Raising Faith (17 page)

Emily could hardly believe that it was the day before Christmas. So much had happened this past week, it had felt as if the time had flown by. And now it was December 24
^th
, and Emily planned to spend a quiet day at home. Mom and Kyle both had to work during the day, and Morgan was next door helping her mom and grandma get things together for their Christmas. She had invited Emily to join them, but since Emily had been practically living over there the past few days, she decided to give them a break today. Plus, her family would be going over to celebrate Christmas with them tomorrow anyway.

For today, Emily’s plan was to wrap Kyle’s and Mom’s Christmas presents and then straighten up the house. But she’d finished that a lot quicker than she’d expected. Her presents were already tucked beneath their tree, and their house was all tidy and neat. She walked around a bit, just taking a moment to enjoy the results of her efforts. Their place was really pretty cozy now. So much better than when they’d first come here last spring. In fact, that seemed like a long time ago now.

She remembered how lost she’d felt when they moved into this house. It was so much smaller and shabbier than the house they’d left behind. But even so, Emily had been relieved to get away from her angry father. It had been worth the sacrifice. Now — if only he hadn’t tracked them down — life might be nearly perfect. She’d been trying not to dwell on the fact that her dad was still in town. It was too disturbing. But at least, according to their lawyer anyway, he was still in jail. Although the rumor was that he was trying to borrow bail money from his family in Idaho. Probably from Aunt Becky. She was still pretty clueless when it came to the true character of her “baby brother.” She had always tried to protect him, always acted as if he was blameless.

Despite her resolve not to, Emily thought about her dad. She sat down beneath the Christmas tree and wondered what it felt like to be locked up in jail. What would if be like to be restricted to a small space like that? She remembered the book she’d just read, and how Anne Frank and her family lived in an attic space for several years. In a way, that must’ve felt like prison too. And yet they had done nothing wrong.

Then Emily wondered how it would feel to be in jail during Christmas. How would it feel to think about other families enjoying each other, enjoying all the fun parts of Christmas? She felt an unexpected jab of pity just then — sort of how she felt when she thought about Derrick
Smith being stuck in juvenile detention. Not that both those bullies didn’t deserve to be locked up. They did. But the image of her dad sitting alone behind bars made her feel sad. Okay, it was sad mixed with mad. And she definitely didn’t want him to get out. In fact, it worried her a lot to think that someone like Aunt Becky might possibly post his bail.

If only things could be different — if only her dad could be different — but that didn’t seem possible. As it was, she hoped he’d be stuck in jail for a long, long time. She hoped he’d never get out. When she considered how much he’d hurt her family … how he’d frightened and threatened her very best friend. Well, Emily really didn’t feel too sorry for that man. Not really.

Still, she knew enough about the Bible and Jesus’ teachings by now to know that Christians were supposed to follow Jesus’ example and to forgive those who hurt them. She also knew they were supposed to pray for people who were enemies or wanted to hurt them. The truth was she had never really done it much before. She’d never really had the need to do it. Until now. And yet she wondered how she could forgive a man who had brought so much pain into her life? How was that even possible?

Emily stretched out on the matted-down carpet beneath their Christmas tree. She put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes as she pondered these troubling questions.
It felt wrong to
not
forgive … and yet how was it possible to forgive someone you still felt mad at, someone who had hurt you badly, and someone you sometimes hated? She went round and round with these questions until she finally knew it was useless — there really was no good answer. Just more questions.

That’s when she did what her pastor often recommended. She took the whole thing to God. She asked him to show her what she needed to do about this perplexing problem. She asked God to guide her. And, just like that, the answer came to her. And it seemed simple enough. But simple didn’t always come easily.

First of all, she knew she needed to forgive her dad, and second of all, she knew she needed to pray for him. The problem was she didn’t know how to do that. It seemed impossible. So, right then and there, she asked God to help her. And, right then and there, although she didn’t really feel like it, she decided it was time to forgive her dad.

So she told God she could only do this thing with his help, and she asked him to help her. Then help seemed to come, and she actually did forgive her dad. She even said the words out loud. More than that, she actually prayed for her dad. She asked God to reach out to him, to help him see what he was doing wrong. “And help him,” she prayed, “to see that he needs you, dear God. Show my dad that he can’t change and live a good life without your help. And
tell him that you love him. Thank you. Amen.”

When Emily opened her eyes and looked up at the Christmas tree, she realized the colored lights were all blurry and fuzzy now … because she was crying. And that’s when she knew that it was for real. She knew that God really had helped her to make this step to forgive her dad. She also realized that it felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her — and that for the first time in a long time she felt truly happy.

She felt so happy that she even put on some music — a lively Christmas CD that Morgan had given to her just yesterday. And Emily cranked it up and did a little happy dance around the Christmas tree. And as she danced, she thanked God for helping her. And she thanked him for sending his only Son to share forgiveness with everyone — even her dad!

Then when she was too tired to keep dancing, she collapsed onto a chair. And that’s when she got the strongest urge to write her dad a letter. She still had some Christmas cards leftover from the ones she’d given to her friends and few special teachers at school. She took one out and wrote his name on the inside of the card. Then she took out a clean piece of paper and wrote a heartfelt note to her dad.

Emily looked at the ending of her note.
From Emily
sounded a little formal and sort of mean. So she crossed out “From” and replaced it with “Love.” She figured that would make God happy since Christians were supposed to love others, whether others deserved it or not. Then she put the note inside the Christmas card, wrote Dad’s name on the front, put on her coat, and walked to town. It was actually a pretty nice day. No rain, no wind. Of course, there was no snow either. That was probably the only thing she missed from her old home in Idaho. But she would rather be here without snow than in Idaho with three feet of it. Besides, she would have plenty of snow in a couple of days.

It was fun walking through town. Christmas music was being played outside, and the town’s Christmas tree was lit up, as well as colorful lights in most of the shops. People were busily hurrying around, probably doing their last-minute tasks before Christmas. Emily smiled at people and said hello to ones she knew. She even paused and put some change into the Salvation Army pot. Then she walked on to City Hall. She wasn’t absolutely certain that her dad was in the jail there, but she figured there was a good chance that he was.

Then, as soon as she went through the entrance, she felt self-conscious. She wondered if she was making a big mistake in coming here. And what if Mom got mad at her for doing this? Still, Emily knew in her heart that it was the
right thing to do. And so she went up to the front desk.

“Can I help you?” asked a policewoman.

“Uh, I have something to be delivered,” said Emily. She set the envelope on the desk. “It’s for my dad.”

The woman smiled. “Oh, is he a policeman?”

“Uh, no …” Emily took in a quick breath. “I think he’s in jail here.”

The woman nodded. “Oh …”

“Do you think someone could give him this Christmas card for me?”

“It will have to be opened and inspected first,” the woman told her. “Are you okay with that?”

Emily shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“It’s not that we don’t trust you. It’s just a policy. Some people try to sneak things in here — things that aren’t allowed.”

“Oh, well, there’s nothing like that in there.”

The policewoman smiled. “No, I didn’t think so. And I’m sure your dad will appreciate that you thought of him.”

“I thought he might be feeling a little sad, you know, being in here for Christmas. I mean I think he
needs
to be here and everything. Still, it’s probably hard on him.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve heard that the Christmas dinner served here is pretty tasty.”

Emily smiled. “That’s good.”

“You have a Merry Christmas now.”

“You too.” Then Emily turned and walked out. Sure, it hadn’t been the easiest thing in the world to do, but she was so glad she’d done it. And she knew she had only been able to do it with God’s help. She also knew this was going to be a really great Christmas.

MELODY CARLSON
has written more than 200 books for teens, women, and children. Before publishing, Melody traveled around the world, volunteered in teen ministry, taught preschool, raised two sons, and worked briefly in interior design and later in international adoption. “I think real-life experiences inspire the best fiction,” she says. Her wide variety of books seems to prove this theory.

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Check out www.faithgirlz.com

ZONDERKIDZ

Raising Faith
Copyright © 2008, 2012 by Melody Carlson

Run Away
Copyright © 2008, 2012 by Melody Carlson

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