When I Am Afraid...

So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

"Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."

Genesis 3:14-15

I hate snakes. Even the ones that are harmless. I hate them and have always hated them. There is something very unsettling about those scaly creatures slithering about on the ground. Who would have ever thought I would be living in a place where I cross paths with diamondback rattlesnakes?

I have seen three of them in the past four weeks. Ugh. The first one was already dead by the time I saw it, thanks to my husband. The second was stretched out and lazy, non-threatening, although a bit frightening just because of its potential to become threatening. Last night, I stepped right next to one and watched it coil and rattle. I am thanking God for protecting me - and Lukas, who was a few feet ahead of me.

We have learned not to walk across the desert floor without a flashlight in the evening. Most of the campus here has sidewalks, except between the chapel and our house. That's where I had this little encounter.

I admit, it shook me up for a little while. Last night I was thinking, "Lord, I don't know if I can do this. I want to go back to Michigan where there are no rattlesnakes." And then I realized Satan was attacking me, trying to sabotage the ministry Lars and I now have at the Arizona Ranch.

I have absolutely loved being a part of the program here. I've been helping to lead songs in chapel, I've helped serve lunch, and the kids are talking to me at meal times. Some of them come to the Ranch regularly, so I know their names and they are getting to know our family. I've never been in a position where I've been directly with the kids like this before. I love it, and I love them.

And I'm sure this drives Satan nuts. He doesn't want me to be a witness to these boys and girls, because he wants their hearts. So he is trying to frighten me away. How fitting that he would use a snake to do it.

"When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose words I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.... For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life." -Psalm 56:3-4a, 13

God has protected us. He will not stop now. Satan will not win this battle.