Okay- the title is dramatic. I know. Stick with me.
Let’s just say Team Frontline has been spoiled with living conditions the last two months.
Air conditioning. Living in the city. Then living in a dreamy guest house with WiFi.
India. Our time to rough it?
We are stuck in a compound. I feel….claustrophobic when I think about it too long.
Squatty potties
Bucket showers
A well for water
Sleeping pads
Bugs
Lizards
Crows
And
Rats
I don’t typically get grossed out. Bugs don’t bother me that much. I’m not afraid to kill a cockroach.
I saw a rat skitter across the floor of our sweet old lady neighbor.
Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.
It’s in her room not ours.
A few days later, J. Lo says that there are THREE in our room nibbling on some trash. Extremely grossed out I went in there and throw it away.
Later that day I am taking a nap-a rat crawls on top of my tent. I freak out, scared that it was in my tent, jump out and make sure that it wasn’t.
I soon concluded that the top of my tent was the place for these disgusting creatures hang out.
One day I saw THREE scurry down as I woke up from my nap.
I’ve never been so anxious and grossed out about something in my life. Truly. The thought of going in my room scared me.
Why am I telling you this? Well, because rats are afraid of humans. Probably more than we are afraid of them & well, you’ll see.
Eventually I started bucking at or kicking my tent to get the creatures to go back to where they came from (I pray back to hell-but that hasn’t happened quite yet).
I point. Shoo. Stare. And scare these creatures away from my tent so that-well because they’re disgusting and need to leave.
It’s spiritual if you thing about it.
What are the rats in your life? The things that bring you down. Scare you. Bring out the worst in you.
What is Satan’s hold on your life?
Does it scurry into your tent without you noticing? Are you too lazy to fight?
Well-I did some research and rats hate the smell of peppermint. So, I used all of my peppermint oil all over my tent (which I’m borrowing-sorry Dylan-ya uh gotta do what ya gotta do?) to prevent them from crawling on it. I also put it at their entry point to our room (the window between our room and our old lady friend).
I have yet to see one on my tent since, but I have glared some down and shooed them away through that window.
I am brave & I am smart. I’m not going to let some stupid, ugly, disgusting rats ruin my time in India.
The sins we let sneak into our lives are truly as disgusting as rats. Some may have nice little bows and may sing & dance-but they are sins. If we let Satan hold us down with these sins they will take away from the abundant life Jesus wants us to have with him.
So with this, I encourage you to stare down your sins, shoo them away, buck at them, kick em if you’d like. They don’t have a place in your life. They don’t have purpose really either.
Still contemplating why God made rats.
& don’t tell me they’re part of the food chain.
So there it is folks
This might be a stretch
Raw & vulnerable Linds
Here in India
Fighting off rats one peppermint oil drop at a time
This is probably the weirdest blog I’ve written.
So if you take anything away from this, (other than hopefully a laugh) I encourage you to name your sins and actively try to eliminate them from your life. They are holding you back from becoming more like Jesus-which is exactly what Satan wants. We are going to continue to sin because we are humans-but start fighting them off one peppermint drop at a time.
You are forgiven.
You are loved.
& you don’t deserve rats to be in your tent.
