It was the fall of 1980. My family and I, two young sons and my husband had been downtown at Williams Park in St. Petersburg . We had been there all day for a concert I was singing in. It was a Christian celebration to celebrate, worship and entertain with other local bands and do a little advertising for all the different Christian groups in the city that were available to the down trodden and homeless in our city. We were passing out business cards for a study that met in our home on Tuesday nights.
The day went as planned and was simply wonderful.
The weather was beautiful, the food was scrumptious and everyone had such a great time. We had invited a lot of people to our study and had some really interesting conversations with around 100 people that day.
As the sun set we all packed our stuff up from the band shell and headed home.
The night was uneventful. We enjoyed a nice simple dinner and headed to bed around 10.00 p.m.
I tucked the children in and prayed for protection through the night, a prayer similar to every nights prayers. After being downtown however I also prayed for the many people on the streets to be safe as well. All those people who didn't have clean, soft beds to sleep in. The children also prayed their fervent prayers for those less fortunate than us.
The prayer brought me to tears. The boys were so precious as they prayed for others to be protected from harm.
After kisses and hugs I turned out the lights and headed down the hall to my room.
Before we jumped into bed both my husband and I
checked the doors to make sure they were all locked, as was the every night routine and then we shut off all the lights throughout the house.
We did that without even thinking it was so common place.
Then we both jumped into bed.
I drifted off to sleep as did my husband in less than ten minutes as the day had worn us both out.
I woke up first the next morning. And as always in my normal everyday routine I headed for the kitchen to start the coffee.
The house however felt oddly cool. I didn't think much of it. I thought maybe I would turn up the heat, but it was just a passing thought.
I then headed toward the living room to go out front and get the newspaper that is always on the sidewalk just out the front door.
But today I stopped dead in my tracks before I got to the front door.
The window curtains were lying on the floor and the wind was blowing the other curtains throughout the room.. My tall indoor palm tree was lying on it's side with all the dirt spread across the tile floor. There were shoe marks on my leather couch, in dirt! The window was open and the screen was sitting up against the wall near the window but clearly bent badly.
I was cold standing there in my bare feet in this filthy room.
I gasped.
Then as I stood there taking all this in I thought what is happening here? Have we been robbed?
Oh my GOD I thought next, The children!
I then turned and ran into the children's bedroom and pushed the door open. I was afraid of what I might see but that didn't stop me.
I had to know what happened last night. Were my children safe?
Please GOD I thought, let them be safe!
As I opened the door I saw my two young son's sound asleep in their beds. Everything looked in place. Nothing was out of order.
Except the house was very cold!
I watched them for a moment as I tried to understand what had taken place in the house last night. I was so grateful to know the boy's were OK, it was all that mattered to me at that moment!
So why was this mess in the living room?
What happened?
I heard nothing last night nor did my husband. We never woke up!
I'm really a light sleeper, how could this be?
I now woke my husband up and told him to hurry into the living room to see what I had discovered when I woke up.
He stood there in amazement that with all this mess we never heard anything last night. We both just stood there in amazement. This had to have made a lot of noise!
I went to call the police to report the break in.
When the police arrived, they asked us to check and see where my purse and my husbands wallet were. We checked. They were in plain sight both of them. My purse with cash and credit cards was sitting on the dining room table. Nothing missing from it. My husbands wallet with over $300.00 in cash was sitting on the top of his dresser along with his wedding ring. Many other expensive items in the room were all accounted for.
The doors in the living room had still been locked from the inside!
Our night visitor came in and went out the living room window.
But why? Who was it that came in this manner?
They didn't rob us! They didn't harm us!
What was going on?
It was then I remembered the prayer the night before with the children. Asking GOD to protect us.
I saw the faces of the boy's praying with their eyes tightly closed and hands clasped in prayer.
Someone was clearly in the house. Finger prints were taken, the police report had been made, the police thought perhaps a rape was what the perpetrator was after? Thank GOD that didn't happen either!
I know some day after this life is through and I am on the other side of the Veil, the LORD will run the tapes and show me what he protected us all from that cold night.
HE kept us all safe, just as we had prayed.
What was meant to be evil against us was turned into a blessing!
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