'God is an awesome God' would be an accurate way to describe what the Layne Family of Spring Hill, Tennessee, has experienced.
"This is our miracle... and God still moves." - J.P. Layne
On a recent night, the unthinkable took place
Leslie Layne shares, "I was actually asleep. I was asleep and woken up to what sounded like what I assumed to be fireworks. Unbeknownst to me, it was actually gunfire and so my husband woke up as well. Well, he actually wasn't even asleep yet. He was trying to go to sleep and he was like, 'No, I think it's gunfire.' And so we took off down the hallway and more of it occurred. I opened the front door to witness the vehicle driving off - and the baby (London) had started screaming as I opened the front door and I was like, 'great, it woke her up'... and he (J.P.) hollered, 'No, she's bleeding! And I said, 'from where?' And he was like 'her head.' And at that point my heart just stopped because I'm like, 'How? What just happened? How did that happen?' And that is when we realized a bullet had come through her wall."
London's mother, Leslie, and father, J.P., share their frightful experience - and the unmistakable assuring, calming, hand of Christ
(here's our full podcast interview) (short podcast) (come alongside the family)
Leslie knows it was "absolutely" a very close call for their 22-month-old daughter. The emergency room doctor told her "where the bullet hit was on the main blood supply to the middle of the brain." And if it had struck just a few millimeters more, "she would've bled out before EMS got there." In another scenario, if the wound "had been any shorter of a hit, they would've had to have drilled in to relieve some of the pressure caused by the concussion itself that occurred that night. And so it literally was the perfect storm. The Lord was so gracious and he ordered every step months before this happened. I have found his guidance to be key in how this turned for her."
The Laynes share another God factor that saved London's life
Just days before the shooting, Leslie felt prompted by an unusual urgency to switch out the crib London used, replacing it with a bulkier crib that her sister had been using as a toddler bed. As a result, when the stray bullet entered London's room, the switched out crib "was perfectly placed. It was solid wood. My mother who passed away when she was just a few months old, had bought it for our first daughter as an heirloom piece for the family. And this spindle slowed the bullet to the point that - while it did hit London in the head - and she was shot in the head, it absorbed enough energy that she didn't die from it."
God let this happen?
"And so the Lord has just been good. He's been so good and so gracious and so protective. And in a moment where people are always like, well, 'God let this happen,' I said, 'God didn't let this happen.' I said, 'God allows free will and we live in a fallen world where evil walks.' I said, 'But what God did is he offered protection and he ordered every step to protect her that night because nothing was a surprise to God.' It was a shock to us to wake up to the gunfire, but the Lord knew long before I did what was going to happen and what needed to be done to protect her."
Better news - but also a challenge
Leslie shares, "she is recovering at this point and the doctors are optimistic everything's going to be fine." But there is a downside ongoing. "The trauma will be, that's what I'm combating right now with her and all my other kids, just the trauma aspect of your safe haven being violated. But as far as physical injuries other than a scar on the top of her head, she should have no lasting effects according to doctors once we're done healing."
We asked if London seems to have a memory of what took place? "It's hard to say - when you're that little, she doesn't talk. What we have realized is she does have some PTSD trauma response symptoms, not sleeping. She used to be our child that we laid her in bed at seven o'clock at night, she put herself to sleep and we didn't hear or see from her until six, seven o'clock the next morning.
And now we're not sleeping through the night.
She's having bad dreams even when she falls asleep in the car and naps and she's waking screaming. That is the heartbreaking part of what's going on is making sure that she gets to process the trauma and have no lasting effects there and that she doesn't grow up and have anxiety or fear that she doesn't know where it came from. And I don't believe that God saved her from this for her to carry it around the rest of her life."
God is all over their home
The Laynes place God in the number one spot in their family, so they wrote scripture verses on the wood and beams of their home as it was under construction. "We wanted our house to be built on the word of God and to be surrounded by the word of God, and for it to just be an honor to him for his goodness and his promises and to be reminded. And we sat there and we went through every room and every room behind every wall is scripture. And so the Lord is always in the background working in our home and it's a reminder of every door, every window, every door has scripture, every room has a special scripture. And they were all written for the purpose that that room was to serve at the time the house was built."
Satan cannot take our home!
"This is our second home in the same neighborhood," Leslie explains. "So our first home did not have the scripture, and that was something that we really regretted not being part of the building process to do. But yes, I absolutely treasure - and that's why I refused my first instinct when all of this happened... was to sell the house and move. But I said, 'Why would I allow the enemy to steal my home? And everything that we built from the ground up to honor God?' God did exactly what God promises he'll do. He protected us. And so I absolutely refuse to hand my home over to the enemy!"
Faith is even stronger
"And it's like, Lord, I'm going to have to praise you in every circumstance. And that has a different meaning when you're sitting with your child in an ambulance with a gunshot wound to a head. I realized that day that now I have to walk out the faith God brought us through this already. He didn't bring us through to forsake us. Now he's not going to forsake us. He's here through the entire process. And he knew every detail before I knew anything and nothing is a surprise to him."
And husband, J.P., adds, "I mean, you've got a certain operational faith that most folks walk through in a day to day... and there's so much more. There's such a deeper love and walk that you can have. And I reference one of my mentors and really a father figure of mine from my youth. He always used to say to me, 'Don't sweat the small stuff.' And it's all small stuff. And I think that really at the end of the day, this experience has not only grown our faith and proven to us that 100%, even though we already knew it and acknowledged, this is our miracle... and God still moves. He moves mountains every day and it's the testimony of what's happened that has made it so great to us and helped us to rejoice throughout it, but also that the stuff that we sweat in our day-to-day isn't really all that big."
Needs are being met
There will be recurring medical bills for London. And the bullet holes in the home and vehicle will require repairs. A GoFundMe has been set up. And J.P. just smiles when he considers the blessings from their neighbors. "So, that's been one of the best things out of this whole situation is to watch the community rally around London and my family. This makes our second home in this neighborhood and in this area, and we chose it because it's family. Leslie's probably put it the best to me a million times: 'This neighborhood is a lot like Mayberry most days.' So yes, it's shocking that this happened here, but at the end of the day, we're here because the community is so strong, the faith in the community has led churches to come to my home to say, 'We're here. We want to be the hands and feet and we want to do anything we can to help you.'
We've had neighbors show up just to say, 'Hey, we want to take the children, your other children, let them play with our kids, give them a break from this.' And we've had people just offer their assistance and their help and continue to check up on us and make sure that everybody's okay and that every need, no nothing too small, is met all the time. And it's just been incredible to watch how God has circled the community together in order to give a response that he would be proud of."
J.P. emphasizes the solid encouragement the family has received from the local police department and first responders who are keeping in touch.
Listen To Our podcast
Jesus, who created the universe, knows his children by name. He knows the future. And his will takes precedent.
For the Layne Family, the bullets fired in anger on the street outside their home, were no surprise to God. He intended for London to remain alive, and insured that. If you have any doubts about God's power, provision, and faithfulness, we invite you to listen to our complete podcast interview with Leslie and J.P. Layne:
Editor's note:
If you do not have a relationship with Jesus, here are some teachings from the bible that make things very clear. God has extended an eternal offer to you that came at a very great price, and he did it all for you. Read more from our K-LOVE Pastors.