It's the "Little Things"

We awoke to a phone call from the police on Monday morning at 2 a.m. The man asked Brian, "Sir, do you know where your car is?" Brian looked out the window to see an empty driveway where our Excursion had sat the night before. "No sir, I don't. Do you?" Our stolen car had been found in Blountsville. Someone had stolen some things from our neighbor's car, then gotten in our car and was pulled over for speeding somewhere nearly an hour away. They escaped on foot and continue to elude the police. Apparently they stole another car in Blountsville soon after being pulled over in ours and are still out there causing destruction. Luckily, we have our car back, but they left the stolen cell phone and iPod, some smelly clothes, a knife, and several of my CDs, cut up, in the floorboard. All I could say over and over on Monday was, "Thank you Father, our car was all they took." You see, that night, like many nights, our car was unlocked, keys inside, and our front door was unlocked too. We don't usually lock things up. We tend to think a) we can trust our neighbors, and b) there's nothing so valuable of ours that thieves can steal that would destroy us. But praise the Lord, He was protecting us as we slept. Thank you Lord for the wake up call. Yes, we locked up everything we owned last night.

I was telling my precious friend Judy about that this morning on our walk, and she talked about how her husband brought a cup in from working outside that had two or three ants on the bottom. Judy washed the cup, washing the ants down the drain, thinking that would be the end of the ants. But within a few days, their kitchen was taken over by ants. She had let just a few ants in, and before she knew it ants were everywhere.

I can't help but think, how often does that happen in my spiritual life? Do I leave doors unlocked for thieves to come in, foxes in the vineyard, ants on the bottom of the cup? Do I let my guard down in a seemingly harmless way, and before I know it, I've gone down a path I never thought I would take?

I keep thinking of how important fortified walls around cities were in the Old Testament. If you had strong walls, the enemy couldn't get in and attack. The Bible says, "Like a city whose walls are broken down is the man who lacks self control." -Proverbs 25:28 The Proverbs 31 woman "watches over the ways of her household." (vs 27). Am I a good gatekeeper of my home? My family? My children's minds? My husband's heart? My own walk with the Lord? Or do I let things creep in and take over, causing destruction? How much evil can I really let in? How far do I have to go to keep this evil OUT?

I'm asking God to strengthen me as a warrior. I'm putting on the spiritual armor listed in Ephesians 6. I'm asking Him to make me a prayer warrior. A wife warrior. A mommy warrior. Not that the victory is in me, that it's already available in Him. I'm asking Him to help me build some fortified walls through His Word, through the resurrection power that's in me. That He would show me ways that I let the enemy deceive me, twist what Scripture really says about how I should live, give myself "outs" if I don't like what the Scripture really says. I want to be a warrior of the Truth and in that way, protect my home and my family from the wiles of the Devil.

Thank You Lord for the wake up call!!!