The power of limestone

I had a few snake visitors this fall. Oddly, out of the ten years that I’ve lived here I’ve only seen one snake and that was shortly after I had moved in. So, the first snake that I saw this fall was right before Hurricane Florence hit. I was walking into my house after lifting the garage door. When I came back out of the house to walk back through the garage I saw a snake. I tried to figure out how to get it out of the garage but it was moving too quickly for me to really react. I called 311 to see if I could get assistance but they said I would have to call an animal removal company. I texted my sisters and asked them to pray for me. I realized at that point that I was going to have to take care of this situation on my own. I went inside to get a fireplace fork and then all of a sudden I heard my neighbor start his lawnmower. I thanked God and ran over and asked him to help me remove the snake.

After that encounter, I decided I would purchase more limestone. I already had a half a bag of it but I didn’t know if it was still good since I had the bag for so long. I purchased it when I first moved into my house.

Fast forward to a month later I was cutting my high grass. It was the last cut of the season. I’m cutting the grass and all of a sudden I come across what looked to be a black stick. I thought that was odd and said to myself, ‘Hmph, where did that stick come from?’ Mind you, I don’t have trees in my back yard, they are much farther in the distance. So it was odd to see this black stick. Then all of a sudden I saw the head raise up on the stick. I began to panic, thinking… OMG. This is a snake. Should I try to run over it with the lawn mower? No, what if the blades are not low enough and I miss him all together? Then I remembered that I had the lime in the garage. I ran to get it and begin to try to throw the lime on the snake. He was running away towards the grass at the outer edge of the yard. I was kind of freaking out and called my mom on the phone to tell her about it. I told her that I didn’t want to finish cutting the grass. I was thinking about calling someone to finish it. Then I decided to continue cutting the grass because it was so high and I knew it could be a few days before it would get done.

So as I continue cutting the grass, I’m thinking about the snake and am watching for anything else that looks like a black stick. Lo and behold, I come near the area where I saw the first snake and what do I see with his head sticking up. Not one, but two black snakes. They were smaller but still snakes. I felt a little more confident this time, though. I immediately left the lawnmower to go get the bag of lime. When I came back I didn’t see them anymore but I just spread the lime all over the place.

By that time, I was feeling more confident. I continued to cut the grass but I was on the look out for sticks in the grass and little black heads sticking up from the ground. I was like… Yeah, I got something for y’all now. I’m ready for you. I had NO fear at all. Just waiting to see one because I had that lime on hand. I finished cutting the grass with no more snakes appearing and was happy about that.

The same way you feel confident and unafraid of those snakes with your lime is the same way you should feel knowing that I’ve given you power and authority.

During the time that I was looking for them feeling all confident with my lime, I felt like the Lord began to speak to my spirit about this situation. The scripture Luke 10:19 came to my mind, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (NKJV) He said, “The same way you feel confident and unafraid of those snakes with your lime is the same way you should feel knowing that I’ve given you power and authority.

I was wowed. Here I had been given a real life situation of how that scripture works. God has given us power and authority over the enemy. When I had that lime in hand, I knew I was in control then. I was empowered. But prior to that, I was afraid to finish cutting the grass because I didn’t want to see anymore snakes.

After I had decided that I would continue cutting the grass, there were a few times that I said, “God, you didn’t give me a spirit of fear, but love, power and a sound mind.” The enemy wants us to walk in fear not knowing the power that we have over him.

The next day I went to Lowes to buy more limestone. The area where it was located was blocked off so I had to ask for assistance to get it. When the guy asked me if I wanted the powder or pellets, I said, ‘I’ll take a bag of both. I saw 3 snakes yesterday!’