My story happened when Gilen Rein, my 3-month-old baby was sleeping by her father on the bed. I was sleeping on my mattress on the floor because baby Gilen is a wiggler and the bed is not big enough for three people. I was sound asleep because I was so tired the past night from taking care of baby Gilen. Her father was so tired too that he didn’t see the movement of our baby.
It was near morning when I was suddenly awakened just in time to see my baby falling. I screamed like a wounded animal. Até Glory, our babysitter, ran in and my husband jumped up from his sleep. Right in front of us we saw how her angel protected baby Gilen. She didn’t fall on the hard concrete, because the mosquito net caught her. The crib that was beside the bed helped also. What really astounded me was the way that she fell. She fell with her container of bottles, water, and milk, but they didn’t hurt her. I saw that something had miraculously prevented her from fall. The container full of baby stuff was heavy and my baby was heavier. There was no way a mosquito net could have held them. It must have been that her angel protected her from hitting the concrete and woke me at the right moment. The angel gave me a voice to scream for help because I might have been too late to catch her on my own.
My story doesn’t end there; after that incident, we began sleeping on the floor – my baby, my husband, and I. There were challenges sleeping on the floor. First, there are lots of insects here in the jungle, harmful ones, and who knows when they will strike with deadly bites. That is why I could not sleep without a mosquito net. The only fear I have is if some creature bites the net and gets in, and it’s a rat, centipede, or snake!
Speaking of snakes, we experienced a horrifying encounter with a boa constrictor when we were sleeping. I was awakened by an unusual sound and in the darkness I grabbed my husband. I told him there was something above us. He didn’t believe me at first, but he was alarmed. I heard the sound again and the second time I figured that it was just a rooster because it sounded like it. After that, I slept peacefully until my husband turned on the light. He told me to watch for the movement of a long boa constrictor on our cogon roof. Any moment it might fall on the floor where our baby was sleeping, so my husband never loosened his grip on the bat that he was holding. It never did fall, thanks be to God! We resumed our sleep, praying to God that the animal would not disturb us again, and it never did.
I’m always fearful of things, but my experiences here in the village give me strength and courage to overcome my fears. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 1. Timothy 1:7