For the Good of Those

Who Love Him

       Thud. Thud.

      14 year old Damaris Kelley cringed at the sound of the dirt hitting her father's coffin. Her eyes filled with tears as a man said some last words over the grave. She felt stunned and unable to comprehend her loss.

      The funeral soon ended, and Damaris and her family walked slowly out of the cemetery.

     Suddenly Damaris felt a small hand thrust into hers. Looking down, she saw Kat, her little sister, peering into her face.

      "Is everything going to be all right?" the girl asked.

        "Yes, of course it will," Damaris assured her, but inside she thought, "Is it?"

        Her family was in desperate straits, struggling just to put food on the table. Now that young Damaris's father had died, her mother had to use every spare moment to earn money, while Damaris took care of her three young siblings.

     "What is the purpose of life?" she wondered. "My life has no hope. Will I ever have anything better than this?"

~~~~~~~~~

       "Chrissie, where are you?" Christine heard Paul's voice ringing across the yard.

       "I'm over here, Paul," she answered.

         The tall boy made his way over to where she sat. "Dad needs you now or we'll miss the plane."

        "Oh, Paul," she moaned. "I don't want to move. We're happy here."

         "I know, bu-,"

           She cut him off. "Why is God doing this? And why is Dad making us move? It's not fair!"

          They sat in silence for a few moments until Paul said, "It's hard, but we have to trust Him."

           "I know," Christine whispered, rising to her feet. A tear made a trail down her cheek as she took one last look at her home. The home she would never see again.

          "Come on, Paul, let's go."

         They walked along hand-in-hand, brother and sister facing a new adventure together.

~~~~~~~~~

        Damaris leaned back against her seat in the bus. The laughter of the girls at school was ringing in her ears.

           "Where did you get those clothes?" was one of the malicious comments that kept playing in her mind.

        Damaris's face grew hot at the memory. "Why do others have the good things in life?" she wondered. "If there is a God He certainly isn't fair."

       When she arrived at her house she noticed a moving van in the driveway next door.

      "So the house finally sold," she thought, entering her home.

          An unpleasant sight met her eyes. Shattered glass was spread in the kitchen, and Damaris could see drips of blood on the floor.

        "Oh no!" she groaned. "The kids must have come home before me."

        Suddenly her ears caught the sound of someone crying. She hurried to Kat's room, the place that the noise was issuing from.

       There she found sobbing Kat with a cut on her foot. Damaris cleared her throat, and the girl looked up in surprise.

        Damaris then comforted her sister and bandaged her foot. "How did this happen?"

         "W-well I was in my room when I heard a crash s-so I ran downstairs and cut myself on the glass."

         "Do you know who broke the vase?" Damaris asked.

          "No."

         "Well, I am going to find out, because I think I know who did," Damaris said with an angry glint in her eye.

         Leaving the room, Damaris walked quickly down the hallway and pounced on a young boy.

         "Daniel Kelley, how could you do such a thing," she burst out.

         "I didn't mean to tear your curtains, honest," Dan said.

           "What! You tore my curtains! So you did that, plus breaking the vase."

           "I sai- what vase?" Dan said.

         "You know what vase. In all your ten years of life you have done nothing but make trouble for this family."

        Damaris saw hurt spread across his face, but she didn't care.

       "I didn't do it," he insisted.

      Damaris sighed in frustration and left the room.

        As she cleaned the broken glass she noticed something she hadn't seen before. There was a small candle lying in the fragments. Damaris suddenly remembered that she had seen it on the shelf above the vase that morning, hanging off the edge.

       Now she knew exactly how the catastrophe must have occurred. A vibration in the house had probably made the candle fall and strike the vase.

      Damaris felt a twinge of remorse as she remembered how she had accused her brother. For a moment she considered apologizing, but her pride rebelled against it. So she continued her work without another thought.

~~~~~~~~~

         Christine sat at the table picking at her breakfast. Her pent-up frustration was evident from her slouched position and the pout on her face. Glancing up, she saw her father looking intently at her. She flushed and looked down at her plate. Her mother said, "Why don't you and Paul go outside to play?"

          Christine flashed a small smile at her mother and left the table. As she pulled her shoes on in the garage she felt something cold touch her leg. She screamed and looked down to see a small puppy.

        "Paul," she called. "Look what's in here."

         Paul gently petted their new friend. "I wonder who it belongs to."

           "Let's see if we can find out," Christine said, carrying the dog outside.

         Looking around, she saw a girl in the yard next door. "Excuse me," she called. "Do you know whose dog this is?"

           The girl approached and said, "Sure, that's our dog. Where was she?"

           "Inside our garage. What is your name?"

           "Damaris. What's yours?"

            "Christine. This is my brother Paul," she added.

            "Where are you from?" Damaris asked.

              "Florida."

         "That is a long way from here. So what do you think of our neighborhood?"

           "It has a beautiful view," Christine said, surveying the landscape. She pointed to a steeple rising in the distance. "Is that a church?"

              "Yes."

          "Do you go there?" Christine asked.

           "No. I don’t believe in God."

          "Why not?" Paul asked. "Isn't this beautiful creation proof of the Creator?"

           "Listen, if there is a God He isn't fair. Why else- whatever."

         "I don't know what has been happening in your personal life, but I do know that God has a purpose in whatever He does," Paul said.

           "Even moving," Christine told herself.

          "So God had a purpose in killing my dad? Why would God do this to my family?" Damaris practically shouted.

             "What is happening in this world today isn't what God's original plan was. We humans spoiled it by disobeying God," Paul explained. "You see, God created this world perfect, but Adam and Eve disobeyed God and caused all this evil to happen."

           Paul then began to take Damaris through the law and show her that she had sinned and needed God's salvation.

           When Paul came to the good news of Christ's death on the cross, Christine began to pray silently and listen as Damaris cried out, "Oh, help me get his forgiveness."

           Paul and Christine knelt down beside Damaris and began to pray.

~~~~~~~~~

        As Damaris entered her house several hours later she felt as though a burden had been lifted from her. Now she knew the answers to her questions and that her life really did have meaning. She knew that even though losing her dad had been hard, God had a purpose in it. The kids had spent several hours with her explaining things to her that she didn't understand.

       Damaris walked resolutely down the hall and paused at Dan's room. She hesitated for a moment, battling her pride, and then knocked on his door.

          "Come in," Dan said.

           She entered and began, "Dan, I want to apologize to you for accusing you of breaking the vase. I discovered that you didn't, but I was to prideful to acknowledge it. I'm sorry."

         Dan looked at her incredulously. "You're asking my forgiveness?"

         "Yes. I became a Christian today, and the Lord has really convicted me about what I said to you. With His help I am going to become a better sister."

           Dan smiled at her. "I accept your apology. I'd like to hear more about this God of yours.

~~~~~~~~~

           "Paul," Christine said, flying into his room. "Look at this." She pointed to a verse in her Bible. It was Acts 17:33-34.