Yesterday can stay there….

Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me (Psalms 50:15, NIV).

There are days that you wish you could relive over and over again and there are days that you are just grateful you survived. Yesterday was one of the latter. You know the days I am talking about. The days where the Christian life is war.

It started with a wretched and deeply disturbing dream that left me feeling weak and nauseous when I woke up. It was a dream that left me wondering how I could have dreamed something so gruesome and dark and hopeless.

Then my daughter Anna fell down a stair and broke her ankle in two places. Not what she needed after just getting out of being treated for depression and anxiety the week before. First time in over a year she needed in care treatment for that and first time in over two years she cut herself.

When I brought her home from the ER, I discovered that the heat had stopped working and the house was down to 52. I had just gotten a delivery of propane the week before and couldn’t believe it had already been all used up. When I went out to check the tanks, they both seemed to read empty to me and I smelled propane. Leak! Ugh! I called the propane company. They sent someone out right away… and told me to evacuate the house.

Wonderful… My dad came and picked up the girls while I stayed at the house to wait for the propane guy.

What was going on? There was too much to think about.

At the same time I lost heat, I was messaging my friend Michelle Styles. We’ve gotten quite close over the last few years. We are very open with each other. So I shared what was going on. After a short spell, she responded with this:

Let’s see there’s been an attack on your confidence by giving you this dream and now you’re questioning who you are. There’s been an attack on your children as Anna went to the C-BAT last week and then ER this week. And now on your finances and your home, getting rid of your ability to keep heat in your house so that now you have to worry about that too. I would say given the gravity of those three events and what they seem to be targeted at that there’s an all-out offensive against one Reverend Daniel Ledwith.

I think her assessment was spot on. It gave me clarity about what was going on.

As prayers went up, God began to work…. Truth be told, He already was. In the end, there was no leak. But one of the tanks had not been turned on after they had been filled. So I still had a full tank of gas which was turned on and heat came back right away. The girls ended up having a great time at their grandparents’ who were just as happy to see them. I had a scheduled meeting with some of my ministry friends and was able to make it on time. I shared what was going on with them, and they also concurred it was a spiritual attack. We talked, shared, and prayed together. When I got home one of my dear friends, Rob (aka the Most Interesting Man in the World) was there waiting to check up on me having heard about our day.

So in the end, after all the smoke cleared, Jesus had given me the strength to stand, Anna was handling things well and was happy, and we had heat. And last night I had a restful night’s sleep. Not a day I want to relive, but a day that kept me learning about the Father’s grace, care, protection, and provision to counter the Enemy’s attacks. He is always trustworthy.