…and then He covered me

 

 

There is a safety and comfort that comes with having a spouse to me, and I have never realized how much I missed that until I started going through such a terrifying journey alone. 

 

In the book of Ruth, Naomi had encouraged Ruth that there was still hope for her to “find rest” from her hardships troubles with a new husband. 

 

When Ruth met her kinsman redeemer, Boaz, he lovingly said to her, “May the Eternal repay you for your sacrifices and reward you richly for what you have done. It is under the wings of Israel’s God, the Eternal One, that you have sought shelter”. Ruth 12:11

 

That verse always moved my heart so deeply because for years I have had to endure the harsh wilderness without the support and companionship of a husband. I basically jumped to my death (or so it felt at the time) when Jesus told me to take myself and my kids to a hotel room, with no way to cover the cost. 

 

God gave me promises to depend on, and then He carried us for years and covered all of our needs. The thought of a loving and gentle husband covering my needs and protecting me was a deeply intimate place where I leaned into Christ to be my Husband and cover that longing. 

 

I needed God to keep His promise to be the strength in my weakness and to be faithful to His vows to cover me and my kids. One of the things that I do when I have a need or prayer request, is I pray and ask God to cover me. 

 

I go to the secret place with Jesus and imagine that He is spreading wings over all of my needs to cover everything and to keep me safe. 

 

That is probably one of the few reasons I have been able to get through such an impossible looking journey–is knowing that God is my Husband and my Redeemer to cover me and give me rest. He is all I need and so much more. 

 

Things had been really busy this month with doing more letters than usual, and my room payment was approaching. It was a nagging issue that I didn’t want to worry about any longer. 

 

I was praying for God to show up early to cover our room for the month, so that I could continue doing what He has called me to do, without the extra stress and pressure. 

 

Right after I prayed that, the Lord led me to learn about His creation of the heron bird. God is the Creator of all and through His all-present and all-powerful ways, He loves to speak through His creations to us, if we will come to Him with child-like faith.

 

The love letter that He made for me to go with the heron revelation is here: It Could Happen At Any Moment

 

The heron bird uses a canopy method of hunting for food. It will spread its wings over the water to cover the sunlight and create a shadow covering. 

 

As the heron does this, he also hides his reflection of his neck, so that the fish cannot see him. By placing a shadow over the water, it draws up the fish and the heron can enjoy a bountiful meal. 

 

The Lord started to show me this and say that He would cover my prayer request. But He also showed me that I needed to apply my faith, just like in Ephesians 3:20, it is His power that meets us at our participation of faith. 

 

The rest of the day, I imagined that God had covered His wings over us and I saw the fish flowing up from the water. The more I engaged my faith to believe that God would do this for me, it caused me to naturally block out the doubts and fears that I had. 

 

By the end of the day, I was dancing in my kitchen and celebrating that my rent was covered early and that God showed up to cover me in the answer to my prayer. 

 

By the next morning, I was getting thoughts of worry coming at me because nothing had happened yet. Then the Lord told me to make “the choice” because that was what would turn everything around. 

 

Now, let me explain the “choice”. When we press our faith up to God and believe that He will do something, there is a thought that will come just before it happens. It comes like a shadow of doubt concealed as a thought, like “maybe it won’t happen” or something similar. 

 

When that thought came to me, I had to make a choice….to have faith or to have the fear based worry. That moment can change everything, and I knew I was at that moment. 

 

You will know that you are at that moment when the sunlight of hope and expectancy is suddenly covered with the feeling of fear or gloom from a worrisome or doubtful thought. 

 

It is at that time, when we have to choose…blue skies or clouds? Sunlight or darkness? Hope or despair? 

 

I decided to hold my faith and deny all of my worries and fears. I put on some worship music and I danced around my kitchen as a celebratory dance, like a tricolored heron gracefully dancing over the water during its hunt. 

 

Anytime that I would feel a worry or doubt sneak in, I would use my engaged faith to imagine that I got good news that my rent was covered early–just like I prayed. 

 

After I danced around my kitchen, I sat down to check my email. There was a message in my inbox that notified me that my rent for next month had been COVERED EARLY by someone else! 

 

God did just like He showed me through that heron bird. God covered me with His wings of refuge so that I could have rest. He was my husband to cover and protect me, and that gave me the best comfort that I could have asked to have. 

 

I had some other prayers too, and I decided to press my faith into God to see what He would do. First, I prayed and shared with God what I was hoping for Him to do. Then I let that prayer go, like a bird flying up to be fulfilled. 

 

After we let go of the prayer, then it’s time to activate our faith with expectations and blocking out the distractions of doubt. I imagined that God was like a giant heron, and He spread His wings over the water to cause the invisible longing to rise up like fish. 

 

I pressed my faith in deeper, and I imagined that fish were falling into my hands from God and His covering to answer this prayer request. 

 

One of the things that really helps me apply my faith is to have a precise target. I activated my faith by visualizing the fulfillment showing up to cover me and within the hour, that exact prayer request showed up as a hope fulfilled! 

 

The Hope Repose is all about taking something out of your invisible hope and causing it to emerge into your life as a tangible fulfillment. It is the ultimate way to see your prayers fulfilled, whatever they may be. 

 

Over the years of living like this, I share the exact process that God taught to use to live by His miracle power coming through my needs and weaknesses. I could have never survived this if God were not spreading His wings over me to give me rest.

 

The joy of the Lord is our strength as He covers us in all of our hopes, dreams, and needs! I also join in prayer with you–that God would cover you with the answer to your prayers–to give you the fulfillment that you are longing to see! 

 

I love you! 

 

Dannette 

 

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