He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will sayb of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

A dear friend and Christian mentor taught me how to pray scripture many years ago, and Psalm 91 is one I have prayed over our family ever since. I want the kind of protection for us that it talks about, so I ask God daily for it. The assurance that I have prayed this kind of powerful promise from God keeps me from living in fear that something bad is lurking around every corner to harm my family. Actually, I know that Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10) and that he prowls around like a lion seeking whom he may destroy (1 Peter 5:8), so in truth, he IS around every corner. But my God and His word are stronger (1 John 4:4 and Revelation 12:11). My God provides the 91st Psalm and others with which we can speak protection over our families and defeat the work of the enemy.

Though I am secure in God’s marvelous blanket of covering over our family, I don’t want to take it for granted. At times I think it’s good to stop and imagine exactly the kinds of things he protects us from every day. The things we never experience because He keeps them far from us. The things that never touch our family because He keeps them at bay.

There are a million and one diseases of varying severities that our family has never had to deal with. Thank you, Lord, for the way You created our bodies to fight infection and disease.

How many accidents have we avoided that the enemy would have loved to use to destroy us? Lord, it is only because of Your great covering that we aren’t consumed by accidents at home, in public, at friends’ homes, at work, and in the car.

Lord, for the fact that we are free from hunger and thirst, we give thanks to You and You alone. So many in the world don’t have that luxury.

Lord, you have so kept us from abuse, cruelty, and meanness from the hands of others. We’ve never had to deal with this terrifying situation that is reality for so many. We know that if Satan was to have his way with us, this would be our reality, too.

Dear sisters in Christ, please don’t for a minute think that just because I pray Psalm 91 over my family that nothing bad will ever happen to us. And don’t think that we’ve never experienced anything bad in our lives – God knows that we’ve experienced our own share of bad times. God says rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous, the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45). Bad things happen to everybody. But there is power in praying God’s scripture over your families that we don’t have relying on our own power and strength. And we never, ever know the extent to which God’s protection has covered us from things we never even saw coming.

Thank you, Lord!

Check out our other posts about praying scripture:
Praying Scripture for Our Husbands and Children
Praying Scripture for Healing

I’ve been a day off for the last few days thanks to a fabulous, much-needed Labor Day holiday. We were so, so glad to have Jonathan home with us for an extra day this weekend. And while it rained around these parts all. day. long, we still managed to eke out a little fun. Hope y’all did, too.

And since I really need to get off the internet and dive into school with my big girl, here’s a quick list of happenings that I thought you might enjoy.

1. Please click here right now and read this article about a woman who joins a search party for… HERSELF!?! I can just hear the discussions: “Wait a minute, are we looking for ME? I just went into the bathroom to get the ketchup off my shirt! Honest!”

2. My baby girl went to a friend’s house to play last week. And yesterday, on a whim, she loaded up with my in-laws and headed to Mississippi for the week. She is by far my most independent child. She amazes me at the way she will just jump into someone else’s car with a smile on her face and ride off without a care in the world. She acts like it’s the best day of her life. Meanwhile, I’m in the corner crying about how big my baby is getting.

3. Emily Freeman has a new book out today. It’s called Graceful: Graceful (For Young Women): Letting Go of Your Try-Hard LifeLetting Go of Your Try-Hard Life. It looks to be the young adult version of her earlier released book called Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard LifeGrace for the Good Girl. I will be buying this book as soon as I can get to the book store. Because I have one of those try-hard girls. Here’s the description of her book straight from Amazon.com. “You know her–the good girl. She’s the reliable one who shows up every week at youth group wearing a purity ring and a smile. She gets good grades, makes the team, and doesn’t need to be told to come home on time. But deep down she is crushed by the weight of the responsibility to be the good one, the smart one, the one who never messes up.

With the same candor and gentle spirit she showed women in Grace for the Good Girl, Emily Freeman now gives young women what they need to be free on the inside, no matter what’s going on outside. Through an honest look at the roles girls play, she helps them learn to stop trying and start trusting that the Jesus who came to save them also comes to live with them, right here and now.”

Those are affiliate links. Mama’s trying to make a living, y’all. 🙂

4. Did you see that Michael Strahan has been tapped to replace Regis Philbin as the co-host of the new Live with Kelly and Michael? I’m a huge Kelly Ripa fan. I’m assuming Michael has filled in before, but I missed it. Mainly because I’ve missed the show for the last several years. (Homeschooling, anyone?) So, what is your opinion of the new guy? Do we like him? Is he funny? Does he have good banter with our girl Kelly? What say you, blog readers?

5. This eases the pain of a big loss for my Auburn Tigers over the weekend. THIS is what life is all about, folks! (And as much as we enjoy it, it ain’t SEC football.)

Be salt and light this week, y’all!

It’s Vacation Bible School time again, and we have been having an amazing time this year. God has so blessed us with a church who whole-heartedly goes after children’s hearts with the gospel. Both of my girls are learning so much about living a Godly life. Our theme verse this year is 1 Timothy 4:12: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for other believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”