Spiritual Warfare

If you're Christian and you've been around adoption long, you've probably considered the thought that there is spiritual warfare ongoing during adoption. I was just talking to one of my friends about this this morning, and then another old friend posted THIS on her blog, about a very "in your face" experience with satan's desire to "keep" her son (from Liberia).

You should really GO AND READ that post before continuing to read this one. {EDITED: Unfortunately, the original story that was posted has been taken down because of negative comments. That's really unfortunate. Let me just say, what you read below about Taevy is a fraction of what happened with the boy in this story.}

What do you think? Does that seem over the top to you? Do you think something like that is actually possible? How REAL can spiritual warfare become? How often does it leave the spirit world and become visible to the naked eye?

A basic definition I found for Spiritual Warfare is: The concept that demons attempt to thwart good, and the will of God.

There are lots of beliefs about spiritual warfare. Some believe that this battle is ongoing in the background of life--nothing that really hits you in the face each day. Others believe that this battle can very much become a part of your every day life--especially if you are "hitting satan where it hurts"--winning people to Christ, showing the love of Christ, etc.. In my personal observation it seems that those who are more in-tune with Christ might recognize the spiritual warfare going on around them, while those who are living a more "luke warm" life may not really see it (or may not be such a target, since they pose little threat to satan).

I was raised in the church and was certainly taught about spiritual warfare. An example of what I perceived spiritual warfare to be might include stuff like oversleeping on a Sunday morning, or everything going wrong when you had something planned that would make satan unhappy. It wasn't until we adopted that I realized how very "in your face" spiritual warfare could become.

Taevy is our attachment-challenged child. Her heart and soul are extremely sensitive. This is the child who, at 18 months old (and without any sort of prompting from me) said, "I miss my 'Bodia mommy." Taevy has always had trouble sleeping. Even now she tosses and turns and talks in her sleep all night long. She also grits her teeth. But when she was younger, she had night terrors--or at least that's how doctors would define them.

A night terror is simply defined as "a sleep disorder where sleeping is interrupted by anxiety, panic or screaming." So at its simplest definition, Taevy experienced night terrors. However, they were so much more. Our sweet daughter looked to be awake. She would stare right at us as she screamed in terror. She would speak to us and beg us to make "it" or "them" stop.

Here's sort of what it was like.

Eric and I awake to our daughter screaming in terror. We go into her room to see her kicking and thrashing in her bed. She knows we are there and screams at us, "Make them stop mommy!!!! They're eating my feet! They're biting me!" At first we would assume this was a dream she couldn't get out of. We'd pretend (for her benefit) that we were telling "them" to get off of her. We'd swipe at imaginary things to get away from her feet--sort of like you'd make sure there were no monsters in the closet for an imaginative 3 year old.

This went on for years though. And the longer it went on, the more serious it got. Sometimes her terrors would last for hours. Maybe I should have immediately thought of the spiritual realm, but I didn't. I don't know why--suppose I wasn't mature enough at the time. We never got the terrors to stop. She eventually just worked through them. Nothing we did (trying to calm her, swooshing away the things at her feet, etc.) helped at all. We just held her through them. It happened 3-5 times a week.

One time one of my friends sent me a vial of oil that had been prayed over. She asked me just to humor her--to pray over Taevy with it, and then put the vial under her mattress. Now, this seemed FAR OUT to me. The church I was brought up in did NOT put any value in "things" as being holy. Nothing supernatural about oil or water or a religious relic. Nevertheless, I prayed over Taevy and put the vial under her mattress. IMMEDIATELY we saw a difference in Taevy's sleep. In fact, I don't believe she had another night terror at that house.

Before long we moved. And somehow in the move we lost that vial of oil. [Again, not that the vial was "magical", but *something* made a difference.] As soon as we moved into this house the night terrors started again. They went to a whole new level. At this point we very much believed that this was a spiritual battle over our daughter. We went to battle for her when these terrors hit. These "things" (we now believe to have been demons) were chewing her feet and legs. They were attacking her. We started praying intensely over our daughter when these terrors came. And we could SEE the battle raging inside of her. Satan doesn't like us to call upon the blood of Jesus! He doesn't like us to request a hedge of angels to protect our loved ones!

On the worst night--the last night--seeing our daughter was very much like what you see in those "ghost" shows--where someone is supposed to be posessed by demons. Weird voices came out of her, talking to Eric and I, saying things like, "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" and "GET AWAY FROM HER!" [These words are coming out of Taevy's mouth, with her eyes rolled back in her head.] Oh, it was scary--except that we know that Christ has power over satan if only we call upon him.

The next day after that battle we walked from room to room, and around the exterior of our house, anointing each door with oil. We taught our children to pray each night before sleeping that the "blood of Jesus" would protect them and that he would send a hedge of angels to stand over their beds each night as they slept. Honestly, our kids were a bit freaked out thinking about angels standing around their beds each night, but they got over it! LOL!

I can't say that we never deal with spiritual warfare. We do--all the time. But for us, being proactive to call upon the blood of Jesus and his angels, has made a huge difference in our home each night. Yes, we still have bad dreams. Yes, satan still attacks the family when we're doing something he doesn't like. But we've never again seen demonic forces like those that Taevy experienced.

These are just an example of the way satan attacks Taevy. I won't take the time to talk about the other kids right now.

Bottm line: I absolutely believe satan HATES adoption. I think he hates adoption even more when kids that may have grown up out of Christianity are brought into Christian homes. I believe he hates it even MORE when the kids we adopt are from families where long lines have belonged to satan through other religions.

With our kids, it seems that satan wants to keep a greater hold on some over others. He does NOT want to let go of Taevy. She has to battle constantly to grow in Christ. He does NOT want to let go of Bright. There is an anger and sadness in him that is deep to the core--like a generational curse that must be broken. Satan's efforts towards Samren and Kendi are less "in your face" (so far). I wonder why that is. Kendi's family was Muslim, so at least she has a family history where the one true God has been worshipped for generations. [Please no discussions on Islam. I'm not going there.] I don't pretend to know all of the factors...

Bottom line: If you are Christian and you are building your family through adoption, be ready to fight for your kids. Get ready to fight to get them home. HARD! And know that the battle doesn't necessarily end once they are on U.S. soil. It is ongoing. It can be very "in your face." Get ready. Sharpen your weapons now. Don't wait. If I would have been aware, I could have saved Taevy from years of demonic attack. This is much more than just shooing pretend monsters from the closet.

Anita