Saturday, March 19, 2011

Do not Fear for I am with you

Last night something happened that may have seemed like nothing to some people but I knew it was something big. I was in danger yet the Lord fought for me.
I was walking the 15 min walk from De Poort (my home) to the Shelter (a Christian youth hostel where Brooke, my friend, works) at a little before 10pm. Amsterdam is a very safe city to walk in, full of many, many people and police; I walk at night almost every day. This particular night I was heading down the main street and then as I went to turn left to the smaller street I noticed a black man (statistically it is the African men here who are the loverboys and what nots of the women behind the windows and in brothels) coming the opposite way turned right then slowed down (while texting on his phone) so that I could be in front of him. No big deal really except that my heart started to beat very fast and the Lord said so loudly "PRAY!" So I prayed quickly then turned my ipod back on but the Lord said again even louder "PRAY!" I realized right then that I was not in a good place. I was so nervous I couldn't even pray; this is when my gift of tongues came in handy and just prayed like that, constantly, as I walked. As I rounded the next corner I glance behind me and he is about 20 feet back and I start to pick up my pace (this section isn't very popular but its only a short street then it gets into restaurants and more people). Its also a one way street going the opposite way in which I walked. A car starts driving toward me and this is where I began to panic, I knew in my spirit that it was going to stop next to me. Sure enough it did. Two other black guys in the car, the passenger (closest to me) gets out and as he walks toward me I so quickly turn to the right and go around the front of the car to the drivers side and keep walking (still praying mind you) the passenger starts to also walk in front of the car towards me but I pick up my pace as fast as I can without running and don't look back until I got to the end of the street where it's more populated. I don't see the car or the guy who was behind me.

I continued to walk fast and pray until I got to the Shelter and made Brooke just hold me in her arms. I tried to just think I was crazy but 1. Why did the Lord give me such an awareness of what was going on and what was about to happen? 2. Why did He urge me so boldly to pray? 3. Why did this guy behind me make a full change of direction to follow me? (the corner we rounded was going right, so he started to walk back towards the direction in which he came) 4. Why did they all disappear after I walked past them? and 5. Why did my fellow seminar student wake up at the exact same time with the overwhelming feeling that she needed to pray for the safety of someone within the Shine seminar, not realizing who, she just prayed for all our safety, where ever we were at.

Either way it was a bittersweet moment in my life. I learned that the Lord will fight for me and protect me when no one else is around, and give me the discernment for what is actually taking place but now I am a little fearful of walking the city which I know I will have to just get over. Thank you God for taking care of your children. I know I can place my life in Your hands.

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