Diane lives in the Community of El Sereno. It was a little before midnight on July 18, 2011 when her son Christopher, who was living with her at the time, heard the sound of spray painting outside. The rival gang of El Sereno, named Metro came and started spray-painting their gang name on the cement block wall, which surrounds the house. While she was sleeping, her son decided to get up and confront the person who was doing this. She woke up to the sound of her son’s voice outside yelling at someone. As her feet touched the floor while getting out of bed, she heard semi automatic weapons going off. With the thought of her son being outside she planned to run out the front door to see what was happening.
While passing the archway of her hallway, she felt a distinct presence and sensed two hands in front of her as if it meant for her to stop. She wasn’t scared but stopped, and thought about what this presence was.
Then John 14:26 came to mind. The Holy Spirit will bring a remembrance to you everything that He has said. Diane said, “He does really do that.” God brought 1 Chronicles 15:13 to mind where someone was carrying the Ark of the Covenant and they didn’t consult the Lord first. At that moment she realized that she too didn’t even consult God about this situation, so she began to cry and repented.
The Lord continued to bring more verses to mind, Psalm 91:11-12a, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up.” Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.”
She put her hand towards the direction of where her son was and prayed, “You say in the Book of Psalms you will be a hedge of protection around us. Please be a hedge of protection around my son right now. I know Satan is the prince of darkness but you’re the Prince of Peace, I know you’re bigger than all this.”
Diane felt the perfect peace that God speaks about in Isaiah 26:3. She felt hugged, embraced and safe. Then Isaiah 65:24 came to mind, “It shall come to pass. That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
After praying she felt that she needed to move and took two steps to the right. She felt herself walk through the presence; this was the only time she felt scared because she felt as if she had done something wrong and shouldn’t have taken those two steps. She asked God, “Should I call 911 or walk out the front door?”
Then at that moment she felt a slap to her right buttock and thought it might be a bug biting her. She went to go wipe it but her hand was full of blood as she had just been shot. She was praising God that it wasn’t a large artery, her head, or lungs. After the Metro gang tried to kill her son, they turned the corner and shot up the house.
Diane realized that the presence was an angel that protected and stopped her from running out the front door, which ultimately could have ended her life and praised God for His protection.
It suddenly became quiet and she thought “Where is my son Lord?”. For a brief moment she thought that he was dead. She said out loud, “I reject that in the name of Jesus. You saved me. I know you saved my son too.” Then Christopher walked in through the front door, he looked like a different person because he was full of hatred, revenge and anger. He yelled and said to her “Mom do you know they tried to kill me? I felt the bullets pass me on both sides of my body. They were ricocheting of the wall.”
Diane said “Wow! Praise God Christopher, He is so mighty, He’s bigger than all that. He sent an angel to stop me from running out the front door. So you didn’t get hurt at all? Not one bullet hit you, because the Lord was protecting you.”
Christopher said.,“No I just jumped over the wall and bumped my head a little. I felt dizzy but I’m ok.”
While Diane covered her wound she continued to praise God for His protection. Christopher then noticed that she was bleeding. He was enraged, “They shot my mom? Nobody shoots my mom!” He decided to call someone from the area to help him seek revenge. With all her strength she tried to calm him down and prayed that the Lord would give her additional strength to stop him and said to him, “Christopher, in the book of John God warns us that the enemy will rob, kill and destroy. The enemy’s plan was to do that but he failed. The Lord’s angels were everywhere and protected both of us. Don’t take this out of God’s hand and put it in your little hands, He’s already proven Himself tonight. We have to pray for the gang’s salvation.” Christopher said, “I’m not going to do that.”
When the police came they asked her what had happened. She happily shared how God protected her and her son. In the ER she asked her son to read Isaiah 41 and 43 as well as Psalm 91and 23. He said, “I’m not reading that,” as he was angry at God. She began to cry and begged that he would do it for her. As Christopher read through the passages, he also began to cry. Like the Bible says, the Lord’s words are like rivers of living water, her thirst was fulfilled by it and it was good. Immediately after, she ended up fainting from the loss of blood.
The following day, Christopher was outside talking to a man from the area. Diane, in her alert state, wanted to know who he was talking to. She went outside to see. He was a handsome man but had tattoos everywhere including his face. She asked for his name. “Gabriel,” he said. “You know Gabriel is a messenger angel in the Bible. Your mother named you a wonderful name.” He then said he was sorry for what had happened to her and her son the night before. She shared the Gospel with him and expressed that he needed to receive Christ at that moment. She continued, “You don’t know when your going to die, it could be in five minutes as you turn a corner, or in 50 years; only God knows, but now is the time to do it.” Gabriel responded by saying, “Well you know what, I have to get going now.” Something inside her told her to continue, “Wait a minute Gabriel, if you think the cemetery is for people with grey hair you’re wrong, they’re full of people like you too. If you die without Christ you’re gonna be separated from God forever in a place called Hell. And let me tell you something else, there is nobody that is able to pray you out of hell because you made your choice while you were living. What do you say Gabriel?” Then on the public sidewalk next to her graffiti-filled wall, he held hands with Diane and her son and said the sinner’s prayer. She has had multiple opportunities like this to share her testimony with individuals and expressed to me that “things happen for a reason.”
Three months ago, Christopher ran into a man named Eric who used to be part of the Metro gang who had two gang members friends with him. He approached Christopher to give him a hug, but responded by telling Eric to back off. This was the gang that had shot at them that night. Eric said, “No Chris, I’m a Christian now. Christopher questioned his motives. He continued by sharing that he had been reading the Bible and asked him for forgiveness saying, “Chris isn’t it true that Peter denied Christ three times and Jesus forgave him?” He responded by saying “…ok Eric I forgive you.” While the other gang members witnessed this, they gave each other a hug and Eric said “God bless you brother.” Christopher responded, “God bless you brother.”
Diane shared, “This was a divine appointment for those other gang members and her son to witness. I learned that night, that my plan to run out that front door would have ended my life and will continue to share my story with everyone who will hear it. His plan is bigger than ours and I praise Him everyday for that. Even If He called me home that night, I would have been just as thankful. This is a story of God’s faithfulness and how He really stays true to what He says.”
We thank Diane for her faithful service in the LAC Prayer Ministry. To find out ways you can serve visit http://mylac.lakeave.org