Snakes - So many people are having trouble with snakes.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
I often see posts about people who have discovered that a friend wasn't really a friend or that a word spoken in conversation was twisted by the hearer to create trouble and unrest.  We all express how we feel about things that happen in life, not so much to cause trouble or even in expectation of change, but simply because we have opinions.  So many people are hurt when their opinions are taken the wrong way or purposefully used against them.  I always say that when one finds out how their words are used against them by others, then it's just information...information that certain ones are not to be trusted with certain information or conversation in the future.  At one point, when there were so many things going on in a certain area of my life, the Lord showed me who the "snakes" were that I was dealing with. The dream was given to me around 2012. One was shown to me as a big snake, meaning that the person had years of experience being a snake.  The other was shown to me as a baby snake, meaning that the person was new, inexperienced and learning how to be a snake. Due to the nature of the relationships, interactions with the snakes was impossible to avoid for some time.  I admit that I was bitten by the smaller snake more than once because I had casual conversations with the person that I  could have easily avoided.  My casual conversations were used against me.  My normal, nice conversations were twisted into something negative and repeated to just the right people. I learned that some of those people easily believed what they were told, which was good information for me to know, and others knew to not listen to the words of the snake, which was refreshing for me to know. (Matthew 7:6; read about dogs and pigs, too.).  I realized that it is hard to avoid snakes when you have to go into the grass/when you have to deal with them for work or collaboration of some sort.  When I chose to say nothing, avoid the topic, or speak only the best things possible in a way that couldn't be construed into negative words, neither worked. Even my silence was construed into something negative.  It is a tedious walk to avoid a snake, even if you know it's there.  "Look before you leap, for snakes among sweet flowers do creep." (German Proverb)   

A lazy man's farm is the breeding ground for snakes. (African Proverb)
Here is what I decided to do.  I ran across the African Proverb and decided to change me, in a spiritual way, not just in a physical way of trying to avoid the person or speak differently about the subject.  I decided to TRUST God.  I stopped having casual conversations with the person and only spoke with them when it was about whatever project we worked on together.  Still, there was the tedious steps of what to say, what not to say, changing the subject on purpose, etc., but I trusted GOD.  The  person explained away the calls, texts, and emails I stopped answering with "Girl, you must be real busy or working overtime."  I didn't respond to such statements and let the person believe that if they wanted to.  

Eventually, God "saved" me from those particular snakes. I was able to cut off communication with one because of a change in their lifestyle.  I learned how to trust God with my words when speaking to the other snake, which when no longer getting information to twist, slithered on away, perhaps to bite someone else.  

Snakes are found everywhere.  What is your snake story?  How did you deal with getting bit by that person who turned out to be a snake?  How did you avoid getting bit?  

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