The Moms Ticked Off Some Demons

Most of my teammates have given their own accounts of what happened at La Casa Granda during our time in San Jose, but I’ve yet to share mine for a few reasons, but namely because of perception. Many of my writing decisions are made after being saturated in thoughts of what people will think when they read my work, but I’m over that. I’m finished giving the enemy the power to mute me by forcing me to worry about what other people think of me. Bare with me, I know that I’ve told you about that struggle a few times, but I wanna be honest with you and tell you that I’m still working on it. 

 Our initial arrival to the big yellow house, La Casa Grande, on the corner of second avenue and some other street, brought about no feelings of unease or heaviness. We unloaded our bags from the van, bid farewell to our driver, and met our host for the week with the owner of the house. The owner gave us a rundown of the rules and history of the home before sending us off with our host to see the city. We threw back some noodles and boba tea, bought some groceries, and meandered back to the big yellow house.

This time things felt a bit more heavy. 

After some rest, we set out for dinner, but ended up buying some pizzas and enjoyed the night together at the house. On our team, we love to laugh, maybe more than almost anything else. We filled the big yellow house with the joy of our Father and it was such a sweet time of fellowship, but we had to address the heaviness. It was widespread across the group. We knew that we had to pray, so we opened our bibles and walked all through the house, but avoided the upstairs portion. You see, the owner asked us to keep ourselves downstairs because the second story was not yet ready for guests. We really didn’t have business up there, so we happily complied. 

As I was walking from my bedroom at the end of the hallway back to the common room, my head began pounding. Specifically, entering the common room led the pain to move from the front of my head to the back as I passed from the hallway. It was instantaneous. The headache centralized in one location and as I began to turn in the room, the pain moved and stayed focused on the part of my head that was facing a particular room upstairs. 

Something that had taken up residence in this house was aware of and unsettled by the presence of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

I ran to my room to grab my guitar to worship while everyone continued to pray. As odd as it may sound, my guitar was struggling to stay tuned in that room, but I began to play and sing louder. The pain came back in my head, but this time it was stuck in my ear. I thought to myself, “oh no.. not this again.” 

When my squad met up for debrief in Antigua, we had a birthday celebration for my good friend Abbey. Per Guatemalan tradition, we had some fireworks to set off for her in the street, but there was an issue with one. I had caught it on fire, but it wouldn’t pop. This was one of those bad boys that you hold in your hand and then throw or you might lose a limb. After a while of waiting, I picked it up and Katie and Paula gathered with me as I attempted to relight it. Before we knew it, this firecracker popped in my hand and left our ears ringing for a long while. Paula’s let up before Katie’s, and Katie’s stopped before mine. 

After the party, we went inside for worship and I had people pray over my ears. Though they finally stopped ringing, there was still this gross feeling that something was stuck inside my right ear. As that night progressed, I chose to spend some time alone with the Lord and He dug up some old junk that I forgot ever even happened and we dealt with it, but the cloggy feeling was never relieved. 

Remember how I mentioned that Victoria had a vision about me once? I mentioned that in my last blog. Her vision had her walking toward me and what appeared to be another person standing next to me. As she grew closer, she understood that this was a demon that had a really long tongue that it had stuck into my right ear. Concerned, she asked, “who are you?” To which the demon responded “I am the spirit of confusion, myths, and lies.” Victoria could tell he was hiding something, but she did all she knew to do and said “I bind you in the name of Jesus.” The demon cackled and said to her “He tried that too. It’s not gonna work when you do it either.”

What in the world… Am I right? This is some freaky stuff. A world that I’ve never dealt with and never even believed in before it happened to my very own self. Days of praying for healing went by, but the clog wouldn’t go away and I learned to live with it. 

Until that night in the big yellow house.

The pain came back in my head, but this time it was stuck in my ear. I thought to myself, “oh no.. not this again.” Honestly, I forgot that I hadn’t completely dealt with whatever this was. I was lost in the situation. Things got heavy and I wanted a break, but God doesn’t work on our timeline. I knew that the heaviness wouldn’t leave the room until I dealt with whatever this was, so I started to talk. 

No sooner than I began, we heard what sounded like footsteps while we watched a curtain in the house be blown in the wind, but the windows were closed. We had ticked something off and we knew it. So I proceeded to talk to my team about the pain in my ear and confessed sin that had been looming in my mind. My team was so gracious and kind to love me through that process, but whatever demon had its tongue in my ear was furious and the pain worsened and it began to ring again.

Immediately, I looked to Lindsey and asked her to come and pray over my ear and as she swiftly walked over to me, she let me know that she thought God had been telling her to pray over my ear. As she laid her hands on my head, the ringing increased. I spoke truth over myself, she spoke truth over me, but it wasn’t getting any better. 

In Guatemala, our hosts taught us this visual trick to fighting spiritual warfare. All you do is close your eyes and imagine that you’re pulling the demon out with your hands. So, as the newfound Jesus freak that I am, I asked her to pull the thing out of my ear. She obliged and I kid you not, both the ringing and the pain subsided. Unfortunately, the clog remains cozy in my ear canal, but this isn’t the end. I’m in this thing for the long haul. I rested well that evening, only because I know that I was resting in the warm embrace of my incredibly kind Father. He’s so good. 

Through the night, my teammates each experience some different types of darkness, but I’ll let them tell their own stories. 

Check out Lindsey’s account of the evening here in “In Battle I Sleep With My Bible”

Check out Alayna’s account of the evening here in “The Big Yellow House”

Check out Alli’s account of the evening her in “Chapter Twenty Six: Supernatural in San José”

I’m aware that all of this sounds quite odd. Believe me when I tell you that it made me feel so weird, but what I learned through the whole process was so sweet.. 

• I don’t rejoice because God has granted me authority over the powers of darkness. I rejoice in the fact that my name is written in Heaven. 

• We don’t fight FOR victory, but the blood of Jesus allows us to fight FROM victory.

• If you want to fight the demonic, don’t give them all of your attention, just make Jesus large in your life. 

The rest of our time in San Jose was really neat. We loved the few days that we were given to partner with such a cool ministry in the area. There’s more to come about that in a future blog. 

Really, feel free to message me if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Also, If you have any resources on spiritual warfare, feel free to drop those in the comments here for myself and others who might be interested in educating themselves on the topic. 

I love you. 

AWM