My daughter is my hero

I want to thank all of you who have been praying for my family over the past day and a half since I first posted our need for prayer late Sunday night. While I don't feel it would be appropriate to get into all of the details of what we're going through, I do feel compelled to share a little bit so that you can pray with more intentionality.

You know, while many today want to paint the enemy of our souls as a myth, I trust God's word which tells me that he is a real being and truly is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; and that he only shows up in a person's life with his agenda to steal, to kill, and to destroy. (See I Peter 5:8; John 10:10a)

With that said, on Sunday afternoon, my Macey was attacked by two different teenage boys, while she was walking home from a friend's house. This happened in broad daylight in a very public part of the neighborhood. What she went through for the next hour is horrific, but I want to be quick to say, she fought and she fought HARD. What the first attacker wanted to accomplish, he was unable to do because my daughter fought with everything in her! Thankfully, we found her in time before they could gang up on her together.

Just last night she said, "Momma, I could tell God was with me the whole time." I said, "Really? How could you tell honey?" And she said, "He was talking to me the whole time." Remember, Macey doesn't think in words--only in pictures--so when she had words in her mind--telling her to fight, telling her she wasn't alone, telling her she didn't have to let this kid do this to her--it was because her Father was with her. He walks through the fire with His children.

We are dealing now with the aftermath, but not on our own. We filed the appropriate reports and we are surrounding my Macey with support. (Both boys have confessed to all of the charges.) She and I are spending a lot of time together. Her sister is spending a lot time with her. She is incredibly sore and feels very, very weak. But that child is so stinking brave!!! I keep reminding her that she is a hero to girls who don't even know her because she has kept them from being attacked-- she fought back and she told us so we could stand with her to fight this battle alongside her. She is a hero to me!

You know, Jesus was not kidding when he told us we would experience tribulation in this world. Boy, do we ever! But He also wasn't kidding when he told us to "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (See John 16:33) But you know what else he said? He told us that he was letting us know these things so that we could have peace. I've experienced many times an internal peace when an external peace was not within my reach. This is certainly one of those times.

Because of your prayers, we are all feeling tremendous peace in the midst of this awful storm. And, I'll tell you this: After hearing how hard my baby girl fought off that huge teenage boy and then the next one who came after her, I have never been more inspired to fight the REAL enemy than I am right now!

I can't thank you enough for caring about our family and letting us know you're praying for us. Thank you, also, for using discretion in any responses to this and as you interact with my family in the coming days as we continue to heal from this. I wish I could share more details to paint a vivid picture of how heroic my daughter really is. I am in awe.

Remembering that "Sometimes God allows the very thing He hates in order to bring about the very thing He loves." (Joni Eareckson Tada)

Because He First Loved me,
Shelley