My heart pounded as I crawled back under the mosquito netting. I wiggled my toes and reached down and felt my foot and ankle. No, there was no evidence of a sting.

It was Friday midnight when I got up to find my phone. There was only a little light coming from the mostly closed bathroom door as I walked across the cement floor. Suddenly my foot landed on something that moved. Reflexively lifting my foot, I saw a dark shape skitter toward the wall. I let out a muffled scream as I jumped back on my bed. That looks like a black scorpion! I thought as I peered at it. I had never encountered one of these creatures, but I had heard stories of the pain their stings inflict. I snapped a picture of it with my phone before it scurried along the wall and under my bed. Uh-oh. He can’t crawl up the legs of the bed, can he? I wondered. No, I reasoned. He will likely try to find a dark place to hide and avoid any more human contact.

Only a couple days earlier, I had removed charcoal bandages from both of my ankles after going through many painful days of healing after an allergic reaction to spider bites. Now I lay on the bed silently praising God for saving me from a scorpion sting and claiming His promises in Psalm 91. When I came to the part “You shall not be afraid of the terror . . . nor the pestilence that walk in darkness . . .” my body began to relax, and I sang in my heart, “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good to me.” Sleep finally came.
The next day, we discovered the scorpion’s hiding place under my roommate’s suitcase and made short work of it.

Just like that unexpected and unwanted midnight visitor, Satan comes to spoil our lives through temptations, heartaches or anything else he can use to rob us of our peace with Jesus. We must always be on guard and connected with the Holy Spirit in order to make the right choices and return to peace with God.

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