Why had I let it get this far?  I was in the palms of the devil’s hands, and I felt like his own puppet.  He was feeding me lies that for some strange reason I let myself believe.  Before my thoughts could leave my mouth, the devil spoke up.

            “I think it’s time for me to break off all ties you have with anything other than me and my ways.” he said as he approached something I couldn’t make out in the distance.  “This,” he gestured to the object, “represents your life.  Here at the bottom is a ring that each one of these strings is tied to.  Each string represents a different aspect of your life like your family, sports, youth group, church, and my least favorite God.  All these things are keeping you away from me.  Now I will rid you of these awful things, one at a time.”

            Before I could protest, the devil snatched up the first string and ripped it into two pieces, disconnecting the string from the ring.  Instantly, I could feel pain making its home in my body.

            “That wasn’t so bad now was it?  But this one,” he said taking the next string, “may hurt a little more.”

            And with that, he broke the strong apart from the ring with ease.  The pain began to build, but not enough to make it visible on my face.

            “You’re a tough little one, aren’t you?  Well, these two strings represent friends and family.  This should be a real eye opener for you.” he said with a smirk.

            “No, please don’t do this.” I pleaded finally finding my voice.

            “Oops. Too late.” he said as a smile crossed his face, and he tore apart the connection of the strings to the ring.

            Pain immediately shot through my body, and I let out a scream before my body hit the cold tiled floor.  String after string he tore apart with ease, and with each one the pain became stronger and stronger.

            “Wasn’t that fun?” he mocked in my ear.  “Just think, one more string and we’re done.”

            “No,” I let out finally.

            “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“No.” I repeated louder, bringing my head up so I could look the man I was so afraid of in the eyes.  “Don’t you dare touch that last string.”

            “If I’m not mistaken,” he began, showing no sign of fear at all, “you were the one who came to me for help.  You were the one who realized no one could be trusted, and that all people ever do is hurt you.  You were the one who saw your life crashing down around you and realized that God wasn’t there to help.  He left you alone and weak.  He gave up on you and left you with no one but yourself.  When He looks at you, He sees nothing but a pathetic loser who’s worth absolutely nothing to Him.  He can’t stand the sight of you.  He…”

            “Enough!” I yelled, ignoring all the pain and rising back onto my feet.  “Every word that just came out of your mouth was a lie!  If anyone’s the pathetic loser here it’s you, because you can’t stand that there’s Someone out there who’s better than you!”

            “Don’t. Test. Me.” he retorted, playing with the string in his hand.  “You have two choices here.  One, you can either stand up for your “oh so precious and caring” God, or, you can deny Him right here, and I’ll let you go.  Choose wisely.”

            “I will not deny my God because it says in Matthew 10:33, ‘if you deny me in front of others, I will deny you in front of the Father in Heaven.’ My God is worth more than anything you could ever put me through.”

            “You fool, can’t you see He doesn’t care one bit about what happens to you!  He’s letting you suffering even though He apparently has the power to stop it!  But I can take away all your pain and help you see what’s truly the right way.” he innocently responded.

            “I Corinthians 10:13 says ‘…and God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.’ No way am I falling for your tricks anymore, I roll with God.”

            “You naïve little child.  You obviously haven’t suffered enough to realize how much living for Him will cost you.  This will hurt.” he said as he gathered the string and slowly began tearing it from the ring.

            I screamed as the pain took over my body again.  I collapsed to the floor without a second thought as the pain became unbearable.  I screamed repeatedly as the devil continued to break the string, one little thread at a time.  With each little thread he broke, the pain multiplied.

            “Not so worth it now huh?” the devil teased in my face.

            Not knowing what else to do, I screamed at the top of my lungs, “JESUS!”

            “Do you really think He’s going to save you now?  He’s already let you suffer this much, why not let you suffer some more?  There’s no reason for Him to have to get off His throne to come save someone as worthless as you, now is there?” he spat back at me.

            “JESUS!” I cried out over and over again. “JESUS! Please save me!”

            The pain was so unbearable that I wished I would just die already.  I looked up at the devil, who was ready to break the last little thread off of the ring.

            “Say goodbye to your little friend.” he evilly said.

            “NO!” I screamed as loud as I could manage.

            Before he could break apart the last thread, his hands froze.  A look of confusion covered his face as he quickly tried to conceal it and regain his composure.  A huge gust of wind struck the devil, knocking him onto the ground and breathless.

            “What are you doing to me?” he managed to get out in between breaths.

            “I’m not doing anything.” I replied, with the biggest smile on my face despite the pain.

            Just then a man stepped out of the shadows and into the light.

            “Look who decided to show up.” the devil said rising to his feet and putting a look of assurance on his face.  “I was taking such good care of her already that there’s really no need for you to intervene.  She’s perfectly fine.”

            With that the man turned and looked directly at me.  I tried to see myself through his eyes, lying on the floor, tears streaming down my face, and a look of pain visible on my face.

            “She doesn’t seem perfectly fine to me.” He said to the devil while His eyes stayed on me.

            “We were just, uh, just messing around.  Trust me, she’ll be fine.” he stammered out.

            “You’re right.  She will be fine, once I get rid of you.” He said turning to stare straight into the devil’s eyes.

            A look of utter fear developed on the devil’s face.

            “Well look at the time, I really must be going.”

            With that the devil ran away faster than a blink of an eye.  The man walked over and touched the broken strings one at a time.  With each touch, the string reattached to the ring, and with each reattachment, the pain diminished.  As the last string was made whole again and reattached to the ring, the pain was gone.  My body felt brand new, and it was in the best condition it had ever been in before.  I picked myself off of the floor and slowly started making my way towards the man.  I stopped just in front of Him.  He smiled at my caution.

            “Jesus?” I asked to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.

            “Yes, it is I, my child.” He confirmed.

            My thoughts began racing through my mind at the speed of light.

            “Slow down, one question at a time.” He said smiling even bigger.

            “How long were you standing there watching me suffer?”

            “I have never left you.”

            A look of confusion flooded my face.

            “My spirit will never leave you, and you can never escape my presence.  I’ll always be with you holding your hand.  Through your confusion I will hold your hand because emotional and physical darkness is nothing to me.  You’re spiritual darkness I have banished and hold it far from you.  The unknown is in my hand, for my light shines.”

            “Why didn’t you stop him or take the pain away?”

            “Your pride was too big, and you thought you could handle the situation on your own.  You were dependent on yourself instead of being dependent on me.  You didn’t realize how much you really needed me until the devil tried to get rid of me.  Until you figured out that the only way to get out of that situation was to call on my name, was I able to help you.”

            “I’m so sorry!” I started to sob.

            Jesus closed the distance between us and wrapped me in His embrace.

            “I forgive you. I will always forgive you.”