I’m home now, back in the United States, back to my house with my (not so) familiar things. I’m not going to lie, getting the news that our squad would be sent back to the states 2 months early was devastating to me. In every way was it unexpected. I had to take off my view of selfishness to even try and see the situation clearly. But as always, when I asked for clarity, He provided. The days before going home, one thing was planted in my mind: the ending of the story of Narnia.
To preface this quote: The series of Narnia portrays the story of Christ paralleled in a world outside of our own. A fierce golden lion is the creator and savior of Narnia. A talking lion so frightening that causes men fall to their knees trembling in his presence yet so kind and gentle that little children play and roll around in the grass with him— the Pevensie children are drawn into a world that isn’t their own and have to fight battles and rule kingdoms under the power of the great lion, and so by the end, when the war is over, Aslan says:
“The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning. And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
This ending of a story I read back in month 3 of my race resounded in the ending of my race. This ending has focused my eyes on what holds true. He is good, He is the only thing we can depend on. This world, where fear rules and chaos reigns, is not our home. Our eyes are to be set on things above. Yes, it truly does suck. Not getting to finish the 3 last months of my race, being away from the people I’ve been in community with for the past 7 months, is not something I was prepared for or wanted. But, despite all of the chaos and confusion and simply not knowing— He brings clarity. He brings peace there seems to be none. I’ve been clinging onto verses from Psalms 91:
1
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14
“Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
