Forever Blessed (Women of Prayer) by Darlene Shortridge Page A

listen.
    “I see most of you are nodding your heads in agreement. It’s easy to see how God could love someone who lived hundreds of years ago. It’s easy to see how God could love someone who hasn’t directly hurt you. What about those people all around us who have hurt us, who continue to hurt us? What about them?
    "Last year one of our members had a horrible injustice brought upon her family. Her world was torn apart. Some of you already know her story. For the rest of you, she has given me permission to share. Her husband and son were outside in their front yard. Her son had just gotten his first two-wheeler and her husband was trying to teach him to ride it. It was a beautiful spring day, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Nothing should have gone wrong. Little did they know, but one street over an argument was going on. Things were starting to get heated. It wasn’t long before one of the guys in the argument pulled a gun and fired off several rounds. One of the bullets traveled the distance between their houses and hit their 6-year-old son, killing him instantly. If this happened to you, would you love the man that shot your child?”
    Every eye in the building was glued to the pastor as he spoke. Laney didn’t know what to think. Was he really suggesting that the shooter was worth loving? She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
    The pastor continued. “There’s more. Her pain didn’t stop there. Her husband was in so much pain that he bottled everything up and blamed himself. They grew apart in their pain and he ended up leaving her. He just walked out. One day while she was at work he left. She came home to a half empty closet. She lost her son, and then she lost her husband. How do you love through something like that? How do you still function? Yet that is exactly what she did. She kept putting one foot in front of the other. She kept getting up each day. She kept kneeling next to her bed each night. Instead of blaming God, she poured her heart out to him. Instead of lashing out at him, she crawled into his lap and clung to him. Instead of being bitter, for the first time she understood her own sin and truly understood forgiveness and God’s love. It wasn’t easy. There were days she wanted to quit. Days she wanted to crawl under the covers and never get up. But, she didn’t. And God has blessed her for it. Her husband is sitting next to her today because she didn’t give up. She stayed on her knees reminding God to give her back everything the devil stole and more. He is restoring this couple, renewing their relationship and binding them together with chords that cannot easily be broken.
    Who do you think Christ died on the cross for? Romans 3:10 tells us, “There is none righteous, no not one.” That means that every single one of us is a sinner. Every single one of us has committed a crime against God and without Christ dying for us, without his blood being shed, we would have no hope of spending eternity with our Lord and Savior in heaven.
    When we look at a murderer, we see a useless excuse for a man. When God sees a murderer, he sees someone that he loved enough that he died for him. That is how God loves. That is how he wants us to love.”
    The message continued but Laney couldn’t find her way past her own thoughts. God loved Paul? And worse yet, he expected her to love Paul? This is what Christianity was all about? First she had to endure the hypocrites at her mother’s church, now this? She felt Sheila squeeze her hand and her attention was captured as the preacher continued. She must have missed most of what he had been saying but, she listened to the rest anyway.
    “If not for the love and grace of a merciful God, Jessi and I would not be here with you today. I did not deserve, and still don’t deserve, the love my wife has for me. That I am standing before you today is proof that real love, the kind of love God requires of us, works miracles in the everyday lives of