I can remember on 3 occasions, answering the door to the police. The first time, I was visiting my dad around Christmas in Oregon, and I was awakened by the pounding on the door. When I answered, the police asked me if we were ok. My dad was passed out on the couch and I couldn’t wake him. I remember being a bit shaken up when I went back to bed; I was afraid. Years later, I would learn that my mother had called the police because Dad had called her in a fit of drunken rage. The second time was in December of 1982 and again was in the middle of the night. They told me to get my brother and go next door where our mother was waiting for us. That night, they took us to a safe house and in the morning, my mother allowed me to call Mr. Colwell. Darrell Colwell, would take us in and become the father I never had.

Many of us have grown up with some type of family trauma. It may be divorce, physical or emotional abuse, or simply neglect. There are too many families today that are shattered and too many children who are broken. Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Christ is knocking on the door of your heart. He is asking you to open the door and receive the love and protection that he is offering. The police officers who came to me in the middle of the night, did so because they were concerned for me. They wanted me to be protected and safe. 

We all struggle with something; depression, anxiety, gluttony–just name your poison. But your poison doesn’t have to become your prison. When we seek God, he will restore us; he will forgive us. Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Sadly, my dad was never quite able to conquer those demons that stalked him. At the age of 51 years old, they finally got the best of him and he died alone, drunk in a hotel room. As I sit here writing, I struggle. How can I express my hope? Even after everything–my hope is built on nothing else than Christ! This blog is called, “Chased by the devil” and that is because I am daily in a battle. But my hope comes from him whom I have given my heart to. I answered his knock and I accepted his love and forgiveness. 

I have so many stories to tell of his love and protection; his forgiveness and his grace! I have so much to share that I struggle how to put it all on paper. But friend, do you hear him knocking on the door of your heart? Won’t you invite him in? Sit and talk with him and let the peace of his spirit fill the void that is in your life.