Legacy of the Dreams

Interlude 8 - Messages and Prayers

Greg and Susan found themselves spending extra time with their prayers after attending the music service on Christmas Eve that year. As they knew they would, the heavens listened.

"You have told your servant too much," Satan complained to the Lord while all the heavens heard His faithfuls' prayers. "You have told your servants You will take Your messenger soon. You have shared this not only with the messenger herself, but also with your servant, Marie."

"Marie ... who calls herself Jessie ... is of age now in this life. She is old enough to begin her service to Me. She is not entirely ready, but she has the support necessary to make a start, and she has made herself available as of this night," the Lord said. "I have a place for her in My plan. With her soulmate working with her, they can succeed. They are better prepared than they ever have been before. I have called them to my service tonight."

"They are young," Satan observed.

"Perhaps too young," the Angel of the Lord said.

"They will be easily influenced and swayed," Satan predicted, already plotting the means and methods he would use to do just that. Methods that worked on the couple before were foremost in his mind.

"Who I choose to serve as part of My plan is up to me. The age at which they are called is also according to My design," the Lord declared to those who served Him. "So is the timing of each test."

"It is according to your command," Satan acknowledged. "But still ... they already know. You have told them all ... You plan to bring Your Messenger home. Her task will be up to them then. If it is Your intension to test their faith when You do, how will You accomplish that when You give them the opportunity to prepare?"

"Knowing a loss is coming is as much a test as the loss itself," the Lord reminded him. "How my faithful handle this challenge that I will set for them, is as important as any other challenge I have prepared, or tested them with so far. You object when I tell them, but this too is part of the test. They know it is coming, but not when. The time will not be long as the heavens count the days, but by earthly standards, the time may be longer than my faithful think."

"Waiting has been known to erode faith," the Angel of the Lord cautioned. "Even when the promise your faithful are waiting for is something they dread. It may even cause them to doubt their understanding of your plan if their wait is extended or long."

"It is a very effective tool when wearing down those who waiver between living in faith and living according to their own devices," Satan agreed. "The tension can cause them to falter. When things don't happen the way they expect, my whispers can introduce doubt. It can cause them to question what your messenger says. With persistence, my legions can convince them they misunderstood."

"It is important for me to temper my children in all ways in order to make them strong," the Lord acknowledged. "But I predict they will not fail. Indeed, their actions will be witnessed by others. Their grief will be felt. Their faith will see them through, bringing home the message that faith stands above all else. This is my messengers's final purpose, once her own task is fulfilled and her challenge has been met. This is the message Jalyn and Cadence are on Earth to bring. If they manage to stay true to the faith they own, when my servant finally comes home, others will follow in their footsteps for generations to come."

"That may be, but her loss will be felt by her entire family, not only your faithful, Jalyn and Cadence," Satan pointed out.

"My tests are delivered to many in all forms," the Lord agreed.

"You have plans within plans, oh Lord," Satan said.

"Praise be to the Lord," the Angel of the Lord said.

"And so it shall be until the end of time," the Lord said. "Come now, listen. Watch as the events unfold."

And the hosts of the heavens turned their attention to the Earth, watching the Lord's servants and messengers as His plans were carried out below.

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