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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Savory to the Taste (07/26/12)
Her daughter was clearly suffering from harassment of an evil spirit. Who was there to turn to for help?

The daughter with whom she now lived was not the child she had been all the years before. She often stayed in her little room and sometimes would scream in terrorizing howls. Often the happy little girl of former days cried and intermittently laughed hysterically. There were times when she had caught her daughter cutting herself with sharp stones. She was desperate and bewildered because she knew of nothing to do for her precious and beautiful daughter.

It was frightening to leave her child alone even to go to the market, but the child was not dependable to hold good behavior in public. She must however go shopping, they needed food.

While at the market she heard excited chatter among the women. They were all talking at once and she needed to move closer to isolate one conversation so she could hear what the excitement was about. She heard a name that she had heard before, “Jesus.” The women were talking about healings they had personally witnessed. Jesus, they said, had even cast demons out of many people and they were instantly sane.

Her heart leaped inside her and she was in a state of frenzy to get to Jesus. “Which way did He go?” She asked. The ladies looked at her momentarily and pointed in a direction; she ran in a hope to catch up with Jesus.

She did eventually get to the periphery of the crowd which surrounded Jesus. As she pushed and furrowed her way into the crowd she was closer now but those men who seemed to be protecting Jesus from the crowd told her to go away, that she should not bother Jesus.

“Oh no,” she thought, “I must have what only He can do. I must ask Him to heal my daughter.”

She caught the eye of Jesus; she promptly fell on her knees before Him and worshipped Him. She asked with a pleading voice, “Lord, my daughter is vexed by a demon; please heal her!”

Jesus had a mission and He was singularly focused on that mission; He was to take the message of the Kingdom to the Jews and this woman was a Canaanite. Jesus therefore said to her, “Woman, it is not right to take the bread of the children and give it to the dogs.”

She was so intent on getting healing for her daughter that instead of being insulted she said to Jesus, “That is true Lord, but the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”

Jesus was moved by the woman’s response, and by her faith, so He responded to her. “Woman, great is your faith; be it unto you according as you will.” The subsequent report of that verse tells us that, “Her daughter was healed in that same hour.”

She and her daughter benefitted magnificently from the savory morsel that fell from the Master’s Table.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
pam Leitermann
08/02/12
Very good!
Laura Manley
08/03/12
This was a very moving story; one that is so familiar. I honestly did not pick up on the "savory morsel" idea until the end of the story, but all in all I enjoyed your entry very much.
Nancy Bucca
08/05/12
Nice take on the topic: getting a savory morsel from the master's table. Good job.
C D Swanson 
08/05/12
Great job with the "very familiar line" about feeding to the dogs. Well written and very good choice and approach for the topic at hand. Nicely done!

Thanks. God Bless~
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
08/08/12
I really enjoyed the retelling of this familiar story. You did a nice job of bringing the MC to life. I can easily picture her fear, despair, and then hope, and joy.

You did a nice job of showing instead of telling. When using a tagline like she asked the word closest to the quote should be in lowercase because by itself she asked is not a complete sentence. For example: "Are you okay?" she asked. What I would recommend is to get rid of the tagline and describe the emotion or actions of the person. For example: "Are you okay?" She bit her lower lip and held her breath. This shows that she is the speaker and it gives a picture for the reader.

I do think this is a great story. I think the criterion that the judges might mark as lowest would be the topic. Though you mentioned it in the end, it would be hard for someone to guess the topic if they didn't know it.

Your beginning paragraph was great. It drew me in immediately. Even though I knew how it would unfold, I was still eager to keep reading. It's well-written and you really build on the conflict. You message was clear too. It's not always easy to have faith, especially when children are hurting or in danger but not only will Jesus help the faithful but he'll give us the strength to endure.