Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: BAGGAGE (02/08/18)
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TITLE: I Will Give You Rest | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jude Harris
02/15/18 -
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I could have moved on, but I had to see her every day at work in meetings, and randomly in the breakroom or hallways. Her cold formality left me shivering emotionally. This awkwardness soon spilled over into the workplace and I watched my co-workers silently choose sides: hers. My attempts at resolution with her had failed and now it was failing in the workplace too.
At first, I noticed I could do no right. If I showed up early, I was "late". If I produced a requested report, it was disregarded. If I laughed at myself, I was "making fun of someone". Lunches were now spent alone. I heard snippets of gossip: I had said this, or done that. . . I knew it was untrue, but no one showed any interest in my truth.
My performance suffered. The identity I'd wrapped up in my career I now doubted, leaving me questioning my value. The longer time passed with this unresolved, the more the burden grew. After many unsuccessful attempts to make things right, I resigned my position and decided to start afresh somewhere else.
But when I packed up my desk, my emotional baggage filled up most of the box. I had determined to put this all behind me and move on to a life of gratitude, but instead, I found myself lugging the hurt and rejection around like bags of cement, leaving me drowning in sorrow and heavy-hearted.
But God. . .
"You look exhausted," an old friend commented to me one day at a lunch.
I tearfully divulged my story.
"Hmmm!" she said and sat quietly for a few moments looking out the window. Then reaching down into her tote she pulled out her old worn Bible. "Here," she said handing it to me. "Read Matthew 11:28."
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I read to her and then added, "This won't work. God's so intangible."
"Read it again," she said softly. I read it again. "I just don't see how God can fix this," I told her.
"It's your only solution," she said. Then reaching over and patting my hand she offered to lend me the Bible, "Read it until it makes sense. Pray over it. I don't have the words to translate this to your heart."
That night I threw the Bible on the table. "God you didn't keep me from being rejected, so why would you help me now?" I "prayed".
I was angry, but I sat down anyway and opened the Bible to Matthew, reading the verse again. "Okay God, I don't know who to turn to. It says here, that if I'm heavy laden I can come to you, so here I am," I challenged Him." Quietly, my heart did a little leap; I felt Him listening.
"Go to Him every time you feel the pain," she'd told me before we said goodbye. "It's not your weight to carry."
And so, I continued my encounters with God. When I began to relive the hurt and feel the pain, I ran to Him and let Him hear my heart. And each time I did, I left His presence a little lighter, a little less stressed.
I returned the Bible to her weeks later. "I'm sorry I kept it so long," I apologized.
"No worries," she said. "You look world's different, lighter!" she added.
"I found a baggage handler," I said, my eyes twinkling, knowing she'd understand.
fiction
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God Bless.
Perfect ending!