God is our Mighty Protector!

Well, yesterday and today have been eventful. Perhaps not in the way most people would categorize eventful, yet eventful nonetheless.

Yesterday Benn went down to the basement. He saw a rat near the freezer that we put down in the basement. I cannot tell you much about the rats because Benn is sparing me the details, which cannot be a good sign. If you only knew how much I dislike critters, especially in my house. You will be glad to know that the war has begun and we are exercising the dominion that God has given to all men over the earth and its critters. In five days or so, the poison should have done its work. Well, let me tell you what a blessing this has been. First of all, now we know who we are fighting against, but don't be tempted to think it is really the rats.

When Benn saw the rat near the freezer, it caused him to go and check things out, which is a really good thing because the rats had gotten into the back of the freezer and had their fun and now our freezer is not functioning. But the timing was good because the food was still frozen and we were able to salvage most of it. If Benn had not spotted the rat, who knows how long it would have been before we noticed the freezer wasn't working and would have lost all that food and would have needed to clean up a disgusting mess, so praise the Lord! As I was washing off everything from the freezer, God reminded me of something really sweet. He reminded me of when we moved from Lynchburg to Memphis that we didn't have a whole lot - all our belongings fit into one 17 foot truck. Our move from Memphis to Pennsylvania required a 26 foot truck and a 17 foot truck. God reminded me of all the times when he moved Abraham and how He always increased Abraham's wealth and it was so encouraging to know that the same God who guided and gave increase to Abraham is guiding and giving increase to our family. Not to mention the most precious - the three children that He added to us during our time in Memphis.

Well, the second thing that made the days eventful happened in the middle of the night. Grant, who is now 5 mos. old, was sleeping through the night at around 5 weeks of age. Unfortunately, he became sick about 2 mos. ago and it eventually went into pneumonia. Since he was sick, neither he nor his mother had been sleeping very well because of all the coughing and wheezing. Well, he has been improving over the last two weeks and had begun to sleep through the night again. So, last night when he woke up around 3 a.m. I wasn't too excited. So, I just nursed him, hoping that he would go back to sleep quickly, which he started to do. Then he started with this niggling little cough that just wouldn't seem to end, and finally even Benn woke up. So, we all made our visits to the restroom and got settled back in bed. Benn quickly returned to sleep, and I was trying to, but was feeling that the room was too bright. I sat up and quickly awakened Benn with the news that our ash heap outside was on fire. It isn't right next to the house or anything, but definitely too close for comfort when the flames are high and it is windy outside. So Benn had to dress and go be a firefighter. I felt very clearly that God was reminding me of two things: first, that we are in a spiritual battle here and that I cannot become too complacent in the midst of everyday life that I lose my vigilance in praying and fighting this battle that we are in; second, that He is our Protector and that we have nothing to fear as we lean on His everlasting arms. He used a crying baby in the middle of the night to alert us to the battle we are facing and to protect us from fire. I am thankful for the alarm in the night and, as He reminded me with the song, that I have blessed peace with my Lord so near. It is hard to be afraid of the circumstances around you when you are busy looking at Him.