by E. N. Joy
“Thank God you showed up,” Dawson said, setting down his carry-on bag and embracing her.
“Oh, so now you thank Him?” Locksie asked with sarcasm that was obviously well hidden because Dawson didn’t catch on.
“Where’s your bags?” he asked as he looked down, noticing that she didn’t have any with her. “Oh, that’s right. You always do curbside check-in. Shoot, not me. Why waste the tip dollars?” He chuckled.
“You’re so crazy,” Locksie told him with a slight chuckle of her own, but it seemed somewhat forced.
Dawson noticed. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Locksie looked down. Dawson slowly released her from his embrace. He lifted her face so that they were now eye to eye. “You aren’t coming to Vegas, are you?”
Locksie didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. It was written all over her face.
“Baby, don’t do this to us,” Dawson begged, looking around, feeling like everyone in the airport was witnessing him being dumped.
“If there’s ever going to be an ‘us’, the kind of ‘us’ I want, then I have to,” Locksie told him. “I came because I wanted to tell you personally. I didn’t want to just not show up.”
Dawson looked unimpressed. “You could have just called me on the phone and told me this.”
“But I wanted to pray on this up until the last hour—the last minute. I even prayed the entire drive to the airport. My luggage is even in the backseat of my car just in case God told me something different on the way here. But He only confirmed what I already knew in my spirit anyway.”
“So that’s that?” Dawson shrugged, not knowing what else to say.
“That’s that.”
“Then I guess He won. That God sure is a lucky man to have a girl like you. You’re loyal, that’s for sure.” Dawson tried to hide his true hurt and pain with some comic relief.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Dawson looked at his watch and said, “Well, I better get going. You already left me; I wouldn’t want the plane to do the same thing.” Again, more failed comic relief.
“Take care, Dawson,” Locksie said sincerely.
“Yeah, take care, kid.” He kissed her on the forehead, winked and then walked away.
Locksie watched him. He never looked back. Had he, he would have seen her standing there in a hurtful tremble of tears and pain as she watched someone who she had held truly dear to her walk out of her life.
I don’t understand, God, Locksie couldn’t help but pray. You gave Hannah her husband. Where’s mine? She tried to be strong, but she wasn’t happy with God’s decision for her.
“You okay, honey?” a concerned woman stopped and asked Locksie. Locksie, unable to speak, nodded. “You’ll be just fine. Jesus loves you,” the woman added. “It might sound crazy to you right now, but sometimes it don’t hurt to just let people know that Jesus loves ’em.”
“I know,” Locksie said as a smile crept on her face, but the woman had already walked away and didn’t hear her response. “I know Jesus loves me.” Being reminded of and filled with the love of Christ somehow instantaneously took away Locksie’s pain. Now her tears were of happiness and joy.
Wiping her eyes, Locksie exited the airport proud of herself for not only following her heart, but for being obedient to God.
As Locksie got into her car in the airport garage, looking at her luggage in the backseat, she didn’t regret her decision at all. She knew that even if she had stood in that airport and talked to Dawson until she was blue in the face, he still wouldn’t have understood.
After paying her parking fee, Locksie exited Columbus Metropolitan Airport and hit I-270, still thinking about Dawson. He would never understand the love she had for God until he, too, was overcome with that same love. And it was at that moment, for the first time ever, that Locksie finally knew exactly how her mother felt.
Excitedly, Locksie dug down in her purse for her cell phone. She skimmed through her digital phonebook and then selected the number she wanted to dial. As the phone rang, she felt ashamed that she hadn’t dialed the number enough times to have memorized it.
“Praise the Lord,” the voice on the other end of the phone greeted.
“Ma,” Locksie said.
“Baby, is that you?” her mother said, almost unable to believe that it was her only child on the other end of the phone, the one who usually only called on Mothers’ Day and a couple of other holidays throughout the year. The daughter she hadn’t seen since Mary’s funeral.
Locksie broke down in tears, almost impairing her vision while she was driving. She quickly wiped them away. Her mother said nothing. Her spirit of discernment must have informed her that she needed not to speak, but to allow her daughter to release.
After a minute of whimpering into the receiver, Locksie finally spoke. “Ma, Dawson and I broke up—for good.”
“Well, I’d only met him one time; that time you guys just happened to be driving through this way to get to your final destination. I take that back. Twice—I saw him again at the funeral too. But he seemed like a decent man.”
“He is, Ma. He’s a good man. He’s a fine man, too. But like that one Christian fiction book asks, ‘Is he saved?’ And the answer in this case would have to be no.”
“So, you had to let him go?”
“Yeah, Ma.” Locksie began to cry again. Although she knew that Jesus that loved her and God would see her through while the Holy Spirit comforted her, she still knew there would be some rough patches. “It hurts, too, but I know it’s what I had to do.”
“Well, baby, sometimes God gotta move things out of your life—sometimes the things you want—so that He can make room for the things He wants in your life.”
“I know, Ma. I know,” Locksie said. “But look, Ma, I was thinking about taking my vacation next month. Would it be okay if I came there and spent it with you?”
“Child, you ain’t got to ask me that,” her mother exclaimed. “I would love for my daughter to come visit me.” She was on the verge of tears. Her daughter had finally found her way back home—not just to her home in Michigan, but her home in the Kingdom. She thought about Proverbs 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. How true God’s Word is.
“It took years of praying and standing on God’s Word for this day to come,” Martha proclaimed. “Glory! Glory! But diligently I continued to pray.” By now, both Locksie and her mother were rejoicing. “This is just a reminder that God doesn’t answer prayers overnight. But if you ask Him to do something and you have faith and believe, stand in His Word and wait in desperate desire, ’cause He’s gonna do what He said He’s gonna do, then you’ll get your result.”
Locksie smiled, because she believed just that. She knew in her heart that when God told her she couldn’t be with Dawson, He didn’t necessarily mean never. He meant “not now.” So, that’s just what Locksie decided she was going to do when it came to her and Dawson; keep praying and keep waiting. She would pray for the day that Dawson would come to her as a saved man, ready to walk with the Lord and live life according to God’s commandments.
And just then, Locksie realized that Aunt Mary, may she rest in peace, might have been wrong about one thing: God is into threesomes. Because when two people are joined together, it takes God being right there in the midst to keep them together. That’s the way Locksie wanted it to be with her and Dawson.
But for now, Locksie thought to herself, it’s just going to be me, myself and Him.
Reader’s Group Guide Questions
1. What character could you most relate to?
2. Did the actions and reactions of the characters in this novel seem believable to you? Were there any characters you could have done without, or do you think each one played a significant role?
3. How big a role did Locksie’s aunt Mary play in Locksie deciding to give her life to Christ?
4. Initially, Locksie’s mother came across as a holy roller. Did learning
about her past change your opinion of why she was the way that she was when it came to expressing her love for the Lord?
5. Do you think there is a fine line between loving the Lord and expressing it on a daily basis versus one wearing religion on one’s sleeve? Even if someone resists the issue of going to church or becoming saved, should the person trying to convince them of the benefits be persistent? Why or why not?
6. Although Drake didn’t physically commit adultery with Hannah, he thought about it. Do you think God is requiring too much of Christians by asking them to control their thoughts? Do you sometimes catch yourself having negative or sinful thoughts? How difficult is it to have complete control of the mind?
7. Drake remained a virgin throughout high school and college. Do we as Christians find it hard to believe that Jesus gave Drake strength and kept him even when Drake didn’t know it? Do we as Christians find it hard to believe that a man can call upon the strength of Jesus to have such control and that Jesus will deliver? If so, what does that say about our faith in Christ and what He can do for us?
8. Locksie decided to become a member of a church other than her aunt Mary’s. What are your thoughts on church membership? Is a member of a church any better than a regular attendee? If your answer is no, then why have the act of membership at all? Do you think it matters where a person goes to church? Should they be committed to one church, or should simply being committed to God be enough?
9. Think back to some of the negative comments Dawson made about God. Did his comments ever anger you like they did Locksie?
10. Dawson’s negative statements about God never upset Drake like they did Locksie. Why do you think that is so? Did it mean that Locksie loved and felt more strongly about God than Drake did?
11. Do you agree that sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayers with a “no,” but instead with a “not right now”? If so, do you believe that waiting period is a test from God?
12. By the end of the story, Hannah had a theory when it came to Elkan and the fact that he had an affair with Peni, resulting in a child. She said to Peni, “You can have the baby, but you can’t have my husband. You can have the child support, but you can’t have my man.” Do you believe that women who deal with this type of infidelity, instead of being so quick to divorce, should take this stand as part of being a virtuous woman? Why or why not?
13. When Hannah heard from God and He blessed her to go back to Elkan, Locksie found it hard to be happy for her. As Christians, is it sometimes difficult to be happy for someone else’s blessing?
14. Do you think when a couple marries and both are unsaved, if one decides to dedicate their life to Christ and the other doesn’t, that they are unequally yoked? If a married couple is found to be unequally yoked, should they divorce, or do you think it is the other spouse’s duty, or even test, perhaps, to lead the unsaved mate to Christ?
15. As a babe in Christ, do you think Locksie’s new journey of a walk with the Lord is going to get easier, or is she going to become more challenged?
16. If you are currently walking with Christ, what have been some of the challenges and tests you’ve faced? If you haven’t decided to dedicate your life to Christ, are some of the same things holding you back that were, at first, holding Locksie back? For example, the infamous I got to get right first.
If this book didn’t end quite how you wanted it to or if you could have seen something else taking place in the characters’ lives that didn’t, use the space below to write an alternate ending.
About the Author
Although she is the editor of the anthology titled Even Sinners Have Souls, this work, Me, Myself & Him, is E.N. Joy’s very first Christian fiction novel. Formerly writing secular novels under a different name and pseudonym, when E.N. Joy stood still long enough for God to speak His calling for her into her ear, she immediately replied with, “Yes, I’ll do it, Lord.” So she began using her pen to glorify God.
“For an individual writing Christian fiction who truly sets out to minister God’s Word, it’s like taking dictation from the Holy Spirit,” E.N. Joy says. “Every message that God wants to be delivered is sent to me that way. When I used to write secular novels, I always wrote my endings first because then I knew exactly what my characters had to do and say, and what type of situations had to take place, in order to get my desired outcome. But now, I have absolutely no idea how God is going to have my stories unfold. I, too, am like an anxious reader, sitting on the edge of my seat to learn the final outcome.”
E.N. Joy’s next work is about a woman who goes from one extreme to the next in life, and then finally into God’s glory. Be sure to look out for her sophomore Christian fiction work titled I Ain’t Me No More (November 2009).
You can visit the author’s website at www.enjoywrites.com or email her at [email protected]
Urban Books
1199 Straight Path
West Babylon, NY 11704
Copyright © 2008 E.N. Joy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-5998-3152-7
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living, or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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