The Battle Surrendered--Part 5 of 5

The last in the series! How fast time has flown! I hope you've enjoyed the story; I certainly have! If you haven't read the other stories yet, here they are: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Enjoy this last installment! 

Part Five

By ST SilverLoom 

“What? I don’t get it. You’re training me not to fight the shadow creatures? But they’ll keep bringing me back to that tower!” I was beginning to panic again.

Jesus placed His hands on my shoulders. “Dear heart, this is what I’ve been trying to teach you. Listen to Me. I want you to surrender.” He continued slowly and deliberately, “You will never be able to defeat the enemy. They are far too cunning…. But I can defeat them for you.”

At last, His point was starting to click inside my thick head.

He went on, “You have to let Me do it. Dear heart, I want so badly to help you. Surrender to Me.”

“But…,” I attempted an excuse and failed. There was nothing to say. His words went against every instinct in me, but He had to be right because He was Jesus.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement among the trees. By the time I turned to look, they were just a few feet away.

I screamed and fled, pulling away from Jesus as I ran, but the shadow creatures moved faster than I did. They were on me in a moment, their icy hands pulling me down.

And then I did the dumbest thing. I fought the shadow creatures. I tried to claw at them and bite their hands. I pushed and squirmed and screamed, but they held on.

The now familiar light suddenly bathed me in its unnatural glow. My head lolled and I felt my muscles slow down. Completely groggy, I couldn’t keep up the fight.

Something brushed my ear. “Follow meee…,” the creature beside me whispered.

No, I couldn’t. Why not? I didn’t know why not. The light made me so dizzy….

A sliver of sanity crossed my mind, telling me to surrender. Surrender to Him.

No, I could fight! I had to fight! I could do this!

The shadow creatures’ fingers felt so soft and smooth. The light made me so sleepy….

Surrender to Him.

This was a battle I could never win.

With the last strength I had, I made my choice. Covering my eyes with my hands, I cried, “Jesus, help me! I can’t do it without You!”

Not one second passed before He came. I sensed Him standing in front of me. I looked up into His face. The creatures were behind Him, but they were no longer gentle and alluring. Furious at His interference, they launched themselves onto His back, trying to tear at Him with their nails and teeth. He ignored them completely, untouched by their attacks. It was like they were just shadows to Him.

The shadow creatures’ false light still shown, but my mind was clear. Though their deceptive fingers had released me to attack Jesus, I was too shocked to stand.

Jesus watched me with a smile tugging at the corner of His mouth. I noticed His strong sword hung at His side.

He saw my glance and shook His head. “You still don’t understand. Dear heart, they have already been defeated.” He reached down toward me, the wounds made by the nails that held Him to the cross clearly visible. Grasping my hands in both of His, He pulled me to my feet. “You cannot defeat them. You cannot even resist them, except through Me. Use My strength; don’t depend on yours. I am faithful. I will provide a way out so that you can stand up under them.”

It was so easy, and yet so difficult. I suddenly felt like I wanted to cry, now that I was beginning to understand. “So,” I said past the lump in my throat, “all I have to do is…?”

“Hold on to Me.”

Gripping His hands tighter, I said, “Ok. I trust You.”

The smile that burst upon His face was the grandest I had ever seen.

Soon after, some of the shadow creatures tried to bring me back under their power. They whispered in my ears and pulled at my arms, but I kept a firm grasp on Jesus’s hands and never looked away from His face. It was almost funny, actually; what chance did the shadow creatures think they had while I was holding onto my Savior?

Eventually, the shadow creatures grew tired. Their light faded, and their masks of white skin disappeared with it. They slid, one by one, into the forest.

“We have arrived,” said Jesus. He turned me around.

I was in my bedroom. The first rays of dawn shone through the window, chasing away the night’s darkness. Jesus had disappeared.

Photo Courtesy

There was a book lying open on my bed. I looked at it more closely and realized it was my Bible. It had been turned to Romans, Chapters 7 and 8. Some of the verses near the end of Chapter 7 were highlighted. I read:

“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

The words brought me to my knees. I prayed, “Jesus, I want to keep holding on to You. I want to delight in this Book more and more so I can stay focused on You. Thank You for rescuing me.”

I looked down at my Bible again and noticed the last three verses of Chapter 8:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The End

The Battle Surrendered--Part 4 of 5

Here's part four already! Whew; how fast time has flown! Tomorrow I'll post part five. Enjoy!

Read the first three parts if you haven't already read them:

Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Part Four

By ST SilverLoom

A gentle touch pulled me from my slumber. I looked up. It was Him.

As fresh tears ran down my face, He pulled me into His arms. “I’m sorry,” I said, sobbing.

“Dear heart,” He said tenderly. “I forgive you.”

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He held me until my wails evolved into hiccuping spasms. Then He helped me stand. “Come on,” He said. “You can’t stay here.” Taking that small gold key from his pocket again, He unlocked the chains on my hands and feet.

I followed Him to the rope dangling into my prison through the crack in the wall. He gestured at our escape route and said, “After you.”

I tried to pull myself up the rope, but the sides of my prison had somehow become smoother than last time. My feet couldn’t find a good hold. If I hadn’t been so weak from days without eating, I may have been able to climb it, but I’m not sure.

After a few tries, I turned to Jesus. “I can’t do it. I can’t climb up.”

He nodded. “It’s always harder to escape the second time.”

“So, we’re stuck in here?!” I cried, panicking aloud.

He waited.

I remembered Who I was talking to. Not even a sealed tomb could keep Him in, much less my prison. “Can You help me get out? Please?”

With an ear-to-ear grin, He replied, “I was hoping you would ask.”

He climbed the rope as easily as a fish swims. When He was above ground, He told me to hang onto the rope. I obeyed, and He slowly drew me up. We were both under the blue sky in a matter of minutes.

Jesus untied the rope from the tree He had secured it to. As He began coiling the rope, a thought suddenly hit me, but I hesitated to say it aloud. He stopped His work and looked at me. “Go ahead,” He said.

“Jesus,” I said, “I know my capture was my own fault; I shouldn’t have given into the shadow creatures. But… why didn’t You help me? Didn’t You… I mean, You must have known what was happening. Didn’t You wake up?”

His eyes grew deeply sad. “Yes, dear heart, I knew what was happening. I was watching.” His voice cracked just a bit. “But,” He continued, “you didn’t ask Me to help. You were too busy trying to fight them on your own.”

“I have to ask for Your help?” How could He have just stood there and let me be dragged off? I was incredulous.

He was patient. “You have to want my help. I never force it on anyone. I will only help you if you want Me to. My way is the perfect way, but I gave you a free will to accept or decline My help.”

So it was still all my fault.

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We started walking through the forest, covering the same ground we had covered days ago. Jesus gave me some water and bread to eat as we walked. The sun moved across the sky slowly, but I kept a close eye on it. When it was past noon, I spoke up. “Hey, um, Jesus? Do You think now would be a good time to start my training? Because, those shadow creatures might come back for me tonight and I want to be prepared.”

“Your training has already begun.”

“What?” I cried. “But all I’ve done is get captured! You haven’t even given me the smallest bit of advice on how to wield a sword!”

He stopped and turned to look at me. “Did I ever say your training would involve weapons?”

“Um, well, not exactly….”

“I never hinted at anything of the sort.”

“But that’s what training is!” I protested.

Shaking His head, He explained, “You train to become better at something, and it doesn’t have to be with weapons. Athletes train to compete better, not battle.”

“But I thought You were going to train me to be a warrior to fight the shadow creatures!”

He looked me in the eyes before responding gently, “Dear heart, I am training you not to fight.”

The Battle Surrendered--Part 3 of 5

(Sorry I couldn't get this up earlier! We have been b.u.s.y.)
Here's part three! Read part 1 and part 2 if you already haven't! Enjoy!

Part Three

By ST SilverLoom 

We continued walking. And walking. And… walking. The forest floor was free of debris and, much to the relief of my bare feet, a soft carpet of moss covered the earth. But after several hours of walking, and walking, and… walking, I said, “Ok, don’t get me wrong. I want to follow You wherever You go. But can You give me some clue where we’re going? Please?”

“We are going home,” Jesus replied.

I gasped loudly, feeling both excitement and fear. He took one look at my face and cracked up. “No, dear heart! I mean your house. It’s not your time yet.”

“Oh,” I said. Then I saw the funny side of it and laughed along with Him. After a few minutes, it finally dawned on me what He had said. “Hey! Why are You taking me back home? You said You were going to train me!” I cried.

“Don’t worry,” He said. “We won’t arrive until you’re trained.”

It took me a while to try to sort that out. “So… You’ll be training me on the way?”

“Yes. We won’t get there until you’re trained.”

“Oh, ok. Gotcha.” Little did I know that I had no clue what He meant.

We walked some more. And walked. And… well, you know. But it wasn’t as boring as it sounds. The forest was beautiful and quiet, and I was walking beside the Prince of Peace.

Photo Credit

After a while, Jesus finally stopped walking and said, “We’ll make camp here for the night and continue your training in the morning.”

I can’t deny that I gave Him a funny look. Continue? I didn’t know we had started. I hadn’t even touched a sword or a bow yet!

Jesus stripped the lower branches off some nearby trees and soon had a small fire going. He took bread, canteens filled with water, and light blankets out of the leather bag He carried on His back. We ate and then slept on the soft moss with the blankets over us. The weather was perfect. I didn’t feel cold until early in the morning.

Shivering, I pulled my blanket more tightly around me. My eyelids fluttered for just a second, but what I saw in that moment made me sit up and scream.

The shadow creatures were back.

Again they pulled at me with their freezing hands. I cried, “No!” and tried to stand, but they kept me firmly fixed to the ground. I looked around for Jesus, but the shadow creatures surrounded me and blocked my view of Him.

Suddenly, there was the same dizzying light, the same trance-like feeling, and the same urge to give in.

No! I willed myself to fight back. I couldn’t fail again. I couldn’t let myself give in.

But the shadow creatures didn’t let me go, and I couldn’t tear myself from them. I started to wonder if I really wanted to. Was that prison so bad? Were the chains really so heavy? And Jesus would rescue me as soon as I asked Him to. He was nice like that.

The overwhelming feeling of false peace washed over me. The creature leaned over and whispered, “Follow meee….”

I don’t even remember the first step this time. All I know is that I found myself starting awake, once again, in the prison tower with the vague memory that I had chained myself there.

I had never thought I would fall into the same trap. If it had been horrible the first time I failed, it was double the horror now.

And then I thought of Him. I’d let Him down. And that was the greatest heartbreak of all. How could I have ever thought He would rescue me again? And even if He did, how could I face Him?

My shame overwhelmed me. My guilt was heavier than my chains. I mourned and moaned in the tower for days. No one came, which only made my sorrow deepen until it was so deep I felt like I could drown in it.

I was hungry, thirsty, tired, and cold. It was the closest to death I have ever been.

Finally, just when I thought I would burst from the pain, I did the only thing left to be done. I cried out for help.

“God,” I whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Please… help me. I’ll die without You.”

I cried myself to sleep.

The Battle Surrendered--Part 2 of 5

Here's part two of this story!  Read part one here. Enjoy (and come back tomorrow for installment no. 3!)

Part Two 

By ST SilverLoom

“Can… can you get me out?” I asked.

His smile grew even larger. “That’s what I came here to do.” His face drew back from the hole as he stood.

I waited while he hacked away at the stone, making the crack large enough for him to crawl through. It was a few minutes before I realized that he was using a sword to send the bricks of my prison tumbling down. That was one strong blade.

Finally, he secured a rope outside the dungeon and used it to climb down through the gap he had made. He looked like a prince out of a fairy tale; dressed in white from head to toe, a long cape thrown over his shoulders. Gold thread was stitched in flowing patterns on his cape. A leather bag was strapped to his back.

When he stood in front of me, I lifted my shackled wrists and said, “I’m chained. I don’t know where the key is.”

He reached into a pocket on his tunic and took out a tiny gold object. “You mean this key?” Grinning, he quickly bent to unlock the chains on my wrists and ankles.

“How did you know I was here?” I asked as he unbound me.

“Er, well,” he said, “I’ve known for a long time that you would be here. I’m here to train you. But I can’t train you if you’re locked up like this.”

“Train me? Why?” I had read stories about kids who were sucked into fantasy worlds and trained to be warriors for special missions. The thought that I could be like them filled me with jittery excitement.

“‘Why?’” he repeated, letting my final shackle fall to the floor. “You think you don’t need training?”

“No, no! It’s just that… why me? Why was I chosen to be trained? Does it have something to do with those shadow creatures? Why were they after me?”

He looked me in the eye. “They are after all of you, dear heart.” With that, he turned back toward the rope, leaving me to follow and wonder what he had against direct answers.

It was pretty easy to climb out of the dungeon with my feet braced on the wall and my rescuer beneath me to give me a lift if I needed it. Soon, he and I were standing in the green grass outside my prison. I shaded my eyes from the sun as I turned to look at the awful place. It was a single tall tower without any doors or windows, sitting in the middle of a forest.

“Um, so, Sir…?” I let my sentence trail off and turned to look at my rescuer, who was busy coiling the rope. “Sorry. I didn’t get your name?”

“Jesus,” was the calm reply.

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My jaw dropped. His grin returned as He added, “You wanted directness.”

Was it a complete miracle or complete lunacy? The fact that He could read my mind pretty much ruled out insanity, but could it really be Him?

Before I could say anything, He stretched out His hand toward me. One look at the ugly puncture wound marring His skin was enough to convince me. My mind spun.

He pulled me out of my circling thoughts by pointing out, “You were about to ask Me something?”

“Uh, yeah. When do we start… um, that is, when are You…?”

“When does your training begin?” He said.

I nodded, still dumbfounded.

“When you are ready,” He said.

I managed to squeak out, “Am I ready now?”

He smiled. “You tell Me. Are you?”

“I think so.”

He waited.

“Yes. I’m ready.”

“Good. Then let’s get to work.” He shouldered the coiled rope and strode into the forest.

I scurried after Him, calling, “Wait! Where are we going?”

“Follow me.”

I stopped. “Did You just quote Yourself?”

Thankfully, He understood my sense of humor and laughed. “Yes, I tend to do that. It makes it easier for people to see things the way I do.”

“And that’s supposed to mean…?” I asked as I again hurried to keep up with Him.

“That I never change. I am the same at this moment as I was two-thousand years ago, and as I was at the creation of the universe. Today, tomorrow, and yesterday, I remain the same. And so I can quote Myself in everything.”

Come back tomorrow for part three!

Because I Love You

This story was written by both Tiffany and Esther, at Esther's birthday sleepover. Yes--that's what writers do sometimes! Write when they come together for a birthday celebration! Enjoy. (And I hope you'll get something out of it!)

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Mae rose from the chair to take a closer look. Something was slowly creeping across the lawn! The long furry body slowly sneaked toward the porch. What? She though, it can't be! She leaned tiptoe over the verandah, the bushy tail had just slipped behind a small shrub. Mae leaned harder. Was it a…? She squinted, all of a sudden the top three verandah boards gave way and Mae fell the six feet drop and landed on her back, the lower half of her body on the concrete, the rest on the grass bank.

She cried out in shock. Her legs wouldn't obey her command! “MUM!” She screamed, staring at her lifeless legs.

Suddenly, a head popped up from behind the bank, exposing a red head, green mischievous eyes, and a freckled nose.

“JEREMY!” the yell came almost to a scream. It ended in a moan of fear. She almost sobbed, but her voice came in a whisper. “Get Mum. NOW.”

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Mae was quickly but gently wheeled into the emergency room. People in blue robes lifted her onto a table. A large black machine was hoisted down and moved over her legs. One of the people, a nurse, reached over and squeezed her hand. “You're gonna be fine, honey. We just need to X-ray your legs to see what's wrong.” Mae lay very still, thinking how this whole day had completely turned around. She was disturbed from her reverie by an agonized scream coming from the X-ray viewing room. Some pale faced nurses walked through and took her off the table.

Just as they were wheeling her out she saw her Mum, tears streaming down her face. She was talking with the Doctor in the door to the viewing room. “WHAT!” She screamed, “You mean my precious daughter will never walk again!”

“The fall damaged her lower back, causing paralysis. I am very sorry, Ma'am, but yes. She will never again walk.” While her Mum wailed, Mae stared at the ceiling in shock. She would never again walk!?

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Gently, she was placed on her bed by strong arms. Her father crossed the room, opened the closet, and extracted two more pillows. He carefully placed them behind her and exited the room.

A once cheery—now grim—face appeared in the doorway, and she watched as the little boy quietly crept to the chair by the bed. “Are you hurt bad?” The boy asked, gazing at the lifeless legs resting on a cushion. She wanted to scream, to tell him to run away, but she couldn't. It wouldn't be kind—or fair. He didn't know what was going to happen when he had done it!

Bitterly, she replied, “Yeah. I won't ever be able to walk again.”

A pained expression flitted across his small dirt-streaked face. “I was just joking!”

“Oh, yeah?” She wanted to say more, to say that it was a dirty joke, but she refrained. Mum wouldn't like her to talk like that to her brother. She would just keep quiet.

“Yeah.” the boy glanced again at her legs, then up to her face. “Tommy gave me that wolf skin. He said that his uncle got it on his last hunting trip! Isn't it swell?”

“Well,” Mae raised her voice but caught herself just in time. “I think you'd better go.”

A truly mournful face looked up at her. “Are you mad?”

“JUST GO!” she shouted. A tearful boy ran out.

Huh, some joke! She muttered to herself. It cost me my legs. Now I'll be stuck in a chair all my life!

Over the next few days Mae had nothing to do except be sorry for herself and blame Jeremy. You might have said she had the right—she would never be able to do the same things again. But thinking these things was not making Mae's home a nice one. She was constantly talking to herself, and she would not let anyone in her room. Darkness had crept into her room, visitors learned to keep well away. Mae's life and beauty—had turned into a stinking pit of blackness, bitterness and selfpity. Her family crept lightly round her.

One night, Mae was seriously thinking of somehow taking her life. She fell into a dream. In the dream, the walls around her bed were crumpled by thick black searching fingers. An overwhelming stench filled the room. The smell of something long dead or dying. Mae felt exposed. She heard moanings, groanings, shrieks and laughs. She was glad her bed was still there and she pulled the covers up to her ears, but the sounds did not stop. She could now “feel” the air—a deep violent stirring invoking utter terror in her heart. The stench became overwhelming. She felt the air being robbed from her, and she began gasping for breath. There seemed to be many things around her, gathering on her bed. She could feel their hairy, slimy touches as if there was no covers.

Suddenly, there was two claws that dug deep into the flesh around her shoulders. Two wide sickly yellow, green flecked eyes stared into her own, and she sensed they were smiling and she realized those eyes belonged to the claws that were drawing yet deeper into her skin. Yes those eyes were smiling—enjoying the pain they were inflicting. About now she became aware of the worst noise in her life, the sound of herself screaming. Something she would never forget. The pain became indescribable, those claws felt as though they'd reached in and grabbed her heart, and was squeezing the life out of her. “HELP!!!”

She screamed hoping like never before, the hope of someone desperate. She could feel herself crumpling like paper.

“Put your hand up!” a soft voice whispered. Hot, thinking dimly, she put her hand up. The relief was immediate. She felt like she was being pulled through lots of layers of dirt really fast at a speed much faster than an aeroplane. She looked up and saw the best face she could ever imagine, coming toward her, FAST. All of a sudden, she was at His feet.

“MAE” He said.

All of a sudden, Mae felt very dirty. Very ashamed. She suddenly realized what she had been doing to people during her “sickness”. She tried to get away from this man who was giving her those feelings.

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“Don't trust your feelings, my dear, for the feelings come and feelings go. Mae, you have something to tell me.” He added.

She poured out everything to Him and lay herself at His feet. “Sir,” she said, “I know not why you take such interest in me. Why, you took me from that terrible place below, when punishment was what I really deserved.”

“Because,” He said, brushing away a tear, “Because,” He said as he tossed her up and spun her around, “Because, I love you!” With that, the dream faded, but the love she had come to see continued and she jumped out of bed and ran into her Mum & Dad's room and jumped on their bed saying, “Mummy, Daddy, I met the greatest person…”

Her parents looked at each other in the eye, both with tears filling their eyes.

“Darling,” her Mummy cried, “You're walking!”

THE END

Blessings,

-Tiffany and Esther-