The Woods Called Denial | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Woods Called Denial | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Champion
04/14/15
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The morning dew is heavy on my eyelids. As I stretch and run my fingers through matted hair, I see a tiny mouse sifting in the grass next to me. He must be hungry too. I’ll let him eat today because he got up earlier than I. From my pocket, I pull out my sweet daughter’s photo, all crumpled and old. She is only five in the picture but it is all I have left of her or that life. I remember taking this picture of her in the kitchen standing on a chair at the sink. She was washing her sippy cup so she could give some water to her baby doll in it. Her dark hair hung down her back and her round brown eyes glistened as I explained to her about Jesus and how He is the living water. A year later, our lives changed tragically.
My husband, Malik, overheard me teaching our daughter how to pray to Jesus. He charged into the room and grabbed me by my hair. He dragged me out of the house and into the street where he kicked me in my ribs and spit in my face. Our sweet daughter watched as he did this to me.

He said to me, “Take it back! Tell her that your Jesus is a lie! Tell her!”

I looked at Ariana as she stood in the street crying and begging for her father to stop. I shook my head and told her that I loved her.

I said, “No, I will not deny Jesus. She needs to know the truth.”

Malik went back home and threw out all my possessions into the yard and said, “If you want your things, have them but you will not have Ariana. Get out of my sight and never come back.”

Now, I wake up every day in the woods a mile from our home. I dig through the trash for my food. There is no help here for women like me. I could go to another town where there are missionaries but I cannot leave Ariana. She has tried to see me but it is too dangerous for us both. The last time I saw her, she begged me to change my mind and tell her father that I didn’t believe in Jesus but I cannot; I must stand up for Jesus. I tell her to pray quietly to Jesus but she only shakes her head and cries out that she hates me for doing this to our family.

It is tempting to deny my Lord. I suffer in this wilderness. I have been raped here in the woods. I go hungry and sick because I have no money, no food and no help. This life as a Christian is hard but I have my bible. Malik tried to take it from me but I grabbed it and ran fast. He cannot take away my belief. I have faith in Jesus and must be strong even when I face suffering and death.

The little mouse scurries by me with a small nut it found. I stand up and throw my satchel on my back to start my foraging as well. God is good all the time.

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