1997 - We had just moved into a new town and my sons befriended a local neighbor, but every time they went to that house, my sons (ages 5 and 7) said they got hurt in small ways.  I started talking with the mom, a really sweet woman who liked to pray to animal spirit guides and practice “white magic.”  I shared with her gently what I knew about Jesus.  She wanted to know more.  One day she called me because she had a horrific migraine, so I went over, asked her to lay on the floor, flat on her back, and I messaged in a way I knew…kneeling at the top of her head as she layed down, my hands under her head, and massaging with slight pressure between the neck and the edge of her skull.  As I was doing this, I started praying over her, and my prayers took off as if on their own.  I prayed against evil spirits in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, over her, over her home, over her family.  She was greatly relieved from pain and thanked me.  She has since told me that her life changed completely from that day.  She and her husband received Christ and they became youth ministers at church. 

But on that night that I prayed over her, I woke up sensing something very evil in my house.  I was shocked, my house was my sanctuary, Christian music, prayers, there was no room for evil spirits here!  I went in my son’s room which had a French door entrance.  As I sat with them, while they slept, it felt like an evil spirit was watching me from just outside the glass paneled door.  I prayed, sang, read the Bible, nothing made it go away.  And then finally, as I sat keeping watch over my sons, I heard a distinct sound at one of my 7 year old’s feet.  It sounded like the lowest chord of a guitar, and it felt like a direct threat to his life. Then the presence was gone. 

That son started throwing up every night since that night, but had no fever.  The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him.  They finally took a stool sample and sent it to the lab.  In the meantime, we were at a friend’s house that was on a busy street. My 7-year-old suddenly ran down the slope, between some parked cars and ran into the busy street and was almost killed.  I ran after him, hysterical, and asked what he was doing? He was panicked and said he didn’t know! 

I was frantic.  I had already called my church friends but nobody wanted to hear about any actual instances of evil spirits or demons doing something like this. I gave up asking for help.  I prayed and prayed and prayed over my son but it didn’t stop. Then a friend called me and asked how I was doing, and I poured my story out.  He came right over.  Both my sons were sound asleep (yes, a mom can tell) and John and I quietly prayed together over him. The throwing-up and life threatening behavior stopped from that night on.  Praise God.  I am hoping that my prayers were not answered because God was trying to show me that I needed fellowship.  I always tend to try to handle things by myself and I hate to ask for help.  It’s a bad problem with pride that I have, and I remember this often since then. It has caused me to always ask for prayer when I need it, and always take prayer very seriously. 

But this is one of many reasons why I cannot bear that this very son grew up to claim he’s an atheist.  Satan or his demon threatened my son DIRECTLY, and now he’s walking in a very dangerous place.  He is successful by the world’s standards, doing really well at his career, wonderful wife that he loves very much and it is so good to see how they interact with each other.  But I can’t bear that the enemy has somehow convinced him, by atheist authors or by who knows what, that there is no God. Except I have the comfort of knowing that when he was desperately in need of God, the night I was attacked, he knew to call out to Him and he did. There is a core belief in him that is still there, and I am praying with everything I have for he and his wife, and my other sons and their future wives. 

He didn’t know this was going on when he was 7, all he knew was feeling nauseous and a little scared about doing things that threatened his life.  It reminded me of the boy that somebody brought to Jesus that would throw himself into fire, and Jesus healed him.  Demons ARE real. I don’t think they are everywhere, but every once in a while we can actually hit one. Prayer is everything, because God IS, and He longs to interact with us daily, He does hear us and He does ask us to trust Him, and I do.  I don’t know why He loves to indwell us but I am just so grateful that He does, and I am just hanging on to trust and hope that before my son’s life is over, before all of their lives are over, God will be the Shepherd that will leave the 99 to go after the one. Especially this one, because he was singled out and threatened because of what I did. Especially this one, Lord, please, especially this one.