The Earring

Book 5 Part 4

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Faith stuck the journal in her desk drawer.

"Why did you let me read this now, God?" she asked.

She remembered Zach's words: "You might find yourself faced with needing to forgive others besides Aaron. You might need his support, Faith. Let him love you."

"Are you trying to teach me about forgiveness?" Faith asked. "The Aaron lesson was enough, as far as I'm concerned."

"If you're going to be his ministry helpmate, you need a compassionate heart."

"So you want me to learn to love abortionists and homosexuals. Who's next? Pedophiles, adulterers, and murders?"

"I love all of those."

"So do I."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, abstractly at least. I don't personally know any people who participate in those sins."

"At least you don't think so. Now you know that you might. Your fiancé aborted his child, and your brother has homosexual tendencies."

"Did you say 'has' God? Don't you mean had?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't want to know."

"So that's why you put the journal out of sight instead of on the nightstand."

Faith opened the drawer and took the journal out and slammed it down in its usual place on the nightstand.

"There, are You satisfied?"

"Would you love Zach more if I had said that he 'had homosexual tendencies?'"

"No, but my heart wouldn't hurt so bad."

"Sometimes you have to learn to live with heartache."

"Like Daddy did?"

"Maybe you'll be more like your Mama. Your Daddy suffered more than he had to."

"Why, because he shut You out?"

"Yes. Humans forget that I've been there. I know how they're feeling. I'm the only one who has the compassion and strength to carry them through their trials."

"You could just zap the trials and make them go away."

"And what would you learn from that?"

"Probably how to be selfish and lacking in compassion."

"Probably. Those aren't the attributes you need to be Aaron's ministry partner."

"So is that it? Do you have any more heartaches in store for me?"

"I don't plan your heartaches. I just make use of them when they happen."

"So we make our own heartaches?"

"Sometimes your sins cause them. Sometimes others' sins create them for you. Sometimes bad things just happen."

"So why don't you just stop the bad things from happening?"

Faith looked expectantly upward.

"Never mind. I know, I know. You wouldn't have any tools to help mold me into the compassionate person you want me to be. Well, you know what? I think that stinks."

"Yeah, sometimes it does. I gave you guys dominion over the earth, you know, and I don't go back on My Word. A lot of times it would be easier if I did. If you humans weren't so stubborn, maybe you wouldn't have to do things the hard way."