Some thoughts for today.
Yesterday, the enemy attempted what he does best - to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). He tried to take my husband's life. But we know that no weapon formed against us will prosper (Isaiah 54:17). And God certainly saved Carston's life (andsaved his new kayak at that!)
When I got the call that they could not find him and that the Coast Guard was searching for him, I had a choice to make. As his wife, I could have melted down. I could have lost my cool and went into hysterics, and relied on my amazing friends (who were out there with me) to be my strength as we waited and prayed (so grateful for the Mergards and McInnis's).
But here's what happened: I chose to SPEAK LIFE. My friend Deb called me and gave me Psalm 91:11 to cling to ("For He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways") and another dear friend, Bec, sent me a voice message with almost exactly the same prayer and verse. I found that as I strengthened myself in the Lord through prayer in the Spirit and through declaring LIFE over Carston and the circumstances - although I was shaking a little flustered in my physical body - my Spirit was ALIVE. And I was full of peace.
When I arrived at the launching point and had to speak to the police, I began to find out that it was worse than we had originally anticipated. He was truly NO WHERE to be found, though there were several boats and helicopters out. For a moment I felt squeezed to the point of barely breathing....and yet what came out of me was not fear or anxiety, but the peace of Jesus. I KNEW what the Lord had promised me. I KNEW that angels were out on assignment to bring my husband home to me. I KNEW that he was not dead but ALIVE and that God would be glorified in all of this.
Again...I had a choice. In fact, I probably had choice after choice as the enemy tried his hardest to get my thoughts to turn to the worst case scenario. YET STILL, I had my Truth Dagger from Psalm 91 (I had a few truth daggers, actually) and I was not allowing what we saw in the natural to dictate a single thing to me.
Meanwhile, my amazing husband was treading water with just a little floating device for over 2 hours. He saw helicopters fly over him time and time again, without seeing him. My heart sank as I heard him calmly relay the feeling of being out in the middle of water, tired and cold and seeing rescuers who just don't see him. Several nautical miles from land and hundreds of meters away from his kayak, all he could do was stay afloat and TRUST JESUS. He, too, chose to cling to TRUTH and not give in to lies from the devil. He told me, "I had peace the whole time. I just KNEW that I'd be ok. God had me."
Jesus is SO GOOD y'all. I don't even have the words to describe what happened...nearly every detail seemed a miracle. From his one broken phone call to Rob before the boat overturned (and the only words heard were to call the Coast Guard)...to the fact that we had a hoard of people praying, all at the same time....to the fact that he was rescued 15 minutes before his body gave out due to fatigue and cold. To the fact that our amazing Pastor Katherine declared he'd be found within 30 minutes after we spoke to her, and he was found 20 minutes later. The fact that so many of us were declaring Psalm 91 over him, and we KNOW that JESUS is the one who saved Him. He's just SO GOOD.
And when you have the choice - to either cling to TRUTH and believe or to allow what you see in the natural to overwhelm you and partner with despair - always choose God's truth. Because He never lies. He never leaves you or forsakes you. His beauty and faithfulness has no end.
So truly grateful to be able to hug my HEALTHY husband this morning. <3 I love you Jesus, oh so much.