It was a school day. I got up and got the kids off to school, watching to make sure that Suzanne had gotten on the bus. She had been walking home from school until the day she came home and said that a car had followed her. I called up a local bus service that transported kids to school for a fee and sent her to school in safety.

As usual, I went back to bed, since I tended to be a late night person. Ed had been off the night before and was still in bed. I lay back down and was soon asleep. I began to dream. I found myself in a large house. In my dream I knew that it was my house. In the middle of the house was an office full of people working with all the usual office machines and equipment. There was a heavy set man in a pinstripe three piece suit with a gold watch chain who seemed to be the boss. As I looked at him I knew that he was a demon, an evil angel. I saw an old woman in a frilly pink dress, heavy shoes and a blond wig with a scowl on her face pushing a mail cart used for interoffice mail. I knew as I looked at her that it was Satan himself. They were running an office in my house. I told them to leave, but they only laughed at me. I couldn't understand why they wouldn't leave even when I told them to go in Jesus' name.

I found myself in a living room and there was a knock at the front door. When I opened it, two tall man stood there dressed in a light brown, windowpane plaid suits. Then came in, but they were so tall they had to duck their heads to come in the door. I didn't see much of the second man, but the first man had brown hair that just touched his collar, an average looking man. He asked me if I needed help and I told him yes. Indicating the office, I told him they wouldn't leave even when I told them to. He took off his suit coat and handed it to me and I put it over my arm. He then went around the corner into the office.

I found myself at the door of the office with the man standing just inside the door of the office with his arms outstretched and his hands facing them. He turned his head and looked back over his shoulder at me with the kindest look I have ever seen. I knew that it was Jesus. No one has ever looked at me with such love and understanding. Next he was showing me his hand. My dream ended and I awoke. I began telling my husband what had happened, but I couldn't finish without sobbing. Jesus cared that much for me, so much that He made a special effort to let me know in a dream. What had I ever done to deserve such attention from Him? For the first time in years I knew that He really did care what happened to me. He had been watching out for me and for my family. Writing this story even ten years later still brings tears to my eyes. I will never understand that kind of love, but I want it to be a part of my life.

After telling Ed, I called my mother, who had been praying for years for us, and told her. God had turned us around, put us on the narrow path and we were on our way home to Abraham's farm. God had turned us around. What wondrous love, that Jesus took time to reveal Himself in such a manner to one of His wayward children. I didn't deserve it, but He came and took what I deserve that I might receive what He deserves. So much would happen in the next few weeks. Satan doesn't like to loose his prey, and I had been much more his prey than I had thought I was. But God is omnipotent, and He wasn't about to let Satan win.

----------------Part four-----------------

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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda

A few days after my dream, I had to have (same day) surgery which left me fairly sore. I had already pulled my boxes of SOP books out and began cleaning them up. I began studying in earnest. But things weren't peaceful. At night as I would lay down to sleep, Satan would come to bother me. He would stand at the foot of my bed. One night I heard our front door open and close but it was still locked the next morning. There were bumps and other noises. One night the back door opened and closed. It too was locked. I lay in bed at night and claimed any Bible promise that I could remember. My favorite was Isaiah 41:10. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." I would sing the hymns that I still knew by heart and finally I would get a little sleep.

One night I was exhausted. I knew that I needed some rest. That was the night that the I heard the front door open and close. I could feel the evil presence of Satan as he came down the hall to my room and paused outside the door. "Lord," I prayed, "I really need some rest tonight. Please make him leave me alone." The presence was gone. Another night, God answered my prayer in a striking manner.

If Satan or one of his demons has ever made their presence known to you, you can feel the evil presence. You may not be able to see it, but you know without doubt who it is and just where it is. Night after night Satan had made his presence known, hoping to frighten me into giving up my newfound faith in Jesus Christ, but I wasn't about to give up the sweetest thing that I had ever known. As he tormented me one night I was praying and singing and claiming promises. I remembered that somewhere there was a promise that said something about God would empty heaven of all the angels to save even one person. I couldn't remember exactly what it said but I claimed it anyway and God answered. He opened my spiritual eyesight. God willing, I will never forget what I saw that night. I was in a king-sized waterbed, and as I looked all around the bed I saw tall warriors dressed in tunics standing shoulder to shoulder. They surrounded the bed. They looked like bodybuilders. Their hands were clasped in front of them on the hilt of the sword that stood upright in front of them. Those swords were broad and came up to the middle of the chest. There was one angel warrior who was standing by my head and I sensed that he was my guardian angel. Outside those warriors I glimpsed the demons trying to throw their fiery darts at me, but they couldn't get past the guard that had been set around me. I lay there for awhile marveling at this wonderful manifestation of God's love. I finally got up to study for a couple of hours.

When I went back to bed, I no longer saw the warriors, but my guardian angel was there. I could still see him as I pulled the covers up over me that he reached down and pulled them up with me and "tucked me in" as it were. I guess that when God enlightens your vision, it takes awhile for it to fade away. For about 3 days, I was aware of my guardian angel. When I would kneel to pray, he would kneel with me. I never want to forget what God privileged me to see. Why me, I don't know. I have no way to show my gratitude except to remain faithful to Him, and to review frequently how He has led me in my past history and tell my story if it might help someone else.

How little we understand the love that the angels have for us, how they share in our battles and wage war for us against the foe of all souls. We have so little sense of what these majestic beings really are like, how they care for us. I wonder if it thrills them when they are given permission to reveal a glimpse of themselves to a human for whom they have been working? That they can give a glimpse to man of how much they care and carry out the will of their Heavenly Master and Ours must give them joy. A decade has only very faintly affected my memories of those days in January 1991. God used dramatic means to brings this wayward family back into the fold. We started back to church. It was a shock to our children. Our daughter couldn't remember going to church since she had been so young when we quit. Difficulties lay ahead, but I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He is soon coming to take us home. He has trod the way before me, and He will lead me all the way.

Father, help me to never forget what you have done for me. Help me to tell others that You love them as much as You love me. May I keep growing until self is so hidden that when others see me that are seeing Jesus. Thank-you.

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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda

Linda

I enjoyed this testimony.

Thankyou for being brave enough to share it.

"And they overcame [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb; and by the Word of their testimony." (Rev.12:11).

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Soul winning is soul loving.
see 1 Thes.5:14-15).

Your brother in Christ

David T. Battler

The rains came down and the floods came up. And up. And up. And our home was in a flood plain. Can you guess what happened?

We moved from Alabama to Ohio in May 1998. For me it was a move to a home I had never seen. Ed and some friends of his had found a manufactured house (better known as a mobile home) in a small park just outside of the town of Cambridge. There was a small creek that meandered behind the park. Right behind our home the ground fell rather sharply away from the house down to the water's edge. There the creek was only about one and a half to two feet wide.

The weather became rainy and stormy in mid to late June with ferocious thunder storms. The water came down in buckets. The little creek would rise and fall with the rainfall. I would look at that little creek and wonder. But I never ask anyone any questions. In retrospect, I wish I had. June 27, Sabbath, it was raining yet again. We went to church, then came home and had dinner. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby town with some friends to do some missionary work, then came back to our house. I noticed that the water was still rising and I was a little concerned. The evening wore away and became night. We, along with our friends retired about midnight. I looked out back and could see that the water was still high and getting higher. I remember praying that if the Lord willed, it would not rise higher.

I went to sleep. At 2:00 I suddenly bolted wide awake as though something had awakened me. I went to the window and looked out back. The edge of the water was now even with the back of the homes underpinning. I then went to the front and looked out. I could see cars pulling away from homes at the other end and the manager/owners throwing things into the back of a pickup truck. I thought it strange that no one was coming around warning the other residents of what was now obvious to me. We were going to be flooded. I awoke everyone else and told them what was happening.

It's had to describe the feelings that go through your mind when you see a disaster coming and you need to get out, but you can't really think logically like you need to because there is an urgency to flee. We knew we needed to get the animals– we had a cat and a dog. Ed and our friend Ken pulled books out of the lower shelves of the book cases and piled them in upholstered chairs and the sofa. I remember looking at the books and thinking that they would get wet because the sofa and chair would wick the water. But I didn't say anything. I really don't know why, except that there were so many things I was having to contend with at the moment. We finally hustled everyone plus the animals into the car and drove away. The water was into the yard and beginning to rise in the driveway. It was early Sunday morning.

Our friends lived up on a high hill on the other side of town and that's where we went. It would be Wednesday afternoon before we would be able to get back to our home. Before we left, Ed and Ken had gone around banging on some of the other homes in the park to alert the inhabitants of the rising water. Many they could not arouse. At least one thought there was no problem. I was troubled by the fact that the lady next door to us had only lived there three weeks and had gone on vacation. We didn't know how to reach her. We would learn later that the owners never alerted the people until 5 AM and then they had to carry many of them out through the high water. That would lead to some problems later with some folks talking of possibly filing some lawsuits, something we decided to stay out of.

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For I know that my redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
_________________________

Linda

Sunday morning we were able to drive down into town and tried to go home but we were stopped by the civil defense and told that the water was five feet deep and we couldn't go back until it went down. We also learned that it was a flash flood that had come through. He was also the one who told us how they had to carry some of the residents out early that morning. We turned around and drove back up on the hill. The water continued to rise and by Sunday evening we could no longer get into town because of flooding. For the next three days we sat and waited for the waters to recede. Finally on Wednesday afternoon, a neighbor took his pickup out, drove out the reservoir road, through a ditch, up the bank, onto the now closed interstate highway (parts of which were underwater), and finally into town and down to our place. When we arrived, we could see the water line on the side of the home. Everything was topsy turvy. The front steps were about three homes down. Our garbage can was down by the road and the wheels were forever gone as were our gasoline cans. We found our flower boxes and pots in various locations. Surprisingly, most of the plants survived. The dog house was gone and most of the underpinning of the home.

One thing that would be hard for us to deal with in the next couple of weeks would be the pushiness and sometimes nastiness of the owners of the park and the home. They were too anxious for us to clean out the mess so they could come in and get it ready to rent again. I remember looking at the mold growing on the paneling and thinking there was no way I would want to live there anymore. Illness hit us all, but especially Ed and Suzanne. She was sick enough that we took her to the ER. Ed had gastrointestinal problems so severe I had to get Pedialyte (electrolyte solution) to keep him from becoming dehydrated. We have always assumed that it was a result of spending so much time in that soaked home, growing mold and who knows what else, cleaning up the mess.

But back to what we found when we opened the door, which didn't open easily. Water had risen about 3 feet high inside. That was a blessing. Yes, it really was. Everything above that level had been left untouched. I still have the pictures I took of the devastation. But there were some fantastic finds also. Sewing and needlecraft is a hobby of mine, and I had a large, clear plastic box that contained my sewing patterns. Apparently it had floated on the water. Every pattern inside was dry. A little plastic sewing chest had two dry drawers and two wet drawers. One of them had apparently floated out of the chest and continued to float. All the furniture was ruined, beds, chairs, tables, sofa. My computer sat on an old metal army desk. The water had risen to about one inch below the top of that desk. Everything on top was dry.

The losses that bothered us most were the books and the photographs. All our wedding pictures were ruined. Many of our books, some irreplaceable, were destroyed. Yet even here were surprising finds. The water had caused some of the shelves to collapse, yet the books had remained on them. Going through the books one by one, I would find a soaked book but next to it would be a book that had wet covers and edges but the pages were dry. I am so glad that I checked them book by book. Otherwise I would have tossed a lot of books that I was able to save. While many pictures were destroyed, yet many of the most recent pictures we could pull apart, let dry, and they were fine or nearly fine.

Another one of those funny things-- all the canisters on one lower cupboard shelf had floated in the water and the contents were fine. As we were cleaning things out, I had to sort what was salvageable from what had to be thrown. Outside along the opposite side of the drive a pile of wet, damaged goods was piling up waiting for removal. I was fascinated by the things people were tossing. Things that could be washed were piled there. Things that could be cleaned with disinfectant had been dumped. I loaded up garbage bags of wet clothes, linens, fabric, anything that could be thrown into a washing machine and hauled it to the laundromat and washed it. I made three trips and each time I filled a whole row (about 10 machines) of triple load washers with wet things and washed and bleached and dried. Almost everything cleaned up and was usable.

An example of "don't give up too easily" if I've ever heard one! I am enjoying reading your story Linda, it is amazing what we can go through and still call ourselves blessed because we are God's.

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Sarah Moss
*Prayer Changes Things!*

Thank you Sarah. There is still some more to the story.
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I wouldn't dump my appliances either. I noticed the washers, dryers, and such that had been tossed along with TVs and small appliances. We kept the big ones and the TV. I knew I couldn't afford to replace my washer, dryer and freezer. In fact, the dryer was only 3 month old! We put the appliances in storage along with our other salvaged items until we could settle in a new home. Once we were moved, I cleaned and tried the dryer. It started right up and ran without problems. Nearly three years later, it's still running. The washer didn't fare as well. It wouldn't spin. I eventually had it repaired, and it is still washing clothes. The freezer was the oldest appliance we had and I was afraid that it might be done for. But I got the bleach and soap and cleaned it out. With trepidation, I plugged it in, shut the door and waited to see if it would get cold. It's been keeping food frozen ever since. The man who repaired my washer told me that I had been smart to let the appliances sit for several weeks to dry out completely before attempting to start them up. Circumstances had brought about that situation, but it is advice I now pass on to others. First of all, don't toss them! They may work. Don't try starting your appliances for a few weeks after they have been soaked. Let them dry thoroughly. If they don't work properly, call a repairman before tossing. If it can be repaired, it much more economical than replacing it.

During the time that we were cleaning things out, several groups came around offering help including the Red Cross. We had to fill out papers, have inspections and such, but the Red Cross did provide us with new beds. They also gave us pointers on how to handle things and gave us gloves and cleaners. The Church of Christ in Nashville, TN, gave out boxes of food and cleaning supplies. We were thankful for any and all help that was offered and given. Our local Adventist church was a distribution center for cleaning supplies and they generously gave us buckets, cloths, cleansers, broom, and gloves. Everything we received we had much appreciation for and it was all put to use.

I don't want to forget those who pitched in and helped us clean out that home. Because of the pressure that was being put on us to get it done, along with the illness, we under a lot of stress. I finally asked for help. One day several of the church members came out in their work clothes and in their pick-ups, helped us haul out, clean out the unsalvageable, and put in storage all the keepers. I don't know how we could have finished the job without their help. They even pulled up the wet carpets and padding and hauled it out.

We finally settled in a new home in Zanesville, 30 miles from Cambridge. Everything seemed to be returning to some kind of normalcy, at least for a couple of days. Little did I suspect that the bottom was about to fall out for me. Suzanne was well, and looking for a job and a college; Ed had returned to work; our son, who had come up to help us out for a few days, had returned home. A few days after moving, I had what I would later know was a major panic attack that took me to the emergency room. Since I didn't know what it was, I wondered if I was having a heart attack. The characteristics of a panic attack are similar to the symptoms of a heart attack They did all the test, and ascertained that I wasn't having a heart attack. That was good news. Trouble was, the ER doc didn't have a clue as to what the problem was. Perhaps if he had, I wouldn't have been back in the ER two days later with the same thing. This time, I had added problems. But I also had a doctor who recognized what was happening.

Wow, Linda

Great testimony!

You and Ed need to write a book... with alternating chapters - His Story - Her Story.

And it looks like you are taking lessons from Ed on cliff hangers, huh!

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joy b2u,
Karen
__________________
Look up!! He's coming!!

Ed picked it up from her.
She's good at it.

Well, the last post of this part is coming up. People who have thought I was nuts before will now find a leg to stand on.

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For I know that my redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
_________________________

Linda