How do you feel about frogs?
Most of us just don’t. I have no feelings about amphibians.
However, there was a short season of a few months while living in Florida, when I’m pretty sure a gang of frogs was trying to get me.
I had just moved into a condo with a coworker. We both had our own bedroom, bathroom and balcony on the second floor of the condo.
The first frog appeared on the screen of the sliding door of my balcony late one night when I was reading. I think he was The Intimidator. How did he even get up there? I quickly shut the glass slider and shut the curtains.
No one wants a frog watching them sleep.
A few days later, a second frog was on the same screen door when I got home from work. He was The Caser. He had to be casing the place for a break-in. This one seemed to be bigger and had his creepy, little webbed frog hand on the metal part of the screen near the lock.
Over a week later, I met The Burglar. I had been lulled into a false sense of security since I had not seen a frog for a while and assumed it was a fluke to have two looking in at me.
On The Burglar’s day, I was ready for work early and decided to sit on my balcony before the sun came up.
Then it happened!!!
The screen must have been slightly ajar. When I started to open the sliding glass door, an even bigger frog jumped right into my bedroom (at least in my mind it seemed bigger).
Now what???!!!
I struggled to decide if I should close the door in case there were others out there waiting to pounce
How do you get rid of a frog?!
I was never one of those toad or frog catching kind of girls!
I grabbed a book and tried to swoosh it back out to the balcony.
INSTEAD, he jumped right toward the opposite corner of the room and ended up in my bathroom. I quickly shut the door and made it a jail cell for him until I could call for backup.
A friend of mine who referred to himself as a country-boy was the perfect person to remove this creature. He came over and helped me after work. When we opened the bathroom door, the frog was just calmly attached to my mirror. My friend gently took the creature off the mirror, down the stairs and then set him free.
Here is where I roll my eyes.
My friend did not understand. That frog was definitely trying to get me.
Well, nooooo.
I’m pretty sure they called in The Enforcer.
A few weeks later, while running to my car in a torrential downpour, I spotted it. The biggest frog I had ever seen. He parked himself right on the driver’s side window of my car.
Not the front windshield….. The driver’s door window!
If you lay your hand flat and spread your fingers, the frog was just a little bigger than that!!!!
I quickly evaluated the importance of picking my friend up like I had promised.
I decided it was important. So, I made a B-Line for the passenger side of the car. I quickly jumped into that side, crawled over the center console and started the car. I refused to look at the T-Rex of a frog on my window. I could sense him in my peripheral view. Soon, the car was on US Highway 1. I reached speeds over 50 MPH and hoped he would be gone by the time I arrived at my destination.
What if he wasn’t gone?
What if he refused to let me out of the car?
Would the police or firefighters help me if I pulled into a station?
Thankfully, the frog was gone when I reached my friend. I do not know when he fell off or if he jumped.
I think his gang learned not to mess with me.
They left me alone once their biggest guy actually went missing.
Wouldn’t It be nice if we could all so easily forget about the other things that have caused us fear?
I find it easy to fall into fear over the possibility of something happening to my spouse or my children. There is sometimes fear over not having enough money or over failing at something I view as important. The news media is able to stir up a lot of fear for most of us.
What about the fear of frogs. LOL It is called ranidaphobia. I actually do not think I have that. I can be near them. But I do not want them jumping on me.
However, “ophidiophobia”..... I’m kind of on the edge with that one. It is fear of snakes. The reptile exhibit at the zoo is fine. But, seeing snakes in the wild???? Noooo Thank you!
Most of us have experienced some type of trauma(s) in our lives.
Deaths/grief, cancer, sickness, a car crash and/or etc.
A few years ago, I found myself almost frozen with certain fears. I do not want to downplay the effects of this type of fear. It took prayer, counsel and regular “self-talk” to heal from these fears. By “self talk” I mean actual 3 x 5 cards of Truths I needed to have nearby. These are Truths I have since memorized.
However, many of our fears are not reasonable.
We can call it “concern”, “worry”, or “anxiety”. Yet, at the core, it is fear.
The human condition leads us to it. Sometimes we understand why we have certain fears. Other times, our minds basically lie to us and make us think
-The local neighborhood frogs have banded together to get us.
This is why God told us many, many times in the Bible “Do not be afraid”. He knows us.
He wants you and me to remember these things every single day -
He is your protector.
He sees you.
He loves you.
You are never out of His sight or His care.
He loves your family members and friends even more than you do.
He loves you more than you can even imagine.
He does not want you to be afraid.
Psalm 121 is a great chapter when you are struggling with fear.
Verse 5 says, “The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.”
Verse 7 says, “The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.”
NEVER FORGET THE TRUTH:
You are loved and protected by the One and only All-Powerful God.
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