I’m such a mix of emotions right now. I’m sitting in this quite place…. alone….and trying my best not to be overcome with fear. Thanks to the muddy foot print on my front door, I can’t help but keep replaying the thought of these guys kicking it in and rushing into my house.  I still hear that chilling ring of a strange cell phone as I sat outside realizing someone had broken into my house and I wasn’t sure if they were still inside or not. I still see the shadow of a guy run across the headlights of my car as we pulled in. I can’t get the picture out of my mind of the cops swooping in and swarming my house and I still remember their faces, standing a few feet away, as they were arrested. I looked in their eyes. And it all scares me.

I think about all the what ifs. WHAT IF, like my normal routine, I had been home…..Waiting for Mikey to get off work. WHAT IF they had realized we had to beautiful furry babies in the backyard and had tried to hurt or take them. WHAT IF we had come home a moment or two earlier and instead of seeing one of them dart across the street, we had walked in on the roberry. WHAT IF.

At the same time, mixed in with all those “WHAT IFs”, I’m overcome with this sense of love and reassurance that HE was here in all of it! And those WHAT IFs also show me that He had it under control all along.

IF we had come home a moment earlier, we would have possibly walked in on it happening and yet the Lord held us off. And IF we had come home a moment later, we wouldn’t have seen one of the guys dart across the street and been able to give somewhat of a description and we wouldn’t have been here at the precise moment when they walked back to get their lost phone and as a result, were arrested.

IF I had decided to come home instead of go to see a friend, I might have been here when it happened, but I wasn’t. HE had me tucked away safe.

IF one of the thieves hadn’t left his phone, they might not have been caught, but for some divine reason he did leave his phone and for some GREAT divine reason came back for it! Even the cops were dumbfounded by this. They kept saying they had never seen a thief (thieves) return to the scene of a crime and had never seen one leave a phone. Both of which I explained was all God.

And one of the most amazing things is, there is no way that they came more than five feet into our house because BOTH of our laptops were still sitting on our couch. Our WII, dvd player, stereo was all still untouched, as was other electronics and valuables. Something (or rather SOMEONE) scared them when they came in this house because all they did was grab my camera equipment and ran. Now obviously to me this was the worst thing for them to steal. Especially because I had my hard drive in my camera bag with ALL my pictures on it. Anything else I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about. But that….that was hard to digest. THANKFULLY (By the grace and favor of God), the must have gotten scared because they ditched it in the park across the street and the cops retrieved it.

Unfortunantly, there were three guys and only two were found so that worries me a little since I’m here alone, but God has been here in all this, all along. He had a legion of angels standing guard over our home last night and over us and knowing that….I know I don’t have to be afraid.

So I’m clinging to this verse today to remind me….

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Tim. 1:7

P.S. We know God protected us and continues to, but the first thing my hubby did when it was all over was look up alarm systems and shotguns. I think I’d be okay with both just in case.

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