“Stepping on a Snake!” – A Mission Story from Africa

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19

This is a story I wrote 7 years ago, as a missionary nurse in Sudan.  I hope you find it amusing and inspiring.

The Snake in the Dark
The day is ending and an old man has come to my clinic. He is suffering
intense pain because he can not urinate. His bladder is really hard and
distended. I don’t have any catheters to use to release the urine, so I
make one out of IV tubing. I medicate him for pain and bladder spasms.  I then proceed to release the urine with my handmade catheter.  It works and we all exclaim a sigh of relief and praise the Lord as the old man’s pain is slowly relieved.  I leave the catheter in for the night and instruct the family to take the old man to the hospital in the morning as he may need surgery to fix the problem. They agree and take him home.

My cousin is proud of me and brags that I had great success to his Sudanese friend and I didn’t even have a real catheter. I had to make one. I feel quite prideful! I strut back to my tent and put my headlamp on. I then proceed to walk across the compound to the eating hut. My head is still very high in the air and my headlamp is shinning way out in front of me and not down at my feet like usual. Then to my dismay I step on something that coils itself up around my naked ankle. I look down and see a SNAKE! I scream hysterically for my cousin Caleb. “I stepped on a snake! I stepped on a snake!” He replies, “Did it bite you?”  I say, “No.” He calmly replies, “Than stop screaming.”  He finds the snake hiding in the near by wood pile. It is a snake from the constrictor family and not a poisonous snake.  I thank the Lord once again for His marvelous protection in my behalf.

Through this story, I have learned a valuable lesson for my spiritual
growth and character development. I know that God allowed me to step on that snake to teach me a lesson of love. He did not allow a poisonous snake to enter our compound but allowed a constrictor in to show me that He is watching over me. He humbled me once again in His amusing and gentle way. He taught me a spiritual lesson to keep my light on the path by my feet. Don’t worry about tomorrow and the future.  Just concentrate on this moment in time. Make the best of this day.  Don’t be proud of yourself.  Give glory to God.  And last of all I learned that I could even walk on a snake and know that God is watching over me.  I claimed the verse, Luke 10:19 and God came through once again on His promise.  Praise the Lord!