On His Wings

On His Wings

Have you ever spent time watching eagles? Coming from Washington where the eagle is a common site, they are anything but common. An eagle will build her nest at the highest point to get the best view of the land scape. She will endure weather in extremes to ensure that her young will hatch.  When babies eagles are born she will stay with them making sure that they are warm and comfortable. The male eagle goes hunting often to feed the family. When the babies are old enough the female will leave the nest for moments of much needed time. When the young eagles get older and began to pier over the edge of their nest the female eagle will shake the nest. This causes fear, her chicks hunker down in the nest and she will comfort them. This begins the growing pains of leaving the nest. Ever so often the female begins to shake the nest, becoming more and more frequent till she shakes them, picks them up and drops them from her nest. Her babies will fall and she will catch them in her talons and bring them back to her nest. This happens sporadically at first then more and more often till it is happening several times a day. Through this they begin to fly. While the young eagles are flying the female eagles fly under them so that if there wings give out she will catch them. Her investment is high and her reward to the eagle pride is huge. 

Job 39:27 Or is it at your order that an eagle flies upward And that it builds its nest high up,

I write this because it has reminded me of my relationship with God on so many levels. The beginning of my walk with God was spent in the nest. Receiving food, comfort, warmth, love and healing. You may ask, "healing from what"? I would have to tell you from the journey before you were surrendered, the one where our enemy ravaged your heart and shredded your identity. 

After I began to get comfortable in my home I began to peer over the edge of the nest wanting more from life then what was in the nest. 

Deuteronomy 32:11 Just as an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its fledglings, Spreads out its wings, takes them, carries them on its pinions.

So little by little God began to shake things up. Things in my relationships that worked before stopped working. I began to struggle with things like leadership. From there I became fearful and I wanted to hide, but the thought of staying in the nest was suffocating me. God had awaked a desire in me for more, for deeper life. Life to the full. Searching for freedom and trying to do so with out falling, I began to seek less dangerous avenues for my release. There the Lord began to shake things more and more. In my marriage things began to change. My husband lost his job and we were up to our eyes in debt. Yet, God provided this to happen in a safe place where our marriage would be fought for. God provided Dave Ramsey and we began to get our footing. Then God shook the nest again and we had to move and within a couple of frightful days my husband landed a job and we found a place to live, but did not have money to move. Then again God provided. We moved into a wonderful place and within a month our truck broke down. We asked God to help us and believed that he would and he did. There we found another moment of rest, but just a moment. 

It was right after we were called to AZ that the shaking of our nest was happening on a frequent bases. There are so many preconceived ideas that we make of God in those moments. The truth of how we think about the heart of God begins to be tested. The enemy sees this as prim opportunity to speak to your circumstances as proof of his love instead of seeing it as training for flight. At this point knowing who your enemy is, is essential to the success of your flight. The enemy is ruthless in his attacks.

1 Peter 5:8

Be of sound mind. Your enemy the devil

prowls around like a roaring lion

seeking someone he can devour

Getting to AZ was more like being taken from the nest and free falling from great heights. It has been one fall after another with less breaks in between. From financial crash to vandalism of our personal and work vehicles to a miscarriage and now our oldest daughter getting in touch with her biological father, to being within days of eviction. The trials of learning to fly seem more than one heart can bare. Yet just before utter disaster my God has reached down with his might hand and snatched us out of our distress and set us up high in his presence. 

Obadiah 4

If you should make your position high like the eagle, 

or if among the stars there were a placing 

of your nest down from there

I would bring you," is the utterance of Jehovah

It is in the flight that we are learning to only rely on God for our all. For the win, for our strength, for our training, for our redemption and for his passionate pursuit of us learning to fly with him. Never have I ever known of any other God who love me so much so that he believed that I could fly while I was being ravaged by my enemy in the pit of complete and utter darkness.

Isaiah 45

Declare what is to be, present it

let them take counsel together.

Who foretold this long ago,

Who declared it from the distant past?

Was it not I. the Lord?

And there is no God apart from me,

a righteous God and a Savior

there is none but me.

Jeremiah 31

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to release from darkness the prisoners

To proclaim the year of the Lords favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

To comfort all who morn,

And provide for those who grieve in Zion

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes

The oil of joy instead of mourning

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord

For the display of his splendor.