Excerpt
Chapter Book 1
A Woman Named Job
The Prelude
And the Lord watched, as she became someone else.
Someone HE had not chosen to be.
Someone only she could see.
HE watched worldly dreams become reality.
Why is she not pursuing my destiny? HE asked?
Ive saved her, Ive loved her, and Ive protected her.
She sees, but does not.
She hears, but listens not.
She thinks, but perceives not.
She understands, but discerns not.
What must I do to turn the page of her life, HE asked?
What must I do to raise her up to see the goodness of my love in the land of the living, lest she wait and waste, only to gaze into the past and wallow in what was to be.
She smiles but has no joy.
She sleeps but has no peace.
She weeps but has no answer.
She grows but has no growth.
She loves, but not me, as her first love.
What must I do to keep my promise to her,
But to teach her, asked God?
I will make her my Woman Named Job.
I will walk and watch as she departs from me.
I will ponder her future as she passes away time.
I will listen as she speaks, but not speak back.
The voice she heard and loved will be silenced.
The voice she walked with will be no more.
Like a vast barren land, she will walk, not alone, but quietly.
The quiet that comes when someone is sitting in front of you, but saying nothing.
The quiet that comes after a night of ecstasy.
The quiet of the soul.
The quiet of the dessert.
The quiet of the dead.
40 years I watched my children of old walk in the desert.
How long will she walk?
They obeyed and disobeyed, obeyed and disobeyed, obeyed and disobeyed.
I forgave and became angry, I forgave and became angry, I forgave and became angry.
Finally, I judged them and disciplined them to the 3rd generation.
How many generations must I judge her, my Woman Named Job?
How many Job-like tests may I carry her through until she is rendered helpless?
Because of my promise, Satan cannot have her.
Because of my promise, only my gentle hand of love can touch her.
I will sift her in my way and my time.
I have so much for her to do; yet she hears me not.
Oh, Woman of Job, you must know me as before,
You must do what I have sketched out in The Book.
I want so for you to know the truth.
I want you to spread the truth.
I will never leave you nor forsake you, but I will sift you.
I will bend you, but not allow you to break.
You will feel broken, but not snap.
Sadness will be your inner spirit, when I want to give you peace.
Grief will be your daily bread when I want to give you goodness.
Your children will rise up against you.
Your husband will speak destruction into your spirit.
Your worldly fortune will be gone.
Only your body will be preserved, unlike Job.
I will not afflict you physically. I will afflict you mentally, spiritually, and financially.
I will afflict you where you have pleasure, to take you into the truth.
How long will you be afflicted?
How long must I remain silent?
I will continue to work with you and for you from the silent chamber of Heaven.
You will not hear me, but you will see my presence.
You will not feel me, but you will know I exist.
You will not see me, but you will know I have moved things out of your way.
You will ask why, and I will not answer.
When I have taken you to the low point, you will surrender.
Finally, after years of watching the spirit of God move,
The Woman Named Job saw the true light.
Finally, after years of barren thinking, the birth of new thoughts appeared.
Like steps stretching from earth to eternity, she got up and began to climb.
Step by step, out of the valley of the shadow of death.
Step by step she climbed.
The step of suicide, Up!
The step of depression, Up!
The step of loveless ness, Up!
The step of loneliness, Up!
The step of disappointment, Up!
The step of desperation, Up!
The step of remembrance, Up!
The step of deceit, Up!
The step of discouragement, Up!
The step of loss, Up!
The step of doubt, Up!
Each step seemed to take a lifetime to drag first one foot, then the other,
Holding on, clawing, falling back, and stumbling.
But like Job, she never gives up on God.
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