Hearts pounding, lungs burning, we inch backward toward the precipice. Senses are on high alert with our mounting awareness of the enemy closing in. Playing the long game, he has methodically driven us out toward the edge. We can hear the stones tripping and tumbling down the cliff as we try to hold our ground. With sweat rolling down our foreheads, we thrust our swords toward the source of the snarls advancing on us, over and over again. Why can’t we cut the head off this thing? Then we hear it—the voice of our Commander, clear as if He were in the battle: “Get down.”

Immediately we lie down flat on our faces, swords gripped tightly, wondering what was about to happen. Enter slow motion. Before we even hit the ground, the enemy lunges for us with outstretched claws, teeth bared. He misses us by a sheer millisecond. We turn to see his dark form hurl over the cliff with a haunting screech. Back to real time. We exhale, but momentary relief skitters away as we realize the ground beneath us is shifting and rumbling. We’re not out of danger yet! We catch each other’s wide eyes again, realizing we are about to fall. With a top-up of adrenaline, we grab hands and shut our eyes as the cliff crumbles. 

We are falling.

What do we do? What do we do? Surely this is the end. There is no way we can survive this. All of our training was in different terrain. We have no experience here.

Again, we hear the Commander’s voice: “Fly.”

Fly? You must be joking. How can we fly, Sir?

Instantly, the wind stops and the scenery stands still around us. Has someone caught us? Is this some sort of rescue?

Again we hear the command, “Fly.”

And I realize that we are being suspended in the air by giant, pulsing wings—on our own backs! Where had they come from? Had they been there all along and we didn’t know? Whatever their genesis, we were now in possession of wings. Talk about a game changer. The more we began to move them, the more we instinctively understood how to make them work. So we set our sights back on our target. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Imagination and allegory give a poignant glimpse into the hiddenness of the spiritual reality of daily life. Our past several months serving on the mission field have been intense, to say the least. Although the opening story is allegorical, it describes our experiences perfectly. We have been backed out on a precipice, fallen off a cliff as the ground gave way under us, and flailed in a freefall. We have stood our ground against the enemy with sweat rolling down our brows and we have eaten dirt as we hit the ground to avoid his full takedown. But we have also experienced our wings. 

We have never been in this exact situation before, and we have no training to tell us what to do, other than listen for the voice of the Lord. When He speaks, we live.  

This past week, we were blindsided by some trouble with our daughter’s school. The administration let us know that because she spent a semester in Texas in a ballet program the first semester, she could receive no credit for her ninth grade year—even for the semester she completed (with flying colors) here at the high school. Their only solution was for her to repeat ninth grade. She was devastated. She came back to Berlin in January and worked so hard to catch up in classes—she finished the second semester with A’s and B’s on her report card, too! Telling her that all her work was for nothing just about sent her over the edge. To make matters even worse, the school demanded we make a decision in less than 24 hours. 

We cried, we prayed, we talked. We cried some more. We stayed awake through the night asking the Lord what we should do. I had the fleeting thought to look up the graduation requirements for a Christian boarding school for missionary kids in southwestern Germany, so I started some research. Suffice it to say, this other school will accept all her credit from last semester, plus online credit recovery for the one class she would still be missing to meet their requirements! And they would be willing to enter her as a junior in the following school year (2020/2021)! 

This was not on our radar, nor would we have sought out a move like this during the remainder of her high school years—especially living as missionaries and dealing with a huge daily load of spiritual and cultural opposition to our mission. But the more we step into this, the more we see the Lord’s leading in it. He is moving her. She fell off a cliff, but she has (and so have we) discovered wings. 

What the enemy means for evil, the Lord means for good. Every time. (Genesis 50:20) 

When you are in a freefall, realize that the Lord empowers you to fly. (Isaiah 40:30-31)

Even when it feels like you are alone, you most certainly are not. (Exodus 33:14)

And the Lord is so good—especially in the middle of your battles. He is there. He is fighting for you. And He gives you everything you need at precisely the right moment. 

“I hear the Lord saying, ‘I will stay close to you, 

instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life.

I will advise you along the way

And lead you forth with my eyes as your guide.

So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn

When I take you where you’ve not been before.

Don’t make me tug you and pull you along.

Just come with me!’”

Psalm 32:8-9 TPT