This past week I went out the front door to rescue a couple of young fledglings who were stuck on my semi-enclosed front porch.
Actually, I was trying to rescue them from my almost 8 lb service dog. Had he been any bigger, the rescue mission for one bird would have become a recovery mission. The dog had managed to remove a few feathers.
In the process, I got attacked, out of seemingly nowhere, by a couple of wasps. I did not see them coming until one brushed my face and one nailed me on my right hand. I don’t care how much you flail your arms around and holler, neither are very effective weapons against angry wasps!
I looked under the kitchen sink – I really thought that’s where a wasp and hornet spray lived but it was MIA. I was not prepared for battle.
I did have to go to a couple of places, so I closed the doggie door to protect the remaining little cackle.
Yep, the wasps attacked me again.
After a trip to the store that included a pair of wasp and hornet spray cans bound together with a plastic sleeve, then helping my neighbor get her groceries inside, I carefully made my way up my porch steps with one wasp killer can open and ready to fire.
Again, the wasps attacked and I started firing back. Then I saw where the reinforcements were coming from. My husband had hung one of his baseball caps on a broom handle with the bill facing away from me.
When I returned fire, including at the wasp nest inside the cap, peace and order returned to my front porch. But, not without significant injuries on my part. 5 to 6 full-on wasp stings that not only caused pain but also messed with some medical conditions that I already have. (There are legitimate reasons I have a service dog!)
The baby bird eventually managed to escape the prison he put himself in.
By my bed, I have a large. museum quality canvas that I designed sometime back. It’s a way–larger-than-life baby duck swimming on a dark greenish pond. He looks peaceful on top but I guarantee you he’s paddling like crazy underneath. The verse I put on that is Matthew 11:28. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Even at night, when I have to get up, I can make out a light blob (the baby duck) against the dark blob (the pond) on my white wall. I know the verse by heart and have it deep inside my soul.
Normally I pray, “Lord, I’m paddling to You as fast as I can.”
You see, enemy attacks seem to come out of nowhere. The Bible tells us: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.
We get hurt and there is no getting around that!
However, we have this promise from 2 Corinthians 10:4: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
And, this promise from Zechariah 4:6, “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”
We need to be ready for those attacks before they come. We need to be in the Word of God and in prayer.
Had my MIA can of wasp spray been where it was available, the wasp attacks would have stopped several stings earlier.
With the right spiritual armament, God promises in James 4:7 that if we “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Be ready! The battle is, no, the battles are going to happen!
Paddle as fast and as hard as you can to your Heavenly Father because 1 Peter 5:7 is for you too. “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”
Not only for your own self, but who else are you keeping from harm?
I don’t want to even think about what might have happened had my hubby plopped that hat on his head without looking. But I am certain it would not have been very nice.
Not to mention what the stings might have done to my small but very highly skilled service dog. And what about the poor baby bird that needs to learn to read a map?
See, those attacks are going to come. You need to paddle to the Father as fast as you possibly can and be ready for those attacks!
Be blessed in the Name of Jesus. I know I am!
Linda Culbreth, Christian author and designer. https://www.KJV.Gifts
