My Sanctuary

"For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people'"
2 Corinthians 6:16

     I am a temple, a holy dwelling place for The God. Everytime I walk among the people, God goes with me. When I go to lunch with a friend, watch a movie or go to work, He goes too. He's a silent listener to every conversation, a constant Presence as close as my own breath. When I pass another Christian, there goes God!
     Why do people want to have God living in them? What is it about Him that we never want to turn away?  
     It all points to the love Christ poured out for us on the cross. By becoming sin for me, by loving me and dying for me while I was still a sinner, by His stripes healing me ... this is my foundation of love for God. Once I said I believe in Jesus, his Spirit took up residence within me, creating a sanctuary from the evils of this world, freeing me from the power of the devil.
     Below is a poem written by my grandmother, Harmony Schupp, that is one of my favorites:

Sanctuary

 

I have a sanctuary small,

You have one too no doubt,

Where I can be serene and still

While storms may howl without.

 

For no one here disturbs my dreams

No criticism falls.

No barbed shafts, however sharp,

Can penetrate its walls.

 

And from this bulwark of my calm

I view life unafraid.

Can laugh at fancied slights and slurs

That others may have made.

 

Failure, fear, distrust and dread

Are words not understood.

My guardian angel, sword in hand,

Has banished them for good.

 

For here are joy and happiness

As I would have them be.

Here, in this peaceful place, I can

Escape reality.

 

The kindred souls who speak to me

Are duty bound to please

For no one enters here at all

Without love's golden keys.

 

I have a sanctuary small

No doubt, you have one too.

For nowhere else in all this world

Can you be really you.