SEVERAL NIGHTS AGO as I was sitting on my couch, suddenly I felt something BIG on me! Immediately I looked down, screamed (of course) and flung a very not so itsy-bitsy spider off of my left hand!!!

HE WAS SO BIG!
And: he was grey with black lines. Mainly he was grey and BIG, with a lot of legs!! I think he liked me! After I far flung him, it seemed he truly wanted to come back and say, “Hi!” to me! Why do I say this? Because he did come back! From another direction he was getting near to me again! Who knows if he did? I mean, my dog and cat love me, my squirrels and birds and bunnies we feed keep coming back and seem to understand and trust me – to a point. Spiders are smart!!

But there is more!

Believe it or not – I do! – he came back several days later. Again he was near to me. Oh my! I spotted him first thankfully very soon this time after I sat down on the floor to put on makeup. I put my mirror on a folding chair, my makeup on a beach towel, my water, gel, and comb nearby with a wet cloth to wash the gel off. I’ve also got a blow dryer to heat up my eyelash curler (good trick!) I love that blow dryer now!

SUDDENLY I saw him! He was right at the edge of our fireplace. I didn’t think it was him again… He looked long and skinny like maybe a centipede (ugh! I just googled images of them so I could spell ‘centipede’ correctly!)

Sadly, because I do hate to kill anything (except wasps; there’s another story right there) I reached for a full-sized paper towel, not crumpled, but ready for cover, grasp, and conquer of the bug!!

Boy! Could this little guy move! He got away faster than belief! And he headed for the TV stand in the opposite direction!!

Yes! Partial victory!

But I could still see him…

Wisely, and with a prompting from God, I took my blow dryer, aimed… and blasted! I was especially nice: I set it for ‘cool’ not ‘hot.’ I really hate killing spiders. They are magnificent! Have you ever seen a sparkling spider’s web? In the sun they shimmer and remind me of a beautiful crocheted doily. Do you appreciate their appetites? Please check out the good they do!

I took my immensely valuable blow dryer, aimed, shot and rejoiced, knowing I could blow him away!

I believe it! He actually tried strongly to walk against the blowing air towards me! I do think he likes me! Then I told him: “You are not allowed in my house! You need to leave! I don’t want to kill you! I love you! Now, if you don’t want to be killed, don’t let me see you!” I actually did say this. And do you know what he did?

After I gave him that lecture, I shot him again!

Beloved, my hope is that he left for outside, for good!
And the moral of this story is: we’re both doing good!

PLEASE NOTE: If you’ve read my book, Joy Stories, Volume One, I’d like to draw your attention again to the story about my beloved squirrel, Herbie. This short story is entitled, Herbie In The Garage, A Squirrel Tale. Herbie did what I told him to that day! True story!

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FOR THIS JOY STORY:

BEING IN CHRIST JESUS:
Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

THE MINDS OF SAINTS:
1 Corinthians 2:10-16
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.  The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”  But we have the mind of Christ.

2 Timothy 1:7
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

LIKE ANTS, SPIDERS HAVE THEIR PURPOSES:
Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Don’t kill what you don’t have to.