A Home for the Redeemed

by Sue Behnke

  Carl expected as much. He could not blame her. After all, they had all exhibited such immaturity in this particular situation.

  “Barb, even though we’re sorry that we could not become your family, we wish you the best, and we hope you will find a church that can love you and be there for you. If you are still looking, you might want to check out the church Pastor Bob Moody attends. They’ll welcome you with open arms. Be blessed, Barb. Thank you for giving us a chance to clarify matters a bit. We hope you’ll try to forgive us. Good-bye.”

  Carl and Maria stood and prayed for Barb wholeheartedly. “Lord, bless her. Lord, see her through. Thank you, Lord, for sending your warring angels to protect her. You be a wall of fire around her, and heal her heart, Lord.”

  Carl looked at Maria with tenderness and declared to the elders, “Truly, if men are the head, then women are the heart, the element of gentleness and kindness, whether at home or at church. A body will not survive unless both are functioning in unison.” He meant that statement with all of his heart.

  Chapter 37

  A Nightmare

  Benjamin was sleeping. He slipped into an uneasy state, and a dream took hold of him.

  He was in the dream, but he was a child walking into a gloomy, dark field that looked like a cemetery. The path was narrow. He could see separate tiles he needed to step on carefully to walk forward. The only way out was to cross that area to the other side, yet he could not see the exit clearly. Huge ugly trees and brown shrubs blocked his view. In the dream he desperately needed to cross this place and leave.

  As soon as he started his trek, he could see a sign. It read, “Do not talk.” Intense fear filled him as he was trying to move forward, avoiding traps and monstrous plants hovering over him. He finally let a scream escape. Terror gripped him as he realized that the sound he uttered defied the order on the sign. It called for punishment. He was brought back to the start of the place.

  He desperately scrambled to get farther, but he could not move fast. He was to mind the stones he was setting his feet on. He saw another sign. It read, “Do not listen.” He covered his ears feverishly as he tried to obey the sign, but sounds were still reaching his hearing. He was carried to the beginning again. He could feel hatred in the air all around him.

  Despair filled his being as he saw yet another sign from the distance, another command he knew he could not comply with. The dream ended.

  He heard a powerful voice booming as he was waking up, “The pastor will interpret the dream“.

  He woke up in a sweat, his heart beating wildly, the taste of terror still in his mouth.

  Chapter 38

  A Meeting with the Pastor

  Jane knocked softly on the door and let herself in. She did not call for an appointment out of fear of rejection. Her heart was pounding. She approached Geena and asked to see the pastor.

  The door to the pastor’s office was not closed. She could see he had some company. A man she had noticed in the church before, one covered with tattoos, was gesturing and laughing quite loudly. He was jovial, joking with the pastor, while his little girl, who was wearing a beautiful blue dress, was running wild in the room.

  She heard the pastor laughing and answering him. He was calling him Brendan. The man seemed so happy to show off his little one, who basked in the respectful attention of the two men.

  Geena motioned to a chair for Jane. She gratefully took it. She was expecting an interrogation test and fearing ridicule. Geena was all smiles, offering her a hot brew instead.

  Suddenly, Jane was not sure anymore. She started questioning her motives, panicking about the scenario she had rehearsed in her head. What if he did not believe her?

  Her emotions started going wild. Panic was grabbing hold of any rational thought she could muster.

  An unusual question popped in her mind. “Jane, who are you?”

  At first, she got mystified at herself. This was surely not the time for nonsense. But then an answer filled her being, giving her a peace to conquer all fears. She was a child of the Most High, a coheir and coruler of this earth and therefore of this office.

  She sat straighter and smiled as Brendan and his little treasure left the building.

  The pastor came to her and welcomed her in his office cheerfully. He left the door ajar for the sake of decency, she assumed, looking at her in case of disapproval. She smiled and took a seat. He sat down and welcomed her again.

  Jane was hesitant, realizing she did not remember the opening line she had rehearsed in her head. The pastor kindly opened the conversation, asking her about her husband (he remembered him from the previous service) and asking general questions until she visibly relaxed.

  Jane finally gathered enough courage. She looked at him, unafraid. The words came out of her spirit, serenely filling the room. The panic of her heart was completely gone.

  “Until recently, my husband has not set a foot in a church since he was a little child. Lately, though, he has had divine encounters that I’m sure are genuine, and they involve you. He shared a few details with me. He tried to connect with you but was rejected and treated as a mental case.”

  She paused here to make a point. She did not appreciate her husband being put down. He was a good man, a man she loved. She then continued gently but firmly, “I assure you that Benjamin is a levelheaded, good man. He never tells tall stories. I’m not sure how else to convince you to listen to him.”

  Jane wished someone had stood up for her when she was dealing with the separation and the depression before. She felt such a sense of achievement because she had stood up for Benjamin. She needed to do this for her husband’s sake and the sake of her own healing.

  Carl smiled.

  “Mrs. Weiss, you don’t have to convince me. I‘ve been praying and asking God to send his messenger to us again, if indeed the message was from him. I’m eager to meet with your husband. Please forgive our earlier mistake. As you see, we’re far from perfect, but we’re trying our best. Kindly help me set up an appointment.”

  She certainly did not expect the meeting to go that smoothly! She fidgeted a bit in her seat and then looked at the pastor again. Jane had another point she needed to make.

  “I don’t think I ever mentioned this before, but both Benjamin and I were divorced before. I left a church earlier on that account.”

  She was not sure what to expect, but she was not willing to be shamed. If God could forgive sin, then shame had no place in her life.

  Carl looked at her with such compassion. He was so different from the leaders of her other church. He gently said, “So you have known that pain.”

  Jane wanted to defend herself, to say that she was innocent. She felt so embarrassed that she needed his approval so desperately.

  “Jane, I know you read your Bible, so I can mention this to you. Did you know that God was divorced too?”

  “Huh!”

  “God served Israel divorce papers because of their idolatry. You can read that in the book of Jeremiah, chapter three. That is probably why he hates divorce so much. It is such a painful process, ripping two hearts apart. Divorce is devastating to all parties involved. I can’t see how anyone can disagree with God and like divorce!

  “Another account happened in the days of Ezra. All the Israelites were to leave their heathen spouses in order to honor the Lord. Read Ezra 10. That is massive amounts of divorces! God blessed that because people were reconnecting with him and getting purer, walking away from any compromise.

  “Make no mistake, Jane. God is a champion of marriage and covenant-minded lives, but sometimes things can’t be helped. God also is a God of compassion, forgiveness, and healing.”

  “Pastor, people kept telling me that no one should separate and that a contract of marriage is forever until one of the spouses dies. I don’t understand.”

  “A covenant is forever. There are covenants God initiates. The Bible says that if God puts a couple together, people should not interfere. The problem is very few peop
le come together because of God’s will. They usually unite because they fall in love. They lust after one another, or they don’t want to be alone. Then they go to God, asking him to bless the union they initiated. God very rarely gets to put a couple together.”

  Jane was fidgeting, trying to follow the pastor.

  “Jane, when a covenant of marriage is initiated by people, again only one person ought to break that covenant, and that is God himself because the covenant is before him. When people choose to divorce and break that covenant on their own; they are in sin, but that does not mean God does not forgive. It means they should go to him for forgiveness and healing. Ideally, if the couple loves God and wants to follow his ways, they would exhaust every possible way to love and serve each other. Sometimes, though, life gets so complicated!”

  Jane was drinking these revelations like fresh water. Carl was exhibiting such sadness because of the difficulty she had grasping the concept of the loving-kindness of God. As most, she assumed God spent his time waiting for her to make mistakes so he could punish her.

  Carl continued, “Jane, do you know why God hates divorce and asks us to avoid it?”

  Jane was blank. It had never occurred to her to see things through God’s eyes before.

  “Because it produces so much pain and hurt. When a couple separates, it leaves so many lives in shambles—the couple, of course, but also the children, the immediate family, and close friends. God gets left to deal with the outcome of all the bitterness and the broken hearts.

  When God asks us to involve him and go to him in these matters, it is because he wants to take us through the best ways to handle situations. He leads us besides quiet waters. He restores our soul, you know, like in Psalm 23? He helps us lead lives that are not destructive to ourselves or to others.”

  “You know, Pastor, I did not divorce my husband. He divorced me.” Jane was in tears. She felt she was confessing a deep inferiority gene or a shameful act.

  “Jane, why do you think God is blaming you?”

  “I don’t know. Why did he let it happen?” Jane was surprised at the anger still manifesting in her. She thought she had dealt with those dead emotions.

  “Did God ask for this divorce, Jane? Was he consulted in prayer and asked to intervene?”

  Jane had to shake her head negatively. At that time, even as a church member, she did not know she could ask for God’s intervention. She just waved at God from afar, thinking that worship at church meant she had to tell God he was wonderful every Sunday and then live her life in fear of him the rest of the time. She was not in love with him then. She just tried to appease a powerful, uncaring entity.

  “Let me now ask you another question. When you pray, do you feel God is angry at you?”

  Jane nearly jumped out of her seat. God angry at her? What a notion! He adored her, and she knew it. She told the pastor so in a most passionate way.

  “Then why are you fretting about your divorce? There are so many facets to God’s character that we still don’t understand. I really believe personally—and I have seen so much pain around this subject to form an opinion—that God understands and loves us. He knows that we’re doing our best to serve him, and he applauds our efforts, not the winning or losing. We are all working so hard to please him. He sees that, Jane. He knows, and he loves you so much for it.”

  Jane was crying now. This conversation had touched the core of her being. She knew deep in her heart that God loved her. She had spent enough time in her prayer room, feeling loved and protected. She had never heard someone say that to her, someone else who agreed with that theory. She was completely overwhelmed.

  Carl let her pour out her soul. She spoke of a few other things she needed to get off her heart. Then when she was composed and serene again, she stood up and left.

  She could not help it though. She smiled all the way home.

  Chapter 39

  Dreams and Reality

  Maria did not waste much time. She was consumed with enthusiasm. She contacted a few people she knew where talented and interested. Together, they decided to take over the church bulletin and turn it into a newsletter. People were already calling her with different demands, conditions, warnings, and inquiries. Maria knew she was in over her head.

  “Carl, I seem to be mostly a dreamer. I was so sure I wanted to do this, but I’m afraid I don’t know how to bring a dream into nitty-gritty reality. People are interested, but they’re bringing up issues I’m not equipped to solve. I’m getting asked so many questions I can’t answer. I’m afraid I’m losing momentum. I’m getting frustrated. Maybe I’m not equipped for this!”

  “Maria, I heard once a wonderful teaching about building teams with different skills and personalities. You are a visionary. The team that instantly rallied around you are also pioneers at heart. You‘ll need to attract people with other skills, learn to accept their differences, and accept their points of view for the dream to take shape and become a reality.

  “Maria, one thing I’ll speak to you from my error. Keep your feet on the ground and get anchored in reality, not the dream. The dream is a guide. People, their potential, and their needs are the reality. Don’t push people away on account of your dream.” He smiled sadly.

  “Carl, one more question for you, my love. The more people are approaching me with their hopes, the more I feel this is not something I can control. What if people abuse their roles and hurt others? I don’t want to create a mess.”

  Carl sighed. “Maria, I believe you need a strategy and master builders. I would like to invite you to a meeting tomorrow afternoon. A man claims to have received a message from heaven for us. We’ll be hearing him then. Do you think you can free up a few hours?”

  Maria was eager. She would be a member of the team weighing the prophecy.

  Chapter 40

  A Man of Prayer

  Bob Moody did not sleep a lot. He spent much of his time in prayer. He could feel an urgency in his spirit, and he knew there was a change at hand.

  His prayer time consisted of waiting on the heavens until his eyes were opened to a new truth. He did not speak much in this time, and he did not presume to tell his God what to do. He had learned a long time ago that he was not particularly good at deciphering the heavens correctly. He learned that understanding the greatness of the divine or its holiness needed the proper respect on his part. He just waited and listened. He would wait until he was sure he knew how he was to pray.

  He felt a particular burden to pray for Carl and his church. He had stood with so many pastors over the years, helped solve so many prickly issues. This church did not seem to have a task that was too impossible by the standards he had witnessed over the year. It was this other man with a heavenly message that intrigued him greatly. Why would God be so interested in this one church that he would intervene for them so powerfully?

  Carl had confided in him earlier regarding Maria’s aspirations, and Bob had encouraged Carl and Maria most heartily. Many congregations had attempted to be creative and serve the community according to its particular needs. It seemed to him though that this particular vision was getting more attention from the heavenlies than he had seen before.

  There was a strong pull at his heart not only to pray but to be a part of that endeavor too. He was presently extending his heart to his God, trying to understand why he was supposed to support Carl’s church and in what capacity. He was deeply intrigued.

  He fought for a long time a sense of disappointment that this was not happening in his church. His wife was the sweetest, most loving woman that drew breath. Why wasn’t she chosen for something similar? He fought and wrestled with his flesh for hours.

  When he felt a release from the fleshly jealousy and envy, he knew he was clean enough to touch the holy things of God. He was then able to carry the church and pray for God’s dreams for Carl and Maria.

  He cried out for the aspirations of God to take shape on earth, exactly the way God was dreaming of them in his throne room.


  Bob had entered a place between heaven and earth, calling the divine, bringing the glorious fire of the hallowed into the earth.

  Bob was an intercessor.

  Chapter 41

  Benjamin Shares a Prophesy

  Benjamin was standing in front of the church office. If it was not for Jane’s interference and persistence, he would have walked away from the whole business. Jane squeezed his hand and smiled. He was suddenly feeling grateful for her presence.

  They walked in together. He immediately shot Geena a distasteful look, wondering if she was going to laugh or scream at him. Geena welcomed them with a genuine smile and offered them a beverage.

  They were to sit and wait. They could hear prayer coming out of the pastor’s office. Finally, the door opened, and Carl invited them in.

  Benjamin was surprised to see a roomful of people. He became extremely nervous. He shot a questioning look at the pastor. Carl seemed nervous too. The urge to run was overwhelming Benjamin.

  Carl started the introductions.

  “Benjamin and Jane, this is my wife, Maria.” Maria nodded with a genuine smile to Benjamin and then Jane.

  “Finn and Jamie are elders in this church. They respect the prophetic, and they teach the Bible. They will help us discern. Last but not at all least, this is Bob Moody. He is a fellow pastor and a friend. He is a man of prayer. He has been very keen to be on this panel and hear the message that you have for us.

  “Let me explain a little bit more. I know all this is new to Benjamin, and maybe you too, Jane. We are taking what you have to say very seriously, so we have people here who will listen and search the Word for the veracity of what you have to say. A little bit like the Bereans Paul mentions in the Bible. We will also tape the word to return to it at will. I hope this is fine with you.”