22 | April | 2012 | SpilledCookies

This is the second part of my personal, unfortunate experience with the Law of Attraction.

At the time that our apartment got broken into, there were many other things going on in our lives as well. I had been, for several months, running back and forth almost every day to check on my parents.

My dad had was just starting to be on the mend from an extended hospital stay and they had been talking to me about moving in to help them while dad was recovering.

It was the beginning of summer and my youngest daughter had stayed with my parents during the day that day. I had picked up my oldest daughter, we were headed to pick up Lindsey, race to an appointment, then drop off several bags of old toys, clothes and other items at the Goodwill. We had a Ford Winstar so we had room in the van to carry everything comfortably.

We were in a bit of a hurry and I whipped into the driveway at my parents house, threw the van in park and got out. Casey said, “mom, why is there a big can of beer on the porch?”

I was standing beside the van when two men came out of my parent’s house, one with brass knuckles on his hand and the other, covering his face with one hand and a baseball bat in the other.

My very first thought was “Oh my God, everyone is dead.” My second thought was “they’re not taking my daughter (who was sitting in the van).

The man with the bat screamed at me, “Give me your keys!”

As odd as this sounds, in my mind there was no panic, no fear, just me sizing him up and thinking, “he’s not taking my daughter and if he tries to kill me, then I’m taking him with me.”

He noticed I didn’t wince, or move and slammed the bat down on the hood of my van in front of me. I didn’t flinch or jump – I had noticed the younger guy was standing at my daughter’s door, not letting her out. I knew they were going to try to take her with them.

He stood within inches of me and raised the bat, “GIVE ME THE KEYS, BITCH!”

I stood firm and unwavering – prayed, “God give me the strength of angels.” I immediately felt stronger and protected, what’s more is I am not sure what he saw in my expression, but it unnerved him and he took a step back.

I said in a low, calm voice, “You can have the keys, but you’re not taking my daughter.”

“I give the orders!!” he yelled and swung the bat and hit the side of the van beside me, “GIVE ME THE KEYS NOW!!”

“I will give you the keys, but you’re NOT taking my daughter,” I repeated perfectly calm.

He looked at me for a moment and I actually saw fear pass across his eyes. He backed up another step uncertain why I wasn’t begging for our lives when he was obviously threatening me. I never took my eyes off of his. He told the younger guy, “get the girl out of the car!”

We stared at each other when as I was listening to him open the door and say “Get out! Get out of the car!” to Casey.

Then everyone turned to look as my oldest daughter – given courage by my demeanor said, “I want my book bag, my binder, my make-up bag, and both of our purses!”

The younger guy started grabbing stuff and throwing it out in the yard. They gave her everything she asked for and as soon as she was out-of-the-way, I handed him the keys to the van.

He grabbed the keys, they both got in the van and took off up the road at high-speed. I prayed, “God, take care of this.”

Casey was trying to call the police as I was, but then the shakes started and neither one of us could dial or get the phones to work. I told her to stay there while I go in the house, not sure of what we would find and feeling my heart skipping beats in every direction.

As I turned in the direction of the house, Lindsey burst through the front door yelling, “Mom!! Mommy!! Use this phone!” She was holding out the house phone. I grabbed her and held onto her for dear life. The intruders had scared my mom, hit the wall with the baseball bat, and threatened to kill both of them. My youngest daughter had grabbed a kitchen knife and told them to leave her grandma alone.

They had gotten the keys to mom’s car and were planning on taking it when we had driven up and parked in the way.

The cops came within a few minutes and took our statements. The detective asked me where I was headed when I stopped by.

“I had an appointment to get my breaks replaced, they are shot and if those guys get the car on the highway and go too fast, they will crash,” I replied.

The radio the cop was holding said that the suspects had been spotted on I-30 going west by Dolphin. The detective looked at me, the kids and my mom (who was crying and shaking). She put the radio to her mouth and said, “give chase, the van has bad brakes.”

Needless to say, there was a chase, the van wrecked out in Grand Prairie roughly about 45 minutes after they took it. They tried to slam on the brakes and they didn’t hold, so the van rolled. Casey and I were taken to the hospital to identify the suspects.

They had been caught and honestly looked like someone had half beat them to death. The console in the middle of the van had come down from the roof and beat them both in the head giving them concussions, the extra toys, dishes, and stuff for the goodwill had flown all over the inside of the van as it rolled and hit them from every direction. They had gashes, bloody lips and black eyes to match.

The men went to jail. God is good, and we were protected when we needed it most. I knew without a doubt I would indeed fight to the death for my family if I had too. Why do I associate this whole ordeal with the Law of Attraction? Because I had wondered, asked the question over and over – if I had a life and death situation – what would I do? Could it have been a fluke thing and not related? Possibly, but I don’t think so.

I have many good examples of the Law of Attraction working as well, but the point is that we attract what we focus on. When you focus on being afraid of something you may bring that fear to life. When you focus on a goal, a dream and don’t allow yourself to be distracted or get off track, then you will make that happen too.

Cherry Coley ©

When people talk about the Law of Attraction they usually try to promote the positive side; the “what you focus on you will bring into your world,” part.

There are some that want you to believe that if you just keep that positive attitude and focus on that, then everything will just automatically fall into place, the roses will bloom and all will be well. Then those that listen and work hard at being positive get disappointed when things don’t immediately turn around and lose hope.

I can tell you this, Law of Attraction DOES work. It works whether you believe it or not, and it works whether you are thinking positive or not. What you focus and concentrate on you will bring more of into your life. I can give you many examples, but feel the need to share an unfortunate one at this time.

About 3 years ago my mom suggested I read a book that was about a woman who struggled to live with, protect her children from, fight for, then run away from an abusive husband. At that time I was still in the middle stages of my divorce from an abusive relationship myself and the book hit home.

I was already exhausted from the fight and weary from trying to be strong alone. I went to bed every night for weeks wondering, questioning, “if my kids were in danger would I be strong like that woman now?” I felt tired, weak and honestly didn’t know. The thought bothered me and wouldn’t leave me alone; I dwelled on it, focused on it. My questions were answered in the course of a week about 3 months later.

We were living in apartments that were not terrible, but not great. They were the first apartments we had lived in on the bottom floor. I don’t like living in bottom floor apartments.

Within about 5 weeks of moving in we had a man jump onto our balcony area and try the side door with the girls and I sitting in the living room. I had called the office, made a report and we didn’t have any more trouble, other than being stared at like dessert by the construction workers that lived across the hall every day.

That summer my kids were going to summer school. I hated that I couldn’t pick them up, but found a parent of another child also going to school who was kind enough to drop off my kids every day.

It was a day in early June when my oldest daughter walked up to the door of our apartment and found it kicked in and off the hinges. She immediately ran back to the car with Mr. Duke and told him. He got the baseball bat out of his car and went to see what was going on while Casey called me. I left work without saying much of anything.

I was very thankful that Mr. Duke stayed with my kids, kept them calm and made sure they were safe until I got there. On the way I was on the phone with police and apartment personnel telling them my kids needed protection and they better do their job. There were a lot of people in our apartment by the time I got there.

They repaired the door, replaced the locks, took statements and checked for fingerprints. The intruder had gone through all our closets and clothes, but the only thing they took was my laptop. It didn’t make any sense and we all felt violated.

We huddled close to each other for nights, praying for protection, double checking windows and doors, and checking on each other. I realized then that I would fight to the death for my kids if I had too, without asking questions or hesitation.

Tragedy and stressful situations can bring a family close or tear them apart depending on how things are handled. I had not been sure how I would handle such things with it just being the girls and I, and I had received my answer. Yet, this was not the end of the lesson, there was an even greater test in store just 3 days later.

—to be continued—

Cherry Coley ©