This story is about a moment that showed me I’ve been entirely blind to the spiritual warfare that takes place around all of us every single day.

On the second half of my recent mission trip to Reynosa Mexico, I stayed with Melody’s Children’s Home. They recently finished two bathroom/bedroom combos, so I wanted to stay with them as a test run for future visitors.

Melody’s Children’s Home is directed by Jaime and Rosalba Mayorga. They’ve run the home for over a decade and care for 16 children.

Jaime and Rosalba were born to be Missionaries. They’ve been involved in some sort of mission field for most of their lives. Jaime gave his life to Christ in his early 20’s and hasn’t looked back since. Now 60 years old, Jaime has been a full or part-time missionary for nearly 40 years.

That much time as a missionary shapes the way you see the world. Seeing the Holy Spirit work as if it’s a physical person in the room changes how you interpret the events of your life. We all see things through a lens, and that lens is crafted by previous experience. Our lens is like a filter we put information through to help us evaluate what goes on around us. Information enters, the filter is applied, and our conclusions exit.

As Christians, hopefully Jesus is our filter. Jesus’ teachings give clear guidance on how to view the world and our behavior within it. If we take the bible seriously, our lens will be crafted by Christ. But that doesn’t make us immune to cultural influences. Many times, worldly affairs have a huge effect on how we determine our priorities. And I’ve found those influences to be especially strong in America.

Things like politics, careers, and even family, take up so much of our time and energy. Those things are not inherently bad, in fact, they can be good and important. But they’re also time-consuming and can distract us from our true purpose. We have to make sure we incorporate them into our faith, and not the other way around. The wise man builds his life upon the rock.

The more time we spend on non-kingdom things, the more our worldview becomes shaped by non-kingdom things. And the more blinded to kingdom activity we become. Which is what I discovered about myself while in Reynosa.

One moment showed me that I have likely misinterpreted many significant events in my life.

On my last day with Melody’s, a young woman came through the doors—without warning—at 10 pm. She sat down at the dining room table and was soon escorted by Jaime into his office. She was the mother of Carlos, Mariel, and Adele Guadarrama (3 children that have lived with Jaime and Rosalba for more than 3 years). She had shown up that night to remove them from Jaime and Rosalba’s care. (Many kids living with our Partnered Children’s Homes still have their parents, and those parents have certain rights. As long as they have no history of physical or drug abuse, they can remove their children from the home whenever they like.)

Everyone was devastated. I watched as they packed their bags and said their goodbyes. Almost everyone was in tears. They were crying over the loss of family. During those 3 years, Carlos, Mariel, and Adele were viewed and treated as literal family by Jaime and Rosalba. That’s how all who stay at Melody’s are treated. Losing them is equal to losing biological children in the eyes of Melody’s Children’s Home.

I asked Jaime what he planned to do about Carlos, Mariel, and Adele. His response amazed me. I mean that in the definitional sense of the word. His response bewildered me and didn’t make sense…

He was still going on the mission trip! He’d be leaving later than planned, but he was going regardless.

I couldn’t understand it at first. How could he leave Rosalba and the others after what had just happened?

He explained to me that Carlos, Mariel, and Adele’s mother showing up was spiritual warfare. Satan was attempting to stop him from evangelizing to the people of Tarahumara Sierra. The reality of what had just transpired was obvious to him. He didn’t have to reason through it. He knew immediately what was going on, and he wasn’t going to let Satan win.

That’s the moment that showed me how blind I’ve been most of my life. It hit me like a ton of bricks. How many times have I quit something because it was the rational choice? Or justified inaction because it was convenient. I can’t help but wonder how many times I’ve been tricked into avoiding God’s will.

I think if we all took a moment to seriously reflect on things, we’d discover we have blinders on. I bet we’ve all been fooled by Satan into thinking we’re doing the right thing. That’s what makes spiritual warfare so tricky. Satan’s plan often looks like the right choice. No one would have blamed Jaime for scrubbing his mission trip. I certainly would have understood. And it would have made things easier if he stayed behind and dealt with the fallout. But that wouldn’t have been God’s will.

Jaime and Rosalba knew that and had the courage to act on it.