Carpenter Ants
Exterminated by Applying God’s Word

It was a blustery bone chilling damp day; not at all surprising for March in Minnesota when spring flirts with winter in a rendezvous of rain drops amidst swirling snowflakes. My faithful friend Corine, partner in crazy adventures for over five decades now, reminded me that she has Raynaud’s disease and her precious limbs are prone to freezing easily. It wasn’t that we hadn’t braved the cold on other years to celebrate our annual first day of spring picnic but we were older and wiser now. I had a great idea; my homebound mother living all alone in her nice warm cozy house always enjoyed company and besides she loved potato salad. I suggested to Corine, “Let’s go over to my mom’s house and have our picnic indoors this year.” Corine agreed.
It made mom’s day to have us surprise her with a picnic lunch. She sat rocking in her chair watching as we arranged the festively decorated paper plates and matching cups, plastic silverware, and napkins on her table. Mom’s eyes twinkled in anticipation when Corine pulled her potato salad out of the cooler. Corine is famous for her delicious, nutritious potato salad; as my mom would put it, “She has everything in it but the kitchen sink.”
The hot dogs needed to be warmed up and since we wouldn’t be cooking them on a grill outside I had to get a pan to warm them in; as I opened the cupboard door we all got a surprise; two large black ants jumped out and scurried out of sight. I tried to make light of it laughingly saying, “Wow, a genuine spring picnic with ants and all!”
I knew, from our family’s battle with these ants last spring when we trimmed branches touching the house, dug up stumps in the yard, removed firewood from the basement, etc., this was no laughing matter. These were carpenter ants! They can do serious damage to a house! You have to locate their nest to get rid of them. We thought we had the problem solved last year but here they were again!
I went home and cried. I felt so overwhelmed with trying to juggle my home duties and mom’s care and now I had this added urgent, must attend to immediately problem! I prayed, “Oh my God please help me to find the nest. Give me a knowledge of Your creation of carpenter ants. Be Lord of this ant problem and somehow turn this curse into a blessing. Oh yes, and thank You for making carpenter ants big and black so we can see them so easily!’
Professional exterminators were in order but Mom insisted, “No professional exterminators in my house!” She couldn’t understand why such a fuss over some ants. “It’s not the end of the world you know,” she retorted. I was determined, with God’s help, to find the nest on my own. The next day I went over to mom’s and emptied out the kitchen cabinet where I had seen the ants jump out. No nest anywhere in there. I decided to just sit and watch. I remembered one of my favorite scriptures, Mark 11:24, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” I visualized myself watching an ant go into a hole in the wall and me tapping on the wall and listening and hearing a rustling crinkling cellophane noise inside. While I sat there waiting and watching ants here and there I read my daily scripture reading which happened to be Matt.7:7 “Ask and you shall receive. I had asked God for His help. Seek and you shall find. I was diligently seeking to find that nest. Knock and the door will be opened unto you. I read that when you think you know where the nest is you have to knock on the wood and listen closely putting your ear against the wood or using a listening device. I sat in mom’s kitchen all afternoon watching an occasional ant moving about on her counter top. None of them wanted anything to do with the sweet bait I had put out. They just moved helter-skelter about. After some time I was getting discouraged. A few friends called while I sat there wanting me to do something with them. I told them I was on a mission and I wasn’t going anywhere until the mission was accomplished. I asked them to pray that I would find the ant’s nest. They thought I was crazy sitting there watching ants crawl around. After a few hours and not being able to pick up on a trail I went home to have supper with my husband telling mom I would be back after 10p.m. because I had read the ants are most active between 10pm and 2am. At 10pm I arrived with a flashlight that had a red filter on it. I opened the cupboard door and saw swarming winged ants on top of the door! This is a sure indication that the queen was in a nest nearby! Wow, I hit the jackpot!!! It was worth coming over here late at night! They were running into a tiny hole on top of the door! I grabbed some tape and quickly tapped the hole shut so they couldn’t get out anymore. Had I found the nest? Now for the finale test. I knocked on the door, put my stethoscope to the wood and listened carefully. I couldn’t believe my ears. I heard a rustling crinkling cellophane sound inside! Praise God!!! Hallelujah!!! Mission accomplished! This was it! I found the nest! I removed the door from its hinges and took it far out into a wooded area. My face was radiant with joy and so were the faces of all my family when I told them how God had answered my prayer and helped me find the nest. Glory be to God!!!

P.K.Wittkop