weight of my pack got difficult to handle on my own,
I felt like my worries and cares were to everyone unknown.
I didn’t know if I could take one more step forward,
As I stumbled and fell to my feet backward.

In my moment of despair, I needed someone to help me,
As I knelt on the ground and whispered a silent plea.
“Please, help me to carry this heavy burden
Because I am desperate and I don’t know if I can rise again.”

In the stillness of the moment, I heard a gentle reply,
“You were never alone, for I have always been nearby.”
I could feel the weight of my pack get lighter
As the view ahead began to look brighter.

The Takeaway

Sometimes the weight of the burdens that we carry may seem too heavy to bear. We might feel like we are climbing a huge mountain with a heavy pack. But we don’t have to carry the weight on our own. Jesus is always there to help us carry what we can’t carry by ourselves. We only need to cry out to Him, and He will be there when we call upon Him.

Watch the YouTube short of me reading part of the post here:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hhxpDcV-sLU

The Greatest Love of All

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

Backstory: Today at church, this scripture leapt out at me. John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” It made me think that Jesus has so much love for us that He laid down His life for us. But also, everything He did when He was on the earth was because of love. When He healed and taught people, He did it out of love for them. Then I wondered, “What can I learn about love from Jesus’ example? How can I love people better?”

The Greatest Love of All

Jesus was on the earth thousands of years ago,
He was the best example for the people to know.
Everything He did was out of great love
That came from His Father above.

Jesus taught the people and He went about doing good,
And His message was clearly and well understood.
He taught them how to love and forgive one another,
And how to be kind to their sister and brother.

Jesus healed everyone no matter their background,
And where He was, peace could always be found.
One woman was healed by just touching His hem,
Restored by the love that bloomed softly in Him.

He showed us great love in Gethsemane’s shade,
When the weight of our sorrows upon Him was laid.
Then He died on the cross and rose again three days later,
So that we could have a way back to our Creator.

Jesus is the perfect example to us today
Of how to love others as we go on our way.
We should be kind and loving to everyone,
Because of the example of Jesus, the Beloved Son.

The Takeaway: The perfect example of love came from our Savior, Jesus Christ. He ministered to and healed people, no matter their background. He suffered for us in the Garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross as the perfect expression of love. We should follow His example and be kind and loving to everyone we meet.

Watch the YouTube video of me reading part of the poem here:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DZXGr4HawrI

The Sun Behind the Clouds

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

Backstory:

Yesterday I looked out my living room window and I saw a really big, white, fluffy cloud. The sky was a bright blue and the sun was shining. It made me think that sometimes clouds can be dark and ominous, bringing a coming storm. Sometimes they can be huge, white and fluffy, glowing in their brilliant beauty. This can be applied to our lives. Some days we may feel like the clouds or the trials in our lives are never-ending. We may feel that the darkness of the clouds and the storms that follow will never brighten and that we may never see the light and hope of the sun again. But, because of Jesus, there is always hope in this life, no matter what we are going through. 

The Sun Behind the Clouds

As I sat on my living sofa one day looking out the window, I saw a big, white, fluffy cloud that seemed with hope to glow. It made me think that I have days when there are dark clouds over my head Because of my chronic illness symptoms, some days it’s hard to get out of bed. The darkness in my heart and mind seems to never lift On my hard days when I can feel hope drift. I just have to make it through those darker days, As I plead to my Heavenly Father so that my spirit will raise. I get discouraged because of the things my body doesn’t allow me to do, And then the dark clouds settle in my soul and make me feel blue. But the sun always comes up the next day, Helping my spirit rise with every glowing ray. Yes, I know there will be hard days when my mind and body are at war, But those days just help me appreciate the good ones more. There is always hope because of God’s Beloved Son, Who felt all of my hard days as the Anointed One. So, when my mind and heart seem to be overshadowed by the dark sky, I just need to reach out to my Savior when I feel like I want to cry. He will dry the tears that fall from my eyes, And He will break up the clouds as my spirit starts to rise.

The Takeaway: We all have hard trials in this life that feel like dark clouds hanging over our heads. On our hard days, we may feel like the sun may never rise for us again. But if we feel like this, we just need to look up to the Beloved Son. Jesus knows how we feel and He will be with us. He will dry our tears and carry our sorrows. Because of Him, there is always hope that the dark clouds will go away and that the sun will rise again.

Watch the short video of me reading part of this post here:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oNeim_JEBmY

Living Hope in Christ

/ Christine Maynor / 1 Comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

Backstory: 
I saw this quote recently and I could relate to its message deeply. It said, “We do not make it through suffering by pretending it doesn’t hurt. We endure by holding to the living hope we have in Christ.” We all have trials that are so hard to bear that we feel like they might break us. I love that this quote talks about “living hope” through Christ. Jesus is living and because of Him, we can always have hope. This writing is in the style of a prayer to my Heavenly Father.

Living Hope in Christ

My dear Father who resides in Heaven,
I can feel Your love for me without question.
But Father, some days the weight of my burdens is so heavy to bear,
And I feel like my heart is broken enough that it might tear.

My chronic illness symptoms are so hard to carry on my own,
That I wish You were here with me, so I wouldn’t feel so alone.
If only I could feel Your loving embrace,
And You could dry the tears on my face.

Please, help me to feel Your loving arms around me,
So that my blessings I can more easily see.
You loved me enough to send me Your Beloved Son,
To feel my pain and sorrows as the Atoning One.

Because of Jesus, help me to hold onto hope,
So that with my burdens, I can more easily cope.
Help me to turn to Him when my burdens weigh me down,
So I can feel lighter because of Him, who wears the crown.

Yes, I have days when it’s hard to get out of bed,
And I just want to pull the covers back over my head.
Please, Father, help me to feel the living hope in my soul,
Because of Your Son so my heart can feel whole.

The Takeaway: We all have trials that sometimes seem to weigh us down because the weight is so heavy to bear. We all have days when we get discouraged and we don’t know if we can make it anymore. But there is living hope because of the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. If we just turn to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, we can feel lighter and know that we are never alone.

Watch the YouTube short of me reading part of this poem here:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5FwFrpOq6L4