Not Without a Fight!

F I G H T….that’s not a word I like very much. I tend to avoid conflict like the plague. There are lots of words one could use to describe me but fighter is not one likely to be included in the mix. But beneath the quiet voice and laid-back persona lies another often unseen force. I myself got a small glimpse of it Sunday morning when I found myself in a precarious position.

 

The day began like many others except that I stayed in bed later. As I was outside taking Bella for a potty break, I looked up to discover an intruder was in our yard. And, we were on the wrong side of the fence. A bulldog was in our yard growling and kicking up dirt at us. How were we to get back to the safety of the house, if the dog was inside of our fence and the two entry ways were accessible to him? For what seemed like an eternity but was actually just a few moments, I stood frozen in fear. How do I escape? How can I get help without getting bitten? No neighbors in sight and no cell phone handy. No way I can out run the dog. Do I leave my precious Bella as prey and try to escape myself?

 

A quick scan of my surroundings revealed only one dried up old stick. Armed with a stick and a prayer, I  made my move to cross the ditch in an effort to reach the closest entrance way. When I moved, the dog moved too and charged out of the gate towards us. Needless to say that halted my movement but I raised my voice saying NO and GET BACK and that’s just what he did. I sounded like a crazy woman. Momentarily, he was distracted by our nearby neighbor’s dog, which allowed us to make it to the safety of our steps. Only to have him remember us and come charging back towards us full force. Luckily we did make it inside without being hurt but that dog had the audacity to not just come in my yard but upon my porch. Now I’ve had similar incidents with dogs like the one I shared in Shammah but the demeanor of this dog was more vicious. And, this time around the dog invaded more of my personal territory.

 

Now you know after my heart stop racing and I had time to reflect upon the incident, I gleaned some lessons from it.

• the enemy shows up when you’re not alert and least expect it
• there are times when there is NO human assistance available
• when God is ALL you’ve got, that’s enough to get the victory
• there is something down on the inside of me that’s willing to fight to protect what belongs to me
• if God could protect me from a natural attack of a dog, there has to be many other things I haven’t seen that He’s been keeping me shielded from
• some enemies, trouble, and circumstances you will have to face

Has the continual presence of a particular situation in your life threatened to take the fight out of you? Failure to confront the enemy will only lead to a loss of more territory.