Scratching Sounds and a Missing Shoe

 

By: Charity Gutierrez

So yesterday in the wee hours of the morning I was up writing my “faith like a child” blog when I started to hear a scratching sound coming from behind my bed.  It started faint and I tried to ignore it, but then I heard it again- “scratch scratch tap tap”. 

Now months ago I had a similar experience and it turned out to be s spider that had made its way into my children’s bible story book- which is another story all of its own- but I mention it because my first thought was “It is probably just another bug scurrying across some paper”. 

But then it kept getting louder and louder.  My heart started beating faster as I remembered my husband making mention of a rat he had seen run across our driveway about a week ago in the late evening.  And a new thought popped in my mind, “But what if it is not just a little bug?” Then another, ”What if it is a rat?!”  Then another, “What if it is right behind my head board ready to jump out at me at my slight movement of a pillow?  And  another, “What if the minute I look under my bed skirt it jumps out at me.”  At this point I had pretty much made up my mind,  ”It is a rat- and if it is not a rat it is a huge bug that is going to jump out at me the moment I go to look for it.”  And in a moment of great valor I quickly evacuated me and my daughter out of  the room, shoving a towel under the door and called my mother!  I just laugh thinking about it now- but it was not funny yesterday at 3:30 in the morning. 

My mom encouraged me.  And assured me “A rat won’t keep moving about under your bed with you there.”  She tells me later that she was secretly holding back her laughter as she knows how I hate cockroaches.  She told me “It’s probably just a bug scratching around in some papers.” (My original thought) and then, “You are 5′4″ and with a broom in your hands you’d be a very scary adversary for a bug.”  At this point I had become a refugee on my sofa.   Kicked from my homeland due to a frightening noise.   We talked and prayed.  I felt better- and a bit ridiculous. 

Now it was almost 5:00 am but I couldn’t sleep.  Not with some potential rodent on the loose in my room.  Then God mustered up my courage in me.  I did what my momma said to- I grabbed a broom and pushed the door open slowly- then I grabbed my other weapon of choice my husband’s shoe which I had brought out when I first heard the scratching but abandoned it when I left the room in fear.  It was sitting on the bed right where I left it. 

I saw no sign of rat droppings and heard no scratching sound.  I walked on top of my bed and with a  big breath (and my big broom and big shoe) investigated behind the headboard… nothing.  Next, I got as far back from my bed as I could and got down on my belly- a move I considered quite brave- and lifted the bed skirt with the end of my broom.. no rat.  I did find two crinkled papers and then something else- my daughter’s missing shoe.

Why is this significant?- well my son and I had been searching for it for days.  Last night (before the scratching- much earlier in the evening) in the midst of my cleaning he  kept bringing me her same shoe over and over because for whatever reason it kept getting moved around.  Each time he brought it he would say, “I found her other shoe!”  I would reply, “Nope it is still the same one you just think it is different because it was moved somewhere else.”  Yet once I mustered up the courage to face my fears of the unknown I found the missing shoe.  Before the scratching I had one little shoe, for the search I used my husband’s shoe, and in the midst of the search I found the missing shoe. 

Then I saw it- making its way up my bed skirt.  Only two feet away from where my daughter had been resting. I quickly knocked it down to the carpet and assaulted it with my husband’s shoe.  It laid there in shock- still moving.  And here is the great source of the horrendous scratching sound:

 

I showed my boys its’ picture in the morning.  After I told them about the horrible scratching sound I had heard.  They said “Woooww.”  Then I said, you want to see how big it was?” 

My three year old looked at me with a confounded look on his face and said, “That’s not big.”  I just laughed. 

Oh how funny God can be and how clever in His lessons.  He exposes our weaknesses not to crush us- but to make us stronger.   This situtation really spoke to me.  Like hearing his voice say, “You are my daughter.  You cannot walk in power if you walk in doubt and fear. I am Your Maker and Your Husband.  What strikes fear in you does not shake me.  As you lift me up in praise I will strengthen you and sweep away your fears.  Turn to me and I  will cover your weaknesses.  You will always be made whole when you first reach for me.  Apart from me you are nothing but with me you are unstoppable.”

Can you believe that just as I finished writing those words- a bug exactly like the one from last night came running by my base board.  The closest shoe in reach was my daughter’s shoe – the one I found last night.  I got ahold if it but realized “This is too small and what if she puts it in her mouth after killing the thing- bad choice”.  I looked quickly for my husband shoe but it was buried all the way in the back of our walk in closet.  As I looked for a shoe the bug was scurrying.  Running from me- it hid under a nightstand.  In that moment I saw my shoes- both of them together.  I grabbed one and quickly pulled back the nightstand- exposing the thing and killing it instantly.  How awesome of an ending is that!  When I gave Him praise- my “little girl shoes” were transformed into my “new balance” shoes.  I get it God- always keep the focus on you- direct the praises to you.  Maintain my newness with the proper balance.  One where the scales are tipped completely in your favor.  I love you my Lord.  Thank you for using every situation (even odd ones like this) for your glory. 

2 Corinthians 12:10
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.