Jesus Always Wins - Val's Story, Chap 20

God rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of His dear Son. (Colossians 1:13, Good News Translation)

 How many times over the years had I lain awake in bed at night, wondering where Val was, when she’d be home, how she’d get home? How many times in recent years would I check her location on Google Maps before going to sleep and again at 2 a.m. only to find she was still at the bar? How many times did I wait for the phone to ring or the doorbell to ring?

          The weekend before she took her life, she had been invited to a baby shower out of town with my husband and me. Instead of coming with us, though, she planned to go camping with her boyfriend. But then rain popped up in the forecast, so they stayed home and went to the bar instead. On the way home, Val got stopped for her third OWI.

          Instead of it being a wake-up call, the drunk driving ticket only reinforced her need to drink, and she spiraled out of control. When I talked to Dr. Katie a few weeks later, she told me that Val’s blood alcohol that night had been 0.2. The legal limit is 0.08, and a level of 0.3 to 0.4 is lethal in most people. 

          That Friday night, the demon in her head, which was pushing her to drink and telling her that her life might as well be over, told her to pick up the gun and pull the trigger. He thought that he had won, that he could take her away with him.

          But after an agonizing Saturday of making phone calls, I was in the shower the next morning when God came to me and said, “NO!”

          He clearly told me that the devil had not won, that in that final instant, Jesus slayed those demons that had been wearing her down and announced to Satan that he was done. And Jesus took her gently in His arms and carried her to heaven.

          Why He couldn’t have just carried her back to me, I do not know.

          The only thing I do know is that my baby girl had a heart for caring for others, immeasurable love, a spirit which was a little wild, and a smile more beautiful than sunrise over Lake Superior. I know that the devil was after her for half of her life because he knew her amazing qualities, and that scared him, so he kept assaulting her. But in the end, Satan never wins.  

          This is how I have faced each new day moving forward: Satan never wins. Jesus always does, even if it’s not in our time or in our way.

          And over the following weeks and months, I would need to keep returning to that resolve.