LOST IN THE WOODS AND NOT ALONE

I woke up and felt something on my back. I thought it was just bumps from the rocks I’d slept on, but no.

It was ticks! Three of them that I could feel and they’d imbedded themselves into my skin and were getting fat from my blood. I could get my hand around to my back to where they were and tried to twist them out. I probably didn’t get the heads, but I’d deal with that later. I was lost in the hills, had slept on the rocky shore of a lake all night, and I needed to get home. But I wasn’t afraid because something wonderful had happened the day before.

I was walking up in the hills behind my apartment. I took my Bible and thought I’d hike a little and then sit down to read. I hiked a lot more than a little, sat down to read and when I got up, I realized I didn’t know which direction was home. It was getting late and I started to get very scared and hungry. I prayed and walked on. In about an hour I found some berries and that satisfied my hunger somewhat. I sat down again and started to cry, “God, You’ve got to get me out of here. It’s going to be dark soon and I’m afraid.” I cried some more and then through teary eyes I looked up into the sky and saw an amazing sight.

A real angel! It was in white and was blowing a trumpet. I didn’t know if it was male or female and I didn’t see any wings either, but what I felt was peace. In my spirit I heard, “It’s going to be okay, don’t worry.” At that moment I knew which way to go and I wasn’t afraid anymore. It was dusk when I looked down the hill and about 100 feet away I could see a lake. I was so thirsty by then, it was a really welcome sight. But what now?

It was getting too dark to go any further and I didn’t want to go back up into the trees so I decided to sleep where I was. The ground was rocky and kind of slanted, but I found what I thought was the best spot, curled up and slept.

When I woke in the morning, after pulling out tick bodies, I started around the lake. I walked a ways and realized the shoreline twisted in and out a lot. I knew about lakes up in that area, so I knew if I walked around the lake I would come to something I recognized and I could get home. Then I spotted some fishermen across the way. I yelled over to them and they saw me. But how was I going to get to them?

I would have to swim across. I wrapped up my Bible in the jacket I was wearing and began to swim across the lake. It was a very long swim, but I was a good swimmer so I knew I’d make it. I was a wet rat when I got out of the water and exhausted. The fisherman and his two sons kindly gave me a ride back to my home.

In Genesis 24 God sent an angel ahead of Abraham’s servant to protect him and prosper him when he went to find a wife for Isaac. The servant took ten camels laden with precious gifts including jewels of silver and gold, clothing and other costly things. Even with robbers along the way, the angel cleared the path and the servant got there with all the camels and gifts protected.

Miraculously my Bible didn’t get wet with the swim across the lake; I had food and water, a ride home, and best of all, I had my very first vision of a real angel, who went before me and protected me on my way.

This experience happened many years ago but it’s just as real to me today.

Love, Carolyn

You can see some of my artwork on http://carolynmolica.tripod.com and my books on http://www.wix.com/carolynmolic/wings-carolyn-molica

MEEKNESS: AN ELEGANT QUEEN IN A GORGEOUS ERMINE CLOAK

It was one of those rush jobs. The designers were sending over three 4ft. x 4ft. samples of red brick and they wanted me to do three variations of whitewash and aging on them. The samples were supposed to arrive at 10a.m. but they didn’t come until two hours later. The mortar wasn’t even dry yet and they wanted to pick them up the very next day. This was going to be tough.

I was under the gun to work quickly. I got three fans out to dry the pieces and started to mix my colors. (Yet another last minute project where I had to produce something great in an outrageously short amount of time.) Usually I get uptight when I’m pressured into this type of situation. Somebody pushes me and I want to push back. But I told myself, Jesus is with me. It’s okay. I can do this.

I worked rapidly and steadily and got two of the pieces finished. Then the project manager came out to tell me the guy was going to come for the pieces two hours earlier than planned. What? I thought. They bring me the pieces late. They aren’t even dry enough to paint and now they want them completed two hours earlier? I started to get angry and then a strange thing happened.

I felt a meekness come over me. This felt really odd. It’s not in my nature to be meek when I’m being pushed. I’m more likely to be rebellious and ready for a fight and I can have a very sharp tongue if I let it loose. People who don’t know me very well may not believe it, but that’s because I’ve tried to keep those reactions in tow.

But this time I didn’t have to anything to control those reactions because they disappeared instantaneously and a huge meekness enveloped me. It wasn’t me trying to be meek. It was genuine. It clothed me inside and out and it felt really true and good. It was like an atmosphere of meekness, through and through, beautiful, elegant and powerful. This isn’t me, I thought. But I didn’t have the time to ponder it, so even though it felt alien, I went with it.

I finished up the samples even before the deadline, which was pretty amazing and I’m sure it was the Lord helping me on that one! I told my project manager he could call the guy to pick them up and I followed him over to the job site with my touch-up kit.

The samples were displayed leaning against the wall of the restaurant where we were going to do the job. A group of five men waited for the designer and gave their opinions about which one they thought the designer would choose. I sat at the side with my box of touch-up colors in case the designer needed to see changes on the spot. I hardly recognized myself.

I was so calm and peaceful in this new coat of meekness. I walked onto the jobsite with my hard hat on, my safety vest, my boots, my painter pants marked with the various colors of past jobs. I found a place to sit on a dusty cardboard box on top of a stack of bricks. There was construction dust and dirt all around, but I felt like an elegant powerful queen in a gorgeous ermine cloak and beautiful crown. Meek isn’t weak but quite the opposite.

The designer arrived and picked one of the samples he said he loved. That made me happy, but not nearly as happy as this new meekness I was experiencing.

How elated I was to feel the genuine calm, in contrast to the uproar I usually felt in these hurried, stressful, last minute type situations. Some part of me had changed on the inside. This new feeling didn’t feel like me. I know the old me: sharp-tongued, rebellious and angry. This new meekness wasn’t the old me, it was the fruit of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22, the new me, Christ in me.

Romans 7 talks about the two natures we have in us, the old one and the new one. Only God, through Jesus Christ can deliver us from our old nature (Rom 7:24-25). I could try my best to be meek under stress but even with my strongest efforts it wouldn’t last very long, and it definitely wouldn’t be true meekness.

But with the miraculous working of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rebellious angry nature of the old Carolyn was replaced by the true and wonderful meekness of Jesus Christ. That’s the new nature God intended for me to have. It had nothing to do with me changing myself. It had everything to do with God working in me to change me to my real self in Christ.

Almost every morning Jane and I add this little phrase to the end of our prayer: “I can hardly wait to see what God’s going to do today.” It’s an exciting life.

Love, Carolyn

I’m offering WINGS Part 1 for FREE. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Wings+Carolyn+Molica

Also if you’d like a FREE PDF printable copy of any of my sample books, just let me know. carolynmolica@yahoo.com