The Safe Room She Didn't Know Was There

In 2011, a massive EF5 tornado carved through Joplin, Missouri, leveling entire neighborhoods in minutes. Bethany Stover clutched her newborn son in a hallway closet while the walls of her house peeled away like paper. She was certain they would die. But when the roaring stopped and she opened her eyes, the closet stood — the only structure intact on her entire block. She later learned that the previous homeowner, a retired contractor, had reinforced that single interior room with steel brackets and concrete anchoring. He never told anyone. He simply prepared it.

That image echoes through Revelation 12. A woman radiant with glory — clothed with the sun, crowned with stars — gives birth while a great dragon crouches ready to devour her child. The danger is absolute. The enemy is ancient and furious. Yet before she ever faced the threat, God had already prepared a place for her in the wilderness. The child was caught up to the Almighty's throne. And a voice rang out: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God."

This is the pattern of heaven. The Most High does not wait for the crisis to begin planning. He reinforces the walls before the storm arrives. He prepares refuge before we know we need it. The dragon is real, the danger is real — but the safe room was built first.