Beneath the Roar

Here’s another insider look at my writing process in hopes that if you’re a writer, this will help you get your own words on the page, and if you’re a reader, it will portray how God is always at work in those who trust him.

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Whenever I lay down on the couch to watch TV, Sunshine, my calico cat, likes to join me. She always positions herself on my chest, her face as close to mine as she can get. If I’m really slouched, I literally have to look through her ears to see the screen. But there she purrs, sometimes sparking my nose with hers, or tickling my cheek with her whiskers.

If I’m writing, it’s no different. She walks across my desk and tries to lay down in my lap. If I push her off, she tries to sit on my computer. If I’m reading in bed, she nudges her way between me and the book and nestles under my neck like a fur collar. Wherever I am, she wants to be as close as possible to me, the food lady, the one who lets her in and out, the one who lets her sleep on my bed, even if she might barf up a hairball.

This fact was called to mind a few days ago as I was watching a PBS nature show. Like many I’ve seen before, it featured scenes of big cat cubs snuggled beneath their mother’s head just like Sunshine snuggles with me. Under a leopard’s sharp teeth, or a tiger’s powerful jaw, her cubs are protected, and somehow as small and defenseless as they are, they know this is the safest spot on earth.

And just like that I had the title of this blog, Beneath the Roar. And with it, the theme, If God is for us who shall stand against us from Romans 31-39.

I love the way the Message puts it:

“^31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

…None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”

Now that’s the encouragement I wanted to send, but how to flesh it out? A flash memoir illustrates what that looks like with real life incidents.

All week, I came up blank until this morning when I first woke up and my mind flooded with moments when I was most vulnerable:

• At four days old when I was sent to a foster home.
• In fourth grade when my adoptive mom was hit by a bus and critically injured.
• As a young married, pregnant with my second child, my marriage falling apart.
• As a brand-new Christian without a clue how to live out my new faith.

And who did God send when the enemy was stalking me like prey? His people.

• As a baby Christian, God sent my first believing best friend, Sharon Gamble, now an author, speaker, and founder of Sweet Selah Ministries that helps women rest in the presence of God.
• As a pregnant young woman contemplating divorce, God sent a neighbor, Gloria, who first shared the gospel and went home to heaven ahead of me.
• While my mom was still recovering from her injuries, God allowed me a wonderful summer in the care of my Aunt Ruth, a godly woman now pushing 100 who still sends me birthday cards that miraculously land on my exact birth date no matter who is running the post office.
• As a helpless infant, he sent me to a foster mom who loved me so much she had a hard time letting go, so the adoption agency suggested she buy me a new outfit I’d look nice in for my new parents. I never met this woman, but I still have the pink dress and booties she picked out.

So, whether you’re a writer with a hairball stuck in your pen, or a reader feeling as weak as a kitten ( honestly aren’t we all) let’s remember we are cubs of the king.

So, Lord, may we help each other as we are able and rest BENEATH YOUR ROAR as our almighty savior, the Lion of Judah.

Cover photo by Velizar Ivanov on Unsplash

Copyright by Ann C. Averill 2022, all rights reserved