The God Of All Comfort

Witches…

Growing up – just like the majority of kids – I thought witches were just made-up characters from storybooks.  On Halloween, you’d put on a black cape and pointy black hat, as well as a fake large pointy nose if you had it.  And don’t forget your broomstick!  Then you’d practice the wicked laugh (hee-hee-hee) that’s supposed to scare everyone around you.

Witches in the movie Wizard of Oz basically confirmed all I believed about them – but in that movie I saw not all witches were bad – there were also good ones!  Okay, my training was complete.

As I continue on in my series Becoming What I Came To Be, I’m going to venture back to a time when suddenly I found myself becoming surrounded by something I never had learned about before.  And it all started with my best friend at the time.

This friend when I was a teenager told me one day that she lived with her mother and aunt – who were witches.  I just kind of shrugged my shoulders, like “yeah, right.”  After all, she was a good friend, as well as my drug and drinking mate (Peace – Trying Everything).  If she wanted to believe this stuff about her mother and aunt, then who was I to argue with her?

Yeah, she definitely had some different thoughts about things.  One of them was that she loved to read people’s palms.  She would take her finger and show them where their life-lines were, and how if it didn’t stay connected all the way up the person’s hand that meant something drastic was going to happen.  She even could tell approximately when all this stuff would occur.

She also had her own tarot cards which she used specifically for the purpose of telling the future.

I never really paid attention to all of that stuff – unless it was something good that she said would happen to me!  She just had her quirks, that’s all.

I still remember the first time she invited me over to her house.  She lived in a huge old Spanish-style home.  Next door on one side were neighbors, and on the other side was nothing but miles of blueberry fields.  Across the street from them consisted of trees and brush going up inclines.  No houses until you got way up top.  So they were pretty isolated.

On that particular day, she met me outside.  She warned me again and again that we must be very quiet as her mother knew I was coming over, but her aunt was in a separate living area, and it was imperative that she not hear me come in.

Yes, it was certainly odd – no doubt about it.

She finally opened the door and in we went.  Her mother was there to greet us, and she was very friendly.  But she kind of reminded me of … well … a witch!  She was very thin, and had long wavy brown hair.  Her nose even seemed a little pointed.  All I had to do was imagine her clothed in a black cape and hat and she would’ve been a great model.

My friend pointed to a closed door on one side of the living room/den, and put her finger to her mouth in a “shhhh” manner, letting me know that her aunt was in that particular room behind the door.

We then took off through the living room, which was quite unusual.  There were a lot of old little knick-knacky things on shelves, but they were very bizarre.  On one shelf there was a figurine which almost looked like those cute little troll dolls I had when I was young.  But the one on their shelf certainly wasn’t cute!  Instead it looked well, just kind of creepy.

Finally we came to a narrow stairwell which led upstairs to her room.  She rushed me up – and I quickly waved her mother goodbye.

Wow, I was blown away from her bedroom.  It was huge with posters lining all her walls with our favorite roll n’ roll stars.  She proceeded to crank up some loud music (I wondered how her aunt didn’t hear that!), and then we proceeded to get high on whatever drugs she had.  She also showed me some fortune-telling stick-like things, and how she could tell the future by shaking them in a little cup and then dumping them out.  How they fell in line would tell a certain story.

When you’re high on drugs just about everything seemed interesting, so I just let her do her thing.  What harm was it, after all?

Also during this same time frame, our family came to know neighbors who lived a couple blocks away.  I thought they were a little odd, as well, but we did visit them occasionally.  One day when we were there, one of the teenage girls brought out an Ouija board, and proceeded to ask the board a few questions.  I have to admit I was amazed that the indicator actually appeared to move on its own to answer the questions!

So started a season in my life which ended up terrifying me for years and years – even up through the time when my husband Gary and I got married.  I so wish I would’ve known about Jesus – and had called out to Him to protect and save me before all that started happening (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25)!

Next week I’ll continue on about how evil began pursuing me – even though I didn’t realize what was happening for quite sometime.