Homecoming

Homecoming

As we drove back home, you could see the path the fire took. In it was total destruction. The earth was charred to a deep black, even the tall trees were just black toothpicks sticking up out of the ground. The smaller trees and brush that had filled up the void was completely gone. It looked like a Halloween ghost flick, complete with still smoky steam rising up to float over the surface.

Oh but our house never looked so good! However humble, there is no place like home. When we drove in, it felt like the house was holding its arms out to us in welcome.

All the chickens were there, though it took almost three months for them to come to trust me again, and about just as long before they started laying eggs again. We had gone on two week vacations before, and had a neighbor come and care for them while we were away, and found that they were no different when we returned. Not so this time. Something serious must have happened for them to distrust me so. They must have had quite the view to the fire, for their coop looks over the land that was scorched blackest. My heart aches for them; I wished I could have taken them with me when we left, but it was not possible. When we left, the automatic waterers were on, but when we returned, we found that the water to the house had been shut off. So the neighbors who stayed behind had been watering them as well as feeding them. Not an easy job when you have to truck the water in.

We could see that the fire had come right up to our driveway. Firemen had chopped down the nice trees that lined it, in an effort to preserve the house. The fence was charred black, with most of it missing.

The fire also chewed on one side of the shed, leaving quite a charred black spot. But it still stood, and everything inside it was safe.

We looked at the devastation all around us, and I found myself alternately crying and praising God. As I wandered around the property, I came across a pile of old hay that was still smoldering. We tried putting it out but we realized that the fire had moved underground, so we left the hose running (we had turned back on the water,) and hoped that it would be enough.

Inside the house everything was as we left it. The place reeked of smoke, and this did not go away for several weeks. Laundry had been left in the washer, and all the clothes were moldy and ruined, but the washer survived. All the contents of the fridges and freezers were rotten and full of mold.

We still had no power, but they got it up and running soon after we returned. The phone lines however remained down for months.

The place was crawling with people. It felt quite invasive, with so many strangers on our property. They claimed that they were “from the government and were here to help” us. They wanted to inspect things, to make sure that anything hazardous was taken care of.

Some firemen drove by, asking us if we had seen anything, so we told them about the fire on our property, so they came with their picks and dug out the ground till they reached the underground fire. They then used our water hose to put it out.

They told us that they were the ones who had camped out on our deck to keep a watch out for the fire. It was special for me, to be able to thank them in person for the work that they did. They told me that it was “no big deal” for them, and one of them told me that it was “fun” to put out the fires.

We decided to walk around the neighborhood to see how others were doing. Black and grey soot covered everything. Whenever the wind blew, chunks of grey ash fell off the tree limbs, making it look like it was snowing. We found that in many places the ground was so hot that it still radiated heat upwards. It’s not like the hot asphalt on a hundred degree day. It comes at you in distinct waves, and is much hotter. Black toothpicks of leftover stumps surrounded us, and many homes were just burnt out concrete slabs with a fireplace skeleton remaining. A horrible stench of something rotten and dead filled the air. Dizziness kept assaulting me, so I had to hold on to my husband as we walked. I had not felt this kind of dizziness while we were evacuated, but here near the fire, I did. I really do wonder if something was used to help this fire along, for somehow it felt quite evil and unnatural.

On our way back, a cop car came along side of us and wanted to know where we lived. While we were telling them, they got a call on their CB radio from another group of officers, telling them about a suspect that they had just taken into custody. Apparently this man had driven onto someone’s property and tried to pull open the garage door to gain entrance to the house. As we overheard their description, we realized that the house was our own, and their suspect was one of our boys who had been staying with the other family offering us shelter. We told this to the officers we were with, but they refused to release him. The officers asked us to get into the car with them so they could drive us back home and see if this person really was our son.

When we got there, we asked my son why he did not show the police his driver’s license, to prove that he lived there. He said that he did, but the police still did not believe him.

Thankfully they believed us, especially when they watched my husband pull out his keys to unlock the front door.

Two days later two insurance men came out to access the damage. One of them began arguing with us on the cost of a large tub of sour cream, but then the other man he was with stopped him and suggested that he should go on to the next place, for that one would have a lot more to deal with than us, and that he could take care of the stuff here. So the one man left, and the other man remained. (Apparently one of them takes care of the inside of the home, and the other one takes care of the outside claims.) He asked us about the damages, and we told him and gave him our photos and lists, and he didn’t even look at them or argue about the price of things. He just asked for the totals and wrote it in his computer. He then asked us if he could just sit there on our deck and work for the afternoon. We told him yes. Later on, he asked for my husband and said he had a check ready for us. My husband didn’t think that we would even meet the deductible, so when the adjuster wrote him out a check for several thousand dollars, he found he had to sit down in the nearest chair from shock. Apparently all the huge dead and chopped down trees around our home were worth several hundred a piece.

My husband had been wondering how we would be able to make our monthly mortgage payment, (for my husband had not gotten his usual summer job,) and here the Lord Jesus uses an insurance man to deliver the money we desperately needed to make the payment. Thank You Jesus!

A few days after we had returned, I suddenly realized what day it was; it was the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is a Holy Feast mentioned in the bible in several places, most notably in Leviticus 23:33-39 and in John 7:2-14. The first part of it is a solemn assembly, whereby an offering is made by fire to the Lord, and the people live in tents, as a sign that they are ready and willing to leave all that they have and follow God. The second part of it is on the eighth day, when a big feast (party) is held as a celebration for returning home. Our family usually takes out the old tent trailer to stay in, to celebrate the feast. But when I went to mention this to my husband, he became overwhelmed with all it entailed; the garage was still partially blocked from the downed trees, and the last thing anyone wanted to do was to go and live in a tent for a week. It would take several days just to clear everything out so we could get at the tent. I went back to the Lord and asked him (I was distressed with the thought of failing Him in this,) what we should do. But His calming voice slowly penetrated my mind.

“For more than a week you have tabernacled with Me, relying upon Me for your shelter and security. You made your sacrificial offering to Me and I have accepted it. You have met the requirements of the Feast of Tabernacles. You need do nothing more.”

I thought back to that dream of the colonel, and how we were safely residing in some kind of shield, and then relief washed through me, as I realized the truth of what He said. That night at the dinner table, we gave Him extra thanks and praise for all He does for us!

A week later, my stomach had settled back to normal, and my limbs no longer shook. I have been hit with tiredness in all that has happened to me. Yet I have also had great moments of profound joy.

I recently came across a piece of scripture that really summed it all up for me:

“The Word of the Lord is tried in the fire; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” (Psalm 18:30, GNV)

TO BE CONTINUED… (Next post : The Aftermath)

Staying in an Unbeliever’s Home

I sensed from the Lord that I was to get on line and ask my friends to pray for us, so I did. It is something I do not like doing, for I hate to bother others with my needs. I figure they have their own problems to deal with, and do not need mine to add to their burdens. But then He reminds me of how I am blessed when I pray for others and then get to see the answered prayers. So I went ahead and sent out my prayer requests.

The parents of my son’s friend set up an air mattress in the middle of their living room for us to sleep on, and one of my other boys slept in the friend’s room.

That first night I slept there, satan kept trying to attack me, by whispering in my ear, that our house was gone. And every time he did so, I refuted it. He kept asking me, “How can you even think that your home is still there? Even the firemen told you it was gone!” But I kept claiming the Word out loud, (of which he hated,) and claimed yet again that it would still be there. Then he kept trying to hit me with those ‘what if’ questions, but I refused to give in to those thoughts either. After a few hours of these kinds of attacks, I finally fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke to find my husband gone. He had driven back home to see if we still had one.

I realized then, that the battle for my home was much more serious than I had first thought. It felt as if everything was resting on that one piece of scripture. I had felt Him tell me that I could claim it, and my children had felt the same from the Lord concerning our home. Wishful thinking or not, it still came down to that passage in the bible. Was God’s Word true or not? It says “If you live in Me…” well, I knew that I lived in Him, for I went to Him, asking Him what it is that He wants me to do, and when that is done, I go back and ask Him what I should do next. If that isn’t living in Him, then I don’t know what is. And then it said “And My Words live in you…” well, this got me hung up for a few moments, for I am not one of those people who have a hundred pieces of scripture memorized and can just whip them out as needed. But then I felt the Lord Jesus remind me, that I still use His Word on a daily basis, as I cast out demons and heal the sick, so I would still qualify for His promises. If I lost my home, that was one thing, for we could get another, but if I lost my faith, that was completely something else, for my God is irreplaceable! I felt as if this was actually a battle for my faith in Christ. If my home remained, then God’s Word was true. If it did not…

Well, you can see how this all affected me. Satan was relentless in his attacks. They physically tired me out.

The mother in the home, (the dad had gone off to work,) was also tiring me out, for she seemed to take for granted that we had lost our home. But I refused to talk with her about rebuilding it, and told her that I firmly believed that God would save it.

Then my husband calls. OUR HOME IS STILL STANDING! ALL GLORY BE TO JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH!

Apparently, the wind had shifted at the last moment, JUST AS WE HAD CLAIMED, saving our home from total destruction. Firemen were camped out at our place, still fighting the fire. My husband (and only my husband, no others from the family,) was allowed back into the house, to get any emergency medicines or important papers. The air was filled with thick falling ash, making it hard to breathe. He was led in by a police man, and given only a few minutes to retrieve what he could. The police man never checked his identification; he just asked him if he needed help in breaking into the home. My husband looked at him funny, and got out his key to enter. After four minutes, the policeman came and escorted him off our property.

That was the last time we seen our home for many days. After that, they refused to let anyone into the area.

The woman we were staying with, proclaimed that we were “very lucky” that our home survived. It felt like another attack from satan when she said that, so I told her flat out that I did not believe in that kind of “luck” for believers, and that it was the Lord that kept our home safe, just as I had claimed through the scriptures.

That night, we switched rooms with my son, and he slept out on the air mattress, and we slept in the bedroom. Satan kept trying to attack me like he had done the night before, but it was to no avail, for our house still stood. But then as I fell asleep, I had horrendous dreams of a great fire overtaking everything in its path. I dreamed that it not only took out our house, but it was now coming for me. They were incredibly satanic somehow, and when I awoke the next morning, I told my son about it, and asked him if he had experienced such dreams here. He nodded in agreement, and then frowned. He walked back into the room, stood there for a moment, before walking over to the headboard of the bed, (it was actually a shelf where you could store books and such,) and then grabbed something from beneath a pile of papers. It was a large deck of playing cards. “Yugioh cards!” he exclaimed, and then he showed me the top card that was facing upwards.

It was the fire demon card.

And it looked exactly like my nightmare.

We put them in a drawer face down, and then bound them up in the name of Jesus, and then claimed that they could not affect anyone in our family anymore.

The stress was really getting to me, so I begged the Lord to make this whole mess just go away. He then reminded me of the dream about the colonel that He had given me a short while ago. I told Him that I didn’t want to be a colonel, but just an average believer who’d get to heaven one day. At this, I felt the Lord take a step back from me, leaving me exposed. “Are you SURE you want this?” He asks me sternly.

And then I began to cry. Through all the stuff I had been through, I had not shed a tear. But THIS caused me to cry. I could feel the presence of the Lord begin to leave me, and it terrified me no small amount. So I broke down and told Him that “No, I will still do and be whatever You want me to; just please help me get through this!”

Then I felt the Lord’s presence envelope me once again, and I felt and sensed His angels surrounding me. I felt their peace and strength fill me, and I immediately calmed back down and stopped crying.

I realized then, that this was what the colonel dream had foretold. Staying there in that home, and feeling as if I was falling from the sky, (I was still shaky and unable to eat much from nerves,) was just what I had experienced in the dream. The knowledge that we were all protected somehow, and that there were other unbelievers there with us, made me realize that the colonel dream was referring to this moment in time. My questioning the Lord on the title of colonel, is what might have tipped over the shield that we were traveling in, had I let it.

Soon we started getting information on others who have been affected by the fire. One of my son’s friends lost their home. This boy was the one who had called my son and told him about the fire headed our way in the first place. My son had called him back, and told him that his family was in danger, and that they had to start evacuating now. My son then tried to tell him about claiming, and that he should do this for his home. “What’s claiming?” he asked, and then the phone went dead, so he could not tell him more.

I had asked my son, why he did not just claim that his friend’s home would be saved too. He told me that the Lord told him that as believers themselves, they must speak for their own house, and that he was not to do it for them.

When my son had given them the warning, they had first laughed it off. But an hour later, they were busy packing up their stuff. They had over six hours to remove most of their belongings, and move them to his grandmother’s house just a short distance away. They were able to clear out their home fairly well; not much was left in it when the fire finally took it. His grandmother had died a few months before, and they had been reluctant to put the house on the market. Now her house would be theirs to live in from now on.

I found out that they had said quite often, that if there was ever a fire near their property, their home would surely go up in flames. Their grandfather firmly believed that this would happen to his family one day, and his children believed him, and ended up claiming this for themselves.

THEY HAD CLAIMED THAT THEIR HOUSE WOULD BURN AND IT DID!

We then found out more about the homes that were destroyed near our house. The elderly Catholic lady and her husband, (a real sweet couple,) were the first to lose their home in our area. My husband then remembered that they had said at the last neighborhood party, that if there was ever a fire coming towards them, that their home would be the first to go up in flames.

AND JUST AS THEY CLAIMED, SO IT HAPPENED!

I spoke to a sister in Christ who is also my neighbor, and she told me that their house is still standing.

SHE TOO, HAD USED THE SAME EXACT PIECE OF SCRIPTURE TO CLAIM THAT THEIR HOUSE WOULD REMAIN UNTOUCHED! SHE CLAIMED IN HIS NAME THAT IT WOULD NOT BURN AND IT DID NOT!

They had a fireman call them up and tell then that he had personally witnessed their house going up in flames. Can you imagine it? Making the same claim upon God and then being told that? Oi! How she must have suffered! This woman must be incredibly strong spiritually. It wasn’t until a neighbor sandwiched between her home and mine called her and asked her for any diesel that they might have, that they found out the truth. The fire had circled back around one night, and took out the home directly next to them, and this is the home the fireman had assumed was theirs.

She told me that ALL THE HOMES BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND HERS WERE SAFE,

And that ALL THE OTHER HOMES AROUND US WERE GONE.

That means the witch’s home, the new age’s home, the agnostic’s homes and the atheist’s homes were all DESTROYED.

This same neighbor called us too, and told us that he had somehow sneaked back in and was trying to live in his house. (He lives between me and my Christian friend.) He told us that the firemen had moved on, but that there were still several spot fires on our property that he was still dousing with water. Several looters had infiltrated the area, and he had to chase them off with his gun and his dog. He was telling us that he would have to soon leave, for he could find no more diesel to run his generator. He had sent his son out to go get more, but the cops arrested him as he tried to get back in. We told him how to get into our garage, and that he could use our generator instead, which took propane, and there was plenty of that in the garages that were left. Then he told me that my chickens were safe, and that he was looking for something to feed them with. A phone call later to our Christian neighbors, told him where to get the feed that was needed from their garage.

OH HOW OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST PROVIDES FOR HIS CHILDREN!!

The lady of the house we were staying in did not like to hear any this. She kept arguing with me, insisting that it was all just luck. She brought up examples of family members dying young from cancer. I asked her if the cancer demon was cast out. She says they prayed, but to no avail. I told her that she must cast it out in Jesus name. Then she said “So you have to do it in a specific way, or He won’t honor it?” (She said this very sarcastically, as if I was crazy for even thinking it.) I told her that the Lord has given us examples in His Word, and that this is what we go by. She came back and started quoting the bible where it talks about no one being above another. (What this had to do with the argument confused me; anyone who lives in Him, and His words live in them, can make such claims. Sadly, I got pulled away before I could give her that answer.)  I wish I had my Geneva bible, and not the corrupt NIV, for the NIV has some very important scriptures missing from it. I had kept the bible because of all the notes I had put in it over the years. (This has taught me to transfer the notes to the new one, and then get rid of it. After all, who wants to be caught with a weak sword that breaks or bends in battle?)

When I returned, her husband was looking at me and smiling as if to say, “now you’re gonna get it!” He acted like he had sat down to watch a good fight on T.V.. She started asking me questions about what I believe, and made statements on her beliefs that were designed to draw me out. Some I sensed from the Lord to say nothing about, while others I got no warning message, so I would try to quote the right scriptures to match the topic, just as she was doing. At first I thought she was actually interested in what I had to share, but then towards the end, I sensed she simply wanted to fight. At this point, I let a distraction break off the conversation, and left the room.

The next night was much better in terms of sleep, though while writing on the computer, I found myself under attack once again. I sensed evil starring at me. I asked the Lord where this was coming from, and it turns out that this kid had more decks of yugioh cards sitting on his desk where I was working. So I bound them up and turned them away from me, and was able to then work unmolested.

The next day, the boy whose room we were staying in, (he is a believer,) returned to see how we were doing. So I told him about the yugioh cards in his room, and that they were cursed items that needed to be removed at some point, for his peace and safety, if he was ever going to stay there again. (He was no longer living there, but at times he had stayed there overnight.)

His mother heard me saying this to her son, and became very angry. She then came to the conclusion that it was me that was bringing in the demons, for she had not run into them before.

An hour later, right before bed time, her and her husband decided to kick us all out of their home. “Take your demons and get out!” she screamed at me. I tried to tell her that she could check up on the yugioh cards on line for herself, and see just how evil they really were, but she refused to listen.

Her son, the one who is friends with one of my boys, told them that they could not just cast us out without no warning, for even hotels gave a night’s notice. So they let us stay that night, but told us we had to leave right away the next morning.

Apparently, satan didn’t want to be bound up, nor did he want to be removed any more from their house, and fought back the only way he could.

In prayer time, the Lord revealed to me, how this family worked. I had always wondered if her husband was still a believer, but not anymore. I know this may sound crazy, but it’s almost as if he keeps her on a leash, and sends her out to go attack, and then when he thinks enough blood is spilled, he reigns her back in. This way, he looks like the good guy, even though he is not, and she gets to vent her beliefs, without making everyone look bad. What kind of a believer would sic their unbelieving wife on another believer, in order to watch them fight? My son described her as being extremely conniving and underhanded, never knowing when she would fly off the handle and start screaming at something or someone. To me, it was all very confusing. I had thought for the most part that we were getting along just fine, not agreeing with each other, but still respecting each other’s beliefs. But my son told me that she can put on a mask that makes her look all nice and friendly, when underneath she is anything but.

All night long, satan attacked me, very similar to my first night there in their house. He tried to convince me, that we would end up on the streets. (We had been told that all the hotels within an hours drive were all booked up already from fire evacuees.) But this time, he could not hit me as much, for I had won the biggest faith battle I had yet to ever encounter, and I knew that I could easily make another claim upon Jesus for shelter. So I did. I kept claiming that He would bring us to a better place to stay. Then He had me read psalm 23 out loud. It has been a long time since I read it.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul…

After I read through the whole psalm, He had me go back and meditate on the first part that I just shared with you.

The peace of His Word settled over my heart and soul, and greatly comforted me. I knew then for sure, that we shall not want, and that even amidst a great fire, he would find us a place to lie down in green pastures.

Another piece of scripture He led me to, is Psalm 5:11-12

But let all who take refuge in You be glad;
Let them ever sing for joy.
Spread Your protection over them,
That those who love Your name may rejoice in You.
For surely, O Lord, You bless the righteous;
You surround them with Your favor as with a shield.

(Remember the dream of the colonel? The Lord told me this scripture was the container, kind of like an upside down shield of old, that we were all in, as we fell down to the earth.)

The next morning, around noon, my husband got a response from one of his friends. (This was the one who had first offered my husband shelter.) He was out of town fishing, but told us where the key was, and that we could go in and make ourselves comfortable.

So we packed up and got ready to leave. As I was getting into the car, I heard the Lord Jesus tell me to wipe off my feet. I thought this really odd, and wondered what could be on the bottom of my shoes. I thought I should go back inside, and wash off my sandals in the sink, for they would get much cleaner that way. But I felt Him say no, and then tell me to simply brush off the top of my feet with my hands. I felt really odd in doing this, but I obeyed Him and brushed off the top of my feet. I then got into the car to leave.

As we drove off, we went a short distance, before my son in the car with me suddenly got very upset, and told me to stop the car. So I pulled over to the side, and he then grabbed my hand and told me that the woman had just tried to send her demons onto us, and that we had to cast them out from our car and claim that they would not follow us.

After doing this, he calmed back down, and we then drove to the next place to stay.

TO BE CONTINUED….

The Face Of The Colonel

A dream…

 

I am up in the sky, traveling in something. (Not sure what.)

It reminds me of having just jumped out of a plane, and I’m free-falling down to earth.

There are others there with me; I am not alone.

 

We fly go through the clouds,

Then suddenly, I hear a voice, asking “Colonel? Colonel? I am looking for Colonel.”

 

We all looked at each other with blank faces, not knowing any Colonel in our midst.

 

“I was told the Colonel is here,” the voice said.

 

Then suddenly, I realize that the man is looking for me.

 

I’m not sure why he is calling me Colonel, but somehow I know for certain that he is referring to me.

 

So I lean over the thing we were in, and seen him there, under us.

 

He was a good looking and strong military man, having average brown hair and beard close-cut, and having brown eyes. (Or were they now blue? No.. hazel.. in the varying light they seemed to change color.) I knew that he had just died, and had not yet risen up to heaven.

 

“Colonel?” He asked, looking at me. “Are you the Colonel?”

 

I nodded my yes to him.

 

He then gave me a look of great relief and joy, and then he slowly starred at me. I could tell that he was slowly committing every thing he noted about me, to memory. Every line on my face, every plane, wrinkle, or crevice.

 

Then he let one huge fat tear roll from his eyes and fall down to the earth. He then said, “Now I can die in peace.”

 

He was about to fly off, when I called out to him, “Wait!”

 

He paused, looking back at me expectantly. So I asked him, “Why do you say this?”

 

Then he told me, that he had asked the Lord Jesus to show him the face of the Colonel who had helped to lead him from out of the enemy’s hands, before he rose to heaven.

 

As soon as he said this to me, he looked down to the ground that was quickly rising to us, and for some reason I feared that he would somehow upset the transportation we were in, and I knew that there were those with me who were not ready yet, so we could not go where he was going.

 

But my fears were for nothing, for he left to go where he was to go, and left us in our container just fine. We continued falling to the earth.

 

I then woke up.

 

 

The dream really confused me at first, for I could not make sense of it. I am no Colonel! I am a nobody! A nothing!

 

Then the Lord Jesus corrects me. “You are not nothing; you are My daughter.” (I could sense He was affronted by such a thought.)

 

“O.K.,” I conceded, “But I know I’m not a Colonel…”

 

“Go look up the word ‘Colonel’ Ma Petite.”

 

So I went and looked it up.

 

“Colonel (abbreviated Col., Col or COL and pronounced /ˈkɜrnəl/, similar to “kernel”) is a senior military officer rank below the general officer ranks. However, in some small military forces, such as those of Iceland or the Vatican, colonel is the highest rank. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.

Historically, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army. Modern usage varies greatly.

Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth air force rank system, the equivalent rank is group captain.”

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel)

 

Captain of a ship?

 

Then it came to me; I suppose I was kind of like a captain for the Dreams Of Dunamis web site.

 

I went over to where my wooden belaying pin is, with all the scriptures written on it. “But I thought I was just a belaying pin on a ship. Not a captain of a ship!”

 

And with a very stern and matter-of-fact voice, the Lord replied: “You’ve been promoted.”

 

I tried to ask Him what He meant, but He would not say more about it.

 

Three days later, the forest fire hit.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…