Muy Importante Anuncio!! (Very Important Announcement!!)

So, the past few days, I have seen and heard more bad news than I have in several months.  On account of this, I have been praying especially hard for our country as well as some specific people that are very close to my heart and are going through an awful time.

The truth is, in all of this bad news, such as with the case with Baltimore, I have realized that people don't value life anymore.  They don't value their own lives, and they most certainly don't value the lives of others.  I believe this is because they lack one basic truth:  YOU MATTER.

You matter.  That's a truth that so many of us forget as we go throughout our lives.  It's why so many people commit suicide and why others don't even flinch when harming or even killing other people.  As a society, we have forgotten that each life is important.  We have forgotten that simple, but true concept of "I am important."

I don't think we can really understand how much we matter until we turn our eyes to the cross.  You see, the God of the universe, the One who made the sun, moon, stars, even the very air you are breathing in right this very moment, came to die for YOU.  He didn't have to do that.  There are a million other ways He could have saved us.  I mean, think about it.  Why on earth would the Ruler of everything step down from His throne to save a bunch of sinful, awful human beings when He could have just sent an angel or two to do it for Him?  It's because you MATTER.

Don't ever let anybody tell you differently.  You are so, so worth every moment that Christ spent on that cross.  Every painful, agonizing moment of pain and humiliation.  If you weren't, He would have never come down to save you.

Believe it.  Cast out every thought and mindset that would try to make you believe that you aren't important.  Because that is the biggest lie you will ever hear in your entire life.

So what is my important announcement?  YOU MATTER!!  You are beautiful.  You are loved, no matter your circumstances and in spite of your faults and mistakes.  You are amazing.  And there is Someone who cares about you,  who thinks about you every second of every day.  Don't ever forget that.

"For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son..."--John 3:16 (KJV)

Short Story: Like Pieces of Glass

     “What should I wear?”  I knew that I should feel less concerned about my appearance than with my conversation with Alec.  There were many things that still needed to be resolved between us.  Yet, I couldn’t help but dressing up in my nicest dark denim skirt and turquoise tunic and fixing my hair in a neat French braid.

     There was still a good half hour before he was supposed to be here, so I decided to straighten the downstairs.  Alec had never been inside this house before and I couldn’t let him see the pile of beer cans that my mother had left in the kitchen.  Or inhale the stench they left, for that matter.  Luckily, in the front closet, there was a half-full can of air freshener.  I covered the house in the smell until not a trace of the alcohol odor was detectable.  Replacing it on the shelf, my head turned slightly to see that James’ car was in the driveway.  I opened up the door and peeked outside.

     “That’s weird,” I thought.  James, my mother’s boyfriend, wasn’t anywhere in sight, yet his car was in the driveway.  I checked in the kitchen.  Nothing.  Next, I went into the living room.  Nada.  Finally, I decided he was probably in mom’s bedroom, where he spent most of his time, even when mom wasn’t home.  Of course, now I wondered what he found so interesting in that room when she wasn’t there.  After all, mom didn’t have a TV in her room and James wasn’t into reading.  Surely, he wasn’t sleeping all that time, was he?

     There was only one thing to do: find out why he spent so much time in that room.  My feet crept quietly up the stairs, careful not to spook him.  I just had to know what he found so interesting.  As my hand silently turned the knob, I nearly threw the door open in anticipation.  “Whoops,” I whispered as I slipped in only to realize James wasn’t in there.  “Where on earth could he be?”

     Walking around carefully as to leave my presence untraceable, I searched the room, looking for something, anything to solve the mystery of James’ absence.  As I neared the closet, a stream of light from the floor caught my eye.  I remembered the door between here and Charity’s room.  Without thinking, I crawled through the open door and tumbled into Charity’s closet.

     “Do we really have to do this again?  We just did it two days ago.”  I heard the small, timid voice of my baby sister.

     “Yes, I already told you that.  If you don’t do exactly as I tell you, I’m going to tell everyone what a filthy little slut you are.  Now, take off your clothes.”  He said, scrutinizing her careful movements.

     It suddenly all made sense.  James spending the majority of his time at our house, “napping” in our mother’s bedroom.  Charity’s withdrawn and abnormal behavior.  Her reluctance to let me even come into her bedroom.   All this time I thought she was just upset about our parents’ divorce.  Obviously I was wrong.

     Untamed fury overtook me.  I marched up to the creep and found a baseball bat from Charity’s closet in my hands.  I struck him once on the back and felt a small release of my anger.  Suddenly, the anger that had collected since my parents’ divorce rose to the surface.  All the hurt and the pain seemed to dull with each blow.  “Don’t you ever do that to my sister again!”  The bat hit him in the leg twice, then on the arm and I continued to strike him as hard as I could.

      “You’re hurting me,” he shouted as he cowered on the carpet floor.  Blood began appearing in random places on his body.

     “I don’t care,” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

     “Faith, you’re going to kill him,” Charity’s eyes met with mine for a brief moment, but I continued to hit him.

     The door slammed open.  “What is going on in here?”  I heard a familiar voice say, but I didn’t look up.  Before I could realize what was happening, I felt a man’s arms around my waist, pulling me away from James.

     “Let me go!” I flailed and tried to escape the firm grip.

     “Stop it, Faith.  You’re going to kill him if you don’t.”  Alec’s firm, nonstuttering voice was enough to stop me in my tracks.

     “You don’t understand, Alec.  He hurt Charity.  This creep has been raping my baby sister.  He doesn’t deserve to live!”  I meant it with all my heart, yet the fierce anger in my heart was enough to even scare me.

     “I know, but you’ll only hurt yourself by doing this.”  His hard grip on me loosened as the bat fell to the floor.  Carefully, examining the now unconscious body of my mother’s boyfriend, I realized that blood covered his arms and legs.  Alec had probably just saved me from committing a murder I would regret later in life.

     “I’ll call an ambulance,” Alec exited the room, leaving me alone with my sister.

     Guilt and shame quickly replaced the anger.  All these months, I just thought my sister was upset about our parents’ divorce.  I’d been so wrapped up in myself that I never knew she was secretly being raped by my mother’s creep of a boyfriend.  Nearly running to her side, I wrapped my arms tightly around her and sobbed.  “Charity, I’m sorry.  Sissy, I’m so sorry I let this happen to you.”

     My shirt quickly became wet with the mingled tears of mine and my sister’s.  “That’s okay, Faith.  It’s my fault for not telling you.”

     I pulled away from her slightly so as to look her in the eyes.  “No, this was not your fault at all.  I want you to understand that.  Nothing that James did to you is your fault, you understand?”  She gave a partial nod and I embraced her once again.  We were still like this when the paramedics barged in.  They asked us to exit the room and I gladly followed their orders.  It was becoming difficult to look and the unconscious man in my sister’s room without feeling like crying over my sister.

     Alec and a middle-aged police officer with a slightly protruding belly were standing downstairs in the living room.  Apprehension threatened to overwhelm me as I thoughts about the possible consequences of my actions.  Would I go to jail?  Would they put me on probation?  What if I could never leave the house again?  Thoughts began to race along with my heart.

     “Hello, Miss Johnson.  Alec here was just explaining the situation to me.  Right now we’ll take your sister to the hospital to get examined, but afterwards we’ll need you both to come down to the station and answer some questions, okay?”  He smiled and patted my shoulder as if to reassure me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would soon be suffering the consequences of my unchecked anger.

© 2015 Hannah Rollett