Unforeseen Pitfalls

Part 5 of this story series …


For three days, an anti-theist, or “Atheist Enemy” for our purposes, had been pinging me with questions. Initially, I started off answering cordially. But soon it became apparent that this individual was only interested in one thing – shredding me and my beliefs.

It didn’t take long before his questions evolved from simple inquiries about faith and God to a hostile cross examination. He tried every which way to trip me up.

I answered his questions, at first because I was intrigued, and the mental exercise was good for me. But within about 24 hours after the barrage started, I felt tired from it. Still, I kept up the dialog.

And that’s when it happened – the pitfall for which I hadn’t bargained. My adversary came up with a trick question that was nearly impossible to answer:

“Do you think I am going to Heaven or to Hell?” he asked.

I sucked in my breath and looked at the question on the screen, the fonts boring into my eye sockets like poker irons. This was one I actually hadn’t considered.

At that very moment, my phone rang. You may think this is coincidence – but I count it yet another piece of evidence that God was hanging around with me. The caller was my Bible study leader.

“Hello?”

“Wow. What’s going on?” We haven’t known each other long, but she’s a sharp cookie, this one. “I can tell something’s wrong,” she added.

I explained what had been happening.

“Can I ask a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are you praying every time you respond?”

That was a million-dollar question. Most of the time I allowed myself to be pressured into an immediate response. Even as I was talking to my friend, the atheist was sending ping after ping.

“I’m waiting!” said one tweet.

“You have a soul on the other end here that needs to be saved! Aren’t you concerned?” said another.

“Don’t you care where I go after I die? Why aren’t you responding?”

Chagrined, I read her the lines as they came in.

“But back to your question about whether I pray before I respond. To be honest, sometimes I do, but not always, because I feel pressured to get back to the person immediately, as you can see from these messages he’s now sending.”

“Don’t be,” she responded. “I think that before you give an answer, you need to pray long and hard about it. Listen. God will tell you what to say,” she told me. “Ask Him for words. He won’t disappoint you. And I’ll pray, too,” she added.

I agreed and sent the guy a one-line tweet: “I’ll answer your question, but I have to pray about it first.”

Of course, this triggered a huge guffaw on the other end.

“Hey!” he pinged to others who were following the conversation. “She’s going into conference about this! She’s working out a deal for me!”

I put the laptop aside.

And then I prayed.

The answer came almost immediately.

You know how this works, if you’re a whole-hearted pray-er. As you try to sort out a problem, suddenly, that little miracle takes place: It’s no longer a one-sided conversation. You know without a doubt that the answer in your mind did NOT originate with you, but with Him.

This was most definitely one of those cases.

“Are You sure?” I asked Him.

“Trust Me,” He spoke the words to my heart, as clearly as if they were audible. “Now. This is what you’re going to do ….”



Curious about how God intervenes on the spot when you need Him? Tune in tomorrow for the next part of the story series …