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….

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…

Keep Going, Till The Last One Is Saved!

I have been praying and asking the Lord,
To give me more dreams of the future,
Ones where His children,
and those who would one day become His, would be saved.
Dreams where they would be provided for,
despite great hunger and famine.

Then two nights ago, He gave me one.

*

This time, I am with a young black man.

(No one ever pays any attention to me,
so I sense that I am a spirit simply sent there, to observe.)

This young black man, his name is Willie.
No one really knows where he came from,
Or how old he really is,
He just always looks the same some how.

He is average looking,
With a welcoming face.

His clothes are old and well wrinkled,
Torn in places, but he hides that the best he can.

He lives out on the streets,
Among the homeless of the land.
And among the homeless, he is known to have the least.

He usually lives by one of the shopping malls that is still somewhat full of merchants.
I watch him, as he weaves in and out of the people and the stuff for sale out on the sidewalks,
avoiding the patrolling cop car with long practiced ease.

Finally, he turns into a store, that was selling clothing,
(they were having a big sale there that weekend,)
And he quickly picks out a man’s shirt,
(it reminded me of some kind of seersucker material,
but it was an all beige color,)
and then went to the locked cabinet up front, to see about finding a nice men’s necklace.

The one’s there for sale, were made of a composite metal, with a brushing of pure copper over it.
(Gold and silver jewelry had not been sold in the area for some time.
All anyone in the area could afford, was the cheep shiny copper colored jewelry sent to America from overseas.)

He was looking for one that was the richest looking,
And he stood there for several moments, trying to pick one out.
They were made of multiple metal chains, and the chains all came together in the middle,
anchored to each side with a good-sized eagle, its beak holding together the bunch of chains.

The shop clerk then came over to him, and opened up the case, and pulled out one near the one he had been looking at.
He was about to tell her that she had the wrong one, when he realized that the price of this one was actually cheaper,
yet the item looked the most expensive. So he nodded to her that that was the one he wanted.
The price was twenty dollars, on sale. So she handed it over to him, and then walked off.

Willie then stood in line, waiting to pay for his purchases,
but as he got nearer to the counter, he suddenly realized that he had nothing with him to pay for it with.

I knew that the shame of being in line and waiting to purchase something with no money burdened his heart.

So when he got to the counter, he asked the clerk there if he could please somehow place it on hold until tomorrow,
and pick it up then. (The shop was now closing for the day.)
This was unheard of; the shop keepers would not hold anything for anyone anymore,
but the clerk just gave a big sigh, and said ‘O.k. Willie, I’ll trash it for you.”
Then she wadded it up into a little ball, and stuffed it up under the counter into a corner,
and then motioned for the next person to be helped.

Willie then left the store,
Promising himself and the store clerk that he would return on the morrow with the cash,
(I sensed he figured he would get this out in the country, maybe perhaps from his old home,)
and began in earnest to search among the buildings,
Gathering up with him, all those who were willing and ready to now get onto the bus with him.

Willie longingly looked up at the corner of the entrance, to where a Mc Donald’s restaurant stood,
its warmth and lights reaching out to all in the area,
reminding anyone there of the hot and tasty food being sold within it.
But for Willie, its prices were still way too far out of his ball park to afford.

He continued to gather up the others, and I then began to realize that all these kids knew Willie very well,
and thought of him as their good friend.

Some stayed there in the city, but others were finally ready to leave it,
and they got onto the bus with Willie, that would take them out into the country,
where there was more hope for a better future. Thankfully, the bus driver allowed the homeless to ride for free,
so this cost was still affordable for them.

It was a long ride, and during this time,
I heard the whispers of others on the bus relay their stories of how Willie had helped them out.
Sometimes he would scrounge around in the dumpsters of Mc Donalds, looking for a few French fries left over in a bag,
and instead of eagerly eating them for himself, he would just take one or two to keep him going,
and then hand off the rest to them. He taught them how to avoid the cops, where the safest and warmest place was to sleep,
and who was safe and who was dangerous. One time, I was told he even went to jail for another,
knowing he would get the lesser sentence. (And knowing this would have been the death of the other man.)
No matter what your race or creed, Willie was always there to give you that helping hand.
He even helped them unite with each other to protect each other when he wasn’t there.
It seemed as if there wasn’t anything that their old Willy wouldn’t do for them.

I realized then, that not one of them would have been on that bus, had they not known Willie.

These kids were now leaving the inner city for good,
And were going to roam about the countryside and beyond,
in the hopes of finding something they could do and eat.
Most of the owners of the houses that were strewn about,
were willing to lend a helping hand if they could.
The kids were very willing to work to earn their food,
and were even eager to learn a new trade, or help out somehow,
and at least out in the countryside, there were still green places that existed.
At the worst, they figured they could pick the grass and eat it.
They weren’t all convinced that life in the country would be better,
but they figured it couldn’t be worse than what their life had been in the city,
so they followed Willie out of there, for Willie had never led them wrong before.
They knew that Willie cared for them. They trusted Willie. They loved him as one of their own.

After they had exited the bus and met up with some of the volunteers that would help them to transition to their new life,
the kids looked around for Willie, but could not find him. They cried out for him, but there was no answer.

I seen him though, hiding out at the back of the bus,
As it began its trip back to the inner city.
He kept himself well hid from their searching eyes, till they were well out of view.

The bus driver just gave Willy a conspiratorial smile. He was also well acquainted with poor Willie.

As he returned to the city, my heart ached for Willie.

For some reason, he was compelled to keep returning there; he had no peace at all within him, unless he was back there.

Why could he not have stayed with them?
I sensed that he even had a family there somewhere in the country.
I sensed this is where he went, to beg for the money to go back and make that clothing purchase.
I knew now that the purchase was not for him. I sensed it was to go to someone who really needed it, to help them get a job.
(Willie figured that the new shirt and jewelry could help disguise the man’s ‘slightly’ worn pants and shoes.)
So, if he felt he could ask them for such money, why did he feel like he couldn’t go and live there with them?

My heart just ached to see him return to such an awful place.

*

I woke up from the dream then,
And told my God that I didn’t think the dream was from Him.

“This message is just too hard to take, Lord!
And besides,” I added on to my reasoning, “Your name wasn’t even mentioned ONCE through out that whole dream!”
(This has long been a mark in my dreams, that lets me know when they are from Him.
If Jesus is being praised or prayed to in the dream, then the dream must not be from satan,
for satan can not stand to hear Jesus being praised!)

But that voice from within was still insisting.

“O.k. Lord, so tell me. How could that dream possibly be from You?! Where is the positive message within it?”

There was a pause that I thought would remain, but then He answered me.
“Even when Willie was broke, he still had much to offer Me.”

Well, o.k., I understood the message now, but it still felt too depressing for me to take.
“Lord,” I said, still shaking my head in disbelief, “I need to see something more positive than that.
I need to hear Your Name in the dream to believe that it is from You!”

“Very well then,” He told me. “Go back to sleep.”

So I did.

Only rarely did the Lord ever wake me from a dream,
and then have me pick up right where I had left off when going back to sleep.
But I sensed that this is what He was going to do.

And sure enough He did.

But this time, the dream had advanced quite a bit in the time line.

I was still looking at the same inner city, but now the landscape had subtly changed.

There were hardly any cars in the parking lot. No goods were sitting out on the sidewalks anymore.
No shoppers could be seen anywhere.

The stores were desolate. A few had even been broken into,
And their remaining pieces of merchandise now lay on the ground, broken and unusable.

I could hear the sound of faint voices coming from within one of these stores, so I went in to investigate.

There, I found old Willie, still sitting there looking ageless, trying to befriend the girl next to him.
On the other side of them, sat an older black woman, listening in to their conversation.

I could sense, that the conversation was one that had been well used,
but for some reason, was no longer working.

The girl that Willie was trying to help, was named Brianna,
after the famous singer from the year 2013. Like the singer,
the girl had once been very beautiful, but now as she turned her face to look at William,
I could see that several of her front teeth were rotted black, and some of them were even missing,
having been knocked out by a fist a few years earlier.
Both her eyes were sunken in and looked like they were still black and blue from physical abuse.

I then seen her keeper, a bouncer type, sitting farther off in the corner.
He was not poor at all. He wore jewelry around his neck and fingers,
and he was covered in fine clothes that looked to be new and well kept.
He sat there listening in also, and as he did, he had two pairs of large sized green dice,
that he kept throwing up into the air and catching again with his beefy strong hands.
Each time they landed, he would open up his hands to read the dice.

Willie kept trying to tell the girl, that she must leave with him on the bus tonight, but she wouldn’t say anything.

Brianna brought her body up to one of the huge deep fryers that was still there, and then rolled herself in the oil.
Her body was so small and frail that this was easy to do.

The woman sitting there listening in, finally spoke up at her actions.
“Brianna dear, please don’t do that honey! They are turning on the fryer right now!
You must get out or you will be burned!”

But she still sat there in the huge fryer, with her legs tucked in underneath her.

The bouncer watched, but said nothing.

Brianna then spoke up. “This is the only way I can FEEL anything! If I’m not hurting, then I don’t feel right…”

At this, the older lady began to cry. “Oh Brianna child! Don’t be doing this to yourself!
There has got to be another way!”

But Brianna remained unmoving in the fryer.

Then the voice of the older woman began to rise in volume.

She was weeping and crying out to her God.

“Oh Lordy Lordy Jesus! Can’t You just PLEASE take this child home now?
Why must You keep her living on this earth? Hasn’t she suffered enough?
Please Jesus! Have mercy on her! Take her life now! Bring her home to be with You!
Please, Please, Please Jesus! Hear me! Answer me! PLEASE!”

I looked over to William and seen that even his eyes were wet with tears.

The oil had been steadily heating up, and the smell of raw cooking flesh wafted up from the fryer.
Brianna was beginning to moan and scream from the pain.

Finally Willie and the woman could not stand it any longer,
and reached over and pulled Brianna out of the huge fryer,
and laid her very gently upon the ground.

The bouncer had gotten up from the corner immediately
when he had seen them grab a hold of Brianna and lift her out of the oil,
and Willie and the woman wondered if they would now be killed for interfering.

But the roll of the dice was with them.

The bouncer swung the dice in his hands up again, and tried to read them when they landed.

But the bouncer found he could not read them any longer, for they had just broken in his hands and were beyond repair.

He gave a slight shrug,threw the dice away, and then walked off.

Willie and the older woman took this as a sign,
And went to pick up the still crying Brianna.

She gave them no resistance,
(which they also took as a sign,
for this also had not happened before,)
and between the two of them,
they were able to place her on the bus that was waiting for them.

The bus driver still remained there in the parking lot,
Keeping an eye on Brianna,
And waited for Willie and the woman to return.
This ride was on his own dime, for the city bus system had long ago stopped serving this area.
The driver had managed to scrape enough money together (with the help of several others,)
to find an old unused bus and some gas for one more ride into town.

Willie had gone off again, calling out around the buildings,
for anyone else left there, (no matter what their age,) who wanted to take that chance and leave with them.

Willie was frantic with his cries and his searching. Much time passed, but he would not give up and get on that bus.

Finally the older woman convinced Willie to board the bus, almost pulling him in with her.

And while the bus drove out into the country one more time, I heard the voice of the woman trying to placate Willie.

“You’ve done all you can, William!,” she said to him, still pleading with him. “There is no one left there now to help!
The children have all gone! It’s over William! You’re done! Now it is your turn to go into the country!”

She kept on repeating this to Willie,
Still trying to convince him.

When Brianna would begin to moan again from the pain, the older woman would go to her and hold her gently,
rocking her back and forth and letting her cry in her arms.

As she held her, the old woman began to pray for Jesus to take her home again.

Finally the bus arrived, and a huge group of people were there to greet them.

The bus driver and the old woman carried out Brianna, and she was placed into waiting arms.
They left the group to go attend to her burns.

As I watched her leave, I couldn’t help but wonder if Brianna would ever truly heal from her emotional wounds.
Would she ever realize that even now she was still a valued child of God?

Then Willie got off the bus.

He stumbled out of the bus a few steps, and then just stood there, as the throng of people slowly enclosed around him.

They were the people he had helped through out the years to escape the inner city.

Most had been able to learn how to grow enough food for them to survive on.
Other trades had also been learned. A whole community sprang up in the area,
made up of these once-children refugees.

Not all had remained there; some had moved further up into the mountains.
But many had returned to be there for Willie, for what they were told, could be his last run.

“Hey Willie!” All the smiling voices welcomed him eagerly. “Good to see ya man!
You did it Willie! You saved us all! “Good job, Willie! We love you man!”

Many hugged him and kissed his cheek, and others patted him on the back over and over again.

It was clear to me, that all who were there, loved him deeply.

I watched as something must have finally happened within the heart of Willie,
for he now sank to his knees, looked up into the heavens, and gave thanks to God out loud.
Now he was at peace.
No longer would he board that bus and try to rescue those children.
He himself, finally acknowledged, that his job was indeed now done.

He returned to his parents home, and was reunited finally with the whole family.
He lived out the rest of his life there, amongst those he had helped, knowing he had completed his biggest work for God.
Even those around him knew, that one day Willie would go to heaven, and Jesus himself would greet him,
by saying “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

*

I then woke up and began to cry, ashamed that I had wanted Willie to stop before his work was done.
I was so busy thinking of Willie’s comfort, and seeing the dream through my own eyes,
that I didn’t realize what it would look like in the end through God’s eyes.
The thought of God’s tapestry came to mind, and I cried harder.

*

To all the Willies out there in this world,
PLEASE! DO NOT GIVE UP TOO SOON!
Others whom you know not of
will be with you in prayer.
Keep going, till the last one is saved!

For indeed your reward in heaven WILL be great…

*

“Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life,
which God has promised to those who love him.”
(James 1:12, ESV)

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things;
I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:21 NIV)

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was hungry,
and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” (Matthew 25:34-36)

“For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods,
knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:34-36)

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” (Revelation 22:12)

And as far as Brianna’s outcome, the Lord gave me Matthew 19:26:

“And Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)