Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Control (01/30/06)
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TITLE: God Is in Control | Previous Challenge Entry
By Karen Heslink
02/01/06 -
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Sheila accepted the idea that God was in control, but what did that mean to her? There were, of course, the Ten Commandments brought down from the mountain by Moses. As a young girl she had memorized them for Sunday school. She just wasn’t sure if they applied to her now. God certainly did not dominate her life. She was so busy with secular living; it left little time for God or his commandments.
Sheila thought about the recent events in her life. She smiled as she pictured Christina, her three-year old daughter. Thank goodness her mother had been so willing and eager to take care of Christina while she worked to support the two of them. Brad was certainly no help. Her smile turned to a frown when she remembered the restraining order she had to get to keep him away from the house. She still couldn’t believe how things had fallen apart so rapidly. He had come home late one night, seen the two wine glasses on the coffee table and just exploded. No amount of explaining, pleading or begging had convinced him that she was not seeing someone else. After a few days, he calmed down, but warned her that he would not tolerate her drinking alone or with a friend. The way he said, “friend” assured her he still did not believe her explanation. A few months later, Brad arrived home from work with that look on his face again. Not knowing her mother was visiting and had just taken Christina out to the kitchen to finish dinner; he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and hissed, “I have it from a very reliable source that you were with a man at lunch yesterday. It was just the two of you sitting at a corner table, enjoying each other way more than the food on your plates. Who is he? Why are you cheating on me?”
Sheila tried to pull away, “Stop, Brad, you’re hurting me. Let me explain”
“Sure,” snarled Brad, “just like you explained about the two wine glasses weeks ago. No wife of mine is going to fancy foot it around town with another man and get away with it!” At that very moment, as Sheila’s mom and daughter walked into the room, Brad slapped her so hard it knocked her off her feet. Christina screamed, her mother ran to help her get up, and Brad slammed the door as he stormed from the house.
Now they were separated, and she had a restraining order against Brad. As she tucked a sleepy Christina into bed that night, Sheila slumped down into the chair by the window and stared out. Again that phrase came to mind. God is in control. She thought for awhile and decided that it was time to really let God control her life. What had she been thinking all those years? She ran downstairs and found her mother brewing tea in the kitchen.
“Mom,” Sheila started, “I want to know why you never said anything to me about church and Sunday school for Christina. Why have you been so silent when it was so important when I was a child?”
“We all have to find God in our own way, sweet girl. For you, it took a very rude awakening and physical harm for you to understand that God is in control. Sometimes he just has to use extreme measures to help us see that, Sheila. When we get lost in the secular world, we forget that God is the one who controls our lives. Sometimes he uses the secular systems we have in place here on earth to control those who cannot control themselves. Poor Brad. If only he had listened to your explanation…” sighed her mother, “We should pray for him.”
“I’d like that, Mom. Let’s pray for Brad, and then for all of us. God has my attention now, and I know he is in control. Help me pray, Mom. It’s been a long time."
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