A few days later, when Nathan and Josslyn returned from a visit to his parents’ place, they found Caden, Trina, and Maddie in the backyard by the pool with Thor by their side. Trina was upset and Maddie was crying.
Nathan closed the front door. He and Josslyn went to the back of the house. Josslyn opened the sliding glass partition and stepped out onto the back patio.
“What’s wrong?” she signed. “What happened?”
“We saw the doors in different parts of the house slam open and bang shut repeatedly,” Trina signed. She wiped tears from her eyes with shaky hands.
“Yeah,” Caden signed with a nod. “I could even feel a whoosh of air going through parts of the house.”
“How long was this going on?” Nathan signed.
“On and off since you left,” Caden signed, “and it stopped about five minutes before you came back.”
Nathan walked into the house from the patio and stood in the back of the house. He gazed about in anger, his brows furrowed and his lips pursed. “Stop it!” he signed to the air about him. “Stop it! You stop this right now!”
Josslyn stepped inside and went to him. “Oh, Nathan, it’s not going to obey you. It’s doing this to scare us and to get us to leave.”
“We can beat this thing, right?”
“Yes, with God’s help and with constant prayer, I believe we can.”
“Does it know what we’re saying, even in sign language?”
“Yes, it knows what we’re saying. It knows all the languages in the world, except one.”
“Which is?”
“That which is spoken in tongues. It’s a gift God gives to some people, the language only the person and the Lord know, and it’s the only language in the universe that the devil and his minions don’t know. The Bible teaches us these things. All one has to do is ask for spiritual discernment from the Lord.”
“You’re one smart woman. I’m glad I married you.”
“Thanks, and I’m glad I married you, too.”
They kissed and embraced.
Later that evening, Josslyn took the Bible from the night table on her side of the bed and held it close to her chest as she kneeled in prayer.
Nathan also knelt on his side of the bed.
“O, my Lord,” Josslyn prayed and signed with her eyes closed. “Thank You for this day, which You have made. Thank You for helping us this day, and thank You for blessing us with another day of life. You hold the breath of life in Your hand. Let us rejoice in You, always. May You continue to bless us with Your loving protection. We plead the blood of the Lamb over us. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we humbly pray. Amen.”
“Amen,” Nathan signed.
They got into bed, kissed each other good night, and turned off the night lamps.
After Josslyn and Nathan woke up the following morning, they noticed pages of the Bible had been torn out and strewn along the hall to the top of the stairs, as well as on the stairs, the living room floor, the couch, and the coffee table.