PART II

IT ONLY TOOK ONE BURING BUSH FOR MOSES TO GIVE FULL ATTENTION TO GOD...... IT TOOK A FOREST FIRE BEFORE I GAVE MY FULL ATTENTION TO GOD....  AND THERE ARE STILL OCCASIONAL  SMALL BURING BUSHES, I PRETEND I DON'T SEE....

THE FACT THAT I AM SHARING MY STORY WITH YOU... MEANS I SURVIVED RIGHT?  OR IT COULD BE THAT I AM A PRETTY CLEVER GHOST...

ONE OF THE THINGS I LEARNED FROM THAT EPISODE WAS THAT WE ARE INDEED WONDEROUSLY MADE.  I WAS STABBED SEVEN TIMES, AND I ONLY FELT THE FIRST.... BECAUSE MY BODY WENT INTO SHOCK, WHILE MY MIND WENT INTO HIGH GEAR FOR SURVIVAL.... FORTUNATELY, THE YOUNG MAN HAD A SWITCH BLADE KNIFE THAT WAS INCAPABLE OF PENITRATING MY INTERNAL ORGANS.... AND FORTUNATELY, I FELL FACE FIRST OVER MY SOFA, EXPOSING ONLY MY BACK TO HIS ATTACKS.  AND FORTUNATELY, I HAD SEEN ENOUGH MOVIES OR TELEVISION IN MY LIFE THAT ILLUSTRATED WHAT PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY ARE DYING... SO AS HE WAS ATTACKING ME, I LET OUT A BIG GROAN, HELD MY BREATH, AND LAY PERFECTLY STILL, UNTIL I HEARD HIM RUN AWAY, AND COULD HEAR HIS STEPS AT THE END OF MY DRIVEWAY.... THEN I LAY ON MY SOFA (UNTIL I REMEMBERED THAT I WAS BLEEDING) NOT WANTING TO STAIN MY SOFA, I GOT UP AND SAT IN A CHAIR.... AND I BEGAN TO TALK TO GOD..... BEFORE CLOSING AND LOCKING MY DOOR AND EVEN BEFORE CALLING FOR HELP... (to be continued)

PART I

This God ...  the God of my mother,

the God of my grandmothers,

the God of my aunts ----

this God was calling me..

and it would take some time 

  before I would begin hear,

that I would  listen,

that I would begin to learn of Him,

and begin to walk with Him and obey!

I had just learned that my mother was very ill...how could I afford the fare to go home to Chicago to see her? My thoughts wearied me, and I fell asleep on my living room sofa.  Is that someone at my window? My little poodle was growling and barking in a way that I'd never heard her do before - and I was awaken and heard the sound at the window.  There were window guards on the window, so I thought (feeling unduly safe) , Oh, it's probably a cat.  There was a knock at the door.  Who can that be at this hour?  It must be 2 or 3 a.m.  I went to the door which had no peephole, and said, "Who is it?"  The voice replied “it's Ricky”..... Oh, I thought, it's my neighbor's son. I'd just saved Ricky the other day.  His older brother had him down on the ground in my driveway, and was attempting to strike him with a pitchfork, when I intervened.  Oh, I thought, it must be Ricky and his brother is after him again! I opened the door.... It was not Ricky...it was someone I'd never seen before (but somehow intuitively knew that he was the person who had broken into my home while I was away, a couple of weeks ago and.... although I had never seen him before - I knew why he had come).  The young man rushed me... I attempted to fight, and then realized that I was at a disadvantage as the knife went into my lower side.  This.... was a turning point in my life.

(To be continued)