OMG!

10984093_428705953960385_5736564189776531986_n“OMG! oh my gosh…oh my gosh.” I screamed it repeatedly as I opened our kitchen door and saw water gushing from our light fixtures on Sunday after church. Our ceiling in the family room was caving. For the next two hours Bill and I were mopping up water along with a girl who is like a daughter, Logan. It was a mess. We had an emergency team arrive within an hour to start to wade through and assess and clean up the mess. Needless to say…my vision on the drive home from church changed drastically. Allow me to explain.

We had given a party at our house on Friday for a couple getting married. Everyone knows if you have a party at your house, you have taken extra measures to get things very clean! On the drive home from church I envisioned an afternoon of reading, writing, and possibly cooking dinner for our neighbor who just lost his wife a week ago. Our house still looked great and the flowers from the party were beautiful. I had planned my afternoon and evening on the drive home from lunch. All great stuff….but as you can imagine….my plans turned out to be very different…VERY DIFFERENT!

As the day went on, things got better. Bill was able to call great people to come and help with our disaster….but it was draining. I went to bed thinking, “Ok, tomorrow is a new day.” :o) So I got up the next morning ready to seize the day and our internet was not working. I usually get up early, have my quiet time and then post on Back 9, but instead I was on the phone for an hour trying to get internet service going again.

Finally, I gave up. I had to pack to head out of town. Nothing had been accomplished in terms of writing, posting or studying. While packing my car to head out of town I dropped my car remote and broke it. It splattered into pieces. I had to just stop and pray. As I put the key back together, I started asking God to intervene and help. To encourage me and protect me, realizing all the “spiritual warfare” around me–all the STOPS and ROAD BLOCKS that had come my way in the last 24 hours.

You may not see it this way and that is ok…but I do. Satan is the prince of the world and until Christ’s return he is alive and well and seeking to:
divert,
put up road blocks,
discourage, and
even destroy people who love Jesus and are actively seeking to obey.

Since I have been writing for just over three years, strange and unexplainable things have gone on with my laptop, emails, my computer blacking out, keys freezing. Almost every time these things happened when I was trying to post and work on Back 9 ministry stuff. I count it all “warfare”.

Let’s not forget what Scripture tells us in Ephesians 6:10-13, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

It is not a coincidence that I spoke to “young women” this past Saturday on purity and leading a Godly life in Christ……and the next day experience all kinds of strife…and road blocks. I have learned not to be surprised or dismayed…but to lean heavily into God…asking Him to clear the path…to free the “dam of road blocks” and to give me peace in the process.

He has been faithful. I have had a chance to meet the nicest workmen–from the Rainbow emergency team, to the sheet rockers, to the AT&T technician, Thomas. I encourage you today to march forward. Do not allow Satan and his schemes to throw you off course. God can and will take the most frustrating times and use them for His glory.

Don’t allow Satan to get you so focused on the “fallen tree” in your path that you don’t see the “baby birds in the nest” that you otherwise would not have seen if the tree hadn’t fallen. God does cause everything to work for good. Look for the positive in the negative. God will give you special “sight” to see it.

“The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.” ~Corrie Ten Boom

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