Last Friday, 6th April 2011, my children and I were on the beach and we whipped our shoes off to walk. It was a beautiful day and my 7 year old daughter R ran ahead to climb the rocks … she was delighted with the day.  Suddenly she let out an ear piercing scream and threw herself down on the ground.

I ran to her and saw immediately that she had been bitten by a jumping jack ant, an insect which is described by Wikipedia in the following way:

Their venom is one of the most powerful in the insect world. Jack jumper ants are proven hunters; even wasps are hunted and devoured…The symptoms of the stings of the ants are similar to stings of the fire ants. The reaction is local swelling and reddening, and fever, followed by formation of a blister. The heart rate increases, and blood pressure falls rapidly… [they] cause more deaths in Tasmania [Australia] than spiders, snakes, wasps, and sharks combined.

I had been bitten by one 7 years ago and the pain was excruciating.  At the time I had read up on treatment and I had noted that babies, if bitten, often died due to the shock of the pain levels …

I got rid of the ant, got her shoes on, slapping one off my foot and helped her to put her shoes on. Unknown to me she had started praying and suddenly the screaming stopped. I had been focused on getting her away from the ants and on the beach into the water and had not prayed. She said to me “the pain has stopped, I prayed and the pain stopped, God stopped the pain.”

It was only the night before that we had been talking about how Paul had been bitten by a venomous snake (she had been worried about tiger snakes) and how he had not died but merely shaken the snake off into the fire … (see Acts 3-6).

She limped onto the beach and said she was healed … I insisted she put her foot in the water.  She said it didn’t hurt, but I insisted remembering the bite I had a few years prior.

I checked the bite site and we went back to our accommodation – she walked.  Back home she seemed fine.  An hour later, as a precaution (and yes I had prayed by now) I gave her some antihistamine and we put it on ice.

She felt a bit shaky and a bit nauseous, but I put that down to the adrenaline rush from the incident.

Over the last two days, although the area is red and has swelled a little, she has been on walks with us and has generally been in great spirits … merely complaining of the slight swelling and the itch.

We talked to a neighbour who was bitten two years ago. She said she had excruciating pain for 2-3 hours … pain that she said a child would not be able to endure.  She had her foot raised for 2-3 days due to extreme swelling etc.

I tell all this to highlight how amazing R’s recovery has been … she prayed and the pain stopped.

She has been fine since …

Praise God!

Thank goodness my children have an alternative, thank goodness that my children know who they are in Christ, thank goodness they know that God heals today, thank goodness that they know beyond a doubt that …

God is Good!!!