brushed it away with my left hand thinking it might be my hair or a small
spider, but what I felt was no small spider. In the darkness I was left only
with my guesses of what had just touched my neck. In my mind, it was one of the
giant spiders I had seen days before hiding inside the toilet paper roll. I
grabbed at my neck this time, removed the unknown disturber of my sleep and
realized I needed my headlamp to be able to kill it and be able to sleep
soundly again. As I shown my light inches from my sleeping mat I did not find
a spider, not even a giant spider, but a scorpion, tail raised and ready to
sting. I was then overtaken with gratitude and trust toward God.
There was nological reason why this palm-sized, poisonous creature did not attack me; in
fact it was nothing short of miraculous that he didn’t. As I was figuring out
how to get rid of the dangerous scorpion, a few teammates woke up. Since the
night before, David had asked us girls to let the men step up into their
God-given role, I felt this was a perfect opportunity. Like a heroic gentleman,
David smashed the scorpion and took the remaining guts and crunchy pieces
outside.
Now, normally it would be near impossible for me to go back
to sleep after an encounter like I had. However, the night before, my team had
prayed many powerful prayers over me to release me from the fears I’ve been
living in for way too long. I decided to pray over the situation and God
revealed that there had been more than enough opportunity for me to be stung by
a scorpion, but He chose to protect me. Secondly, if another one came, and even
if it did sting me, it was within God’s will and He would never leave me or
forsake me. I repeatedly recited in my head Jeremiah 29:11 ‘”For I know the
plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and NOT TO HARM
YOU, plans for a hope and a future.”‘ I also sung to myself a song Pastor
Roper, my pastor during Junior High, had taught me and that he sang to rid
himself of fear. It goes like this:
“I will not be afraid, I will not be afraid,
I will press onward, looking upward and not be afraid.”
Along with the immediate fear of being stung by a scorpion
in my sleep, I released all other fears. Fears of rape, fears of my future
husband becoming abusive, fears of judgment from others… the list goes on. God
has taught me through this experience and through my teammate Lisa, that God
has and will continue to protect me IN all bad circumstances, but not FROM all
bad circumstances. He is trustworthy, faithful and good even when bad things
happen. I can count on Him to always be there for me. I went back to sleep,
free from fear, until the 5:00 am roster crow awoke me.
