On October 5, 1995, I was leaving a charismatic prayer meeting late at night.
Just before I left the meeting, I had a sense to receive prayer before leaving. So, I
asked the prayer group leader to pray for me. I remember that he had asked for
God's angels to protect me that night.
As approached the parking garage to my apartment complex, I noticed there
were four males standing right outside the garage door security gate. When I looked
over at them, they turned away as if to pretend that they were not paying attention to
me. The truth was they were in fact paying attention, and were planning to get inside
the parking garage after I drove in. After the garage door opened, I proceeded to drive in and park my car. Then as I exited the car, two out of the four males approached me, and one of them had a gun. As the one with the gun approachd me the other one stood back and watched. They appeared to be juveniles.
As the eldest one approached me, he pointed the gun to my face. He stated,"Give me your purse." My first thoughts were, "Why is this happening to me? This is not supposed to be happening to me. I am a Christian. Why is this happening?" I was in total shock and fear. For whatever reason, my reflexes were to say no to the guy asking for my purse. When he looked at the cross that I was wearing around my neck, his eyes enlarged. He then proceeded and grabbed hold of my purse. Then he said, "Give me your keys." I thought to myself, "Oh no. He is not going to have my keys." I again said no. He replied, "Do you think I’m kidding?" To be honest, at one point, the thought crossed my mind that the gun looked fake. Why I said no, I don't know. Perhaps this was the Holy Spirit at work within me and was a way as a way of protection. I begged him to not take my purse and keys. Then the guy proceeded to grab the keys from me as well. At that, I fell to the ground. I thought to myself "Is this it? Am I going to see Jesus now?" In my peripheral vision, I saw the guy raising his arm to strike me, but nothing happened.
Then suddenly I thought to say "Jesus." At that name of Jesus, the guy with the gun got angry. He stated, "Shut up. Why are you saying that? Stop saying that." I continued to say "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," and as I said the name of Jesus, faith began to rise up within me. The name of Jesus strengthened me. As my faith started to increase, I stood up. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit and said, "Now is not your time. God has a plan for your life. He wants to use you in the ministry."
For some reason at this point I had the courage to walk away from the attacker. He then followed after me. I then turned around at him and raised my hands towards him and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, do not touch me.” I began to pray in tongues, also known as praying in the spirit. He was perplexed and mystified, and did not know what to do. He looked at me and then looked backwards. He attempted to grab me several times, but something, or someone, blocked him. It was as if the angels of God were standing between us, or God had a shield around me. He was unable to penetrate the wall between us to touch me. All the while, I remember thinking to myself, "I know Jesus is real. This has to work."
Finally, after a few minutes of praying in the spirit, he gave up and began to walk away from me. As my attacker approached the car, he turned around at me one last time with a look that said he did not want to let me go. So I shouted, "Satan, you leave me alone!" He had a look of torment on his
face, and was so startled that his whole body trembled.
As he went inside my car along with the other guy, I began to run. I ran for my life. As I was running, I was thinking about the other males who did not come into the garage. I was wondering if they were going to be outside the the garage. Then, I approached the side garage door, and quickly looked around to see if anyone was standing outside before I walked out. I saw that the area was clear. I could hear my car driving away. So I had behind a another vehicle and waited until I could no longer hear the car.
After that, I stood up frightened and looked around to see if anyone was in
sight. Fortunately, there was no one around. So I approached one of the apartment
buildings. I was so scared my attackers were going to come back, or that one of the
males would be walking around. I felt stranded. I thought, "I don't have my purse, my
wallet, my keys, or my car. I cannot go home and I cannot call anyone." I was
devastated, and I began to cry.
It all hit me at that moment. I felt violated. I walked towards the apartment
complex in front of me and pushed on an intercom. A couple was up. I begged
them to help me. The man could not understand what I was saying because I kept
crying.
Suddenly, a car pulled up, and a woman who was being dropped off let me in the
building and told me what address to go to. The man who had answered the intercom
opened his door and let me use his phone to call the police. Within five minutes, the
police arrived and began to immediately ask me to file a police report.
I was so traumatized. All I could do was think about my bank cards, my credit
cards, and my bank account. I begged Jesus to spare my sanity. I called all of my
credit card companies and my bank to close my accounts as I gave my report to the
police.
Well, within half an hour, my car was found parked two blocks away. Although
my purse was never recovered, my insurance company reimbursed me for the stolen
purse. My apartment manager changed the locks to my apartment without charge.
That night, I was unable to stay in my apartment because I was so terrified. In
fact, I never stayed there again. I moved out over the next month.
The morning following the carjacking, I received prayer from a brother in
Christ. As he prayed over me, my whole body trembled. It was as if all the terror
was leaving my body. Once my body stopped trembling, a peace flooded over me, and, I was able to go about my day.
I went to the department of motor vehicles the next morning to reissue my driver’s license. I will never forget the glow in my face that was on my driver’s license picture. You could never tell by looking at that picture that I had just been carjacked the night before.
I know it was God who saved my life. Jesus saved me. The Bible says,
"Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). I thank
and praise God for his power and his strength that carried me through that night.
Looking back, it was as if I was being transported through a bubble of grace. For it
was after the fact that I felt the ramifications of what had happened. I thank and
praise God for the Holy Spirit who was so present to me. I thank and praise God for
the gift of tongues. That night I saw the power of praying in the tongues (aks praying in the spirit) and the value it has. I wish all people would open themselves up to this extraordinary gift, which is really ordinary to everyday Christian life. It has become my life. I thank and praise God that I had faithful prayer warriors who knew how to pray and bring deliverance to me.
Today, I am able to leave my home at night. However, I am always
conscientious of my surroundings and never let my guard down.
I saw spiritual warfare in action right before my eyes that night. I know
tongues are real and that tongues are for today. No one will ever tell me that tongues
are not real. No one will ever tell me that tongues are not for today. No one will
ever tell me that the spiritual realm is not real or that Satan and his demons are not
real, and no one will ever tell me that Jesus is not real. The bible is true. We can
trust what it says. We can trust that God will be faithful even when we are not
faithful, “for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
In Closing:
"For you have made the Lord my refuge. Even the Most High, your dwelling
place. No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your
ways.
They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a
stone.
You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will
trample down.
Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely
on high, because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will
rescue him and honor him.
“With long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation" (Psalm 91:9-16).