Chapter 55

Sheba recited Joyce’s apology to Delilah the next morning, as they ate breakfast at Sheba’s old kitchen table. “She shocked me,” Sheba confessed. “I almost didn’t open the door when I saw she was on the other side of it.”

“You’re better than me. I would have still kicked the heifer’s behind,” Delilah said.

“It’s over with. Now it’s up to me to work on forgiving her. It’s going to take a lot of praying for me to do that. I’m nowhere close to forgiving her yet,” Sheba said.

“The Bible does say we’re supposed to forgive as God has forgiven us.”

Sheba couldn’t argue with Delilah on that point. “I’m trying to do the right thing. Lord knows I have a lot of wrong I need to make up for.”

“Sheba, have you prayed and asked God to forgive you? If you have, then forgive yourself. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.”

Sheba thought to herself, Who would have thought Delilah would be the voice of reason? She responded, “I’m working on it, sis. I’m working on it.”

“Well, work a little harder. I had to forgive myself for what transpired between me and that preacher I told you about. Although I was wrong for pursuing him relentlessly, he still had control over his own actions. I don’t own his actions. I only own up to mine.”

“Delilah, it sounds like you’ve had an epiphany.”

“Let’s just say God is working on me. Boy, does He have His job cut out for Him,” Delilah said as she drank her orange juice.

“Well, at least you admit it.”

“Never professed to be a saint, like some holy rollers,” Delilah said.

A knock at the door interrupted Sheba’s thoughts. “That must be the movers.” She got up and let them in.

Six hours later she was tired and ready to take a nap. “Everything I want to take with me is on the truck, and the other stuff, well, whatever you don’t want, I’ll see if someone at the church needs it before donating it to a shelter,” Sheba said to Delilah as she plopped down on the sofa.

Delilah responded, “My friend Keisha might want some of your furniture. You have good taste, and I know she is looking to get a new living room set.”

“She can have whatever she wants,” Sheba replied.

“Cool. I’ll call her.”

“While you’re doing that, I’m taking me a long hot bath.”

 

 

The following day Keisha stopped by and confirmed that she wanted the living room set and one of the bedroom sets. Sheba made a list of the other items she had left to donate, while Delilah took pictures with her digital camera. Delilah assisted her with her inventory list and printed it out so they could take it with them to church the following day.

Sheba got up bright and early the next morning to get ready for church. She eyed herself in the mirror as she got dressed. She opted to wear a purple suit with a matching hat. Although she probably shouldn’t wear high heels, she rounded off her ensemble with some purple snakeskin heels. She wanted Delilah to go with her, but Delilah had planned on going to her own church.

The driver waited for Sheba as she locked up. The closer the driver got to her old church, the more the palms of her hands sweated. She wasn’t sure how the church members would act toward her, with all the rumors that had been floating around locally as well as in the national news. The driver pulled the town car up to the front of the church and, without waiting for him to get out and open her door, she exited.

She had purposely arrived a little late, so she wouldn’t have to converse with too many people. Songs of praise could be heard as she walked up the steps leading into the sanctuary. One of the ushers handed Sheba a program as soon as she entered the door. The ushers used their hands to direct her to the right side of the sanctuary.

Sheba looked until she saw an empty spot on one of the middle pews. She heard whispers as she walked down the aisle. “Isn’t that Bathsheba?” she heard one lady say.

“She looks a little different,” she heard another one say.

“I can’t believe she’s showing her face here,” she heard a familiar voice say.

Before sitting down, she looked back in the direction of the voice and saw that it belonged to one of Uriah’s cousins.

When the announcement clerk asked if there were any visitors, all eyes were on her. Sheba tried to scoot down in her seat. She wished she could disappear. The clerk said, “We have our sister Bathsheba back in our midst. Sister, would you like to say anything?”

Sheba took a few deep breaths and stood up. “First, give praises to God, to our wonderful pastor and other members of the clergy, and to my church family. I’m grateful to be able to walk through these doors again. Life has dealt some hard punches, but by the grace of God, I’m here today. I want to ask you all to keep me in your prayers.” She heard some amens, and she heard a few people mumbling, as she took her seat.

The topic of the sermon was forgiveness. “Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive. Peter thought forgiving someone seven times was plenty. We would be in terrible trouble if our Heavenly Father gave us only seven times to mess up. Can you imagine going through life and being allowed to make only seven mistakes?” the preacher asked.

Sheba had probably fumbled seven times before hearing the sermon, let alone in the course of a lifetime, she thought as she continued to listen.

The preacher continued, “Brothers and sisters, God has a word for you today. As I talk about forgiveness, I’m reminded of the parable that Jesus told Peter of the shocking servant. Turn with me to the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, verses twenty-one through thirty-five. You can remain seated.”

Sheba located the scripture and read it silently as the pastor read it out loud.

The pastor went on to say, “If someone has done you wrong, let it go. Stop holding on to something that happened yesterday. Some of y’all are holding on to stuff that happened twenty years ago. Look at your neighbor and say, ‘Let it go.’”

Sheba looked at the woman sitting next to her, and they said in unison, “Let it go.”

“I can’t stand here in this pulpit and tell you that forgiving someone is easy, because it isn’t. That’s why you need to take the issue to God, and when you take it to Him, leave it with Him. Ask Him to help you get past the hurt, the pain, the resentment. With God in the mix, you can let it go. Colossians three, thirteen reads, ‘Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.’”

Sheba felt that the message was just for her as she wrote down notes from the sermon. As the pastor continued to speak about forgiveness, one other point stood out to Sheba.

“As I come to a close, I want you to forgive yourselves. God is a God of mercy and grace. He gave His only begotten son so that we all could have access to eternal life. So whosoever will, let him come now and be saved. God forgives you, my child. Let go and open up your hearts and receive God’s precious gift.”

Tears streamed down Sheba’s face as she released the guilt and pain from the past year.