The Armor of God

I felt a little weirded out by Rihanna's phone call. Something strange seemed to be happening. Instictively, I felt that whatever was wrong with that one area of Mrs. Ida's yard had followed me home.

But Rihanna had heard someone talking to her. I couldn't quite wrap my head around that fact. Is this the time when all that stuff about evil and spirits, or the devil, or whatever actually turns real? Was last night real? Hard to imagine when the sun was shining.

It was one thing to think and talk about it, like how it might happen in a movie, but to actually say, out loud, that "something wicked this way comes," and it's talking to my sister? Now that was a whole nuther ballgame.

I sat down in my usual place on the front porch. The sun was just coming over the back of the house, but for a little while longer the front yard would be in shade. A breeze wafted the smell of the Mock Orange flowers across my face. The pair of Barn Swallows that nested under the rafters flew in chattering arcs across the porch, flying out over the grass, and back again, looking for a meal.

I just didn't know what to think. I was a true believer, wasn't I? At least, I told myself that everyday during my morning prayer time. As such, discussing the reality that something dark and shadowy was stalking my sister and I shouldn't have been such an odd thing.

There was a bible verse about the armor of God. I went inside for my Bible. It was somewhere in the New Testament. I looked for "armor" in the back, and found what I was looking for. It was verse out of Ephesians 6, 11-12:

¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Right there in black and white in the Bible. The rest of the verse read:

¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

OK, if I was to have faith, and be a true believer, then I would be prepared. I texted Rihanna to read verses 11-17.

Then, I prayed. I prayed for God to protect us and lead us to victory, and I really prayed for God to protect my sister's sanity.

The wind picked up and blew against the windows. Clouds had begun to roll in. I didn't remember hearing on the news about rain, but I would take it.

Mrs. Ida's landscape plan called. I needed to finish this draft. We had an appointment tomorrow morning. Maybe I could convince Rihanna to drive out with me.