Not For The Faint of Heart

I'm not too easily scared by animals or insects.  It's not like I enjoyed it when I went into my garden four summers ago and found it infested with six or seven large garter snakes.  And yes, I get a little jumpy if there is a rodent in the vicinity.  Also, if a bee or spider is in the area, I'll leave the area quickly, or quickly stomp or swat the little bugger.   But, you won't usually find me squealing, jumping up and down frantically (well, sometimes a mouse will get me in a small tizzy if I'm caught off guard), or avoiding activities/events because I have a fear of an animal or insect.  (Mostly because I try to channel all of the fear I can possibly have in life towards something else...which I will not mention because I can't without sweating.)

However, today, as I was reaching into a corner to put away some of my photography equipment, I saw this:

Yes. 

That is a Black Widow. 

Yes.

A poisonous spider in a living area in my home. 

There she is hanging out near the carpet along one of the baseboards.

IN. MY. HOME.

I was a little freaked.

Actually, I wasn't too freaked in the moment, even though I did have The Hubs come and kill her.  But that was mostly because I wanted confirmation of what I was looking at.

No, actually after she was dead, that's when I really got scared.  That's when I started running through all the "what-if" scenarios. 

What if I would have reached down without seeing her there?  What if she would have climbed into my camera bag and then I reached in later?  What if she would have not crawled to that corner in the wall, but instead over to the pair of shoes that The Little man left out just a few feet away? 

Then my mind went to thinking about where in the world she came from.  As I looked around the room at all my studio equipment and props that I had gotten out just a few days ago for a session over the weekend, I realize that I knew exactly where that spider came from.  She came from my equipment or props which I haven't pulled out from storage in about six months, since all my sessions have been outdoors.  Then my pulse quickened again as I realize that the poisonous spider that The Hubs just killed could have just as easily bitten one of my clients (one of whom was only seven weeks old) who were using all that equipment and props.

Today, I am thankful for God's protection.  So many bad scenarios could have happened, but they didn't.  Recently I've been praying back, and meditating on, Psalm 91 over my family.  Here are verses 3-6, 9-14.

"³ Surely he will save you
   from the fowler’s snare
   and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
   nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
   nor the plague that destroys at midday..."

"... ⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
   and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
   no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
 ¹⁴ “Because he^[b] loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
   I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name."

Thank you, Lord, for your protection over my family as well as the people I invited into our home.