Escaping The Forest Fire

THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO THOSE WHO PRAYED FOR US!!! I could feel those prayers comforting me, as we waited for news concerning our home. And yes, the waiting really is the hardest part. Even those we have spoken to, who have lost everything, say that not knowing if they had a home to return to or not, was the most difficult thing they ever had to go through. Once they knew, they could begin making plans. But until then, they felt stuck.

First off, some of my kids and I, had been getting odd dizzy spells every now and then, several weeks before the fire. They felt very similar to what we had experienced leading up to 9-11. We knew then that there was something building, something happening that was not good. But we had no idea what it would be, or where it would hit.

Four weeks ago, one of my kids, (the one who can see so easily into the unseen world,) had several days of bad dreams. Every night he would dream of a great fire that overtook the land. These dreams so upset him, that he refused to share them with anyone. He just kept hoping that nothing would ever come of them. I have had to deal with resentment and disappointment (yes, both are demons,) towards this boy of mine, because he had withheld these dreams from us. Had I known before hand of his dreams, I would have responded much differently to the call of alarm.

On that fateful day, I was out taking care of some business, when one of my boys called me. “Mom,” he said, “there’s a fire near by; please come home!”

The clerk at the store where I had just arrived, overheard my son’s impassioned plea. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that!” she exclaimed. “That’s way too far away from you guys to affect you!”

But I told my son right in front of her so she could hear, “start saying psalm 91 out loud. Claim that the wind would change direction and that it would pull the fire away from us. I’m on my way.”

I didn’t think at the time, that the fire was a big deal; many times before the firemen would go and put out the fire and nothing would ever really come of it. But just in case, I had him start claiming. I also sensed that it was good for me to be home, even if it was just to give emotional support to my boys.

So despite the scoffing of the clerk, (who thought I was totally over-reacting,) I left the place without concluding my business, and drove back home.

When I got there, my kids pulled me out onto the deck to see the fire. It was over a hundred degrees outside, and I was still hot from my travel. I looked at the fire, and was unimpressed. It looked quite small from where I was standing. It reminded me of someone’s campfire that had just gotten a bit out of control. I figured the firemen would put it out soon. Little did I know, that our view was blocked by many trees and buildings. It was way bigger than what I had thought, and it was coming straight at us.

Another one of my boys seemed to grasp the severity of the situation. He stood out there in that sweltering heat, praying and rebuking the fire. The wind was blowing in his face from the direction that it usually does this time of year. It was the same direction that the fire was going. He held out his hand like a stop signal, and began to claim in the name of Jesus (using John 15:7-8, and John 16:23-24,) that the wind would shift and move the fire away from our home.

Suddenly the ground shook as from a mighty explosion, (I think the fire had hit a bunch of propane tanks not too far from us,) one of my kids yelled out from the shock of it, and then the fire roared to life, and raced upwards and forward towards us.

Then the electricity line went and we lost power.

Now we could see more of the fire, and we could feel the intense heat radiating from it. The sound of the fire roaring is one I will not soon forget. It rose like a fiend, all orange flames licking upwards, several stories high, curling and disappearing into high black waves of smoke.

One of my older boys took off in one of the cars, to see if the firemen needed any help in fighting the fire.

I went and got changed into something cooler, for I knew it would be a while before the power came back on.

My kids said they could hear voices up the road. One of my kids felt from the Lord Jesus to go investigate. He found a group of people up at the far corner of our property, discussing the fire. A fireman ran up to the group just then, and told them that it was time for everyone to evacuate.

My son ran back home and came and told me. I ran downstairs where my husband was having his on-line meeting, and tried to get his attention. I could tell he was really mad at me for interrupting him, (I do not know why; none of us had ever interrupted him before. Hind sight tells me it must have been a demonic attack,) but I waited (wasting precious moments,) till he turned to me. I said with one breath “THE FIRE HAS INCREASED WERE EVACUATING.”

I didn’t wait for his response, but turned to run back upstairs. The boy who had given me the warning, yelled at me as I was running. “What do we do?” he wailed. His voice was filled with panic.

My heart gave a big hard thump in its chest. “Pack!”

“Noooo!” he cried, and began to hit panic big time. He could not think; all he did was stand there and scream.

I thought it was odd that this child should react in such a way, and it was making any form of thinking for me impossible. As a mamma, you simply can’t think clearly with your child screaming as if a body part was being torn off of them. Little did I know at the time, that this was the child who had all the nightmares of the fire just weeks before, so for him, he was watching his nightmares come true.

I stopped my packing, got the blessing oil, blessed him and cast the demon of panic out. He then stopped yelling and was able to go pack.

I grabbed my overnight bag, (the luggage was up in the attic,) and grabbed a fist full of underwear, some tops and some bottoms, shoved them into the bag, and then paused.

I looked around the room in bewilderment, my feet glued to the floor. What do you take, when given only a few moments to pack? Your mind simply blanks. I stood there, frozen. There was so much stuff that I was looking at, that I suddenly realized simply did not matter. How was I supposed to sort through all the things to find the stuff that did?

Into this confusion came the Lord’s voice. “Camping,” He said.

So just as if I was getting ready to go camping, I started gathering up more stuff. I ran into the bathroom to gather up some vitamins, and I felt the Lord ask me, “Do you really believe in Me, that I will save your house?”

I knew what He was asking. He wanted to know if I really believed that He would grant me my request that I had claimed, according to the scriptures, or if I was just mouthing the words. I thought about it for a moment, and realized that I did believe. “Yes,” I replied firmly. “I do.”

“Thus others homes are saved also.”

I didn’t give what He said just then much thought, I was trying to gather as much stuff into the little overnight bag that I could. The computer and its power cord, crackers to eat, a bible, shoes, my children’s text books-

And then came the cry from my husband. “Come on! Stop packing; we have to go now!” He loaded up my stuff into the car along with his, and some bags from the kids, and then told me to take the car and leave, and meet him at a parking lot a good distance away.

On my way out, I unlocked the chicken coops, figuring this way they had more of a chance to  escape the fire if need be, and then ran to the car. I started to drive off, and found that my oldest (the one who had gone to see if the firemen needed his help but was told no,) was already in the car in front of me. But we were stopped at the edge of our drive way. Cars weren’t moving. Those in the cars ahead of us, had stopped to talk to someone else, causing everyone else to get backed up. We sat there, with the fire raging up behind us, and satan tried to get me to panic, but I shook it away. “The Lord is with us,” I said out loud to him with scorn, “we will not be touched!”

Finally, after what felt like forever, the cars began to move. We finally met up with everyone else. I knew I had the most important things now with me; all of my family had escaped. We had all the animals except the chickens. (I have way too many chickens to just quickly load up in a car.)

Others from our subdivision were also there. There were firefighters that went from person to person, asking them where their house was, and then declaring whether or not their house was standing. One of them seen us, and said “Oh! You live on THAT street! Your house is toast, man.”

My kids walked away from them, and claimed under their breath, that our house WILL be saved, for we were claiming it in the name of Jesus. One of my boys came and told me, that he had just heard from Jesus, and Jesus had told him that our house will be safe. This son told me, that no matter what, WE MUST NOT DOUBT.

Everyone watched as the fire grew larger and closer. At this point, it was incredibly huge, enveloping many, many blocks, and the sky was just glowing and pulsating with orange and black heat. One of my boys couldn’t take it any more, and asked to go to his friend’s house. They were offering shelter for us there. My husband told me to go with them. I told him no, and that I would not leave him. (The last thing I wanted to happen in this mess, is to get separated from him!) But he told me he wanted to stay to see what was happening, and that he would follow me later, so I went.

As I followed my son and his friend in my car, I found that my legs and arms began to shake, and my stomach felt like it was about to toss all its cookies out the window. So I started claiming in the name of Jesus that I could still drive and that I would not throw up.

I then wondered if we should try to find a hotel to stay in, instead of staying at my son’s friend’s house, but I sensed it was too late, for we were already on our way.

The shock of it all was still hitting me, so I started claiming again, and quoting the scriptures that say:

If you live in Me

And My Words live in you,

You may ask Me for anything in My name,

AND YOU WILL RECEIVE IT

In order to give glory to the Father,

And in order that your joy would be full!

(John 15:7-8 and John 16:23-24)

I then praised the Lord, and told him how great He is; that nothing can compare to His glory. I thanked Him for saving us.

Then I spoke in tongues, not knowing what else to say, and wishing that there was some way that I could praise him better. (Remembering scripture at this point, was difficult.)

It was then that the Lord told me to put the radio on.

I thought this odd, for I wasn’t in the mood to sort through or listen to any music. But I obeyed, and found that somehow, the radio was tuned into some kind of bible hour program that I had never heard of before. (For that matter, I had never heard of the station before either.) They were working through the psalms. The voice read the Word of God over the radio, and then I repeated it out loud.

Some of them I shouted out loud, and raised my hand in claiming, others I simply said “Amen!”. For it was coming so fast at me, that I could not repeat it quickly enough, before they would speak the next one. I cried with joy, at the precious Words that I was fed.

When the bible hour was over, I turned off the radio, and began to speak in tongues. I simply didn’t know what to pray for; I was still in shock.

When we finally got there, I had to be helped in; my legs were threatening to give out beneath me. I thanked those we were staying with, for their generosity in letting us stay. My son’s friend said that he had some other friends that also wanted to help us out, and that the rest of us could be divvied up between them. (Our family is too big to simply stay at one place.) So our family separated up, and went to go stay with the others.

When my husband returned, he was not able to give us any news; the firemen were still there fighting the fire, and the road was now blocked off, so he was unable to get back home to see if our house still stood.

He got a call from one of his friends, offering to put us up for the duration of our need. We talked about it, but I heard the Lord Jesus quite clearly say to me, “Do not go from house to house!”, so we stayed where we were.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…