by Chris Fabry
“You know what I’m going to do?” Elizabeth said when they’d cleared a space in the girl’s closet. “I’m going to order you a prayer journal just like Miss Clara has. Would you like that?”
Danielle’s eyes widened and she gave her mother another hug.
Tony awoke with a splitting headache and an ache in his stomach. He stumbled down the corridor to a vending machine and bought a soda to settle the turmoil in his gut.
He had ordered for Veronica last night and they’d both had the same meal. He wondered if she had gotten sick. A quick call could have solved the mystery, but he decided against it.
Had it been the food? Maybe he’d picked up a bug. You never knew, with all the germs floating around. Somebody with the flu could have used the same gas pump, or it could’ve been the person at the checkout line at the grocery store—plus, he’d shaken a hundred hands in the past few days.
Returning to his room, he watched the news and drank the soda. It seemed to calm him a little. He took a long, hot shower and got ready for the day. He checked his messages and the schedule on his phone. He wasn’t super busy with sales calls, but there was enough to keep him on the road for a couple more days.
There was a text from Veronica. He checked the time and figured he’d been asleep when it came in the previous night. Sorry you didn’t feel well. Hope you’re better today. Are you staying in Raleigh? Call me.
He hit Reply. I must have caught a bug. Really sorry I ran off like that. I need to make it up to you.
He was about to hit Send when another pain hit him and he ran to the bathroom. Something was seriously messing with his insides. A few minutes later he returned to the phone and found a message from Danielle. She had used her mother’s phone.
Love you, Daddy. Hope you have a good day. See you soon.
He smiled. His little girl was growing up. And something about the words made him think about her future. He’d grown up in a single-parent home, his father leaving and then divorcing his mother. He and his dad had a bit of a relationship now, but he’d always been closer to his mother. He had vowed he would never make a child of his go through that. Life was hard enough with two parents, especially ones who fought as much as he and Elizabeth did. Would Danielle be better off with the two of them together or apart? And how would she react to a new woman in his life? Someone like Veronica?
He scrolled back to the reply he had written and hit the Delete button. He would call Veronica later and explain.
The conflict he felt at home and the pull toward Veronica only led him to something else that was brewing, a cloud that hung over him. Something had grown in his heart and woke him at night and it was part of the reason he didn’t like going to church or even talking with his friend Michael.
He’d promised himself a hundred times that he would stop stealing samples. He had done it by mistake the first time. A box of rather expensive medication had gotten stuck in the bottom of his sample case, and the doctor at the office had signed off on the number without even looking at the form. He just put his chicken scratch down and Tony was on his way. Later, when Tony inspected the case, he found the box. He told himself he’d return it to the doctor on the next trip, but one thing led to another and he found a guy who knew a guy and the hundred-dollar bill seemed like a good payoff. He’d been weighed down with financial struggles and the extra cash gave him a measure of comfort he didn’t seem to have otherwise.
But the onetime incident turned into a second time that wasn’t an accident, and everything seemed to escalate from there. He rationalized that the company was making so much money that they would never miss a few extra bottles of this or that. Plus, they weren’t really paying him what he was worth, so this was his way of taking a little extra bonus. He was actually saving the company from having to pay him, and he was saving not having to pay taxes. And the government was getting more than it deserved, as far as he was concerned.
Tony checked out of the hotel, quickly walking past the breakfast buffet without a thought of eating anything. He drove to his first appointment at the medical center. It was a hub of activity, even this early in the morning. He opened his trunk, removed the samples he would present, and checking around the parking lot, set two aside for himself. He locked the car and walked inside, remembering the names of the receptionist and the doctor awaiting his delivery.
Miss Clara
Clara had spoken forcefully to Elizabeth and with great conviction the day before, and that bothered her. In the middle of the night she’d gotten out of bed and slipped to the floor.
“Oh, Lord, that girl looked like a thirsty child standing by a fire hydrant. And she thinks I’m a spiritual giant, but You know how weak I am. How flawed I am.
“Prayer warrior,” she whispered to herself, then chuckled. “You know I’m not that. I’m just somebody who’s come to the end of herself and her ability to fix things.”
There were things Clara had prayed about for decades that hadn’t changed. That fact didn’t stop her. There were people on her prayer list from the first time she had ever made one. She just moved the names from one worn-out, tearstained page to another and kept praying, kept begging God to intervene. Kept believing He was working.
Clara wanted to talk to Elizabeth about trusting in the Lord with all her heart, but there would be time for that. She knew trust was the essence of prayer. But how could she communicate that to someone just starting out? She wanted to tell Elizabeth that if you come to God with a good plan, you’ll probably leave frustrated. The believer’s job was to come to God with a surrendered heart. To come empty-handed every morning not to get what you wanted but to receive all of who He was and what He wanted for you.
Clara received a phone call from Cecilia in the morning. Someone who knew somebody at the police station had called someone else and the grapevine extended to Cecilia’s house.
“What came over you, Clara? Why didn’t you just give that man the money?”
“Honey, if you had been with me in my prayer time yesterday morning, you’d know why I stood up to him.”
“What are you talking about now? Come on. Tell me.”
“I was reading in Luke about the man of the tombs. You know, the man full of demons. The people in his town chained him up to keep him at bay. Jesus came along and found this man and spoke with authority. He told those demons their day was up. And they obeyed because He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The power of Jesus is amazing.”
“Clara, I hate to inform you, but you’re not Jesus.”
“I know that. But when that young man jumped out and held up his knife, I could see it in his eyes. He was just like that man of the tombs. I prayed one of those arrow prayers: ‘Lord, show me what to do.’ And the answer came—give him the name that’s above every name. So I did it. And if he hadn’t run off, I would have given him the Bible I keep in my purse.”
“You could be stone-cold dead right now. You know that?”
“Mmm-hmm. You’re right about that. But I’d rather speak the name of Jesus. And I’ve been praying that God would track that young man down and that he would hear the words of life.”
“Remind me not to go downtown with you, girlfriend.”
The two laughed, but Clara couldn’t help but think of Elizabeth. She had chains on her heart. The enemy was after her and her family. But in those moments in Clara’s living room, she’d seen a flicker of faith and known Elizabeth was about to unleash God’s power on her family. This problem of theirs was an opportunity for God to work. But she knew that God sometimes let things get worse before they got better.
CHAPTER 10
Elizabeth felt a little hope seeping into her soul the next day. She hadn’t heard from Tony and wasn’t sure God was making any progress with him, but she had sold a house to a young couple that reminded her a lot of Tony and her when they were just starting out. Handing a family the keys and walking through the front door with them was the highlight of being a Realtor.
Daniell
e had thrown herself into her double Dutch team and was working hard on conditioning and on several tricks with their routine. Jennifer, Joy, and Samantha were such talented girls, and the way the team worked together was amazing. Elizabeth watched them from the bleachers at the community center and cheered as they jumped. Several times Danielle looked up at her, smiling at having her mom alongside the court.
Any worthwhile endeavor, any desired goal or outcome, took teamwork. Danielle was learning valuable lessons about the importance of practice and tenacity in sticking with anything in life, just like Elizabeth was learning about prayer.
Elizabeth expected Tony home the next day, and she had prayed early this morning that God would allow her to speak kindly to him when she saw him, and that Tony would sense her love for him in the midst of their struggles. Not that she’d put up a false front, but that he would sense genuine love and understanding from her.
As she was putting some things away in Danielle’s room later, she walked into her daughter’s closet. She stopped as she saw two sheets of construction paper taped to the wall. One simply said, Jesus Loves Me, but it was the other that took her breath away. It was a prayer checklist with an empty box in front of each request. It read:
Dear God,
Help my parents love each other again.
Help me with my double Dutch routine.
Sell Miss Clara’s house to a good family.
Show me how to love Jesus more.
Give me ways to help others in need.
Elizabeth put a hand to her heart and smiled. God was already answering her prayers about Danielle. He was drawing her to Himself even with imperfect parents. No, God was actually using the difficulties they were facing to draw Danielle—and if He could do that with such a young person, He could do that with her.
“Lord, thank You,” Elizabeth whispered. “Thank You for Your mercy and Your goodness. Thank You for answering. And help me focus on the things I can see You doing instead of the things I can’t see.”
There had been no movement on Clara’s house, no showings, no phone calls, and only a few hits online. For the first time in her realty career, Elizabeth felt good about the lack of interest in her client’s home. This meant she could spend more time with her friend and talk about life with two cups of coffee between them. She’d never enjoyed the sale of a home so much, and she wondered what would happen when Clara finally moved.
She drove to Clara’s and the two sat on the front porch and talked about what had happened since they met yesterday. She told Clara about the progress she felt like she was making in her prayer life as she drew close to God. She really felt like He was drawing closer to her.
“But the amazing thing is what it’s done for Danielle,” Elizabeth said. “She asked questions. She started writing down her requests and some verses. I ordered a prayer journal for her—she has a war room of her own!”
The joy on Clara’s face nearly glowed. “See, you’re already influencing your daughter. This can change everything for her!”
Elizabeth smiled. “I admit, when I first started praying in there, ten minutes seemed like an eternity. Now I have a hard time even wanting to leave.”
“And those times will get sweeter. It’s like anything else you learn to love. The more you move into it, the more you’ll desire it. God loves to be chased, Elizabeth. And when we do that, He loves to show up in unexpected ways. He says in the Word, ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.’”
“Well, I’m seeking. For me. For Danielle. And especially for Tony.”
“I’m praying for Tony too. The Word says, where two or more are gathered in His name, He’s there with them. So I say, let’s just gang up on Tony.”
Clara leaned in and held out her hands. Elizabeth took them and they bowed and began to pray.
“Lord Jesus, I thank You for bringing this young lady into my life,” Clara said. “I thank You that You are over all our problems and that You are the answer. You’re not just the one with solutions, You are the solution. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your blood that washes us whiter than snow. Thank You for moving into our lives and drawing us to Yourself.”
Elizabeth picked up and continued the prayer. After a few moments, she turned her attention to Tony. “Lord, I know Tony is not my biggest problem. I know that I have my own issues, and thank You for showing me those. I thank You for the kind way You’ve peeled back those layers. But I do pray for Tony. I ask You to do whatever You need to do in order to draw him closer to You.”
“That’s right, Lord,” Clara said, almost interrupting. “I agree with my sister! I believe You’re doing something powerful. And I ask You to keep moving, keep waking him up to himself and to You. And give my sister the ability to walk through that with him because, Lord, I’ve never seen a man wake up who hasn’t gone through something hard. So do Your work, do it in Your timing, and help us to be faithful while You work.”
Elizabeth got Danielle in bed and fell asleep reading another chapter in her marriage book.
She dreamed that the three of them—Tony, Danielle, and Elizabeth—were riding in a car over a rickety bridge with no guardrails. The bridge was icy and when the back fishtailed, the car plunged into the frigid waters. Elizabeth managed to pull Danielle from the backseat and get her to safety, but when she tried to rescue Tony, she couldn’t get to him. He gasped for air, trapped inside the sinking car.
She awakened, her heart beating wildly, the book still in her hands. Was it some kind of sign? Some warning from God? She knew she couldn’t get back to sleep, so she retreated to her closet and began talking with God about the dream, her fears that Tony was involved with someone else—everything poured out. She read from Scripture, looked over the verses that Clara had given her, and felt her heart settle. She didn’t have to rescue Tony. That wasn’t her job. Her job was to be faithful to what God had called her to do.
That thought sent her in a good direction and she began thanking God for the things He had already done. Soon, she was on to Danielle, thanking Him for how her daughter was being drawn closer to His heart.
The next thing she knew she heard a bell. Was it some angel sounding a gong in her head? Did God allow people to hear bells from heaven when they were that deep in prayer? She opened her eyes and saw light coming from her bedroom window. Her head was propped against the corner of the closet and her neck felt stiff and painful.
Elizabeth sat bolt upright and looked at her watch. She’d spent the whole night in the closet! She raced to the door and opened it, finding a deliveryman dressed in a brown uniform and holding a package.
“Oh, hello,” Elizabeth said, breathing in his face.
The man turned away with a strange expression. “Whoa! Um, hello. I just need you to sign for this package.”
Elizabeth stood beside him and realized what he’d delivered. “Thank you so much.” She signed the tablet and said, “This is a present for my daughter and I can’t wait to give it to her.”
The man took back the tablet and forced a smile. “Well, I hope it takes your breath away.” He handed her the package and quickly ran to his truck, calling back, “Have a nice day, ma’am.”
Elizabeth closed the door and studied herself in the front hall mirror, seeing the smeared makeup and wild hair. “Oh,” she said, exasperated with the way she looked. She cupped a hand to her mouth and exhaled and could hardly stand the morning breath. Stinky had been right. Just one of the hazards of sleeping in her prayer closet.
Rather than hate the miles he put on his Tahoe, Tony enjoyed the driving. He had time to think, time to process what was happening in his life. He listened to sports radio in the morning to catch up on the latest. He loved turning his music up loud when he got tired and his eyes felt droopy. The coffee at various shops along the road helped too. He even listened to self-help audio that encouraged him to reach for the heights and be who he wanted to be. He could take a seminar driving from one location to the nex
t simply by listening to speakers talk about how to seal a deal, how to be positive and cultivate contacts and look people in the eye. There were even spiritual motivators who talked a little about God wanting the best for every person. These all made him feel better inside. There were so many ways a person could improve himself—all at the touch of a button.
What he couldn’t improve was his marriage. That was a given. There was nothing that could repair the brokenness. And he knew what would happen when he got home. Elizabeth would ask questions and make him feel like he needed to leave again. There was nothing worse than coming home to a place you wanted to leave.
For some reason, he hadn’t been able to call Veronica back. He didn’t know why, just something inside that told him to wait. Maybe the way she had moved toward him and invited him to her apartment made him think this wasn’t the first time she had done something like that with a guy who had shown an interest. Tony wasn’t looking for someone who was “easy.” He was looking for . . . well, he wasn’t sure. Someone who wouldn’t argue so much. Someone who would smile at him for a change. A woman who would help him become the person he wanted to be, the father he wanted to be, without all the drama and nagging.
He pulled up to the house and saw Danielle’s jump rope hanging on the porch. At first it would hurt her to see her dad with another woman, but kids were resilient. Tony had turned out okay after his parents split up. Danielle would too, with enough time and explaining.
Tony hit the garage door opener, and as he waited, he thought about a man who had helped him early in his sales career. Gary was a friend at Brightwell who taught him how to deal with some difficult situations. Tony had been about to lose an account, and to compensate, he’d immediately lined up a dozen other possible ones.
“I know how bad you’re feeling,” Gary had said. “You’re frustrated, upset, and worried. And you’re overcompensating. You’re trying to prove to everybody you can do this.”
