Contributed by Sandy Crist

I love stories of the handsome prince rescuing the beautiful princess from the fiery dragon and living happily ever after. I suppose I had tried to recreate this little fantasy of a perfect life, thinking if I did everything right, life would be perfect. This sounds a wee bit like I thought I had control of my life and my family.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we were living a nightmare rather than a fairytale. Instead of the handsome prince arriving to save the day, fear and panic would assault me every night. I watched Aubrey fading away physically and becoming a fragile brittle shell of herself, unable to see the truth. She was starving herself (at this time she was severely anorexic rather than bulimic) because of the lies she was believing. As we approached the week of her wedding I noticed that the whites of her eyes were yellow. We went to a hematologist who took one look at her and said, believe it or not, “You could be a model for Victoria’s Secrets.” I was stunned. The lies of the world that whisper, “the skinnier, the better” are everywhere. The older woman in the waiting room had asked me, “Does she have cancer?” while the doctor basically applauded Aubrey’s attempted starvation.
WHY tell this story? Who doesn’t cringe when someone wants to tell them ALL about their bad dream? Can’t we just sweep the dirt under the carpet and pretend that all is well although a bit dusty if we trip on the edge of the rug? The reason is two-fold. There is an epidemic of anorexia and bulimia today that is shrouded in shame and secrecy. Also, more importantly, there is a bigger unseen battle that threatens not just our physical lives, but our eternal lives.
I needed to call to mind that there was a handsome prince who had already ridden to Aubrey’s rescue and saved her from the fiery dragon that could kills eternally. Jesus had already defeated the dragon (Satan, Rev 12) and thrown him down to earth.
Rev 12 7Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Rev 12 17Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Although the great dragon is defeated, he is not dead. The battle continues. This is the place where we, who hold to the testimony of Jesus live…. in the thick of battle. Jesus will help us discern the lies and will fight with us and for us, but that doesn’t mean “all will be well” as the world would define “well”. His salvation is much bigger than that. We have HIM, and because of that, all is well no matter what it looks like to the world.

The rescuer had come and will come again.