URGENT..PLEASE PRAY..spiritual warfare

We know that this battle we wage, is not against flesh and blood, but against the forces of darkess, straight from Satan himself. He IS the father of lies...yes, he is. You may know that, but you will KNOW it, when you are battling it firsthand. However, the VICTORY is won; this war is FINISHED, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, my Lord and my Savior. I have seen the Valley of Armegdeddon, the real place in the Holy Land, with my own eyes...it DOES exist. It is real...This is real....

Last night, I believe God gave Matthew the wisdom to ask DanNi the right question, to break this spirit of oppression we have been feeling. He asked her if someone in China had told her not to talk once we got home. Although she is not speaking, she will at least gesture with head nods, to EVERY question, but this one. It is a long story in itself, but we have asked her this repeatedly since last night if someone told her not to talk and...she gets EXTREMELY emotional and refuses to even nod her head yes, or no.

So, we are taking that as a YES, some evil, person, child or adult, we don't know who, told her not to talk once in the USA.
The darkness has been exposed...and with everything within me, once the darkness has come to the Light, it is defeated. Not that this particular battle is over, but we are asking, begging, seeking all we know, to please PRAY, that this stronghold will be broken. That DanNi will be free to speak....her life will be so much better, happier. If you have seen her, she has laughed some out in public, but with us she is miserable.

I told Joey, our Student Minister, that it is this sort of thing that breaks marriages and families apart...it has happened before to people who have adopted older children. Matthew and I had a good, long discussion last night...reclaiming our family for Jesus, affirming the call to adopt DanNi, verbalizing it out loud, in the name of Jesus..banishing Satan to be bound to hell, not to mess with our family, because he is trying. Our salvation is secure, and he would love more than anything to tear us apart...and using this issue of non-communication, when communication in a family is essential to survival..is a good place to start.

I know it is crazy, but there is no telling what she was told....perhaps, if you talk, they will cut you into pieces; they will sell you into slavery; they will send you back to China...you will be stupid if you learn English; you will never be able to speak Mandarin again; etc, etc.there is no way to know...but we have heard the stories, and there are some horrible ones out there; that were re-counted to parents, years later, by adopted children who were able to share what really happened before they left the orphanage.

We are praying that she feels free to still love China, her heritage, her language, her friends, etc...AND allow herself to enjoy being here...to begin forming new friendships; to accept the love of a family; to speak English; to WEAR her new glasses (oh, boy, is this an issue, too!!!). We think she probably feels that if she does the latter, it will be a betrayal of her former life. We are trying to let her know that is not true, either. You can do both. It is okay.

Enough..okay..I seriously could write a book..one day I might...even if no one wants to buy it...our journey will be chronicled, and hopefully will be a testimony to the grace and goodness of God..to encourage others in their difficulties..because I can assure you, this is by far the most difficult thing we have ever done. It is by His grace alone, I can even get up in the morning..and I pray that I can be some sort of a wife and mother, at the same time. I feel like my pores are oozing pain and mercy, all at once.

It's very hard to explain, but being out in public, integrating into society again, while going through this is very difficult, but it has to be done. And I've read accounts of others, who like me, feel like everyone is staring at them, b/c like I said, it feels like I am walking around with gaping wounds all over my body. Maybe it's evident on my face, everywhere I go....the lady at the bank asked, as always, "Is there anything else we can do for you, Mrs. Bass?" I responded with they usual, "No, thank you."....when I wanted to scream, 'PRAY, please pray. I know you don't know me from Adam, but please pray."