This morning I woke up with the word “Sanctuary” on my mind. Not really sure why, except maybe it was a message to myself that I need it right now!

There’s a whole lot going on in the Horn household, as I’m sure it is for the rest of you. Sanctuary means a “sacred or holy place” but it also means “a place of refuge.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about military marriages this week and the stress which they often endure. There are at least three or four women I know of connected to Wives of Faith who have just said goodbye or are getting ready to say goodbye to their husbands for deployments (and I’m sure there are many I don’t know about.) There are also families who are in the midst of trainings and AT’s. My husband leaves for his two weeks this weekend.

When I think of “a place of refuge” I think I associate my marriage with that term. I think marriage should be a sanctuary for a couple. It’s a place where two people who have committed their lives to each other should be able to go for comfort, for assurance, for love, for hope. But when it comes to military marriage, those “sanctuaries” aren’t always there, at least not in the physical sense, are they? We deal with a lot of distance in our places of refuge, don’t we?

Stress, hurt feelings, miscommunications and any number of distractions can also clutter up those sanctuaries. This morning for our “This is the Day to Pray” campaign we’re in the middle of right now, the prayer was for military marriages. For many of us, our marriages are our first line of defense against the world–and when that defense is missing, or encountering holes or missing links, things start getting a whole lot more uncertain or scary.

So I think there is another sanctuary that we must look to, beyond our marriages. We can follow someone else’s example of where he turned when he needed refuge. In the book of Psalms, David spends much of his time in a place of refuge, talking with God, crying out to God, asking God what He’s up to, and remembering just who God is.

The interesting thing about David’s prayers and his conversations to God is that as desperate as he may seem when he first starts talking to God, by the end, as he’s begun remembering all that God has done for him already and all that God means, David is actually calmer. He has peace and hope and love, to continue on another day.

If this week has been a hard one, a stressful one, a confusing one and you don’t know where to turn, let me suggest finding a quiet place, even if it’s for two minutes in your bathtub after you’ve gotten the kids down for the night and you’re ready to just pass out in your bed before you have to start it all over again. Tell God how you’re feeling and pour out your hurts to Him. He listens, He cares, and He wants to carry those hurts for you. Spend some time in the Psalms this weekend. Remember, you’re not alone. You have a Sanctuary where you can turn.