(1 minute, 18 seconds)

I have the opening verses of Psalm 18 framed and hanging in our dining room—a central place in our home because it’s a Psalm that centers me.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
He is my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Similarly, in my office, I have a photo with some of the words of Psalm 18 typed and inserted underneath; my soul’s whisper to the One who steadies my heart. Every day I sit in my grey leather chair, draped with a snow-white blanket, reading my Bible and facing this picture that, to me, depicts (as well as a photo can) the beginning of Psalm 18.

Sometimes my eyes need help to see, and so I’ve placed this picture strategically where I’ll see it every day:

This beautiful Psalm opens with a heart’s proclamation: “I love you, O Lord, my strength.”
Right after this, so many comforting, soul-steadying attributes of God are listed in David’s Psalm-prayer. David declares these things for his own heart and, in God’s merciful economy, our hearts as well.

Where is our constant refuge? It’s simultaneously a Place and a Person. Our refuge is within the saving, enfolding of our great God.

Whenever the truth of God as my Strength and Protector gets a little blurry amid the buffeting of life, my home base is my overstuffed grey chair, wrapped in my white cotton blanket. With my feet perched on the windowsill in front of me and my Bible open in my lap, I fix my eyes on a picture of my best understanding of what the refuge of Psalm 18 looks like.

Look closely. In the picture is a giant rock that overarches a stone fortress, which wraps around wider than the picture frame—I imagine it completely encompassing me. And there, in the magnificent archway of the Fortress leading to the Rock that is higher than me (Psalm 61:2), I see a shadow—the shadow of my Deliverer. I imagine Him welcoming me into His fortress, and my soul is quieted within me.