Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Bitter and Sweet (05/28/09)
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TITLE: Millie's Choice | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ruth DESBOROUGH
06/04/09 -
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Millie tossed and turned on her bed. Tired from a busy day she had decided to retire early, but shortly after she had heard someone singing in the apartment below:
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”
The words had struck a chord in her memory that she wasn’t sure she wanted to remember. There had been a time in her life when she too had thought it was sweet to trust in Jesus, but circumstances had entered her life leaving her with bitter feelings and she had turned her back on God.
Now, forty years later, she often wondered what life was all about. She had a few friends, but they seldom paid her a visit. Her health was not good and she could barely manage to keep her job at the supermarket down the road.
Again the strains of the chorus reached her ears. Someone obviously believed it was sweet to trust in Jesus.
Millie thought back to the time when she too had sung that chorus with real meaning. She had yielded her life to the claims of Christ. All had been well until she met Ronald. It seemed like love at first sight and every available moment they spent in each other’s company.
He said he was a Christian and went along with her to church.
Millie thought he was the most wonderful man in the world and began to plan for what she expected would soon be their wedding.
Her prayers were full of thanksgiving for Ronald. However, little else occupied her thoughts and when Ronald suggested they miss the prayer meeting one night and go to the theatre instead she went along without any protest.
Then he wanted to miss the worship service on Sunday. At first she held her ground, but she wanted his company so much that she gave in to him a number of times.
She began to realise that he was not the committed Christian she had thought. In fact she began to wonder if he really was a Christian, as he began to show little interest in church activities.
Oh how she prayed to the Lord to save him. “Please Lord, save Ronald. I love him so much. I want him to be my husband.”
She tried to tell him how much she loved Jesus, but he teased her and said all she needed was to love him and he would take care of her.
Eventually they stopped going to church.
Then the bombshell came. One evening instead of meeting her as planned, Ronald called her on the phone. He said he did not want to see her again, that he had fallen in love with a beautiful girl and they were leaving town together. He rang off and she never heard from him again.
Heartbroken she had left the church and drifted along with ungodly friends. Pleasure seeking was their god. The bitter experience of Ronald’s friendship had changed her life.
Was it sweet to trust in Jesus? Hadn’t Jesus failed her? He certainly had not answered her prayers for Ronald.
But now this chorus — why had it reached her and set her thinking? Why tonight when she was so tired and wanted to sleep? She slipped out of bed and went and sat in the living room.
Thoroughly awake now, she let her mind go back to the happy days when she and the other young people in the church had shared together. They had gone to camp one year and committed their lives to serve Christ. At the time she had thought she might be a missionary to some foreign country.
What was she now? A lonely woman who before long would be called elderly. Was she going to be a bitter old woman when that time came. Tears began to fall.
In desperation she called out to the Lord for forgiveness, “Lord can you change this bitter woman. Can you take away the bitterness of all these years. I failed you. I wanted Ronald instead of you. Forgive me. Thank you for letting me hear that sweet singing tonight.”
Peace came into her heart. She knew the Lord had heard her. It would take time before she was fully restored and back in a church, but a beginning had been made. Maybe she would sing that chorus again!
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Good writing and nice theme. Perhaps some editing on paragraphs and sentence structure.
There were a lot of entries this week, particularly in Level 1, and the competition was even more intense than normal for that level, with the 1st and 2nd place winners making it into the Editor's Choice. The standard was exceptionally high. So you deserve a pat on the back. :-)
If you'd like to check the highest rankings for yourself, you can find them here:
http://www.faithwriters.com/Boards/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=25861
The highest rankings are posted every Thursday evening on the Message Boards.
Hope to see you at the FaithWriters' Conference in August. It’s going to be an amazing time of inspiration, information and encouragement. (If I’ve already mentioned that to you, forgive me. We’re just so excited about letting members know about this great gathering.)
http://www.faithwriters.com/conference.php
With love, Deb (Challenge Coordinator)