Under My Umbrella

Unless you were raised in fundamentalist evangelical Christianity, you might not get this, but I am going to try.

There is a teaching about an umbrella.

Yes. Like, “under my umbrella, ella, ella…” anywho…

This umbrella embodies the spiritual covering, the protection that your father, your husband, or some other man has over you.

When you submit to this covering, this umbrella, your dad (or whoever) has over you, EVERYTHING WILL BE BLESSED!! This is because you’re obeying Jesus, who clearly said in the Bible, “thou shalt have a huge umbrella over your head, and that umbrella shall be called man”. (that was my sarcastic voice, FYI. Obviously, this is not something Jesus, or His Father said)

When I left my husband, I got the distinct impression, that to some men in my life, I was fair game. That since I had walked out from under the protection of my husband spiritual umbrella, I was now subject to theirs. As I investigated this topic, in the years before I left my husband, I had realized this was not a scriptural concept at all. It was a concept made up by men who wanted to control women and have power over them. This is very sad. This is also very sick and *&$@ed up. This is NOT a Jesus sort of thing.

Yesterday and today I was asking God to help me find an image of the protection God has given me. The negative words, judgments, statements, and beliefs about me are many. Most of them have come from trusted men in my life.

I walked into the shop today, and as I was browsing through the cards I saw this. Water collected in my eyes. This was exactly what I had asked for. The title of this piece is “Speechless”.

I may speak. I may not. But I do believe I am covered and protected with an umbrella of LOVE.

“Speechless”  by Catrin Welz-Stein. 

If you wanna read more about the umbrella nonsense, I liked how this girl wrote about it. And she’s got a special diagram, too!!