In His Time

        Tears welled in Sharla’s eyes. A painted up tramp? She didn’t wear any more make-up than she’d always worn. How could they say that about her? Up until a few months ago, those women had treated her like their friend. How dare they judge her? They didn’t know anything about her! They didn’t know the nights she’d sat up crying and praying for revelation, for God to give her a breakthrough, for God to heal her broken heart. They didn’t have a clue of how the Lord Himself had given her the unction to write. They knew nothing of her relationship with Him and it was obvious none of them had read one word of her book for if they had, they would have known that her female protagonist was a Christian, and quite a vocal one at that.

            And what was wrong with the way she dressed? It wasn’t like she was coming to church wearing micro-skirts and low-cut blouses. Wasn’t she entitled to a few new outfits? Wasn’t she worthy of being blessed?

            “Sharla, you can’t pay any attention to those women,” Veena, Pastor Mike’s wife told her. She’d noticed Sharla coming out of the bathroom, dabbing at her wet eyes with a tissue. After some coaxing, she’d gotten Sharla to tell her what she’d overheard.

            “They’re jealous of you ‘cause you’re looking good and you’re a threat to them.”

            “A threat?” Sharla laughed bitterly. “Me?”

            “Yes,” Veena said. “Because you’re walking in prosperity.”

            Sharla frowned.

            “Look,” Veena continued, her petite, regal frame sitting squarely in the middle of the sanctuary pew as she and Sharla talked. “When you were down on yourself and overweight and you had about as much going for you as they did, they could afford to like you. Why not? You were all in the same boat. But the minute you get out of the boat and begin to put your faith and your feet to the pavement, I promise you, you will have opposition. Jesus had it. His own followers turned against Him. The very people He came to save crucified Him.”

            Sharla was quiet. She was taking in what Veena was saying.

            “I know it’s hard but you should feel sorry for those women,” Veena said, extending her arm in the direction of the lobby where Sharla’s critics had stood moments earlier. “Pray for them. They’re whitewashed tombs. And until they change their hearts, they will never see any more of God than what they come to church for because they don’t expect to.”

            “And you…” she said, gently poking Sharla’s shoulder. “You’re going to have to get used to people saying things against you because God’s got so much more in store for you, I can see that. That’s not to say it won’t hurt when people talk, I know. When Mike first started out preaching, we had some awful things said about us by people who didn’t want to see our ministry prosper, but we endured and we made it by the grace of God. Now those same people….” She waved her hand around to illustrate the huge sanctuary they sat in….”Want to try to take credit for what God has built.”

            Veena took Sharla’s hands and looked at her.

            “Daughter, you’ve got to remember who you are in Christ and that He knows your heart. When you decide to walk with God on a higher level, it can be lonely. But it’s worth it because when God blesses you, nobody can unbless you!”