Devil in Our Backyard
Yesterday, after most of the ladies attending a Bible study in our home left, we had a huge dust-devil in our backyard that tossed a chair right toward our large dining room window. Fortunately, our huge Bougainvillea bush "caught it" and stopped it from connecting with the glass. Our pool alligator took to the wind, breaking its tether to the pool vacuum, and headed to the parking lot on the other side of our wall. Before myself and a friend, Dawn, could get to it, some guys in a golf cart took off with it. Dawn, tenaciously ran them down, waving her arms and yelling, “Hey, that’s our alligator!” Finally, a passing hero heard her cries and rescued "Al" from the absconding men and drove him back to her in his golf cart!
Ironically, I had been praying that the Bougainvillea would somehow get cut down as it blocked my view of the out-of-doors from my desk window. My husband, though, is the yard man and he wanted it to grow tall to shade the side of the house. I'm a huge proponent of cutting plants back to make them bushier and stronger, but I am not the gardener in the family. So in this case, if the Bougainvillea hadn't been tall and wide, we would be replacing our large diningroom window.
Today, when I got up my husband had already whacked the plant way back and said more was to come so the plant could hold itself up rather than being supported by the wires and poles he had used to keep it upright. The dust-devil had managed to break the support wires and poles on the plant which caused it to lean into our window. But the leaning was what was needed to catch the chair.
All this made me think how the devil may have a plan to break us, cause us to lean away from God, but that very thing he sent to cause us harm, God catches in His mighty hands and uses it to protect us from being broken and shattered.
When the Bible reminds us to pray in the trials of our lives and praise God regardless of our circumstances, I see how that might just be because what we are going through could have been much worse had God not sent Jesus Christ to rescue us, protect us, and keep us in His eternal grip.
On this Independence Day, do you have the freedom that comes with knowing that you will one day meet Your Lord in the heavens? When you stand at the gates of heaven and they ask why you should be allowed in, will you say with confidence, "Because I gave my life over to Jesus Christ. I asked him to forgive me of my sins, and come into my life and be my Lord and Savior"? If so, in that moment, all the storms and the devil's ploys will have no power over your life. You will be invited into heaven where there will be no more death, crying, or pain. Now that kind of freedom is an amazing reason to celebrate!
Ironically, I had been praying that the Bougainvillea would somehow get cut down as it blocked my view of the out-of-doors from my desk window. My husband, though, is the yard man and he wanted it to grow tall to shade the side of the house. I'm a huge proponent of cutting plants back to make them bushier and stronger, but I am not the gardener in the family. So in this case, if the Bougainvillea hadn't been tall and wide, we would be replacing our large diningroom window.
Today, when I got up my husband had already whacked the plant way back and said more was to come so the plant could hold itself up rather than being supported by the wires and poles he had used to keep it upright. The dust-devil had managed to break the support wires and poles on the plant which caused it to lean into our window. But the leaning was what was needed to catch the chair.
All this made me think how the devil may have a plan to break us, cause us to lean away from God, but that very thing he sent to cause us harm, God catches in His mighty hands and uses it to protect us from being broken and shattered.
When the Bible reminds us to pray in the trials of our lives and praise God regardless of our circumstances, I see how that might just be because what we are going through could have been much worse had God not sent Jesus Christ to rescue us, protect us, and keep us in His eternal grip.
On this Independence Day, do you have the freedom that comes with knowing that you will one day meet Your Lord in the heavens? When you stand at the gates of heaven and they ask why you should be allowed in, will you say with confidence, "Because I gave my life over to Jesus Christ. I asked him to forgive me of my sins, and come into my life and be my Lord and Savior"? If so, in that moment, all the storms and the devil's ploys will have no power over your life. You will be invited into heaven where there will be no more death, crying, or pain. Now that kind of freedom is an amazing reason to celebrate!
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Bougainvillea Bush
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