A short story

As I was going trying to go to sleep last night this story played itself out in my head.  As with most things I'm sure since I waited till morning it won't be exactly as I originally saw it in my head, but oh well.

 
It was late, the sun was down and the weather had been unfavorablely hot and humid.  wield been holding the line for quite some time now.  We'ld had a few attacks, but we were entrenched deep and moving forward every day.  I'ld been out on the line for a while and was exhausted, my entire body ached.  Things seemed under control and it looked like there was going to be a lull in the fighting.  I decided take a break and read some letters from my brother Luke and a guy named Nate Swinton that have been faithfully holding the line much farther east of me for quite some time now.  I leaned up against the trench wall and out of no where comes this beautiful lady.  I was a bit surprised by this and a little cautious, but she seemed friendly enough.  We talked for a while and I unknowingly began to let my guard down.  She said that she could help me relax and was really good at helping to relieve pain and weariness.  She was a pretty lady and nice enough so I gave in and let her rub my back and try to ease my aches and pains.  As I turned my back to her I felt something sharp and cold enter my back.  It was a blade, long and slender and she pushed it till the hilt was against my back.  I felt the tip pierce my heart.  As I fell over and hit my head on the hot, dry ground I heard her mutter the words "another sucker, they fall for me every time".  I reached around my back with what little strength I could muster to try and pull the dagger from my back.  It was no use, there was something about this dagger.  It was draining me of strength and the will to fight.  I was at her will as long as I had that dagger in my back.  I lacked the strength or desire to pull it from me now, so I lay there caught somewhere in between sleep and awake, life and death.  Evil visions and wicked perversions floated through my mind.  Tears ran down my face as I helplessly lay bleeding in the trench.  I began to call out for help, crying out forGod, but my calls where nothing more than whispers that got lost in the wind.  She mocked me and my God, saying "He cannot save you now!  You are mine and are in my control!"  I saw her for what she truly was for the first time, a wolf in sheeps clothing, ugly and wretched with eyes that were as black as the abyss and a smell that reeked of sulfur.  Despite her efforts to utterly destroy me, I continued to call out to God, but now I couldn't mutter even a whisper.  I called from my mind, hoping and trusting that He would save me.  Time seemed to go on and on, I thought this was the end.  Then I saw Him!  My heart leaped with joy and my strength increased just at His sight.  He was running out in the open, eyes afire, hair blowing in the wind.  His speed was unmatched and His commanding presence brought fear even to me.  His sword was His word and with one mighty stroke He hew her in half.  Her remains spontaneously combusted and scorched the earth where they lay.  The ashes were picked up by the wind and tossed about carelessly. 

My Commander in Chief knelt down to me and picked me up.  As He carried me, I thought He was going to ask me what happened, but He didn't because He already knew.  Instead He told me who she was.  "Her name was Sinthia" He said.  "Her daughters and sisters have been a secret weapon used by the enemy with devastating  effects for a very long time.  I've lost many a mighty warrior to her kind, and had many others wounded."  I gasped when He told me that nearly 90% of his fighting men had fallen to her kind at one time or another.  Then He reminded me of a time long ago when He first pulled me out of sin and saved me.  He reminded me how He used my dad to test me and see if I was truly seeking Him or if it was just a child wanting to be like the others.  He then asked me if I still had a special Book, It was one that He gave me the day that I became his son.  This Book contained His words and had everything I needed to stand guard against the enemy.  It contained my armor, It was my Sword, It told me of all the strategies of the enemy and what to watch out for.  I told Him that I did indeed have the Book, but hadn't been reading and studying It like He said I should when He first gave It to me.  He encouraged me to read His word and said that this was the way to healing and to stay strong in the middle of the fighting. 

We approached a place I'ld been many times before.  It was  a hospital of sorts but with a different name.  He started called it church and it was a place of healing for wounded soldiers.  It was run by veteran soldiers who had fought many hard years, and by others who were gifted more in healing and comforting than in fighting.  I was layed on a gurney stomach down.  The Commander in Chief told the minister of health that I had been stabbed in the back with a knife full of lust.  The minister grimaced as the knife reminded him of a battle he had fought with a sister of Sinthia earlier in his life.  They prepared to pull the knife out, but gave me nothing, because there was no medicine that could help me deal with the pain.  Just as the minister of health was about to pull the blade from my back, my Father put His hand on mine to put me at ease and give me peace.  He then told the minister to proceed.  The blade came out as easily as it had gone in, but the wound was deep and a bit infected.  I asked my Father to forgive me for my sin and to change my heart and heal me from within.  He looked at me and smiled.  He said "I love you, I will never leave you nor forsake you.  You are mine, I bought you and I would pay that price all over again.  You my son are forgiven."  As He said these words tears began to run down my face, I fell at His feet in worship and adoration.  Strangely enough the wound in my back began to heal and to close up, but the scar was there and it was an ugly one.

The next day I went back out to hold the line with my head held high, my armor on, and the Sword in my hand and in my heart. 


Thank You Lord for Your never changing love that keeps us strong, picks us up when we fall, gives us advice when we need it and heals us when we're wounded.  Change my heart O God, make it ever true, change my heart O God, make me more like You.