Angels of Humility: A Novel (13 page)

“You don’t have permission to take her life, you vile, deceptive spirit. I command you to leave by the blood of Jesus.” Death didn’t wait for Joel to draw his sword; the mention of the blood was sufficient. He departed
cursing and vowing revenge. “We owned her for 71 years, and if she won’t renounce God, we’ll take her life.”

Sarah felt something trickle into her left eye. She dabbed at her forehead. A cut across her eyebrow saturated the tissue with blood. She sobbed again, not as much from the pain as from the frustration of her situation.

Joel attended to Sarah, comforting, and encouraging her in the Lord’s goodness and love for her.

“Even though you walk, or in this case, drive, through the valley of the shadow of death, you need not fear any evil. He is protecting you, even preparing a banquet for you to enjoy as He holds your enemies at bay.”
⁴

After she stopped shaking and the bleeding stopped, she looked outside for the first time. In front of her the headlights illuminated weeds that were as tall as the hood.

“Just pull ahead slowly Sarah,” said Malta, motioning toward the hood. “Keep going and in just 10 feet it levels off and you can get back on the road.”

Sarah put the car in drive and inched forward. She never looked out the left window to see where the ground dropped off sharply to the creek below. She was too busy obsessing about how she’d been abandoned by God. She didn’t realize that if Malta hadn’t stopped her car it would have rolled over several times, ended up in the creek bottom, and been obscured from view.

Kathy had stayed home with Jordan from tonight’s meeting. Paul was pacing back and forth between the bookshelf and the tan corduroy recliner where Kathy was knitting. Saldu and Valoe were positioned by the front door, radiating their unseen heavenly glory into the room.

“And then she said that she didn’t
know
if she’d sell the land to them or not. There was dead silence; no one said anything, and then the place came unglued, absolutely unglued. Sarah fled the building at that point, but it took five minutes for Clarence to wrestle the meeting back to order. People were livid,” he said, raising his voice and gesturing with his arm.
“They wanted to know what they could do to keep Sarah from selling the land. Everyone felt betrayed, like one of their own was going to do them in, and of course she’s one of
my
church members, so it makes me look bad, too!”

Kathy inhaled in preparation to speak, but Paul was too fast for her.

“I couldn’t believe it when I found out that Sarah owns the land that I want for my new church. You can imagine how confused I felt, but then I thought this might all be from the Lord.”

“How’s that?” asked Kathy, tugging the yarn to undo a knot.

“Well, I want the land for the church, Sarah’s church. BCCF wants the land for a jail. The Lord has provided a way of deliverance for Sarah that will bless the church, too. If she sells the land to the jail, everyone will hate her. If instead she sells the land to the church, she would be viewed as a saint—the town’s rescuer. I can see a plaque in the foyer of the new church,” said Paul pointing to the entryway of the house for effect, “a permanent tribute to Sarah. Why would she want to be the goat, when she could so easily be the hero?”

“OK, Paul,” said Kathy, under Valoe’s influence. “Really listen to this. It’s time for a reality check. Number one, have you prayed about this plan? Are you sure you’ve heard from the Lord? Number two, the church isn’t in any position financially to buy the land. Number three, you’re still the interim, and number four, this is your grand and glorious five-year plan. The church doesn’t even know about it.”

“That’s part of the beauty,” he said with a smile as he leaned over her chair and took the knitting from her. “This jail could force the church to speed up the plan. I could meet with Sarah and ask her about the land and then, if she’s willing, I’ll propose it to the church to see if they are interested, which of course they will be. It’s a win/win situation. The church will eventually get a new building and avoid a jail at the same time.”

“But Paul, you don’t even know—”

“Then we propose a monthly payment to Sarah for the land. Or maybe she would just donate it to
her
church. And, I might mention that the church members
and
the town’s people would love me forever for solving
this predicament.” Kathy grabbed her knitting back and glared at him.
What’s the use of even trying to express my opinion? He doesn’t want to hear it, he just cuts me off
.

“I’m going to pray about this,” he said over his shoulder as he walked toward his office accompanied by Pride and Self-Promotion. “I’d appreciate it if you’d pray too. Then I might go talk to Sarah in a few days.” Saldu let out a sigh and followed Paul down the hall. “Keep her away from Paul with those needles,” he said, leaving Valoe to help Kathy regain her composure.

In the office, Pride and Self-Promotion taunted Saldu with their shrieks and laughter. They knew he couldn’t do anything to them unless Paul cried out for help, and he was a long way from there. Saldu stood across the desk from Paul. “Paul, you might impress people with your performance, but you’ll never impress God. It’s about your heart, and it’s about loving and serving people; it’s not about building a kingdom to glorify yourself. Even though the plan
seems
spiritual, it’s not the Lord’s. It’s truly from the enemy. He knows that taking the wrong path is going to cost you time and pain. It will cost your family time and pain as well, and the same for the church. Spend time before the Lord renewing your intimacy and asking His opinion of the plan before you try to carry it out.”

Paul shrugged off that nagging feeling that maybe the plan wasn’t God’s. He was too emotionally invested in it to even go there.
But Lord, help me to love better. Help me to love my family better, and help me to be sensitive to the needs of my church family. Help me to be a good shepherd for them all. Lord I do want to be a blessing and do Your will. Amen
.

Though Intimidation, Respectability, Discouragement, and Despair were not making as much progress as they’d hoped battling against Sarah, the town’s people, in their anger, gladly embraced the new demonic reinforcements with open arms—Accusation, Criticism, Gossip, Slander, Faultfinding, Impatience, Unforgiveness, Self-righteousness, Selfish Ambition, Unrighteous Judgment, Bitterness, and Treachery.

“It doesn’t get any easier than this,” said Unrighteous Judgment, with an evil sneer. “I’ve got more people calling to me than I have time.”

“Gossip, Slander, and I will keep the people stirred up,” said Faultfinding. “The rest of you will have plenty of time to work. This isn’t going to go away quickly.”

The talk around town about Sarah was rampant and unkind. Barbara, newly retired and a new resident, went to the post office to mail a letter, and all she heard was criticism and gossip. It was no better at the grocery store. At Nate’s Hardware, where she stopped to buy a furnace filter, she even heard a threat.

“Dear Lord,” she prayed, “the whole town is brimming over with hatred.” Barbara had been at the meeting last night. Being unfamiliar with the town, she was late herself, and for that reason, ended up on the back row where she observed Sarah’s discomfort at close range. She was close enough to see the sweat beaded on her upper lip, close enough to see Sarah’s hands tremble and to observe the humiliation and fear spreading across Sarah’s face just before she headed out the door.

Although Barbara understood why none of the residents wanted the jail, and she didn’t want it, either, she did feel compassion for Sarah and wondered what made her take the unpopular stand she did.
Maybe she’s desperate for the money. Maybe she lives on a fixed income
.

Barbara had almost followed Sarah out the door to comfort her, but she didn’t want to risk being ostracized by association. She needed to meet people and make friends, and it was glaringly obvious that any association with Sarah would have been a social faux pas on a grand scale. Still, she was ashamed that she let what people might think of her prevent her from comforting someone who obviously needed it.
Forgive me, Lord. I could have helped someone, and I didn’t
.

Her guardian angel Gadiel beamed, “And of course He totally forgives you.” Gadiel looked about 30 years old in human age. He wore a shimmering multicolored cloak embellished with golden cord that went over his shoulders and around his waist, criss-crossing in the back and front. He carried an ancient spear with a carved wooden handle and a large silver spearhead. As Barbara drove home, Gadiel rode in the front seat, his large spear stuck through the top of the car.

Sooo much work to be done. Thank goodness the house wasn’t a fixer upper
. The previous owners had done a nice job of remodeling it before putting it on the market. She didn’t even have to paint. But the boxes, the endless boxes, waited to be unpacked.
They’re reproducing like rabbits
, she thought as she looked around. She’d been moving boxes a little at a time, trying to
avoid getting overwhelmed; eventually it caught up to her. She collapsed on the couch and called her little pug dog, Hugo, who immediately jumped on her lap and began to lick her chin enthusiastically.

“Don’t get too excited, Hugo,” she said, “I don’t even know where I packed the doggie biscuits!”

That next morning, when Sarah opened her eyes, her first sense of awareness was a splitting headache. She ran her hand across the cut on her eyebrow and the whole horrible experience came flooding back to her. She grimaced at the memory of last night’s meeting.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help me
, was all she could think.

Those words were enough for Joel to brandish his flaming sword and alleviate Sarah’s headache by cutting off the cowering spirit of Infirmity clinging to the side of her head. Its stunned black form hit the floor with a thud. Righting itself in a hurry, Infirmity used its web-like black leathery wings to fly away.

Malta began to match the worship around the throne on his flute, and as wave after wave of “Holy, Holy, Holy,” silently penetrated her soul, Sarah found the energy she needed to get out of bed. She shuffled by the mirror and let out a groan. She didn’t even need to put on her glasses to see the black and blue welt surrounding her swollen left eye.

For the next two days, Sarah skipped her morning time with the Lord and her prayer walk and spent the time moping around the house. She was embarrassed at how her face looked, but even more, she was afraid to go outside. The spirit of Agoraphobia was back, convincing her that folks would point, call names, or even worse, attack her.