My great grandmother, Mama Nannie told me a story when I was little, that quite frankly scared the living day lights out of me. It was about a lady who lived in the mountains with her family. One day the lady's husband was gone and she needed wood for the stove, in order to heat the home and cook a meal. The lady left her children at the house to go and cut the wood. While cutting the wood, she was bitten by a rattle snake.
Determined to take the fresh cut wood home, the lady wrapped her leg, with an old piece of scarf, picked the wood up and hobbled down the dirt road. Racing through her mind were all the thoughts of what her elders had told her growing up that you can not survive a rattle snake bite, and that most people die within minutes of being bitten. Not giving up she hobbled some more down the road, her clothes now were wet from sweat and her breathing was real deep and heavy. The fifteen minute walk home seemed as eternity and with each deep breath she began to think of things that made her life happy. She recalled the day she met her husband, her wedding, the birth of her children, the days of sitting around the wood stove making stew, the smell of rain and with all these thoughts she began to feel better. Finally making it home, she collapsed at the door, her children ran over to her not knowing what was wrong. They noticed the bloody scarf on her leg and she managed to tell them what happened, the eldest child wanted to go and fetch the family doctor who lived five miles down the dirt road. Sitting up the lady, told her children don't worry about me, I will be alright. Amazed at their mother's words, they began to cry, she encouraged them not to cry but to help her up. She told them I have lived a full life and I know God, but before I leave this place there are a few things that I must do.
Motioning with her index finger she told her son, to put the wood in the stove and to start the fire, so that the house would be warm and so that they could cook. With each passing second the mother found something to do, she hobbled to sink and started prepping the food, she wanted to make sure the children had food to eat until their father came home in a few days. In more ways than one she was preparing them for her death. She uttered to them where they can find certain things that they may need in the future. The clothes were washed on the washing board and the dinner was now prepared. Her words became few and her deep breaths were getting shallow by the minute. The once vibrant woman was at the end of her life and she knew it, at her request they all sat at the kitchen table while she laid on a make shift cot in the kitchen, her eyes dim, she watched the children slowly eat their food.
One of the children began to call her mother's name, the woman barely alive said I am going to sleep and when I wake up, I will be ok, everything will be ok...crying the children understood their mother was saying goodbye. Trying to make her comfortable, the children took her the cot to the bedroom. Night had fallen and the only lights were those in the sky, the stars. The children could hardly stay awake as they were torn with grief. In the middle of the night one of the children woke up to check the mother's pulse....as he walked closer he heard his mom reciting ..."The Lord's Prayer", chiming in with his mother he began saying the passage over and over. Time passed and the woman's vital signs was getting better after each time the verse was recited. Daylight came and the woman was better she was healed.
The woman is like all of us, who have been bitten by a snake in life, it could be in relationships, on our jobs, in our finances and even our health. What I found most interesting about this story is that the woman despite her circumstance kept going. She knew she had to get the wood home, she had to wash the clothes and prepare enough food for the family. What this woman had was a WILL TO LIVE. Today you may find yourself in a similar situation and the bite hurts, but God doesn't want you to give up, he wants you to stay in the race, because someone is depending on you to survive, you do matter! Speak the word over your circumstance, pray and watch God do a miracle in your life. Be encouraged, weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning, while you may have cried last night, you can rejoice, it's morning!
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