You will come to find out as you read my blog that I have a deep and abiding faith in God and his Son, Jesus.  I won’t bore you with my personal testimony at this point but I must share a praise!  You see, faith is not faith unless it is tested.  Read on …

Last week my husband and I were making necessary renovations on my in-laws bathroom to make it safer for Betty. She must use a walker at all times and we needed to make the doorway wider.  This meant taking out a wall (easy in an older mobile home) and replacing the corner bathroom sink cabinet with a straight one as well as other details.

In the process of replumbing, a slight spurt began and there was no way to go further without turning off the main water to the house. 

Now, the tricky part here is the main water valve happens to be inconveniently placed.  We have a trailer parked directly over it (I know, BAD plan).  But nothing could be done but that I shinny under the trailer and reach down the hole that is a full arm’s length deep and turn it off.  This I did with great effort as I am not as skinny as I used to be or as agile.  It was dark.  And, yes, there were spiders and other such like under the trailer and down the hole.  Nevertheless, the deed got done - not without trepidation, though.

The leak was fixed so off I went to turn the water back on.  Did I tell you that I had spied down the 24″ deep 6″ wide hole – webs and bug carcasses?  I did what needed to be done and got out of there.  But as I began my scoot, I dislodged a rather large spider that was probably just as upset as I was!  It plopped on my nose and scurried off into the dark.  (hear me groan/shreak)  I was OUT of there.

I never knew it till then just how deeply frightened I was of dark, tight places.  It really scared me to my core.  I shook for the rest of the night and we only got the necessary work done on the bathroom to get it functional for them.

For almost two days I was sort of “out of it” – not really depressed but not my usual industrious self.  I was reliving the spider on the nose in my dreams.  And I sort of felt covered with webs even a day later. I was having a hard time snapping out of it. 

My prayer life has been rather utilitarian of late – short and to the point.  I will talk to God all through the day – kind of an ongoing discussion.

Well, the usual prayers were not enough, obviously.  And I am thankful that the Spirit reminded me of an account in the Old Testament when the Israelites were being bitten by poisonous snakes yet they had made for them a pole on which was fixed the brazen serpent.  They were to look upon it and be instantly healed.  All they had to do was look.  They didn’t have to say anything or do anything but look upon it.  but they still had to have the faith to look.

How did this help me?  I remembered that God not only saved me utterly from my sins but he also gave me the power to never sin again.  He gave me the power to never fear (which is the opposite of faith).  In my mind’s eye I looked upon Jesus, my Savior, and He took away all fear.  Yes, I had to look but that is all – He did the rest.  He took away my fear.  He took away the creepy feeling.  He took away the ugly part of the memory leaving only the useful part of the memory (does that make sense?)  To God be the glory!

Now, I didn’t test my new state of being (ie. crawl under the trailer again) but In my mind/heart I knew it was OK and I could do it if it needed doing. 

God saved me from sin and now I know he utterly saved me in life.  I can face fears with Him – He showed himself strong where I was weak.  Praise God!

Hope this helps to encourage you to look to Him who saves completely.

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