The Woods

Wednesday October 9, 2013

From the upstairs window I could see the sun shining brightly on the ridge top. I thought " I should walk up there, I bet it's beautiful."  Instead, I busied myself with unfinished tasks left over from the day before. My tasks soon led me back to the upstairs window and as I looked out again I heard God say "Go, this moment will soon be gone."  I got my camera and journal and started up the hill.  Halfway up, I stopped to catch my breath and thought " I can't make it, I'm going to turn around, there's probably nothing up there anyway." I stood there a minute and looked back up the hill.  The sun was illuminating everything dew covered leaf, every spiders' web and every limb. I asked God to give me the endurance to climb the hill.  As I walked, I saw golden leaves raining down through the trees and could hear every bird's morning song.  As I began to take pictures I looked up and caught the white tail of a deer leaping from my sight. I was disappointed! Not 30 seconds prior, I was looking in that very direction. I thought "GREAT, I've missed it!" I began to walk again up the hill looking in every direction for any sign of the deer. At one point the sun was shining so bright that I couldn't see in any direction, I thought of turning back and then I felt God speak again and say "Do you trust me?" I started taking one blind step after another while saying "Yes Lord, I trust you."  As my walk led me to the top I stood for a few minutes soaking up the warm rays of sun.  As I began to look for somewhere to sit, I started walking back down the hill, taking pictures as I went. I stopped, snapped a picture to the left, right, and in straight ahead, trying to capture the beauty of God's artwork. I glanced at some fallen leaves at my feet and when I looked down the path, there stood another deer, 5 yards away.  A beautiful doe; ears up, tail up, alerted to danger.  We stared at each other a few minutes, I carefully squatted down.  After a minute or so the doe relaxed, down went the ears and she began to wag her tail.  She no longer viewed me as a threat.  As my foot began to tingle, I shifted. Once again her ears and tail were thrust into the air as she watched my every move. I captured her picture, which made her snort and stamp her foot.  She was standing her ground.  When i stood, she began to look left, then right, seeking an escape.  As I took a step forward, she looked at me once more and in 3 swift leaps she was gone from my sight.   I looked around in the woods and found the remnants of a tree stump which made the perfect "chair". I sat down and began to write, that's when God began to bring the words to the paper.

How often in life are we faced with Danger?  We alert ourselves to the situation.  Our senses are heightened.  We hear every sound, our eyes see every thing, and we become afraid.  We look left, right, forwards, and backwards for an escape.  But too often we forget that if we stand still and let God intervene that he will relax us and take care of the situation.  Like the deer, he will allow us to lower our ears, let down our guard and he will take care of the situation.  How often though do we try to "run" from the trials, rather than seek God's will? We fail to let him tell us whether we need to "be still" or whether we need to "move."  For the deer, stamping her foot was a warning to me not to get any closer.  I was in "HER" woods, she wasn't in mine.  Sometimes as Christians when the enemy rises against us we fail to take a stand, when we should stop and say "Enemy, you are in GOD'S WOODS."

Every trial, every burden, every heartache, every fear, we have to remember that God has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11 KJV "For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.") He doesn't give us battles without intending to give us the strength to fight them.  But, we have to do our part too.  We can't "run" if God says "be still", and we can't "be still" if God says "move."  Often, we feel "blinded" by these trials and we think "I can't see which way to go, I have to turn back", but if we stop, look, and listen to God, we find him saying "trust me."  It is then up to us to say "Yes Lord, I trust you, show me the path to take."  This doesn't always mean that God is going to intervene immediately, it simply means that we trust what he is going to do.  Whether he intends you move, or intends you to stand still, he simply wants you to have faith and trust him.  (2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight.")  Sometimes God sends the biggest blessings in the middle of the trials if we will "praise him in the storm."

I hope that these words encourage you in  some way. I don't claim to be an author or even a writer, but God has placed it on my heart to begin this blog and to share the words that he has given me. My prayer is that God continues to give me the words if it is in his will and that he may use me to help others along the way. I only want to glorify his name. He has blessed me beyond measure and delivered me from the fiery trials of life so many times, the least I can do is take a stand for him!  The title of this Blog "Deliverance From The Enemy" is a title that God placed in my heart a couple years ago at a time when I didn't understand the reason for a trial I was going through. It was as if God spoke to me and said "I'm going to use you, and I will deliver you from the enemy, just trust me!"  It was during that time that I began to understand the security of God's love and the power in his promises.  I fail him daily and could never repay him for sending his one and only Son Jesus Christ, who took my place on an old rugged cross, bore my sins and my shame, shed his blood, and died for you and me. I ask you friend, for you to pray that if it is in God's will for this blog to continue, that he give me the words that he wants me to share.

Love you and God Bless,
Beverly