Because of my love for nature, my kids’ health, and fun educational experiments, I had a vision for extracting honey and pollen from beehives. I had never tried raising bees before or knew what I was doing. God literally brought us here to this little place for several reasons, and one of them was our nearest neighbor to the west.
They just so happened to have several bee hives. Mr. Kenny, as my children called him, enjoyed spending time with Jason. He adored our little ones and liked to hear them chatter. He would come down the lane at least every other day to visit. He would join us whether we were sitting on our front porch, when we worked in our gardens, or watching us play kick ball in the yard. He often reminded us that we were doing all of the things he did when his children were young, and I think he found a connection to all of us that we will cherish forever.
He was a hard working man who was adopted as a baby. He was the youngest of 8 children, had an alcoholic father, and his mother wasn’t able to care for them all. The children ended up being separated and adopted by different families through the system. He never reunited with his family. You could tell by his sadness that it was a painful topic.
His adopted father was a farmer and when Mr. Kenny was 13, his neighbor showed him how to bee keep. They were from the north part of Missouri and he always referred to it as “God’s country”… and he and I connected.
They reminded me a lot of my grandparents. They spent time in our home celebrating birthdays and come down to attend our get-togethers with friends. They were the kind of neighbors that were welcomed to walk in the back door anytime and not even have to ask, and they knew it. God brought he and his wife into our lives for many reasons and we just loved on them.
One early spring morning, Jason was putting up a separate fence for a small calf and saw Mr. Kenny coming down the road. Mr. Kenny saw our property go from overgrown to a working little homestead, and it was a blessing to be encouraged by him. He would always smile big when he would have something positive to say to our children as they worked alongside us.
That same afternoon, after Jason had left for work, the kids came running inside and said there was a weird clump of something behind the shed. As we went to investigate, we realized it was a swarm of bees that landed in our cedar trees. I had no idea what to do, so I ran up the road to ask Mr. Kenny what he would do.
He grabbed his handled brush, basket, and his bee hat and down the road he came. It took a few hours, but he helped me catch this huge swarm. It was the most amazing experience for the kids. He was patient, got stung a few times, and we were all so excited to encounter that with him.
We learned not only how to catch them, but learned how Mr. Kenny put them in his hive where they would take up residence. Before long, we had a few more wild swarms that landed in the same tree within a few weeks of each other. We carefully collected those too. It wasn’t long before we had several hives right next to each other making their liquid gold.
I wish I had my camera on hand one particular day to capture an experience I will never forget. Jason had left for work. It was already becoming humid outside and the kids came running in the house to tell me we had another swarm of bees that landed in the cedars. I was 6 months pregnant, in a t-shirt, jean skirt, and flip flops, but I wasn’t going to let a wild swarm go because of that. I had a little time because they were still swarming the queen, so I decided to run up to Mr. Kenny’s and ask him if he could help me gather them. He got his hat and gear, and headed my way. When I got the ladder and the things we needed, they were settling themselves around the queen.
The bees were about 18 feet up the cedar, and it was on a slopped hill, not a great place to steady a ladder. Mr. Kenny decided he would go up to gather the swarm while I balanced the ladder because I was not dressed for the occasion, not to mention being very pregnant. He never wore bee suits or protected his body much either so I didn’t think much about it.
Up he went and he said, “This is the largest swarm I have ever seen in all my years.” He asked me to run and get a saw to cut the branch they had landed on. He wanted to carry the swarm down because sweeping them off into the basket was not working well.
I grabbed a hacksaw and up the ladder he went again. As he began to saw the branch, he cut the wrong one! The branch crashed to the ground about 2 feet from me and all of a sudden we had half the swarm furious. We literally had about 70,000+ dismantled bees that were confused, therefore they immediately encircle me.
I am not typically scared of bees because when Jason and I work with them, I wear regular, everyday clothes, but these bees were pretty angry with us. I had never been stung in my life from a bee, so ignorantly I wasn’t too worried when we were encircled… that is until I looked up and saw the other half of bees flying off the other branch in bunches trying to find their queen.
I knew they were disoriented by the way they were forming themselves around us. I immediately thought of my baby. I had just lost to a miscarriage prior to this pregnancy and my thoughts were flooded with, “Is this really worth it?
Why didn’t I take the time to put on at least my boots?
What was I thinking?
Should I run?
How do I need to make it out of this situation calmly so the bees don’t sense my fear?
And if I let go of this ladder, Mr. Kenny will fall to his death.
What am I suppose to do?
I wish Jason was here!”
At this point, I am starting to become a little panicked that I’m going to get stung by 20,000 bees and lose this baby. I didn’t want to go through another loss. And I didn’t want to be stung by angry bees. I couldn’t run to the house. I couldn’t yell for help because I didn’t want to panic the kids. I didn’t want to be responsible for killing Mr. Kenny, so I had to hold on regardless even if I get stung. I was frozen stiff with fear of the unknown.
I started sweating and I could tell that my anxiety increased as the bees started to land all over my body, crawling in my hair, and up my clothing. I could feel clumps of them making their way up towards the back of my neck, in my ears, and onto my face.
I breathed really deep and slowly. I knew if the bees sensed my fear they would come after me as their enemy. I kept claiming God’s protection over this baby and told Mr. Kenny that I was getting nervous. I looked up and he cut the other branch that had the remainder of the swarm on it. I knew I was in it for the long haul.
“Oh God, please help me.” I whispered, trying to stay as calm as I possibly could.
Finding myself in a situation that I couldn’t get out of was an all too familiar feeling of anxiousness. For a split second it felt insurmountable. I was convinced that this predicament I found myself in was not going to end well. And right in that same breath, I kept claiming protection over my baby. Almost immediately, I knew I had no choice but to face some immediate fears. All the negativity from my childhood came flooding back to me, “You were born with an insignificance, insufficiencies, and there’s nothing you can do to change that Natalie. It’s just the way you are.”
As I started reciting 2 Timothy 1:7, I felt a strength in my spirit that I had not had before. I held on a little tighter to that ladder. I felt an overwhelming amount of peace to surrender the outcome. I knew whatever happened, this baby was cared for and loved already. I was going to trust that even if my body swelled from thousands of bee stings, that this baby was still in God’s care. And even if Mr. Kenny didn’t come down off that ladder quick enough to keep me from harm, I have the right to claim the power of Christ over my fears.
I’m still covered in bees and quietly claiming the power of God in my life. What seemed like an eternity, Mr. Kenny eventually came down off that ladder, nice and slow with a huge branch in his grips. A good chunk of the bees were still covering the branch. As he laid it on the ground next to the fallen branch, we stood there watching the remainder of the disoriented bees start to gather around their queen.
It was the most amazing scene. They weren’t panicked; their flight noise became a calming effect to me as they slowly left my body one by one.
I closed my eyes and listened. Time seemed to stand still for just a moment.
I wanted to cry. But I didn’t move a muscle.
I continued to be in the middle of the swarm listening to their hum. Here I was, 70,000+ bees swarming like a tornado, and I was in the eye of the storm!
I watched them one by one buzz towards the branch, which I knew then they sensed their queen. I looked up and smiled because I knew what was happening.
I felt so relieved. Not one bee stung me that afternoon and God protected my baby. I was learning that I could conquer my fears of the unknown and nothing would ever be out of God’s control. I realized that living in a state of fear about anything was a way for Satan to control my thoughts. And I had victory this day!
God’s Word is true and 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” That spirit of fear is not of God.
That day, I started to see the hollowness of fear and fear doesn’t have any real teeth to its bite. Claiming protection from such a simple thing seems so small, but in the middle of an out-of-my-control situation, it was a HUGE victory in my life.
The young Natalie feared everything and it controlled a lot of my decisions of fight, flight, or freeze. It messed with my thoughts and was used as a torment for a lot of years. You could just imagine how joy just exuded from me when those fears were squashed that day! For I was free from a bondage and curse that loomed over me!
And for those bees? Well, they completely surrounded their queen, calmed themselves, and we put them into our hive box. They were one of the best hives we have ever extracted honey from. I will never forget that experience.
There really is victory in Jesus and God used a large swarm of bees to remind me of this Truth.
I encourage you that whatever you fear, whatever you encounter that seems scary, you are not stuck. You don’t have to run. You don’t have to panic. You can just call on God. For He alone is sufficient for anything you will ever need.
Natalie