Memorial Box Monday – The Mountain Lion

Today is a really exciting day in our home. Abigail is on a plane heading home as I type. We can hardly wait and the best part is that she gets to meet her newest sister, Jubilee. {Can’t wait to post pictures for you all.} There is something so precious about having big kids come home. The last time we saw her was for Thanksgiving and that feels like it was a million years ago. Just think since Thanksgiving: Emma and I’ve been to China, Jubilee came home, we moved in our new home on the old site, Mark came home to live with us and Dw’s been to Haiti. See what I mean? Her plane is due soon but I knew I must get this Memorial Box Monday post up.
And I could not believe that last week 16 of you joined in Memorial Box Monday by linking up! I am so stinkin’ lovin’ it. Just imagine, your stories are being told to your family, friends and new bloggy friends and Lord willing, they are being reminded of their own God-sized stories….and the faithfulness of God is being broadcast around the globe! Oh Yippee Jesus!
We can’t wait to read your stories and please do feel free to use the Memorial Box Monday badge on the right sidebar.
If you are wondering what exactly a Memorial Box is it is explained here.
This is a Memorial Box Monday story that I shared about 15 months ago, but it is one of our favorites – how the Lord protects and loves His own.
So here goes:

I have mentioned that we sold our last home to get out of debt thus enabling us to adopt more kids. That home we sold we had built on a ridge. It was at 7400′ and was about 1,000 feet higher than our city. It overlooked a canyon with a breathtaking view of the Rockies. Driving up the mountain road one could look up and see the glow of our home on that ridge, but have no clue how to get to it. I loved that part. It was tucked away and serene and it sat on 7 acres.

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Since it was on a ridge there was literally no yard space at all, just 7 acres – of cliff and canyon! We were okay with that…less yard work. Infact before moving in I commented to our Abigail that I really hoped that we could put a garden in as soon as we moved in. She said, “MOM! You bought a cliff! Where do you think you will put a garden?” Ummmm, good point Ab.

Before we moved in we were hiking with our dear friend Stuart, from Phoenix. Dw, Stuart and I had decided to hike the highest peak of our ridge property….what a view we saw! But we also saw some big animal tracks that actually looked sorta’ like a mighty big putty-tat . We memorized their shape. We three all grew up the suburbs, so what did we know? We went back to the parsonage and Stuart, Dw and I looked at tracks on line. As best we could tell they were mountain lion. *gulp* Stuart then found a site with animal sounds and kept playing (over and over and over) the sound of a mountain lion roaring. Every time Stuart played the growl I would get goose bumps – dork! **even bigger gulp**

It turns out on a second hike we did with someone who was very familiar with ‘tracking’ he confirmed that it actually was a female mountain lion with her cub. It didn’t exactly warm our hearts, but we prayed with our staff, anointed our property with oil and moved in.cougar-on-the-prowl-1057905

 

About two months after moving in, at about 11 pm at night I took our little dog Boo out to the bathroom. I walked to the edge of the driveway so Boo could do his thing. It was then that I heard something. Hmmm, that’s weird. I had heard elk and deer crunching in the leaves, but this was different. It sounded like a “woosh, woosh, woosh.” It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. What was that noise? I immediately felt like the Lord said, “Get over by the house.” I quickly moved toward the house; now only about 30 feet from the front door.I stood very still. Woosh, woosh, woosh. What the heck? I mean, come on, where was that noise coming from. I have a slight hearing loss from the Multiple Sclerosis, which makes it very difficult to tell which direction sounds are coming from.I kept looking around in the pitch dark. Where was that sound coming from? And better yet, what was making the sound??? Still it continued: woosh, woosh, woosh. All of a sudden I turned and there, on the ground, right near the far end of our front porch stood a mountain lion staring at me. He was about 30 feet from me.

The wooshing was his tail!! It was humongous!! Gigantic!! Gargantuan!! And it was moving back and forth wooshing.

Silly as it sounds, my very first thought was: “My! What a big tail you have!” (how dumb was that?)

On top of that thought, my very next thought was: “They say you are more afraid of me than I am of you, so why aren’t you running?” He just stood and stared at me.
Now my next thought is kind of hard to explain, so bear with me….it happened quickly, but I felt like, for a few seconds, the Lord gave me some insight into the mountain lion. I truly felt like the Lord showed me what that Mountain Lion was thinking: “I am here because the enemy has sent me to strike fear into you, but God has closed my mouth.” (Remember I have overcome HUGE fear in my life and yes, a mountain lion would be just the ticket to strike new, paralyzing fear in me.)

Β And with that thought from the Lord, mustering all the faith I could I walked over and petted that mountain lion.

NOT!!!

Are you kidding me? I may be a faith-filled woman, and yes, Almighty God had closed that lion’s mouth but I am not a lunatic – – and I hardly doubt that Daniel, while spending the night in the lion’s den played fetch with them!!

So what this very human woman did was to turn and airlifting our dog Boo (he had a harness and leash on) in the air I ran like a crazy woman toward the porch, up the steps and in the front door. As I was running toward the porch I heard the mountain lion go under our front porch, and as big as it was, its shoulders were banging on the underside of the porch floor boards….**yikes**

Dw was still up when I came bursting through the front door and I told him about the mountain lion. We had not put curtains up yet (no neighbors to peak in our windows since we were so secluded)…but I felt like that mountain lion could be outside just watching us to see which one had the most fat on the bones and would be a tasty treat.

The next day Dw and I looked at the paw print in the mud where it had been standing. Yes, indeed, it was a big one!

We prayed for protection and were very attentive to our surroundings. A few weeks later Graham was outside at lunch time and again saw the mountain lion about 15 feet from him. At that point we asked some friends to come and pray over our home with us, which they did. We never saw another mountain lion again. Several bear, yes, but no more mountain lion.

There is no doubt that our Miracle-working, Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-Giving God had closed that mountain lion’s mouth as it stood staring at me that day and He had again closed it’s mouth when Graham saw it. And no, it’s not everyday that people have mountain lion encounters and live to tell about them.

That is why you will find a little mountain lion sitting in our Memorial Box to remind us, once again, of God’s faithful and complete protection – even closing the mouth of a lion on two separate occasions! How we thank Him for His complete protection!

23 thoughts on “Memorial Box Monday – The Mountain Lion

  1. Linny, love your mountain lion story, and the Lord's mighty protection over you, and Graham too! I am thrilled that your Abi is coming home for a visit. What a joy for sisters to finally meet! I'm smiling just thinking about it!

    I just did my Easter post last night, so will work on my MBM post for next week! Sixteen links last week, is that cool or what? And the stories are sooo wonderful! And as an added blessing–I am making new bloggy friends through the links! Lovin' it!!

    Enjoy your girl!

    Love you lots~

    Tina

  2. Wow! Such a powerful display of God's protection! Thanks for sharing!

    So happy to hear that Abi is on her way……….enjoy every single second with her!!

    Love you guys! β™₯

  3. my heart is pounding!! loved the part where you said you petted it. hahaha!
    can't wait to hear more about abi's visit. hope you have a spectacular day, visit and week!

  4. Hallelujah! What a GOD we serve! :)) He closed the mouths of the lions to protect Daniel and show Him that He is in control, and He closed the mouth of the mountain lion for you and Graham. And I know He will close the mouth of the lion for me :))
    Keep on telling the world about GOD's faithfulness, Linny!

  5. OK, I have taken the plunge and could not be more encouraged!!!! I read you say that it was a blessing to recall these stories. I found yours to be inspirational and motivating but I did not believe. I could not see what God had done for us, being as amazing as what he has done for all of you. I was blinded and in the last month God has shown me His miracles as I recall other memories. Let's just say, I was WRONG! God has done amazing things for our family and you are right, we MUST recall and RETELL them! They will be LOST forever to our children if we do not make them a priority!

    Thank you Linn for your obedience to the Lord in sharing this with all of us. I never dreamt that I could be so blessed by writing what God has done for us, let alone so excited for next week to come πŸ™‚

    Blessings, Lisa C.

  6. Oh goodness Linny! About 30 feet from the paw print you guys saw the next day, you would have found the puddle where I wet myself. πŸ˜‰

  7. You got me on the petting it part! I thought you were seriously crazy. That is a crazy scary story. I could totally imagine and picture it as I was reading it. Hope you had a wonderful Easter too!

  8. Wow, you totally had me on the "I went over and petted him" part of your story!
    Thank you for sharing your story of protection, and ENJOY your daughter's time "at home"!
    BArb

  9. Haha, I totally fell for the part about you petting the mountain lion! My heart dropped!! Good one! πŸ™‚

    Your story is amazing, though. And Graham must have been so young! I can't imagine. Only God!

    Yay for Abigail coming home! I'm excited to see pictures of her meeting Jubilee!!

    Also…I got your email (about Crazy Love), and I am working on my response. Slow, but sure. Thank you. πŸ™‚

  10. Awww…I was hoping for a nice little kitty cat pet…lol…that is awesome. It just makes me think of God's power over all His creatures and every aspect of our lives. VERY cool!!!!

  11. I just read this story to my family – you should have seen my hubby's eyes when I came to the petting part (and he grew up "in the wild", so he has some healthy respect of mountain lions), they were huge!
    The kids really enjoyed this awesome testimony as well!
    Barb

  12. Okay. My heart was beating out of my chest on that one. Boo would have been wearing doggie diapers from then on had I been in your shoes. Praise God that He closed the lion's mouth!

    When my Daniel was living in his orphanage for the two and a half years it took to get him home, we prayed daily that God would keep the mouths shut of any lions that might want to harm him.

    So happy that Abi is visiting! Can't wait to see the pics. Wow. You guys pack more into a year than most people do in a decade.

    Because of Easter and spring break this week, I didn't have time to write a MBM. But the kiddos are in bed and I'm going to enjoy reading the others linked today. Monday has become one of my favorite days of the week thanks to you.

    Much Love,
    Kathie

  13. What a cool story…I'm excited for you to have your Abi come home to meet her newest sister and spend time with her momma…I want to share a memorial box post too but don't have a blog..can I do it here??

    I think this is the coolest idea and so many stories have been coming to me that I had totally forgotten about but I will start with something that has been recent for me…I am a newly single mom to five kids and having a bit of a hard time making ends meet at times. I run a home daycare for a living. In Feb. one of my little ones was leaving as his mom had had a baby and was taking maternity leave. I was trying to fill his spot, which was difficult as he was still coming two days a week. I was in a bit of a panic. A few weeks before he was due to leave I found someone who needed care for the days that he wouldn't be needing care. I immediately responded to the ad and the lady was very excited and wanted to come meet me right away. She was looking for someone to start the very week I would be needing the additional income and lived right around the corner from me. I thought 'wow God you are amazing just placing this person here when I need her most' and was sure that once she met me she would sign the contract and all would be good to go. She didn't end up needing my services as a neighbour offered to take her daughter for a much cheaper rate than I was willing to offer. I have never had a family come to my house to meet me then turn down my care. To say I was a little disappointed would be an understatement. I think the conversation went something like 'just what are you thinking God…I need this money don't you know…she would have been perfect' I tried my hardest to give it to Him and tell Him that I trusted His timing but truth be told I began to worry and try to figure it out on my own. A couple of months went by with no prospects and money started becoming a big problem. To say that I was worried about how I was going to pay the bills and feed us for much longer was an understatment. One day I sat down at the computer and there was an email from a young woman looking for daycare for her 8 month old (I love babies) for three nights a week. We emailed a few times. I asked her where she received my name from and she gave me a place that I never even knew had a childcare provider list much less why my name and contact information would be included on it and then I had to tell her that I would have to charge her more than she was willing to pay. I was sure she would turn me away then as it was quite a price difference. She said that was fine (really??). We set up a time to meet and while talking she told me that after her twelve weeks of training I needn't worry because she was going to need daytime care. I had to regretfully tell her that come September I would be full during daytime hours. She got very excited and said that she would rather work nights because of a shift premium but thought I wouldn't be willing. So now, starting next Monday, I am going to be making more money than I was before my client went down to two days a week, I can keep my current job working with a little boy with special needs that joins our family several evenings a week, I can continue to go to home church as she doesn't ever need me that evening and I get the added bonus of loving on a new baby boy. And I thought God had no idea what He was doing LOL…

  14. I have to start my morning off by letting you know that my night of vivid mountain lion dreams was all your fault! Ha! Apparently I bought your house after you moved out….and at one point DW even showed up with a tourist bus full of visitors to see all the lions and their cubs…dreaming about blog friends is a first for me. I must have been more tired than I thought!

  15. oh my gosh what a story. I have a small story to share… last week I sponsored a Compassion child from Uganda, I am so moved by Elizabeth and Elijah…. today I lost my job. Not entirely but I was offered a transfer 6 hours from home. My husband is disabled and we aren't in a position to move…. I think I will go and sponsor another child and see how this is all going to fall together. I fully believe God is in control and has a plan. I will not be moved or shaken. Thank you Lord! Can't wait to share about my miracle doing, mountain moving GOD!

  16. Oh I laughed when you "walked right up and stroked it" ! What a great memory story.. it sure stirs up our own memorial-box stories.
    Linny, my laptop won't let me use the email link but would love to email you.. could you send me your address direct to annarenni@hotmail.com thanks.
    I am really delighted to have found such joyful fellowship across the seas through your blog and the others I've found from it!
    AM

  17. you crack me up. i almost lost all trust in you when you said you petted it. and then as i scrolled down, burst out laughing… you terrified me! love you sister! praise God for His protection!!!

  18. you crack me up. i almost lost all trust in you when you said you petted it. and then as i scrolled down, burst out laughing… you terrified me! love you sister! praise God for His protection!!!

  19. What an awesome story of God's perfect protection over your life!!! Amazing.

    P.S. As I read the part about you going over to pet the nice little mountain lion I almost spewed coffee all over my computer screen as I thought "what on earth was Linny thinking?!?!" Haha! I'm sooo glad you grabbed Boo and quickly ran to safety. πŸ™‚ I just cannot even imagine being in that situation…I shudder just thinking about it.

    P.P.S. Glad to hear your daughter made it safely home.

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