Devotionals

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When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him (Prov. 16:7).

“Mom, please sign this note,” Dana begged, “if you don't, the neighbors will be mad.”

“No, Dana, I won't sign it. I won’t lie for you.”

Dana and Sally had skipped school. They wanted their mothers to tell the principal that they stayed home sick.

“Mr. Woodard, Dana signed her own note,” Mrs. Carmen said as she talked to the principal on the phone. “Dana and Sally did not stay home sick.”

“Can you come to my office at one today?” he asked.

“Certainly.”

As they talked, Mrs. Carmen revealed that she knew the whereabouts of these two girls.

“Where were the girls yesterday,?” he asked.
As a Christian, Mrs. Carmen felt she should tell the whole truth. “They spent the day down by the river.”

Consequently he suspended Sally from school, but not Dana because he hoped to separate these two girls. That way he tried to keep them from influencing each other.

Dana refused to talk with her mother. Myrna and Sally Ketch spoke angry words and stayed away from their honest neighbor. How could peace ever come out of such a situation!

In such turmoil Mrs. Carmen remembered the Lord's promise of peace with her enemies.

For some time Mrs. Ketch avoided Mrs. Carmen. How can I ever be a witness? Mrs. Carmen thought. I can't live a testimony with my daughter lying like that.

Not long afterwards Dana, only seventeen, moved out on her own. She quit attending church and dropped out of school. Her mother kept praying.

Dana lost her chastity, but not her mother's prayers. One night Mrs. Carmen wept as her thoughts perturbed her over the circumstances. Toward morning a calm swept over her soul. This assured her that God had heard her prayers.

The lying mother saw a woman unafraid to tell the truth, even when lying seemed more convenient.

One day Mrs. Carmen dropped by the neighbor's house on business. The conversation shifted to the gospel. She shared her secret of peace in the midst of turmoil. “You can have peace, too,” she told Myrna. She hoped that one day this neighbor would open her heart to Christ.

First, the Lord gave peace and then He answered Mrs. Carmen's prayers. Dana returned to school and for a time attended church with her mother. “Keep me close to God and to Mom,” she prayed.

One lie would have kept Mrs. Ketch from listening when her neighbor shared her secret of peace. God used the truth to make peace with her enemies.

Mrs. Carmen kept praying, “Dear Lord, give me wisdom in getting along with my neighbors. Keep me honest, when I am tempted to lie in order to make peace. Amen.”

All names have been changed in this article.

Published in Penned from the Heart, Vol. 6, ©1999, Lynn Wallace

See my bio, info about my book, articles, and more at www.writingfrommyheart.com

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