This last month has been a bit crazy for me since I’ve decided to pursue the calling of Jesus and join The World Race. I feel as if the devil has put a bounty on my head. Within the last 34 days I have had three life threatening experiences, experiences that God clearly had His angels protecting me, experiences that made me realize because I am going to do great things in the name of Jesus…Satan is ticked!
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. — Ephesians 6:11
I find encouragement in this verse because it instructs me on how to ward off the devil and gives me encouragement knowing that God is protecting me even if when the devil will continually come after me. I’m grateful because my Father has His arms wrapped around me and is not letting the devil harm me in any way.
Now I’m sure you want to hear the amazing ways the Lord has protected me. We will start with July 21, 2015.
Wrigley (my Golden Retriever) and I were taking a walk down to the river so she could go for a swim. My dog is never on a leash because she is very obedient and I do not feel like it is necessary. She was strolling down the sidewalk to wait for me to cross the street and a young man noticed her well behaved demeanor, and smiled at me. I did not think anything of it. We continued to walk down another street and I was chatting on the phone with a good friend of mine. I noticed him on the other side of the street heading in the same direction as us. I walked a little further and didn’t see him again. We got to the river and Wrigley was swimming whiel I was still on the phone. After being there for about 30 minutes I heard a noise and looked up in the bushes and noticed the young man quickly dart away. At that point I’m thinking this a little weird and we leave the river. I proceeded to walk home, checking my surroundings occasionally and did not see the man. I got home and was in my backyard watering the garden when he approached me through a gap in my fence with a gun pointed at me. He demanded my cell phone. I told him, “okay, it’s on that chair” and I went to get it. I handed him the phone, crouched down, and shouted “Oh, Jesus, please!” The young man ran away. It was about a 30 second interaction. I was so shook up, I could not think straight. I ran into the house and downloaded a phone app on my iPad and called my parents, who then called 911 because you can’t call them from an iPad. The police came and I gave them a description and told them what happened but I didn’t have much hope for catching the guy. I couldn’t give any super specific details because when you’re in shock like that your brain is not functioning properly.
A crazy thing is that my dog was in the back yard with me when it happened and I was mad! I was mad that she didn’t do anything (not that you’d expect a Golden Retriever to be viscous or anything). She didn’t bark, growl, jump in front of me, she did nothing. I was upset until I realized that not only was the Holy Spirit protecting me but also, protecting my dog. If Wrigley would have barked it could have spooked the gunman and he could have shot her or me. When I thought about it that way it all came into perspective. Stuff can be replaced, lives can not.
While I have no way of knowing whether that gun was actually loaded or whether he would have shot, I didn’t want to find out. I cried out to Jesus and He protected me. It became clear to me that day that I was in a war, and Satan was trying to shake my faith and instill fear in me. He could not be further from the truth. Not only has my faith strengthened from that incident but I’ve realized the enemy is not going to stop. He knows I am about to embark on a journey that is going to do amazing things for the kingdom! Sorry, not sorry Satan! Every time I sense fear coming on I pray to Jesus.
While my other experiences have been scary and potentially life threatening they have also made me realize that Satan is not going to stop and I just need to put on the Armor of God every day and thank him for protection and preservation.
About two weeks after this incident I was tubing and the weight was very unevenly distributed between my partner and I. At about 50 mph, I flew off and landed in the water popping my neck out of place and getting whiplash that lasted over a week! While some might see this as just part of the tubing adventure, I saw it as a, “my neck could have easily been snapped” incident! I knew that God was protecting me yet again when Satan tried to attack.
My third incident was pretty scary as well. I was walking in my back yard to take out my compost and I felt a shock throughout my entire body and heard a loud boom. I looked down only to see two “live” electrical wires sticking out of the ground. Not only had they shocked me but after touching me they were dead. The lines had no power to them anymore because it had been released into my body. I was so grateful that it was not worse and that I hadn’t fallen and lost consciousness, become paralyzed, or died! I was safe and God yet again preserved my life and my health. (Since this happened the wires have been taken care of. It was a negligent mistake by a drainage company that had worked in the yard the day prior to my incident.)
All three incidents could have easily resulted in further injury or death and if the devil would have had his way, I believe they would have. However, God has such greater plans for my life and wants me to fulfill his plans and has continued to preserve my life three times in just over a month!
So everyday, I will continue to put on the Armor of God and continue to pray that the spirit of fear flee from me and that the Lord equips me with strength and boldness in His name.
The enemy is a tricky and strong being but he is NOTHING compared to our God and I have the privilege to be living my life for our God. Therefore, I shall have no fear because I know that I am protected by His blood.
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