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by linzy bruno
11/10/2020 / Short Stories

Josephina threw herself into her office chair with a grin and reached for the phone. 'It's been a great day helping others,' she thought. 'But, I think I'm ready to end my day.' She left her last voicemail, gathered her things and headed home.

On her way, she pondered the events of the day and the people she counselled. 'This life isn't for everyone, but I'm sure glad God chose me to do this job. I love helping people find the answers to their dilemmas and problems, with the divine help of the Holy Spirit of course.’

The next morning, just before her first client arrived, she said her usual prayers for each client, in accordance with their individual issues and stumbling blocks. Then, Helena banged on the door, while pushing hard, as if in a panic.

"Oh Jo-seph-ina," she whimpered.

"Just call me Joy," Josephina said softly; stroking Helena’s back. "Come and sit down and tell me all about it."

"Shouldn't your nick-name be Joe?" Helena noted, in disgust.

"I guess, but I like Joy much better, why does it bother you that I use Joy for short?"

"Well, you do seem annoyingly upbeat," Helena replied; lightly rubbing her left shoulder, with a look of pain showing up on her face.

"Helena, tell me what happened. You're obviously in pain. Did something happen to your shoulder? Did somebody hurt you?"

"I've been trying to work up the courage to tell you…......my dad's a….a….a drunk. He got plastered last night and........he came at me. I was able to dodge the swing of his arm, but it did clip my shoulder, just a bit. I know I'm not usually so blunt, but I'm ready to come clean and get help with this problem. My father tries to scare me into not saying anything......ya know, he makes light of it, just like he does with everything! But please don't call the cops because I'm gonna be moving out soon. I don't want to get him in trouble, I just need your help emotionally and spiritually. This thing is getting in the way of everything in my life, especially…. my relationship with God. I'm having trouble not getting mad at Him because I know He could make this all go away and yet He's not doing anything at all to help me!"

"I'm so sorry to hear about this terrible problem you're going through Helena; Josephina replied compassionately to the young woman, who was also her newest client."

"Sure easy for you to say! YOU have no idea! You have no idea what it's like going to school, facing my friends; having to hold in this secret" Helena whimpered.

"I'm sure I don't. I would never try to claim such a thing, but I can help, if you give me a chance," Josephina replied. "Now, let me explain something okay? Sometimes God allows us to go through really hard things to teach us something and we end up learning all sorts of helpful things that make us stronger AND bring us closer to GOD at the same time. One thing that's very helpful to remember is that God will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6), He'll never allow more to come on you than you can handle (1Corinthians 10:13) and that He will strengthen you for this challenge (Psalm 37:39), and provide His wisdom and guidance. (James 1:5)

You can do it," she concluded; staring intently into Helena’s pain-stricken eyes.

Helena made note of the Scripture to look up later, confirmed her next appointment and thanked Josephina timidly, as she left. A few minutes later, Bernadette lightly knocked on Josephina's door.

"Hi Joy! How ya doin'? she asked; cheerfully.

"Great! And how are you?" she replied.

"Awesome! I found out something unbelievable this past week! Ya know how depressed I've been; feeling so spiritually void and like……. Barren, so far away from God….like what has He done for me, ya know?"

Josephina nodded, with a concerned look on her face.

"Well my friend Shelly was over to my house last night. Jeff had gone to bed already and the baby was already asleep so we ended up having a lengthy chat about how that believers can just meditate really hard on what they want, and it’ll come to them….. and I'm so glad I had this appointment today because I couldn't wait to get here and tell you that……What? Why are you looking at me like that!"

"Because that's a false doctrine! It’s a lie straight from the pits of hell. It’s called the “law of attraction;” one of Satan’s many lies. Please don't listen to that baloney......"

"Oh that’s SO narrow minded!

"Bernadette, I implore you to go and talk to Pastor Blake! Surely he can make you see how dangerous this is what you're saying right now!"

"There you go again trying to tell me what to do!" Bernadette screamed and stormed out of the church office.

'Wow, today sure is turning out different than yesterday! Lord please help me, Dominique is due here any minute. I pray I'll be able to concentrate on her problem after Bernadette’s freak out.' She prayed the remainder of that session, as soon as Bernadette had stormed out.

Just then, Dominique peered in the office; lightly tapping on the door.

"Come on in!" Josephina shouted; trying to sound up- beat. She wiped her face with her sleeve and sat back in her chair.

"Hi!" Dominique said; happily throwing open the door.

"Hey there. How are you Dominique?" Josephina asked politely.

"Awesome, I just came from the mall......spent more than I should, but then again I have no clue what I spent," she replied, with a little chuckle.

"Really......you have no clue what you spent?" Josephina replied; obviously in shock.

"No, I just put it all on my card. I don't ever look at the price tags. Kenny doesn't seem to mind. Of course I don't go out of my way to tell him," Dominique bragged.

"Wow, that's just plain wrong Dominique!" Josephina replied in rebuke.

"Yeah, I know……. I wonder if I'm a shopaholic or just plain selfish," she replied; shocking Josephina even further.

"I'm sorry to be so blunt Josephin......"

"Just call me Joy," she requested.

"Okay, I will.....So Joy....ummmm.....I guess I know what my therapy session’s gonna be about today."

"Yes well I think this shopping problem you’re dealing with is related to your relationship with God. Let me ask you a few questions. Do you spend quality time with God on a regular basis, or at all? How often do you calm your frustrations with things rather than with going to God for His Help and His Comfort? Spending money can never satisfy you in the long run. You’ll only get a very temporary fleshy thrill from worldly means of coping and calming yourself. Your problem is obvious. If you want a more satisfying life, with less compulsions for shopping or anything else, you must make your relationship with God through Christ your TOP priority. Remember, Jesus taught that we ought to gather up our treasures in Heaven…..(Matthew 6:19-20) He has to come first,” Josephina declared; pointing to the ceiling, as her eyes widened.

“I think I see what you mean. I always do this! Thanks Josephina…..I…I mean, Joy,” Dominique said with a hesitant smile, as she left the office.

Josephina sat back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. “Help me Lord,” she begged. “Please keep on helping me. I need You God. I can’t help these women without Your help,” she prayed. She walked slowly around her tiny office and thought about her first day on the job, at Prince of Peace, non-denominational church.

‘Reminiscing about the moment I received my certification to counsel believers in the Lord, is such an awesome thing, it was the most remarkable moment…... I delight in helping others….” She continued in her thoughts, when her last client of the day arrived.

“You shoulda been at my place last night; I was so proud of me,” she shrieked, as she ran into the office.

“Hang on Daphne. Just sit down and gather yourself before you start telling me about your night, okay?” Josephina explained, as patiently as she could.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied; sitting down slowly. “I guess I’m just excited…..I mean more excited than usual; hahahaha,” she chuckled; carefreely. “Last night I had this long talk with my mother on the phone. She lives close but we don’t see each other much, but we do chat a lot….anyway, she was trying to convince me that since we are saved by the Blood of Jesus, we are forgiven for all our sins, past, present and future, so there’s no need to repent! Repentance is what they did in the Old Testament. Those things have passed away!” She declared; practically standing on her chair.

“Well, actually I think you should rethink your position on this…..I mean, God doesn’t require that we obsess over every little mistake we make, but He does want His children to come to Him in confession and repentance. Repentance simply means…..”

“WHAT?” Daphne interrupted.

“Just let me finish. Repentance simply means saying your sorry for something you did wrong; it means we have decided not to do that thing again, but we have to lean on the Lord in order to stick to the change..... It’s not exactly the same with people, but being in a relationship does mean saying you’re sorry when you’re wrong doesn’t it?”

Daphne picked up her purse as if in a trance and started walking toward the door.

“Daphne, you don’t have to go, we still have a lot of time left,” Josephina pleaded.

“That’s okay. You gave me a lot to think about. I really would like to go home and do some research on this,” she replied, with a confused look on her face.

“Sure, but don’t forget to pray. Asking God about this will probably proof more helpful than looking up proper doctrine on google, not that that doesn’t have its place, but there are times when God is imploring that we just come to Him in worship, for guidance and that is more than sufficient for the time and I do believe that you are face to face with one of those times,” Josephina declared.

“Okay, I will think about it, I mean pray….I’ll pray,” Daphne replied, as she exited the office; that look of confusion lingering, as she did.

Several days passed. Now it was Sunday morning. Daphne sat down in the back pew of the church and waited for her friends to arrive to discuss the events of the week before service started, which was their habit.

Bernadette was next to appear at Daphne’s side. “Hey,” she whispered.

“Hey,” replied Daphne, with a grin. “What’s up?”

“Oh….well, I had an interesting meeting with Joy this week. I got mad at her. BUT I wouldn’t be here right now though if she didn’t straighten me out,” she informed her friend in a whisper. “It’s pretty intense. I’ll tell ya about it later. I didn’t even get what she was saying until days later,” she concluded.

Just then, Helena appeared on the other side of Daphne. She began to share her story with the group. If it hadn’t been for her younger attire and youthfulness, the others in the congregation would not even have realized her much younger age, as she shared even more of her life than they did, except the really big secret about her father, that is.

“Ya know until we all decided to start seeing Joy for our individual struggles, I never realized how much talking can help!” Helena declared, a bit too loudly.

“Shhhhhh,” Daphne responded, with a smile and quiet little giggle.

“Sorry,” Helena replied. “I’m just excited because even though my last appointment with her was a tough one; I’ve been waking up to a lot of, what I guess you could call…. Revelations. I’m still really confused about a lot of stuff though.”

“I’m not really confused anymore, but I sure could use the support,” added Dominique.

“Well, I’m still confused,” Bernadette admitted; raising her hand high and putting her down low.

“Maybe what we could try group sessions with Joy. We all decided together to see her, and we all share the same stuff with each other anyway, so maybe, just maybe, we could get more out of our sessions, by all being there together,” Daphne added; trying not to shout.

Just then the service started to commence, so the women just nodded and turned their attention toward Pastor Blake.

“I wonder why Joy doesn’t come to services with us,” Dominique whispered in Bernadette’s ear.

“I think it’s only because she’s so new to the church.”

Just at that moment, Dominique spotted Joy walking past them to sit in a seat being held for her up front, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

After the service ended, Joy approached the group, as they congregated around the coffee pot.

“Lovely service, wasn’t it ladies?”

“Yeah! Good to see you Joy! Just before service, we were all talking about how much you’ve been helping us by coming to see you and well we were wondering about the possibility of meeting as a group some time,” Daphne informed her.

“I, Actually…..love the idea! I mean with all of you already acquainted, and liking one another…..we can meet in my office or maybe we can even try meeting at my place sometime…… We can all share our experiences, stumbling blocks and struggles,” Joy remarked, as she smiled hopefully and turned to pour herself another cup of coffee. “How about we meet next Friday afternoon at let’s say…..four thirty?”

All the women looked at one another and nodded in agreement. “I’ll check with my sitter, but I’m pretty sure I can make it,” remarked Bernadette.

Josephina ran into her office and grabbed the folders she had created for each of her clients, thanked God for this new opportunity to help the four women and headed home from Church that crisp autumn morning. She sat down on her couch after grabbing a sandwich and poured over the folders. She worked diligently every day after work until Friday came.

Josephina sat in her office chair and anxiously waited for her clients to arrive for their first group meeting; the first time she would face such a potentially volatile situation. “Lord I trust You to help me, as You know I can’t do this without You. Please guide me in everything I say to these women and help me keep them calm and cool Lord. Thank You Lord,” In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”

One by one, the women started showing up. Helena was first to enter Josephina’s office. She nervously sat down without her usual hello and started biting her nails, as Josephina observed from her desk chair. Next Daphne entered the office with the usual bounce in her step and shouted “Hi” to both women. As soon as Josephina finished holding back her giggle, Dominique raced to her seat with her head down; without looking at the others. Then Bernadette rushed in; saying “sorry I’m late,” with her baby daughter’s face buried in her side, as if somehow fastened to her mother’s hip.

“Ohhhhh, she’s so cute shrieked all the women in unison, including Josephina.

“Sorry I had no choice but to bring her with, I didn’t want to miss this session,” she explained; pulling the 7 month old out of her car seat. “My babysitter cancelled. I hope it’s okay that I brought her, she said; kicking the seat out of the way of her feet.”

“Of course, I just hope we can concentrate, with this little cutie here distracting us,” she remarked, in her highest, cutest voice; directed at the baby girl.

“Okay, I’m glad we were able to meet like this. I am very hopeful that this new way of meeting will take each of you farther in your growing and learning about yourselves and God….. what He is wanting to tell each of you specifically. Let’s begin by each of you sharing what kind of week you had, what your struggles were….your challenges, what you perhaps…..learned about yourself,” Josephina said; pointing to Daphne, only due to the willing look on her face.

Daphne squirmed in her seat a little and looked Josephina in the eye. “I want to thank you for our last meeting, what you said really helped me. I’ve been reading and studying about repentance and……God has been showing me what you meant about relationships and the importance of admitting our sins and taking the responsibility of saying those difficult words: “I’m sorry,”” she said, with a smile.

“Awesome! And how bout you Dominique? What kind of a week did you have?” Josephina inquired.

“I’m doing better. I thought a lot about what you said, but I’m still fighting desires to run to the mall….It’s hard giving up shopping….ya know the needless kind. I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to make God the center of my universe. But, I’m definitely better…..I mean I understand now.”

“Yes, I’m sure it’s not easy, but just keep going, you’ll get there. I’m proud of you and if you want more intense therapy with me, we can arrange that. I’ll go over more Scripture with you after our session.”

Dominique nodded and looked down at her Bible, in her lap.

“Okay, how bout’ you Bernadette? Your baby is being such a good little girl,” Josephina screeched; letting the baby grab her by the finger.

“Well, I did talk to Pastor Blake briefly on the subject of what you called the “law of attraction” and he did validate everything you said….He convinced me that anything I hear that the Bible doesn’t back up in Scripture is a false doctrine and not to be believed or practiced…….I’m sorry for last week, the way I stormed out.”

“Good, good, good, you all seem to have learned a lot this week……but we haven’t heard from you yet Helena. What sort of a week did you have?”

“I’m afraid my problems are a bit too……well my issues involve another person, someone in authority over me, so for me, the phrase “stumbling block” is far more complicated than just tryin’ to comprehend the Bible!” she replied, with a wild look in her eyes. “Survival is pretty much all I get a chance to ponder,” she said in a soft voice.

The room grew silent, with all the women grappling with this shocking information. Josephina had heard it all before, but the others only knew that Helena’s father was a very harsh disciplinarian and that Helena was barely out of her teens.

“Abuse takes it to another level; talk about a stumbling block….. but that doesn’t mean that group counselling can’t help you Helena,” Josephina replied. “Although it’s perfectly fine with me if you want to stick with private counselling…..whatever you decide my dear,” she added. “Just let me know what you’re comfortable with.”

“I’m getting there, it’s just slow-going,” she replied; looking away.

The following Sunday at church, Josephina decided to go through all the things in the lost and found box and see what the parishioners had left behind as of late. She made a mental note of everything in the box: a jacket, an umbrella, a comb and a cell phone. ‘Very interesting,’ she thought. ‘In fact, I’ll bring the items up at the next group session. I think I can even detect a few analogies through the items,’ she surmised.

She went home and thought about the items some more and said a special prayer as to how she could use them in her counselling.

That next Friday, Josephina was excited about the meeting; confident in the wisdom God was revealing regarding the needs of her clients.

“Okay, I realize we haven’t been meeting for very long and only once as a group, and I know we may need a lot more time to unravel all the things you all are struggling with, but I do believe that God showed me something quite valuable this week. I went to check out the items in the church lost and found box and I think there could be a few lessons; hidden within that box, but we’ll see whether or not they match your individual stumbling blocks.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Dominique.

“Well let’s see……I found a cell phone in the box, has anyone lost a cell phone?”

“You’re kidding! I lost my cell a few weeks ago….had to get another one! Let me see it!”

Josephina handed her the phone.

“Yup! This is mine!” she proclaimed.

“Dominique, think about what that phone represents…….talking to people….your friends, right?”

Dominique nodded apprehensively. “Yeah, the ones I go out shopping with! I never go the mall by myself!” she declared.

“Well that reminds me of your primary stumbling block Dominique.”

“What’s that?” she frowned.

“You put all your hope in people and things, rather than your Lord God. God wants you to rely completely on Him; that’s what He wants for all of us, because that’s the only way to live in victory!” Josephina replied.

“I also found a green and yellow umbrella……anyone here own that?”

“Yeah that’s mine!” shouted Bernadette; startling the baby, who had fallen asleep.

“Well, let’s see if we can see any analogies there…….you were starting to use something other than God as your cover. When you started believing in the false doctrine…..remember, the law of attraction. You were replacing God with something else. You didn’t lose your cover, which is the Lord, you replaced the Lord’s Cover with fables or false doctrine.”

Bernadette’s jaw dropped, as she smiled in shock over this new revelation.

“And who owns the jacket; a heavy navy blue; hooded sweatshirt.”

“That would be me,” declared Helena.

“Okay Helena, symbolically, this jacket represents the Lord…. by leaving your jacket, you lost your cover. You gave it up actually. You were so angry at your dad that you started losing faith and ended up sacrificing your only true cover which is the Lord.

Helena put both of her thumbs high. “Cool. I can dig that…. I see the analogy,” she replied.

“And lastly, I found a large, wide-toothed black comb in the lost and found box.”

“Oh, that’s mine!” shouted Daphne.

“Well that also make sense, see because you Daphne have been living in a shallow way, like all that matters is what your life looks like from the outside or something! It does appear that the Lord has used the items you all lost to help you all to be found.”

The room grew silent for a second time as all four women gained revelation of the meaningful connection that Josephina had made between their lost items and their actual individual spiritual conditions.

“I know that we can’t just expect that everything will magically be okay now, but I do believe that we have seen the silver lining found in the church lost and found box,” she remarked. The women chatted for another hour; sharing experiences and a few painful memories. Then they all laughed and hugged one another, as they got up to exit Josephina’s office.

The next time the group met, Josephina asked Helena to hang around a few minutes, after the others had gone.

“I’ve been thinking about your predicament with your father. I remember you mentioned a while back that you were looking to move out of your father’s house. Do you have any plans along those lines at the present time?”

“Well no…. actually, not yet.”

“Well, I was thinking maybe you’d like to try staying at my place for a while. I have plenty of room, since my husband’s passing,” Josephina offered.

“Oh thank you SO MUCH JOY! I think that might be the best thing for me right now, if you think it’s really okay,” she replied.

“It’s cool,” Josephina replied, with a smile.

The following Friday, all the women gathered at Josephina’s house for their regular group session, followed by refreshments, in order to celebrate their individual progress and their newly-found, godly friendships and they shared all they learned from God’s Word and Helena happily showed the others her new room.

That Sunday after church, the women were all chatting near the coffee pot.

“You know I’ve been reading the Book of Matthew a lot lately and chapter 13 is really quite intriguing. Jesus very clearly lays out the various types of worldly things and attitudes that can confuse and derail believers in their walk with God. I think if you take a look you’ll see yourselves…..I see some of you in the same basic condition; according to Jesus. The goal, of course, is to be of the ‘good soil,’ ” declared Josephina.

All the women got out their Bibles and read along with Josephina and were all amazed at how much they saw themselves in the parable and, consequently; the learning continued………..

Linzy has been writing for many years; seriously since her 3 kids were still young and inspirational. She has taken 2 courses in Bible studies and completed "Four Soils" Bible study course in a 26-month period; earning her certification in Bible Counselling.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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