The Girl Who Forgot God: A Short Story
“C’mon Grace. It’s not worth it. Just go home,” Hope yelled to her friend Grace.
Grace was arguing with one of the boys at her school. She was upset that he slammed the door in Hope’s face, and Grace made sure to demoralize him by the time she was finished with him.
Hope was one of the few Christians at Oakley High School, and she was kind and gentle with everyone. But, that made some people uneasy, and in turn, they would lash out at her. Hence why, she found herself with a bloody nose after one of the boys rammed the door into her face.
But Grace was not having it. Grace was not a Christian, but she was childhood friends with Hope. She sometimes found what Hope talked about a little strange, but she always felt peace in her presence. And no one was going to disrespect Hope if she had anything to do with it. Eventually, Grace made the boy sheepishly apologize to Hope and made him pick up her books.
“Grace, it’s over. Relax.” Hope said.
“He’s just disrespectful and cruel. How can you deal with him like that so calmly?”
“It’s Jesus,” Hope quietly replied.
“I know you mentioned Him before, but I still don’t get it,” Grace replied.
“You will one day,” Hope replied.
Grace didn’t know how to respond to that, so she changed the subject as they headed home.
Grace was the kind of stubborn girl to put her mind to something and never let go of it until she completed it. Kind-hearted but hot-tempered, she would fight for the unpopular and bullied students, and try to right any wrongs by herself. From having the last word in a heated argument to angrily finishing a fight… yeah, she was that girl. She always felt the need to finish everything that she started, and that meant she also had trouble letting things go.
Ideas could be shattered.
Projects could fizzle out.
Friendships could fade.
And relationships could end in heartbreak…with her fists clenched tight, still trying to hold on.
However, Grace was not the tough girl she tried to show herself to be. Hope invited Grace to church one day after she confided in her about her anxieties. Her frustrations just seemed to pile up as she secretly felt inadequate in everything she pursued. Her tough exterior was just a shell for a soft interior. Hope told her that she had a friend from church who went through similar issues with anxiety and that Jesus was able to help her. Grace didn’t know much about Jesus, but she figured she would give church a try since therapy and anxiety medication didn’t seem to help her.
On Sunday morning, Grace walked over to Hope’s church. She entered into a small building with a red brick exterior. On the inside, there was an altar up front with a small stand and a cross. The church building was small, but it was full of people and love. Everyone was so nice to her that she could hardly believe it. People usually stepped away from her, but here, they came to her with open arms. No one was ever that friendly to her before except for Hope.
After the preacher delivered the sermon, he offered an invitation for people to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Feeling the tug of the Lord on her heart, Grace walked up immediately. She then found herself on her knees at the altar, crying out to God and asking Him for forgiveness. She repented of her sins and also asked God to take away the anxieties, hurts, and pains away. Immediately, she felt light and free. Whatever heaviness she felt before was gone.
A few days after Grace became a born-again Christian, Hope gave Grace her own Bible engraved with her name. “Here you go. This is for you. I also highlighted some scriptures in Psalms that will help you have peace,” Hope said. Grace took it and held the purple-covered Bible carefully.
Grace continued to go to the small, friendly church with Hope. She discovered a peace that she never had before. Bible study at church, participation in praise and worship, and local missions trips made up her weekends, and she fell in love with her new, Christian life.
One day, in Grace’s personal Bible study, she read, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isaiah 26:3 KJV This scripture comforted her and gave her peace of mind. She then decided to trust Jesus for the rest of her life.
To remind her to read her Bible, she would leave her Bible open near the doorway of her home so she could remember to read. She never wanted a day to go by without reading her Bible.
Day after day, she would pick up her Bible and read a chapter before heading out of the door, and she would read a chapter once she got in the house. She even started reading more chapters from the Bible before she went to bed and when she woke up in the morning.
As she got older, tests at school no longer caused her stress, and she found that she no longer had the temper that would drive her to argue all the time. God gave her peace and wisdom on how to handle any conflict.
High school graduation came around, and it was time for her to go to college. After saying goodbye to her mom and dad, her friend Hope, and her church family, she left for college. She chose engineering as her major because she loved to solve challenging problems. She excelled in her classes, and everything came easy to her. Additionally, in her freshman and sophomore years, she excelled in her faith. Her Bible was always near the entrance of her dorm, and she would never fail to read a chapter going in and a chapter going out on top of her morning and evening Bible reading.
But as time went on, something happened. The church she was visiting near her college no longer preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. They became focused solely on how Jesus could give them cars, money, and happiness. Grace knew that wasn’t the gospel, so she left. But she had trouble finding a new church. She felt it was too late to try to transfer to another college, so she tried to stick it out.
Things seemed to be going well anyway. She had all A’s in her classes, she was the president of her class, she had a caring boyfriend, she had job offers lined up after graduation… Maybe God was looking out for her after all, despite going for days at a time without praying or reading her Bible near the entrance of her doorway.
But just like how she left for college, she started to slowly leave God. At one point, reading her Bible no longer appealed to her. She would rather scroll on her phone. Prayer was no longer engaging to her, so she would talk to her boyfriend. Hope would try to call her, but she would let it go to voicemail. She was doing fine without God…or so she thought.
Graduation came, and there were cards, parties, money, cake, and celebrations galore. When she moved into a new town further from home for her new job, she found the Bible that Hope gave her some years ago in a storage box. She decided to put it on the huge, brown banister in the hallway near the door of her new home. Although she left it there closed, unlike previous years where it stayed open, it just felt like it should be there instead of tucked away in storage to gather dust.
The excitement of being in a new city and a new apartment came to a screeching halt when Grace started her first day on the job. She had five projects to start and two deadlines to meet in a week. Things didn’t come so easy for her anymore. She didn’t know anyone on her job, her boss barked demands at her seemingly every moment, and the material she worked with was all new, so she had to learn fast. She lived in a new city, and had no one to confide in except for her boyfriend.
It was all new.
To deal with everything, she would keep to herself and binge-watch TV shows all weekend. Things started to get a little bit more manageable for her. But one Monday, on her way to work, she got in her car, and before she knew it, she woke up in a hospital bed. She looked and found several cuts and bruises on her arms, a brace on her leg, and a bandage around her left ear.
Her car was completely totaled. The doctor told her that it was a miracle that she was still alive and not seriously injured.
Grace lost hearing in one ear, and it took some time to gain her full mobility with the broken leg, but she was determined to gain some stability in her life. She started going to a local church nearby and felt some sort of peace there. She was also praying that God would heal her hearing loss.
In the midst of her progress, and things seemingly getting brighter for Grace, her boyfriend abruptly broke up with her. And that caused her to regress and go into a deep depression. Unfortunately, the anxiety she put away at the altar years ago started to slowly but surely creep up again.
She suffered from night terrors, so she couldn’t sleep at night. She tried to go to therapists to get some form of relief from the anxiety, but there didn’t seem to be any progress.
Grace felt hopeless.
She was behind on work, she had no friends, and she was far from her family. She didn’t know what to do.
After sobbing all night and trying to collect herself in the morning for work, she hastily grabbed her pocketbook. She passed by the banister where the Bible usually lay closed. But something caught her eye this time. Her Bible was open. “What?” she exclaimed.
“How did…?” her question trailed off as her eyes gazed upon the page. There was a scripture that was highlighted that captured her attention:
“Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Psalms 55:22
At that moment, something broke inside of her. She felt the weight of her life on her but also felt power around her.
Grace’s knees began to buckle.
She fell on her knees.
Keys and coins came flying out of her bag as she collapsed on the floor.
Above the noise, she cried out to God, saying,
“Lord, Jesus, I’m sorry for forgetting You.
I used to be so into You.
You were my everything, but then I put You on hold.
Now I realize that You are worth more than silver and gold.
Jesus, cleanse me. Forgive me.
I have sinned, and I need your forgiveness and grace.
I will no longer look after my own but only seek Your Face.”
In the midst of her crying sobs and tears,
something lifted off of her.
All of her worries and fears.
She felt as if there was a hand caressing her face.
And the Voice of Truth said, “I have never forgotten you, Grace.”
At that moment, her deaf ear was opened
And her eyes were opened, too.
She worshiped God and said, “Thank You!”
She wiped off her tears, got up, walked out the door, and went into her car for work. Suddenly, her car dashboard screen popped up with an unknown number. Grace felt she should answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Grace? This is Hope. How are you?”
Grace smiled.
“Hello friend…”
To Be Continued….
For the readers out there, know that God has not forgotten you. Please don’t forget Him. He loves you very much, and if you left God, you can go back to Him. No one is too far gone. You can come back to God like Grace did in this story. If you want to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, or if you want to rededicate your life to God, please repeat this prayer out loud:
“Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and I am in need of your salvation. I repent of my sins and I turn away from them. I am sorry for the wrong that I have done. Please save me and make me brand new. I am tired of living this life. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, and that God raised you up from the dead three days later. Jesus, I believe that You are Lord. Thank You, Jesus for coming back again. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit. By your grace and strength, I will live for You for the rest of my life, one day at a time. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
If you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior today, I am so happy for you! Accepting Jesus into my life as my personal Lord and Savior was the best decision I ever made! Take a look at the tips below to stay in a growing, healthy relationship with God. These tips don’t save you, but they allow you to grow in your relationship with the Lord and they will keep you focused on Him.
1. There is an awesome, free app called YouVersion which allows you to read the Bible on your phone! A Bible in hard-copy is great as well, because technology can fail but the print will not malfunction. When you read the Bible, you can learn more about Christianity and your new relationship with Christ. Here is another Bible online. https://www.biblegateway.com/
2. Find a church that is Bible-believing, and that encourages people to let the Holy Spirit guide them in life and to live holy for Christ. It is important to spend time with Christians at church where you can all worship God together. Here are a few suggestions and churches to follow for an example of what to look for in a church.
Full Gospel Monument of Faith Church, Newark NJ, USA: https://www.facebook.com/FGMoF
Full Gospel Holy Temple, Dallas TX, USA: https://www.youtube.com/@FullGospelBroadcast
3. When you pray, just have a conversation with God. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Tell Him about your day. Ask Him to forgive you of any sins you might have committed that day. Pray for others. He will listen, and He will work things out for you. And most importantly, He loves to spend time with His children.
4. Lastly, as Christians, Jesus wants us to fast so that we can grow closer to Him. This means you don’t eat for a meal or two or three, and you would ideally use that time to spend time with God. You will find that you will get stronger in your faith.
5. God wants us to be holy like Him. "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16 KJV As we live for God, the Holy Spirit will give us strength and grace to live a life that pleases God. We will reject wickedness and sin and embrace God's truth and righteousness. “Run away from youthful lusts—pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those [believers] who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22 AMP
Continue to follow the podcast and blog for encouragement, short stories, and testimonies that will help us all grow closer to God. Remember to be encouraged and stay encouraged and to always Soak in the Sonlight because Jesus is the Only Light. Love you all! Have a blessed week!
