Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: RELEASE (08/02/18)
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TITLE: The Only Antidote | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
08/08/18 -
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The middle-aged doctor was the best in his field, well-known throughout the country for his vast knowledge and successful treatment of those in his care. Although he considered each patient who walked through his door as special and unique, the beautiful young woman sitting in front of him challenged his humanity as no other. He instinctively knew (and as tests had confirmed) that she would require all of the clever insight at his disposal to break through her defenses.
Kathleen Preston didn’t need anyone. She took pride in her prestigious position at the city’s most lucrative realtor agency. She was highly respected for her commitment to every client she had worked with. It was ironic, then, that her self-esteem was at an all-time low. A new Christian, she was still learning to turn everything over to God.
Dr. Upright was convinced that Kathleen would not be persuaded by his usual tact and gentleness. She was so tight, her muscles clenched like a sprung bear trap. He put on his professional serious face and began.
“Ms. Preston, you have a cancer and if we don’t address it immediately, it will kill you,” hoping for a reaction.
“How long do I have?,” the controlled voice struggling like a canoe battling a stiff breeze.
That question lingering in the air and an incredulous lift of her right eyebrow and a straightening of her already rigid shoulders indicated she had heard him. Kathleen used her normal defense mechanism of shielding her bound heart by physical control, much like a child tensing before getting a shot. The doctor was aware that she needed some time to digest the diagnosis and scheduled appointments at regular intervals for her therapies and for the uphill battle to save her life.
Over the next few months, James Upright treated Kathleen Preston with all the chemotherapy (Scripture reading), radiation (prayer) and even holistic healing systems (support groups) at his disposal. But the poison, like a surging power strike, was zapping his patient’s energy and damaging all her relationships. Nothing seemed to penetrate her shored up heart.
A Believer himself, James was moved by her brokenness and was attracted to this vulnerable young woman. He wanted to guide her through the maze of her complicated past and into a stronger faith. Along the way, the doctor found himself falling in love with his patient, in spite of unwritten rules against it. He HAD to get through to her, before her mental baggage leaked into her physical body, as well.
It was Kathleen’s last scheduled appointment with Dr. James. She had tried, she really had. For him, as well as for herself. She loved him! He had become her rock in the bedlam of overflowing emotions that threatened to drown her.
“You just don’t understand, Jim. They LIED to me! For eighteen years!,” again nursing her grudge against her adoptive parents, “a person just can’t sweep that under the rug.”
“We can’t get married with this burden you’re carrying, darling. It will destroy our love as surely as poison cuts off oxygen.”
The psychiatrist rose and walked over to the office picture window, hands clasped behind his back. He prayed, as never before, for God’s guidance even as he marveled at the magnificent lilac blooms on the bush a foot away from him.
“Come her, Kathy, I want to show you something,” beckoning her with an outstretched hand.
“Look at the raindrops glistening on the leaves over there,” pointing through the window.
Kathleen watched the chandelier-like droplets hanging on leaf tips for dear life while others eventually dropped to the ground.
“You have to let it go, honey, just like those leaves releasing the raindrops. It’s time to let it go and let God heal your wounds.”
Taking her in his arms, then, and only then, she allowed herself to melt into her fiancé’s embrace, even as she continued to watch the raindrops fall to the ground. She had held on to her resentment for so long it had become as familiar to her as a child’s security blanket. What would it be like to shed her anger, to forgive? That little possibility of relief took hold, a lighthouse beam guiding her to shore as she closed her tear-filled eyes and finally let her resentment slide away into Jesus’s waiting capable hands.
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Ephesians 4:32 - And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
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