Project Pretty Feet Complete!!

Ever since I had broke my habit of chewing my nails over a year ago, all that spare time moved to picking at my feet. I would pick the dry skin until my feet were raw and bleeding. I started Project Pretty Feet back in April, in an attempt to get my feet healthy again, and October was my deadline and I would be getting my long awaited tattoo.
Well today is October 30th and I got my tattoo, with one day to spare!!!
Here it is:

So you may be wondering....why a lightning bolt?
I chose a three tier lightning bolt for 3 reasons. I wanted something to symbolize my life and salvation.
Tier #1:
This is for the first time I ever remember feeling the power of a higher being. I was about 7 years old, and we were on a family camping trip. We went for a hike along the dunes of Lake Michigan around dusk. This was very common for our family during that time, we did a lot of camping and outdoor activities. This is the first time I truly remember falling in love with the water. I stood on top of that sand dune, and breathed in the cool, sandy air. There was a storm making it's way in off the lake. The horizon line was getting very dark and you could see lightning lighting up the horizon. We stayed there for a bit and watched the storm. It was moving in very fast. I remember this being the first time I was in complete awe of creation and knew there was a God, a powerful God.

Tier #2:
This is for my salvation. I was 17 years old, and my life was falling apart beneath my feet. My parents got divorced, I had no real place to call home, my relationship with my boyfriend of 4 years ended, my mother and I became estranged, and I hadn't talked to my dad in years.
I was living with my grandparents and I was dating Rodney at the time. I was at his house, and I began to see a pattern in my life, a pattern of hurt and pain and I didn't want any part of it. I had lost hope in love and happiness, I believed it was a thing no married person could ever obtain. Rodney and I got into a huge fight, and I ended up storming out, getting in my truck and speeding home to my grandparents house. I was yelling and cursing God. I hated my life and I hated him. I saw Rodney and I's relationship heading in the same direction as my last relationship.
It was storming really bad that night, and raining cats and dogs. I had my "famous" green jacket on, and I had the hood on still. I approached the train tracks that only had a stop sign. And everyone knows, there is hardly a train that goes by, so one just usually pauses and goes. I paused, looked to my left and to my right and continued to go, at that moment I heard a loud blast, whipped my hood off and saw the light. I kicked it into reverse and hit the gas. Swooosh!! I hadn't seen the train because when I looked right, I was actually looking at the inside part of my hood. At this point, keep in mind I am still crying, screaming and cursing. This shook me up big time.

"You have told every lightning bolt where it should go"

About 2 miles down the road after the train, I was pleading with God. Yelling at him for all the pain and hurt in my life. Told him how sucky of a God he was. I cried out help me, save me from myself! A huge lightning bolt came down right in front of my truck in the middle of the cornfield I was next to. My mouth shut, and I slammed on my brakes and I sat on the side of the road for 20 minutes praying and talking to my God. Telling him about the hurt in my life and asking Him to be Lord over my life, because I was the one doing a pretty sucky job at trying to do it on my own. I walked into the door at my grandparents, soaking wet, and my Grandpa looked at me and asked me what was wrong. He said I was pale and looked like I had seen a ghost. I replied...ehh something like that. I didn't end up telling Rodney for about 3 weeks.

Tier #3:
This is for truly deciding to have the Lord guide and direct our lives. We had been married for 2 years and I had just had River. We were ready to settle in the mundane life of Rodney working at a factory for the rest of his life, being lukewarm believers, and being a volunteer at our church. We knew there was more, but we didn't know how to get there. I like to say God gave us a little push. River was born at the end of May and on July 4th Rodney's company got struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Here we were with a newborn baby and no job. God used this time to really prepare our hearts and our dependence on him. It was a slow process, but this event ultimately led us to New Tribes and we never turned back since.

Sick, Tired and Terrified

WOODS OF TERROR

I don't want to sound like I turn everything in my life into some higher spiritual example, but I can honestly say I had no convictions in going to the Woods of Terror.

I know the Lord gives us liberties to do certain things, that others may have convictions in not doing.

With that being said, I haven't been to a haunted house in about 12 years. I really was not looking forward to going, but Rodney had this sudden urge to make me live on the edge or something. haha

We gathered some friends and made plans to go. We started the evening with dinner at Don Juan's, I didn't have much of an appetite (it may have been my nerves).

Then off we went heading to Greensboro all packed together in The Rover. My stomach was getting more and more uneasy the closer we got to our destination, and I was getting more and more mad. Why was I so worked up about this? Come on Deanna, you are 28 years old, quit being a baby!

When we pulled in and parked I started to feel a bit better and more optimistic. We went through the admission line, got our tickets and got our numbers. We had a bit of a wait before our number group could go through the woods. They had a little village set up in the "waiting area", where we could roam around. They had a gift shop, and couple bonfires going, some cute little games and smaller attractions, a restaurant, a scary moving showing on a big white board, photo booths with scary actors, etc.

Then my nerves started to get worked up again, because the longer we waited the closer we got to going through. I felt sick to my stomach! I made a b line for the outhouses. Now I hate outhouses, I refuse to go in them, but this particular time...I literally had no choice. The outhouse was pitch black. I used my phone to shine the seat to make sure there were no scary bugs or anything.

I was thankful this at least happened before we got on the trail and before there were no bathrooms in sight. After I stumbled out of the outhouse, covered in hand sanitizer, I again felt optimistic again.

Our number was called and we got in line...no turning back now. We started through this large dark tunnel, where as soon as I walked in Ryan screamed really loud (to nothing) which caused a chain reaction to me screaming. I though to myself...this is going to be fun. Screams and giggles, right?

We proceeded to the next room where there were a ton of big fake spiders and cobwebs...no big deal. Nice open room, kind of dark, but nothing too crazy. Then we were led into a bright hallway with a ton of aquariums filled with iguanas, lizards, large snakes....ehh kind of cute. Then I peek over Rodney's shoulder and I see a guy at the end of the hallway holding a smaller snake. NOT COOL!  He was at the corner of the hallway, so I pushed Rodney in between me and the guy and used Rodney as a shield. I didn't make a sound. I thought I had conquered sneaking by.

These guys must go through great training because he spotted me and knew I was the most fearful. He made his way through two people and pushed the snake towards my face and I started screaming. At that moment the lights went off and everyone around us was pushing and screaming.

Rodney and I were between Ryan and Jackie and Justin and Bethany...which gave me some ease. But then the air started getting stuffy and I was panicking and having a hard time breathing. Rodney kept telling me to calm down. I took a second and took a deep, slow breath and told myself to relax....it worked for two seconds.

I had a death grip onto Rodney and I was hunched down stuffed in under his arm pit. There was this tight blow up tunnel thing we had to push ourselves through. This was the worst part. It was really tight, and soft and felt like the walls were closing in on me, I couldn't breath.

I am severely claustrophobic, I have been since I was a young child. This tunnel is what did me in. Rodney ended up literally pulling me through it and I tripped and fell and lost my grip on him. Keep in mind it is still pitch black. This is when the tears started flowing. He felt around for me and picked me up and I resumed my grasp on him. It felt like the dark tunnel was never going to end. There were tight spots where we were in a near crawl just to get through. Most of the time my eyes were tightly shut. I would open them occasionally to see if it was still dark and a strobe would flash where I would see snakes in my face. I shut my eyes again and held on tightly to Rodney. I felt things brush against my face and neck and knew they were rubber snakes. Yes, they are fake but still not cool considering I can't even look at the rubber snakes in the toy aisle at Dollar Tree.

I was shocked at myself because I was crying, but it was a cry I have never cried before. The tunnel finally broke open into the cold, crisp air where we were immediately chased by a guy with a chainsaw. He was literally a breath of fresh air considering what I just went through.

I couldn't do no more. I can handle blood, guts, and zombies chasing me in the open air through the woods. But I could not handle going through something like that tunnel again and I had no idea what else was in store. I told Rodney I couldn't go. We walked up to the chainsaw guy and Rodney told him that I wanted out. He lead me over to a hidden emergency exit and I told Rodney to go with the rest and finish.

As soon as I was out the trap door, I threw up in the woods. I felt incredibly weak. The chainsaw guy saw me and came over to me to help me. And he finished walking me to the exit and back into the waiting area.

I felt like a complete failure and idiot. Again, I am 28 years old and I can't even handle this? What is wrong with me? I use to laugh through Haunted Houses, and now I am barfing in the woods..?

I sat down in the corner, on the porch of the restaurant where no one would bother me. It was near the exit of the woods. A few people glanced at me, as they could tell something was wrong.

I watched as people came running out of the exit screaming, laughing, swearing, falling..etc. I was still mad at myself. I sat there a long time while I waited for Rodney and the rest to come out.

I had a long time to just think and people watch. I love people watching...but this particular time was not fun. I looked at this little make shift village and my mind could not help but draw a parallel to Sodom and Gomorrah. It was dark, loud and very busy. There was a D.J. playing loud music the entire time, people hanging around the bonfires, a guy with a sky high mohawk holding a large yellow boa constrictor. There was also people groping each other and making out right in front of me. There was lots of laughter and lots of screams.

Being that it's the day after, I am still very confused as to why my body reacted the way it did. I wasn't really scared, I was terrified. The place wasn't scary at all. The chainsaw guys and people dressed up were not scary really. It was that dark, stuffy tunnel that I had no idea when it was going to end that terrified me. I only had one way out, and it was to grasp onto to Rodney. He was my savior, when I fell he picked me up, when I was crying he comforted me, he told me when to duck and when to turn, and he told me when it was ok to open my eyes.

I also thought about that tunnel and drew a parallel to God telling us that the pathway to heaven is straight and narrow. Narrow is an understatement when describing this tunnel. If I had a choice between that tunnel and a wide open path, I would run for the wide open path in a heart beat!

But I had a Savior leading me through it. Without Christ and the Holy Spirit, staying on the straight and narrow would be impossible. If I didn't have Rodney, I would have froze, fell to the floor and resumed the fetal position screaming my head off for help. I wouldn't have turned back because of the guy with the snake and I wouldn't have pushed forward either.

Although that tunnel only lasted maybe 2 minutes, it felt like a life time, and I couldn't help but to thank the Lord that those 2 minutes will be the closest to hell I see. I thanked the Lord for my salvation, that I won't have to spend an eternity in hell. I think Satan knows what we fear, he can sense our weakness, and just like that guy with the snake that picked me out of the crowd as the quiet one that thought she was strategically slipping by. He hunted me out and knew I was the one to get.

I know there were other believers there that night, but I also know there were many unbelievers there as well. It mad me sad to see the unbelievers laughing and having fun. Hell is not going to be an awesome attraction that gives you an hour adrenaline rush. It's an eternity of terrifying torture!

I am not sure if a Haunted House will be crossed off my to do list forever, but all I know is that those 2 minutes will haunt me for the rest of my life. But I am also thankful for the Lord taking that time to show me some things, and those things will be with me forever too.