Last month, I would normally take a walk by myself after eating dinner. One night, I was listening to a sermon that I previously downloaded on my phone on my regular evening walk, sun still out and making a beautiful hue of pink and purple in the sky. The headphones that I had were literally falling apart so I decided to just hold my phone up to my ear while I walk around the neighborhood nearby the church that we lived in. I walked up to this dead end and I heard a dog bark. We were told in the beginning that there was a whole lot of stray dogs roaming the streets of Romania and to be careful.
I reach a dead end, turn around and heard a dog bark. I’m still listening to this sermon, not paying attention to the barking because I was pretty confident that nothing would happen, especially after all the other times I would pass by stray dogs. I turn around and to the right of me saw a German Shepard crouching in the tall grass growling at me. My thoughts looking back were…sh*t is this really happening right now…am I about to get attacked by this dog? Well by surprise, I wasn’t attacked by that dog that I saw, instead I heard another dog charge behind me and bite into the back of my left heal. I literally yelped out a quick scream and prayed to God that the dog would let go and that he/she wouldn’t try to attack any other part of my body. Whether it was another dog or the same dog, it then tried to bite my other leg, but as soon as I yelled out, I kept on walking and remained calm. The dog let go and I continued to walk with a little more pep in my step.
Immediately I praised and thanked the Lord for being able to walk away from that situation. I wasn’t quite too sure how to get back home, but I knew I was close. The more I walked, the more I realized how much it actually hurt. The adrenaline was slowly wearing off and I started to feel the pain. So many thoughts and emotions went through my head as I was desperately walking around trying to retrace my steps back to the church. I vacillated with even wanting any help because I didn’t want my situation to be a big deal and didn’t want to seek any attention. I fought back the tears and held myself together on the outside, but I just wanted someone to physically take care of me. In the moment, I knew that was impossible. So I continued to talk to the Lord asking Him to take care of me, if He wanted to miraculously heal my heel or sustain me with the strength to not break down in the middle of the road and make it home.
I knew I wasn’t too far. Eventually, I walked past a hospital. It was right around the corner from the church, but I walked past it knowing that I would probably have some issues getting seen since I wasn’t carrying any ID on me and I wasn’t in dire need of life or death medical attention. Walking up the church steps, I knew that my eyes were glistening from holding back tears and I could see my dear squad mate Caleb see me limp up the steps. He opens the glass door for me and I asked him, ” Can you please help me, I just got bit by a stray dog?”
He compassionately says yes and leads me into the sanctuary and sits me down. I’m surrounded by quite a few of my teammates now and my friend and team leader Walker ends up dressing my wound. He was the most qualified, regardless of his non-accomplishment of passing EMT school. He then calls our host and informed us that one of the members from the church will meet me there and take me to the hospital. That night is when I was introduced to my Guardian Angel. Obviously she’s not my literal guardian angel, but man was she one of the biggest advocates I’ve ever had in my life! She took great care of me and made sure that I got the proper help that I needed.
This angel of mine is named Relly. She is one of the most beautiful women that I have ever met inside and out. Her English was limited and we communicated pretty well thanks to google translate, smiling, presents, hugs, and coffee! That night, I got the back of my heal properly patched up and received the first of a series of rabies shots needed. The next week, Relly would accompany me to get my additional shots and it was during that time that God revealed to me one of the reasons why this situation happened.
Looking back on this event the Holy Spirit opened up my eyes to why this was happening in no particular order:
-to slow down
-it’s ok to let others serve you; shout out to all of my teammates that insisted on helping me even when there were times where I was pretty stubborn in receiving it
-to be in awe of God’s bride-the church, especially in spending a lot of time with Relly.
I wish I could show you a picture of this wonderful friend of mine. She is getting married next month and I am sooo happy for her! I’m so grateful for getting bit, even if it was just to be loved on and served by Relly =) May God continue to bless and pursue her.
Dog bite update:
I am completely healed and looking forward to a pretty awesome scar 😉
