A Flaming Sword

As you might have gathered from my last couple of posts, I've had the wind knocked out of me, and for awhile I was living in fear. But an email from my mother on Sunday changed everything...

I think the gentleman you encountered yesterday morning was up to know good i don' t believe his story since you felt danger there was danger. When you got to your door and started pounding the door it was anointed with oil on the inside of the frame and he was stopped by that, the Holy Ghost protected you from harm. Remember he stopped in your driveway and came no further. I have been praising God for the protection.

Love Mom

When I read Mom's message, goosebumps broke out all over my body. How could I have missed the connection? I flashed back to a morning three weeks earlier, after I'd dropped Allyson off for her second day of school. I felt compelled that morning to walk through our whole house praying for the covering of Jesus's blood. I took some olive oil and anointed every door frame with oil. As I prayed for God's protection over our family, our house, and our property, I heard myself say something that seemed to come out of nowhere, something wildly extravagant. "God, I'm asking you to post angels at our doors, angels with flaming swords."

Since then, I've searched the Bible for references to angels with flaming swords, and the only example I found was the cherubim who waved flaming swords as they guarded the Garden of Eden. So I don't know why I would have thought to pray about flaming swords; I think it was the Holy Spirit's anointing.

After I anointed our doors, I anointed the stairway banister from top to bottom, and as I climbed I asked the Lord for his protection over everyone who went up and down those stairs. I didn't pray specifically for no one to fall, just asked for protection from injury.

I also anointed each of our beds and prayed fervently for each family member individually, for my marriage, and for my family. I can only describe that prayer experience as thrilling. I felt the Holy Spirit's power coursing through me, and I prayed with absolute authority. I have never prayed that way before or since, and I had never anointed my house with oil, nor had I heard about anyone else doing it or recommending that I do it. It was just an urge that I felt one Tuesday morning. At the time, it felt like spiritual warfare, and I shuddered as I wondered what battles might lay ahead of me. But I felt confident that God would be with me whatever might come.

You know the rest. I never guessed it would be ME tumbling end over end down those stairs. I think it is nothing short of miraculous that I suffered no serious injury. My chiropractor thought the same thing when he saw all the bruises, though he did remark, "You'd think if angels were protecting you, they might have steered you away from the stairs in the first place."

How the Bruise on my Right Hip Looks Today, 9 Days After My Fall

I have to admit I've wondered the same thing, but I trust that God allowed both of my recent trials for a purpose. I may never know why, but I know he has ordained all of my days, and neither incident caught him by surprise.

One of the times that I was crying on the day I was pursued by the man, I was suddenly calmed by the mental image myself on the porch, struggling with the lock. On the porch with me, between me and the man, was an angel with a white, flaming sword. "Is that how it happened?" I asked God. I felt sure that an angel had literally been guarding me, but I still didn't connect it with my prayer three weeks before.

I think the reason I thought of a flaming sword that afternoon was because I'd just heard a story about an angel from my friend Pamela, who recently suffered a ruptured appendix and later an obstructed colon. She very nearly lost her life, and she's a changed woman. After her appendectomy, she had either a dream or a vision of herself in the hospital bed, being guarded by a flaming white sword. She couldn't see an angel, just the sword. She also saw a giant foot, and it seemed the foot wanted to crush her, but it had no power over her. She heard a voice that sounded like thunder. It said, "Not this one. Not tonight."

It had only been three days since Pamela told me that story during our walk, so it was quite fresh in my mind. And the idea of angels protecting me was reinforced later that day when I received a book in the mail about real encounters with angels.

So now I'm going to tell you my new theory about what really happened to me on Saturday morning. I still don't know if the man really had me mistaken for someone else, but regardless, I could feel that his intent was to harm me. Mother is right that he stopped the moment he hit our property. But do you remember what he said, and how I couldn't make any sense of it?

Right after he said, "Oh, wrong person," he said, "What the f___?" As he said it, he threw up his hands, palms facing forward--as if to say, "Whoa, back off."

What if he saw something on my porch that he couldn't interpret? He might have seen my angel, or a flaming sword, or an unexplained flash of light. Or maybe he didn't see anything with his eyes, but maybe his inner being saw something that made him throw up his hands and take a step back. I guess I will never know this side of heaven. All I do know is, after he said that he took off in a hurry.

Last night when I came home from Bible study at 9:15, I started to feel a hint of fear as I climbed out of my car and stood on the very spot where the stranger had stood. But then my eyes lifted to the porch, and I strained to see my angel there with his flaming sword. My eyes saw nothing, but I believe my spirit recognized him.

"Thank you," I said as I climbed onto the porch. "Thank you so much."