After returning home from an evening church service, I noticed a swarm of ants in our bedroom, which I promptly sprayed with a new can of bug spray that I had obtained. Seeing no others, we sat down to eat dinner. Amerel suddenly said, "Mommy, look! There are ants coming in the front door!" I promptly took out my handy dandy bug spray and sprayed the whole lot of them, which happened to be all around our living room and school room, behind all of the furniture and the shelves. That took care of the ants, but the smell of the spray was unbearable, so we all retreated into Amerel's bedroom to finish our dinner. I actually had to sleep in there with her and Chayah to avoid breathing in the bug spray that had permeated throughout the rest of the house.
The next night, after I put the children to bed, I decided to use the bathroom one last time before going to bed myself. When I turned on the light, I noticed that the hand towel we use for drying our hands was actually swaying slightly back and forth. Upon quick inspection, I realized that it was moving because it was swarmed with ants! I could barely even see the towel, it was so covered! I looked to see where the ants were coming from and found that they were coming in from the roof! There was a trail of them about 1 1/2 inches wide streaming into the house from the roof. I ran for my handy dandy bug spray, but after spraying it once, it was empty. I quickly called one of the missionaries here who had told me earlier that she had some extra bug spray if I needed it. She promptly brought it over and I sprayed till I couldn't see anything moving. Then I walked around the house to check for any others and found that they were also coming in the kitchen window! I sprayed them again until I didn't see anything moving. Then I contemplated whether or not we should stay in the house or go sleep at one of the other missionaries' homes for the evening. I decided to stay in the house and sleep in one of the kid's rooms again since they have bug huts on their beds which no bugs can get through.
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| Just one of the many piles of dead ants I swept up the following morning... (The white powder is boric acid which I also used.) |
The ant attacks and the snake and all of the other things that I haven't mentioned, I considered minor distractions until our less than one year old laptop just up and died for no apparent reason at all! That was the one thing that almost took away my strength. Through all of the other distractions, I was able to keep my focus on the Lord and encourage my children to do the same. But when the computer just stopped, I was really tempted to be very discouraged. I knew throughout all of the other distractions that the joy of the Lord is my strength and that my trust is in Him alone. When the computer stopped, I had to mentally, physically and emotionally pull myself out of the discouragement that the enemy had been trying to drag me down into through all of the other distractions. I had to determine that I was going to praise God anyway. There is a song called "I Will Calm Every Raging Sea" that our church has out on their latest CD, A Greater Glimpse. When I felt as if all of my strength was gone, the words of this song really encouraged me and actually just brought me back to my senses! Part of it goes like this:
I will calm every raging sea
I will silence the voice of your enemy
If you'll be still and know that I'm your God
Peace beyond all understanding
Tonight is yours because of My Son
...I am your song in the darkest night
Receive my strength tonight...
-Written by: Mike Kim & Kent Henry (A Greater Glimpse-2010)
Through it all, God was singing this song to me and I received His strength. His strength is ALWAYS PERFECT...no matter what you are going through. My kids and I learned this promise anew this past month. I pray that we never forget it-no matter what "light afflictions" may be upon us! I count it all joy! Praise God!
Be blessed,
Tiffany
