“Mein Wunsch fuer Pfingsten fuer Sie und fuer unsere Kirche in der Schweiz ist ganz einfach: Mehr Feuer, mehr Farbe. Lassen wir den Geist in uns wirken! Wir werden das schon noch frueh genug gut schweizerisch regulieren und verwalten.” – Paul Vautier

The Women’s Refuge  here in Kaitaia is not hard to find. The place is right in the middle of the town on Commerce Street.

Whenever I hear or read the word refuge, verses from the Bible come to my mind. The Lord is our refuge. He is not only the refuge for women and children, no, He is the refuge for the whole family.

Today, when I opened one of the local papers I read: ” Violence at home affects our tamariki.” ” Violence at home affects our children.”

There is also something about family violence in the latest issue of the War Cry, the magazine of the Salvation Army.

According to a study of the World Health Organization “one in three women experience  physical or sexual  violence from a partner in their lifetime.”

In the War Cry it says also that “Ten children are killed every year in New Zealand by a family member.”

The Lord wants to be our refuge. The Lord wants to be the refuge for the whole family. The Lord wants to be the refuge for all of us.

In Psalm 16:1 David says,”…, for in you I take refuge.” In Psalm 2:12 we read, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Find a concordance and look up more verses!

Have you taken refuge in the Lord? I hope you have.

Are you living creatively for Christ in the HOME?

Billy Graham says in his Devotional Treasury “Unto the Hills”:  “Living creatively for Christ in the home is the acid test for any Christian man or woman.” (page 118)