A year or two passed and it happened again. Once again, my husband and I were shopping together. Once again, a rainstorm kept us from going to our van. Once again, I asked the Lord to stop the rain. This time however, I asked for 10 minutes. This time, I was already driving before the rain pelted the windshield.
I can’t say how many years passed between the second and the third time, maybe 20 years. By this time, life had changed a lot. The Lord led me in some very unexpected ways that tested my faith. My focus was no longer on authority and dominion, my life was falling apart. I didn’t seem to have authority or dominion over anything, including myself. So many things were broken in my life. So many hopes, dreams and expectations seemed to have died.
After death though, for the Christian anyway, isn’t there a resurrection?
The Lord started reminding me of some of the things I had done two decades before, or should I say, some of the things He and I did together.
I had heard about a retreat that was being held in the Washington DC area. It was short notice, but I managed to get one of, if not the, last spot available for the retreat. I got a decent price for my flight, and I managed to get off work for two days, which was a small miracle in itself.
The retreat was held in a beautiful retreat center in the country outside of Arlington, VA, with lush green grass and trees. And, you can probably guess, it was raining. It rained all weekend. But it didn’t matter. I was inside and didn’t care if I went outside or not. I was just happy to be there to see why the Lord made it so easy for me to travel from Dallas to DC at the last moment. Something was sure to happen here.
Having to fly in, I arrived shortly after the opening talk started. I was in such a rush, I registered, picked up my notebook and started to run down the hallway to the conference room. The flats I wore had a particularly tacky tread. My toe caught on the carpet and down I went. I had been running so fast, I almost took flight. I landed flat on my belly, my hands barely saving my face from the concrete floor under the industrial unpadded carpet. I righted myself in a moment and continued down the hallway as quickly as I could.
Seated at the back table, I felt my body start to go into shock. Suddenly, my shoulders ached from catching the weight of my torso. My wrists complained for the same reason. My knees began to feel the impact from the landing and my head began to pound from my brain shifting inside my skull.
I imagined I would not be able to get up out of bed the next morning. No! I felt my spirit rise within me. I didn’t travel halfway across the country to spend the weekend in bed. If the Lord did all this for me then the enemy just might want to mess up God’s plans. Trauma is one way the enemy can gain entry into a person or situation. If I could help it, I was not going to let that happen.
Not leaving the table, I prayed deliverance over myself. In the name of Jesus, I pled the Blood of Jesus over myself to heal all the places that were experiencing trauma and close the door to the enemy and to nullify the enemy’s plans. One by one, I prayed for all the places that were hurting. I prayed over myself as the Holy Spirit led. It took about five minutes but when I was done the shock had subsided, and I was able to fully participate in the retreat.
I was not disappointed. The retreat came to a climax for me when, during confession, the priest asked a few pertinent questions which led to a deep revelation and healing of an old wound. So powerful. But the Lord wasn’t done with me yet.
I had never been to the DC area, and I hoped the retreat would end in time for me to go back to DC to visit the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception before I had to be at the airport for my flight back to Dallas.
The retreat ended late morning and we were served a cold lunch. I was the first to leave after quickly inhaling my sandwich. My new friends understood my desire to see the Basilica and wished me well. I got into my rental and drove as quickly, and safely, as I could in the rain. Two hours later I drove around the Basilica to scope out the parking. All the parking spaces were at least a five-minute walk. In the rain.
In recent months, the Lord had been using rain showers to remind me of the storms He had paused at my request. However, because it had been years since the first two times, and I had been through so much, my confidence in asking the Lord for anything supernatural was practically non-existent. In recent years, my prayer had been that I cooperate with the Lord as He led me through what was a very difficult time, doing what I never expected to do, nor what I thought was the Lord’s will for me, but through it I went.
Several times, I would be in a building, my house or work. I would watch the storm pour down for hours. I might have a thought to ask for the rain the stop, but I never made it a formal prayer. When it was time for me to leave, by the time I stepped out to go to my car the rain had stopped.
So here I was in DC. I had driven two hours in the rain. I don’t know what I was thinking. Really, I guess I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t connect the rain through which I was driving with rain through which I would have to walk once I arrived at the Basilica. I guess I thought it would stop raining by then. Wrong!
Suddenly, I had a bad attitude. Inside my head, I griped, I came all this way, halfway across the country, drove two hours, made a special trip just to see the National Shrine to honor Your Mother and it’s raining! I was such a brat. I knew my attitude was not good, so I kept my mouth shut. It would be worse to indulge my rottenness by speaking those wretched words out loud.
I sat in the car steeling myself for the shower I was about to take. I had a jacket but no umbrella. So, I decided to use the jacket over my head. I didn’t take my purse, just my ID, credit card and phone.
I got out of the car with the jacket over my head and quickly walked up the long driveway to the nearest door. I’ve been told that one can spend a full day in the Basilica and not experience everything. With only one hour, I quickly made my way through the hallways, into the nave and all the side rooms. I spent five minutes in front of the Tabernacle. Everything was extraordinarily beautiful, and I took as many pictures as I could before I felt I had to leave to be on time for my flight.
Sitting in the car, I got ready to get drenched. I put the jacket back over my head, stepped out the door and hurried outside and down the hill. I quickly got in my car. Removing the jacket from my head, I put it on the passenger seat, started the car and pulled away from the curb. In the next moment, rain slapped the windshield. In that moment I realized, I wasn’t wet. On my way into and out of the building, it was only a very light drizzle, the rain had all but stopped. My jacket was only slightly wet, but my hair and clothes were practically dry. And now it was raining again.
I drove, stunned. Even after my bad attitude, the Lord smiled on me. Because I was His little girl and He knew my heart and our history together, He granted me the favor for which I dared not ask this time.
If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? ~Matthew 11:7
