Blackness

Don't think I can be duped- 'cus I can't. A whisper reaches to me from the darkness- A twig snaps to my left- Dark shadows haunt the night- ...And you're all I have left... So why aren't you here by my side? Holding my hand- protecting me? I sighed- maybe it was never to be- you and me... No matter how hard I'd cried, or tried to "be right," You would rather have committed suicide- So now I'm gone. You took your time with someone else- Just to fill a void- So you missed your chance- my heart is dead- So long- my friend! So long. But wait! I heard another sound- Closer this time- creeping slowly forward- It was the sound of leather against grass- Scraping- stepping lightly- quietly- stealthily... The breathing was no longer quiet, But deep gasps of air- heavy- breaking the silence and Fraying my nerves... It was coming nearer now- slowly... I frantically thought of a place to hide- Something to protect myself with, But I was too late- Because he stood before me- Strong and big, he caught me off guard- I gasped and looked upward to see his face... I looked to where his face should have been, but saw Nothing. I could still hear his labored breathing, But no face could be seen- His hands were strong and massive, Along with shoulders and chest- He stood with authority, And could feel his invisible eyes staring me down. The mist swirled around us as I watched, As in slow motion, His hand reach out for my neck- And then it all came together- the fragments combined Into a picture, and the I realized what was next. I screamed, And all was blackness.

The Whisper

I was walking through a dark forest, surrounded on every side by deep shadows and misty hollows. The trees were dark and tall, looming massively over my head, but still I walked on. I gingerly stepped over gaping holes in the earth and pondered how my heart felt like that hole; around frozen logs, and across icy-cold streams I went, feeling as if the very blood in my veins was as cold as the water appeared. 

So concerned was I with the places that my feet were stepping, I had forgotten to listen to the gentle voice that called my name softly; so scared of the mist, and the shadows, and the lurking creatures that I had forgotten to stay on the path. 

Then I heard it- a twig snapped close to my left- I felt my heart stop beating in my chest, and I froze. I heard then the raspy breathing of the beast as it stalked me silently. I had been so concerned with my feet that I had not noticed it before and taken the steps to rid myself of my stalker; so still it followed me. 

I glanced around nervously and caught a glimpse of it’s beady yellow-evil eyes watching me greedily, as it was waiting for a moment to pounce. I gulped, and then forced myself to take a step forward, and then another, not even thinking to ask of my Helper what to do. 

Still the beast stalked me- still I heard it’s rasping breath, saw it’s beady eye; and still I did not ask- still I walked the path my own feet were carving. 

STOP. 

I heard a commanding voice say. I looked about and saw the beast approaching closer and closer, and my mind urged me to run, but the voice spoke again, this time louder- 

TURN AROUND. 

I thought to myself “Are you crazy? Face it? I’ll surely die!” but the voice called to me again. 

FACE IT, OR YOU WILL DIE. 

At this point I was pondering whether or not to take the voice’s advice. Surely it was confused- if I turned around the thing would lunge, and I would be dead; but if I continued forward, I would surely break through the darkness and find the light on my own soon enough, but my mind lost the round, and I turned around. 

The yellow eyes grew wide and then squinted as if a bright light had shone in them, and the teeth, barred just a few moments before for attack, clamped shut as if in pain. The beast cowered and turned away, scampering off into the darkness. My heart then cried out to the Voice, “Thank You!”, but my lips stayed silent. The voice spoke again: 

WHY DO YOU FEAR ME WITH YOUR HEART, BUT YOUR LIPS WILL NOT TESTIFY TO ME? BELOVED, THIS SHOULD NOT BE SO. 

Again my heart thrilled that the voice had called me beloved, but shamed that it had found me lacking. But still, my mind, reason, and feet rebelled. They turned and walked the path I had started to turn from- it was easier, they said- it was easier to disobey the voice- it didn’t matter- the voice didn’t care- but they were wrong. 

Before long a snarl was heard close behind me, and I whirled around- wielding a heavy branch that had fallen to the ground- I was determined to defeat the creature on my own, but it had come back- fiercer and more deadly this time. It’s teeth were bared and it’s drool dripped from greedy jaws. It’s eyes carried a rabid insanity, and it’s fiendish glare chilled me to the bone. 

Then, with a flash, it was upon me! Tearing at my clothes, reaching for my flesh. I had not had a chance to beat it with my stick, for it had been to fast- upon me too quickly- it had blended with the shadows, and lurked among the mist, its eyes little flames of fury, waiting to get at me- to devour my very being. 

And then, as everything started to fade away, I heard the voice again, barely, almost imperceptibly it spoke to me- as if it was a gentle whisper- speaking directly to my soul: 

WHY DID YOU NOT LISTEN, MY BELOVED? WHY DID YOUR FEET TREAD SWIFTLY TOWARD EVIL? IF YOU HAD BUT TURNED THE OTHER WAY, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED- BUT YOUR CONSEQUENCE IS THIS- YOU WILL NO LONGER SEE THIS EARTHLY LIGHT- YOU SHALL BE WITH ME TODAY. 

I understood now that the mistake I had made had cost me my life- but the Son’s blood had already forgiven my disobedience; His blood had washed my filthy hands as white as the purest snow. If I had but turned the way my Savior led, He would have guided me to His Light- and kept the beast off my path; but following my own way just led me deeper into darkness- deeper into evil- and deeper into peril- but still He called me beloved- still He loved. <3

Redeemed

It was a snowy cold day
 But the trumpets they played,
Little did they know that he was all she had left...
Unknown, alone, forgotten, and used,
With naught a soul in the world;
Her eyes filled with tears as she sought for a light...a light to illuminate her very dark path.
But then he had come into her life...
He loved her, accepted her, carried her through the night
Into a loving light.
She thought about Heaven so much that she dreamed that she tasted the river of life...
You see, this girl's name was Leánna,
She had shed her tears all alone...
Used by her father and shunned by her mother,
Thrown about, kicked out, left on the street...
She had begged for her food and eaten with the wild dogs,
Until she found had a place, but a pit of the devil was it...
 There she was used and torn and abused for a dinner and a pillow for her head;
Too battered to eat, too sick to seek sleep, disease-ridden, flea-bitten, foul as the last days,
But then came the face who didn't care what you'd done, who bore it all on Himself, no matter the pain
He loved, He died, He shed His own blood, to give her a new life, no matter what she'd done;
This is a Savior, this is a King, this is the Lord of Lords, Ruler of everything.
He saved her that day, and took her too,
And now she's drinking the River of Life,
   Just as you can, my dear one, too.