OVERNIGHT IN THE WOODS BUT NOT ALONE

OVERNIGHT IN THE WOODS BUT NOT ALONE

I woke up and felt something on my back. I thought it was just bumps from the rocks I’d slept on, but no. It was ticks! Three of them that I could feel, and they’d embedded themselves into my skin and were getting fat from my blood. I could reach around to my back and tried to twist them out. I probably didn’t get the heads, but I’d deal with that later. I was lost in the woods, had slept on the rocky shore of a lake all night, and needed to get home. But I wasn’t afraid because something wonderful had happened the evening before.

I was walking up in the hills behind my apartment. I took my Bible and thought I’d hike a little and then sit down to read. I hiked a lot more than a little, sat down to read, and when I got up, I realized I didn’t know which direction was home. It was getting late, and I started to get very scared and hungry. I prayed and walked on. In about an hour, I found some berries, and that satisfied my hunger somewhat. I sat down again and started to cry. “God, You’ve got to get me out of here. It’s going to be dark soon, and I’m afraid.” I cried some more, and then through teary eyes, I looked up into the sky and saw an amazing sight.

A real angel! It was in white and was blowing a trumpet. I didn’t know if it was male or female and I didn’t see any wings either, but what I felt was peace. In my Spirit I heard, “It’s going to be okay, don’t worry.” At that moment, I knew which way to go, and I wasn’t afraid anymore. It was dusk when I looked down the hill, and about 100 feet away, I could see a lake. I was so thirsty by then; it was a really welcome sight. But what now?

It was getting too dark to go any further, and I didn’t want to go back up into the trees, so I decided to sleep where I was. The ground was rocky and kind of slanted, but I found what I thought was the best spot, curled up and slept.

When I woke in the morning, after pulling out tick bodies, I started around the lake. I only walked a few steps  and realized the shoreline twisted in and out a lot. I knew about lakes up in that area, so I knew if I walked around the lake, I would come to something I recognized and I could get home. But hen I spotted some fishermen coming down to the water, straight across from me. I yelled over to them, and they saw me. But how was I going to get to them?

I would have to swim across. I wrapped up my Bible in the jacket I was wearing and began to swim across the lake. It looked like a very long swim, but I was a good swimmer so I knew I’d make it. Although it was May and the water cold, I hardly noticed it. I was like a wet rat when I got out of the water and exhausted. The fisherman and his two sons kindly gave me a ride several miles back to my home.

In Genesis 24, God sent an angel ahead of Abraham’s servant to protect him and prosper him when he went to find a wife for Isaac. Abraham told the servant, “He [God] shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence” (v.7). Verse 40 says, “The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way.” The servant took ten camels laden with precious gifts, including jewels of silver and gold, clothing, and other costly things. Even with robbers along the way, the angel cleared the path, and the servant got there with all the camels and gifts protected.

Psalm 91:11 tells us this about angels: “For he [God] shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

When God begins a work in us, and we are willing to do it, this promise from Philippians 1:6 is a great one to take to heart: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” That is the day Jesus comes to get us.

Miraculously my Bible didn’t get wet with the swim across the lake; I had food and water, a ride home, and best of all, I had my very first vision of a real angel, who went before me and protected me on my way.

Sleeping on rocks was not fun. Having ticks embedded into my back, sucking my blood was not fun; being scared was not fun. But I was never alone. The Lord was with me the whole time and sent an angel to let me know it was true. The Lord led me to the edge of a lake, not only for a drink of water. By His providence, I woke up at the time when the Lord already knew there would be fishermen straight across from where I’d slept, kind people who encouraged me and gave me a ride home.

How many times have all of us been in a similar situation? Maybe not physically, but emotionally or otherwise: lost, attacked, something eating us that we couldn’t reach or eliminate? We’ve been in situations without answers, wandering, and not finding. We’ve been scared, not knowing if we’d be able to get out of whatever was binding us.  

Life as a Christian isn’t always going to be easy. We get attacked, disturbed, bummed out in rocky places, lost in the woods. But we can be assured that the Lord is always with us through all of it, and He will get us across the lakes and take us safely home. Jesus said: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20).

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Have you or anyone you know had an experience with an angel or angels, especially when in a scary situation? Describe the experience.

2. It was a miracle that my Bible didn’t get wet when I swam across the lake. Describe a miracle you or someone you know has experienced or witnessed.

3. What was the promise in Genesis 24 to Abraham’s servant regarding his journey? Cite the scriptures.

4. Are you aware of being on a journey? Cite a scripture besides the one in Genesis 24 that shows we can have angelic help in our life journeys.

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PRAYING MANTIS WINGS AND OUR SECRET WEAPONS

I looked out onto the patio and saw something strange going on. My cat, Snowy, was slowly backing up, ears flattened against his head and shackles up. His teeth were snarling and he was hissing. Something was scaring him and making him back off.

I opened the sliding glass door and went out slowly, expecting to see some big stray cat or dog ready to attack. What I saw was something quite different.

It was only a 2 inch praying mantis with its colorful, frightfully angular wings spread out wide like a mantle over her. She looked ferocious and she was running full speed toward Snowy! They don’t often show their wings. It’s like their secret weapon and apparently it works well. Snowy turned tail and scurried into the house through the opened patio door!

Sometimes the angels act in a similar way, to be our secret weapons. A few years back, I was having a particularly hard time at work and I felt weakened. I looked up the scripture in Psalm 103:20 “Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” I prayed they would go to my work ahead of me and help me there.

When I got to work, I went upstairs to the open loft where we did our painting. Around the edge was a three-foot wooden railing. I could see in the spirit a very large angel sitting comfortably on the corner. His wings spread out to each side along the edge of my work space. I felt protected and strong. This went on every day for several months until I moved to a new work location, where it seemed I didn’t need the added protection any more.

Every year my garden is visited by praying mantis so I’ve had plenty of opportunities to observe them, but only once did I see one spread its wings out like when it chased my cat across the patio.  

Like the mantis, we don’t always go around showing off our stuff, but when it becomes necessary, we certainly have our secret weapons. One of them is the privilege to pray for the Lord to send angels. They are loosed in heaven and according to Hebrews 1:14 and Matthew 4:11 they minister to us and for us. Most of the time we don’t even know they’re there but they are strong to protect us and can back off danger.

Love, Carolyn

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GOD DOESN'T LIKE IT WHEN HIS PEOPLE DON'T GET PAID

I hate it when I see people getting cheated out of their money. I’ve seen it three different times here in Vegas in the last month and that’s way too much. It’s serious business with God. He despises the idea of us not getting what we’re owed. He’s waiting for us to ask Him to rise up to His full power to avenge us. It’s not automatic.

We have to first know what the will of God is and what the Bible says about the situation, to be able to call down what’s rightfully ours. James 5:4 says, “Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” In other words the money (hire) is crying out to get to the workers where it belongs and the people are crying out to get their money.

The Lord of Sabaoth (Greek for Lord of Hosts) hears and rises up from His throne ready to take action for us. Whenever the Bible talks about the Lord of Sabaoth or the Lord of Hosts it’s God in His anger and wrath against the evils done to His people. It’s not a pretty thing when the Lord of Hosts is smoking furious!

Psalm 18 gives us the picture of what happens. David cried out in his distress and it says the earth shook and trembled and even the foundations were shaken because God was so angry. “There went smoke out of his nostrils and the fire out of His mouth.” Usually we see God sitting on His throne, but not in this case: “He bent the heavens and came down with thunder and hail and fire” (vss. 9&13).

Romans 9:29 tells us it was the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, who was behind the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah. If it wasn’t for God’s mercy no one would have been left alive. Psalm 46:7 says the Lord of Hosts “uttered his voice, the earth melted.” Psalm 24:8 tells us the Lord of Hosts is strong and mighty in battle.

We don’t even want our worst enemies to get the consequences of the Lord of Hosts when He’s teed off. When people consciously do wrong or are disobedient to God’s will, they’re walking on a dangerous mine field and will definitely get explosive results.

In the Old Testament Law people were supposed to be paid on the day they worked. Leviticus 19:13 says, “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.”

Deuternonomy 24:15 says, “At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee.”
And Jeremiah says, “Woe unto him that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work” (Jer 22:13).

These days we usually don’t get paid on the day we work, but whatever the agreement is, whether weekly, bi-weekly or otherwise, it needs to be adhered to. If not, we have a perfect right to get the Lord of Hosts involved. How do we activate this? It’s not automatic. God has His part, but we have our part too.

My friend, Kathy, was promised her money on Wednesday or Thursday last week. She didn’t get it. On Friday I told her about the Lord of Sabaoth and she immediately said, “Lord of Sabaoth come down and get Johnson to pay me.” Within the hour she got her money, but not all of it, not what she was promised. According to the Word of God, it’s not looking good for Johnson right now. He better pay her.

When something like this happens we have to exercise our faith to get our money. Faith in what? Faith in the scriptures, that the Lord of Hosts will go after our money and get it to us. If you don’t know these scriptures that I’ve included here, then take them down and start saying them out loud until you believe and trust them.

Psalm 84:12 says, “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.” We have to trust in the Lord of Hosts, that He will do what He says He will do. Then we lock onto our money like a stealth missile and we pull it in. We follow any other instructions the Holy Spirit gives us as far as affirmative action we may need to take. I’ve been in this position a number of times and each time the action I had to take was uncomfortable but I did it anyway and every time it worked out and I got my money.

When we pray and claim these scriptures, the Lord of Hosts will put so much pressure on the person, they will probably want to pay us as fast as possible to get the pressure off.

We keep the pressure on with faith latched onto our money like a pit bull. We do any corresponding Holy Spirit-inspired action. We can also pray for and loose angels on our behalf to facilitate what the scriptures promise—in this case, our rightful pay. We don’t let up.

But if our clients or bosses stay stubborn and stupid, the consequences will come. Isaiah 1 (vss. 24, 28 &29) says if they don’t do what’s right they’re going to be consumed. Where they were strong like an oak tree, they’ll start to fade and lose things and life. They’ll be like a garden without water. My sunflowers would die in two days if I didn’t water them daily.

Believe me, clients and bosses would rather pay than suffer the consequences of holding out on the Lord of Sabaoth!

I hope you will take this message to heart. Together we can stop this horrible new trend with the Word of God, one paycheck at a time.

Love, Carolyn

PS: FREE DOWNLOAD this coming Thursday - Part 3 of WINGS: A JOURNEY IN FAITH. Each chapter is a stand-alone story of spiritual victory for our daily challenges.

BLACK ICE

I was driving to a friend’s house when it started to rain. As I turned into the far lane of the freeway on-ramp, the wheels on my pickup hit the grease in the road and it started to hydroplane just like hitting black ice. I turned into the skid but then I was sliding in the opposite direction and out of control. The whole truck slipped one way then the other, then toward the cement easement.

I heard the forceful sound of crushing metal as my front end smashed into the cement. I heard the garish crunch but I didn’t feel it. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion and I was the spectator watching a movie of myself.

This happened to me before in Michigan when a big truck jackknifed across the freeway right in front of me and I nearly hit it but suddenly stopped only about five feet short, and once when I hit black ice at an intersection in Ohio.

I am convinced that God actually slows down time in these kinds of situations. In Isaiah 38:8 God said, “Behold I will bring the shadow on the sundial ten degrees backward.” That was about forty minutes. God can and will do this for us. And I pray for protection every morning and truly believe that angels surround us so that we don’t get hurt. Psalm 5:12 promises, “with favor thou wilt thou compass him as with a shield.” I believe that with all my heart.

The back end of my truck jutted out into the oncoming lanes. Fortunately there were only a few cars coming and they were able to go around.  I managed to scrape my way across the two lanes and into the hotel parking lot.

A tall good-looking man came over. He asked if I was hurt and I said I wasn’t. He said, “I saw the whole thing and I can’t believe you weren’t hurt and that you can actually drive your car!” He pulled a tool out of his shirt pocket, “I always carry this with me.” It looked like a pair of pliers, but then he began to cut into the metal bumper with it and was able to bend out the bumper and use the tool again to loosen the last bolt holding it on. He put the piece in the bed of my truck. Then he used the tool again to pull the fender away from the wheel so it wouldn’t scrape. After a little effort on his part and testing on my part, I was able to drive freely. All I had was twenty dollars with me, which I gave him and thanked him profusely for the help.

A couple more miracles took place around this incident: my roommate found a place to get parts at the most discounted prices in America and my neighbor offered to put them on for free. What I’ll end up paying is less than half of what I’d pay with a deductible.

I’m not trying to say that all of this was a delight. Not so. After the accident I had to grab my mind and mouth many times to keep out the negatives of worry, stress and despair. But thank God I was able to do it. I’m learning to keep quiet and trust Him even in the negative situations and He comes through every time.

If His eyes are on the sparrow, He will surely watch over me. (Luke 12:6-7)

Love, Carolyn

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