God's Glory

Emily laid her head on the soft white pillow. Long black hair framed Emily’s face. It was made pale by the gentle moonlight that filled her room. The moonlight light made everything in her room glow an eerie blue.

A lone tear from one of Emily’s big brown eyes fled down the side of her face and escaped into the oblivion her pillow offered.

Emily did not want to go to sleep. Fear and helplessness were her only companions every night. Emily knew if she fell asleep, evil would come to her in her dreams.

They were the minions; horrible creatures that chased her and tormented her in her dreams. The minions were there every night. Minions had skin that was a dark gray. They had scars all over their bodies. Their breath smelled like something dead and rotting. The eyes of a minion were hollow pools of hateful glowing red. Emily vividly remembered the hands of a minion clutching her arm. They didn’t have fingernails like humans. Instead their fingers just narrowed to razor sharp points.

It was Emily’s belief that Minions had no souls, at least not any more. They had battled the living God and lost. Their bodies bore the scars and their souls had died as a result. Now all they had was hate.

Sleep always came to Emily as friend. It offered peace, rest and restoration. Emily knew better. Sleep was a traitor and in it none of the things offered could be found. Instead Emily found herself in a dark and haunted place.

The ground felt soft and squishy, but she could not see it. A gentle mist which glowed a soft evil red hid the ground. The mist allowed the sounds of unseen evil lurking beneath it.

The leafless trees were bent and tormented. Their branches reached up to the sky as if to plead for mercy.

Suddenly Emily hears them, many footsteps running towards her. Emily’s heart begins to pound. She starts to run away from the footsteps, but the squishy ground gives beneath her feet. Emily slips and slides, her hands prevent her from falling as her feet do their best to propel her forward.

The footsteps are getting closer, and even seem to be more eager every second. Emily knows she will not escape. It is only her terror that compels her to try.

Suddenly a minion is on her back. It puts its fingers around her neck and tries to choke her.

“Jesus!” she croaks out to her God. No help comes.

The minions laugh. “That name won’t help you here sweetie!”

Even their lifeless hateful voice increases Emily’s pounding heart and her need to escape.

Another minion bites Emily’s leg and she falls to the ground. Her face is pushed into the muck by yet another minion and now Emily cannot even breathe.

With great effort Emily rolls over and now the minion on her back is in the muck. It doesn’t seem to mind and strives to bind her arms.

“Why?” cries out Emily. Tears fill her eyes, and she cries out in torment. “Why does the name Jesus not work here?”

Somehow Emily gets free and scrambled to her feet. She heard a hate-filled voice say, “Someone muffle that mouth. I hate that name!”

Emily is tackled once again, and she finds herself back in the sticky muck with minions on her. Emily’s side burned furiously with pain and the wind was knocked out of her. Her breath was slow to return as they continued to scratch and claw her. They mocked her without mercy.

“Why why WHY!” screamed Emily unable to escape her torment. The minions just laughed as they continued their assault.

Tonight, would be a different night. For tonight Emily asked a new question. Why?

A gentle wind blew for a moment and in it Emily heard a faint voice. It said, “There is a lie.”

Emily paused in her struggle for moment, then bit the fingers trying to prevent her from speaking.

“What? What lie?” Emily needed to know what the voice meant.

Time suddenly seemed to come to a stop, and everything froze. While everything was still, Emily’s mind was alert.

She felt the breeze blow again. It was apparent to Emily that the breeze was the only thing still free.

In the wind Emily once again heard the small still voice. It pierced her heart with holiness as it spoke.

“You believe a lie”, it said. “You think you are here to be tormented. You are to be tormented here and in your life. This is the lie that leaves you powerless. There is also another lie. You think you are of no significance.”

The voice was not condemning. It was gentle and loving, yet stern and sure.

Emily felt her face turn red. “I know you. You are God. You know my life and my dreams. You know my troubles and struggles. Somehow, it is ok for you to flit around my life. You fix some things, answer some prayers and yet nothing really ever changes. These are the truths of my life!”

Emily realized she was shouting. She silenced herself even though the shouting felt good. Emily wanted to know what God was going to say.

Again, the breeze came, and the same gentle but sure voice answered. “You believe a lie. You think you are a prisoner of your life. You see yourself as a victim.”

The voice in the breeze changed its tone. It became louder and a sense of pride wove its way through the words that followed.

“You are not a victim. The truth is, you are God’s Glory. You are My Glory.

“When you stand in darkness whether real or dreamed, remember that you are God’s Glory. You are the light that I have put in the darkness. You choose how bright to shine. Your love for me in the darkness shines bright. There is no ministry, no thing you could do for me more than love me in the darkness and bring my shining glory to those lost in the dark.

The voice softened. “Thank you, Emily, for your love. I cherish it very much. When your work is done and you are called home to me, you will thank me for the chance to shine like you did. We will dance like reunited lovers, and I will know how much you love me and so will you. The world will have seen it. There is no greater gift you could give me.”

Emily heard the voice and tried to feel better. The words were wonderful and made her feel special, but they did not change the reality of her life. She was tangled in a pile of minions. Her real life was no picnic either and knowing that God cherished her love was only a mild comfort.

The Voice in the breeze responded to Emily’s thoughts as if she had spoken out loud. “Remember, you are God’s Glory. You shine because you choose to. It is your mission and your purpose to shine. Knowing this truth will change things in a small but profound way. You will see.”

The breeze faded away and with it, God’s voice.

Time resumed and a kick in the side from a minion took her breath away once again.

Emily could not speak as her lungs tried to remember how to fill. One of the foul creatures was pulling her hair. She wondered how so many of these things could have a hold of her at once.

A minion tried to stuff a handful of the mushy ground into her mouth, but Emily bit his hand. The evil monster withdrew it at once.

With all of her will Emily at last drew in a small breath. She got on her hands and knees. She tried to speak but her lungs still weren’t working right.

Staring into the swirling mist that hid the ground beneath her Emily focused her anger and torment. With a new belief that God was with her, she forced the words from her mouth, “I am God’s . . .”

“Yes, you are”, interrupted a self-important minion that had apparently been watching Emily’s assault. “That’s why we have come for you!”

The creature’s voice was deep and course. It was full of hate and loathing. The voice itself communicated more to Emily than the minion’s words and right now it was trying to put fear in Emily’s heart.

Emily however was done with fear. She looked up at the minion. He seemed to be in a position of authority and was enjoying his apparent victory very much.

Emily’s eyes locked with the minion’s and his jubilant smile fell from his face.

Emily calmly drew a deep breath and completed her sentence with a shout. “Glory! I am God’s Glory!”

The crushed and tormented young woman with tattered clothes flashed a hot white. Her skin glowed with the light of God’s glorious love. Her clothes were restored and turned pure white.

Shards of light pierced the minions holding onto Emily and the wretched creatures fell away as they howled in pain.

The eerie mist was banished, the squishy ground hardened and sweet smelling grass burst from the ground. The trees still reaching to the heavens bloomed and brought forth their leaves in praise to the living God.

As the glow faded, Emily found herself standing in a peaceful meadow. “How wonderful”, she thought to herself.

The minion in charge of Emily’s torment walked up to her and knocked her to the ground. “You have changed nothing silly woman. So, the grass is green and the gray sky blue. Nothing has changed. We have come for you.” The minions vile voice spoke with such hatred that the grass seemed to wilt.

Emily took another deep breath and savored sweet smell of springtime. The grass quickly recovered and much to the lead minion’s displeasure flowers were popping up everywhere. Emily got to her feet and looked the minion in the eye once again.

“You are a liar”, she said calmly. “The truth is, you have not come for me.”

The minions had been rolling around groaning over their new wounds. They stopped and focused on Emily. Now they were very interested in what the restored person in front of them was saying.

Emily continued, “Actually the truth is, I have come for you. Do you know why?”

“No . . .”, said a rather dull looking minion and before the lead minion could stop him, the not so smart minion asked, “Why?”

The lead minion clenched his fist and braced himself cursing God as he did so.

“Because”, said Emily with calm confidence. “I am, God’s Glory!”

Emily looked to heaven and her heart sent its silent love to her God. Light of the living God exploded from Emily. The minions howled and ran for cover.

Emily knew something that the minions would soon learn. There was nowhere they could go for refuge or for rest.

God’s glory was here, and she was not going to let them forget it.

I’ll be back tomorrow she said to the now tormented minions. She then disappeared into consciousness.

The end.