Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Lock (03/06/06)
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TITLE: No Spare Key | Previous Challenge Entry
By Christina Randazzo
03/07/06 -
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As she pulled into her driveway, all Keegan could think about was how wonderful it would feel to snuggle into her lounging clothes and sit down to rest her eyes. Working with twenty-three children all day was exhausting, and this teacher needed quiet time to unwind. Lifting her tote bags onto her shoulder, she walked up the stairs of her deck. After fumbling with her keys while trying to shrug the shoulder straps upwards, she managed to fit the key into the hole. With a little too much aggression from the day’s stresses, she snapped the key in half, leaving part inside the hole and herself out in the cold.
“Come on!” she groaned with complete frustration in her voice.
Any neighbor who might be walking their dog or fetching their mail surely heard the young woman’s utterance. Keegan was a frequent topic of discussion among her neighbors. Why was this attractive, young woman living alone? Why didn’t they see male company at her house? She always had a kind word and friendly grin for everyone.
What the neighbors didn’t know was that, beneath the smile was a struggling woman whose heart had been trampled on too many times. She had the joy of the Lord in her heart, but even that was beginning to wane lately. Keegan’s mind and heart were full of questions for the Lord, and she was growing empty the longer she went without getting answers.
Now, standing on the wooden planks of her deck, she wished more than ever she had a man in her life. Someone who would convince her things like this happen to everyone. Someone who would comfort her. Someone who would have a spare key! Instead, she headed next door where she borrowed a phone book and telephone to call a locksmith.
“Please sit down,” invited her neighbor.
“Thank you, but I think I’ll wait outside,” replied Keegan.
In the coolness that comes between winter and spring, she sat on her steps, back against the hardness of the wooden posts, eyes staring up into the heavens. She let out a long sigh and began to speak to the only one who she had left to rely on. “Father, You know my heart and my desires. It seems like everything I’ve ever wanted is totally out of reach for me. Even You, God. I feel like I don’t know what’s real -- if You’re real. What do You want from me? How can I please You? Tell me. Show me, and I will try to obey. I have always been able to keep my hope, but I feel like even that is fading.”
The thoughts continued to pour out of her soul until they were interrupted by an overwhelming thought. It was almost as if she could see the words in her mind. “In My time. You see things through the eyes of a child, but I see your entire life in one snapshot. What you are waiting for will come. Trust in My timing.”
Feeling almost frightened, Keegan looked over her shoulder. Is this what people meant when they said God spoke to them? There was no voice bellowing from the skies. She did not hear an actual conversation playing in her head. But the words came so clearly that she could not deny them. Perhaps the quiet time she had needed was not as she had planned. Maybe the desires that she felt were missing from her life were not as high on the list of priorities as she had thought.
In that moment, it became clear that only a Father who loved her would lock her outside of her home – because being locked out allowed her Father to open the home of His heart in a way she had never known.
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That said and out of the way, I loved how you described her as seeing God's words in her head. You did a good job portraying the emotions she'd been bottling up and you had a perfect ending.(Although, after the comments about her living alone, I was kind of waiting for the cute locksmith to enter the picture. Maybe the prayer is answered in the sequel? lol)
Great way of let your audience know, that when things seem to go wrong, that God is trying to teach us something, tell, us something or protect us.