War Room (12 page)

While she had been praying for her husband, praying that God would work in his heart, confessing her own sins to God, Tony had been cheating. Panic rose up in her like a flood. She wanted to call him and tell him she knew exactly what he was doing. She’d seen the way some women retaliated, ruining lives and lashing out in anger, and the thought crossed her mind
 
—she could make his life really uncomfortable. But when she put the phone down, she saw her Bible.

She picked up the leather-bound copy and sank to the floor with her back against the built-in chest of drawers. She stared at nothing, unable to focus, unable to think or breathe. Then she remembered her prayer. She had asked God to give her faith. She had surrendered herself to His
keeping. Maybe this was her chance to walk with Him in a place too difficult to walk alone.

With full reliance on a power she knew didn’t come from herself, she looked up and prayed, “God . . . I need You. I know I haven’t prayed like I should. I know that I haven’t followed You like I should. But I need You right now.”

Alone in that closet, in that war room, her heart overflowed and she let the fountain spill at the feet of God Himself.

The restaurant Veronica had suggested was pricey, but Tony thought the atmosphere was perfect. And so was she. She had worn a white, satiny dress and her hair fell over her shoulders. She was like a vision, her face lighting up the room. Though the place was crowded, it felt like it was just the two of them.

He smiled at her. “I want to thank you for meeting with me tonight. You’ve gone above and beyond the call.”

“Thanks for suggesting it, Coach,” she said.

He didn’t think of his wife or his daughter. He didn’t think of the promise he had made. Tony was simply in the moment
 
—that was what he had learned about life. You had to be all there wherever you were, whether it was on the basketball court or on a sales call or at a restaurant with a beautiful girl who wasn’t your wife. There was no one here to see him looking at her, and he took all of her in.

Their server arrived, a pretty young woman in her twenties with her hair pulled back. She brought water with lemon slices and said she’d give them a few minutes with the menus.

Veronica looked hers over. “It’s a little expensive, isn’t it?”

“Not for a valuable client,” he said. “And you have to start believing that you’re worth something nice like this.”

“Really?”

“If you don’t believe you’re worth the best, others won’t believe it either,” Tony said. “Try whatever you’d like.”

She glanced up at him and he could tell she was enjoying the attention. He was enjoying the attention too. And the view. There was something about this girl, something about the look in her eyes that signaled desire and intelligence and that she was a person who took what she wanted. She must have interpreted his signals already. Tony was interested in being more than her coach.

They ordered drinks and Tony got an appetizer for the two of them to split. He showed her the best way to eat the shrimp cocktail, pinching the tail so she got all of the meat.

“Are you my food coach too?” Veronica said.

“I’ll be any kind of coach you want,” Tony said, raising his eyebrows.

“That sounds dangerous,” she said.

“Life is dangerous. It’s full of choices. And it’s too short not to enjoy yourself.”

“Is that your philosophy of life? Just enjoy yourself?”

“My philosophy of life is to help others become winners. If you do that, you win too.”

“That’s the Coach Tony rule?”

“Veronica, I see a lot of potential in you. Obviously Holcomb does too, or you wouldn’t have the position you have. And when I see someone with the kind of abilities and intelligence and charm that you have
 
—”

“Charm?” she laughed. “Nobody has told me that in a long time. I thought charm was something for princesses in fairy tales.”

“Charm is this innate quality that few people have. It puts a spell on those around them. It attracts others like bees are attracted to the flowers.”

She took a sip of her drink and licked her lips. “There sure seems to be a lot of buzzing going on around here right now.”

Tony laughed. Something inside tingled and he couldn’t suppress it. Something that felt like it had died long ago was being reborn. And he couldn’t wait to see how the evening progressed.

Elizabeth wrestled with God, with Tony, and with her own heart in the closet. “Lord, I’ve been so angry at Tony. And I am still so angry at him. But I don’t want to lose my marriage. Lord, forgive me. Forgive me. I’m not his judge, You are. But I’m asking You, please.”

She held her hands out in supplication, then balled
them into fists. “Please, don’t let him do this. Take over. Please take over. Take my heart and take all this anger. Help him love me again. And help me love him.”

An image flashed through her mind. Tony at dinner. Then Tony in a car with another woman, driving toward a hotel. Was it from God? Was it true? She blinked and pushed the image away.

“If he’s doing something wrong, don’t let him get away with it. Stand in his way. I’m asking You, please, to help me.”

Tears again, and she wanted to shrivel into a ball and roll into a corner. She wanted everything gone, all the conflict in her life, her marriage. Her heart raced, the room pressed in, and she knew the only way forward was with God. But it seemed like such a narrow path ahead.

As she wept, she spoke to God silently.
I don’t understand this, Lord. I feel like I’ve come back to You and asked You to help, and now You bring this up. Are You punishing me?

She felt the tears roll down her cheeks. She wanted to bang on the wall and reach out for someone’s hand, but there was no one there.

The truth.

She didn’t hear an audible voice, just an impression in her mind.
The truth.
She had prayed for the truth about herself, about God. She wanted to deal with truth and not what she could imagine. Clara had said,
“The truth about your life is always better to know, even if it hurts.”
Wasn’t there something in the Bible about the truth setting you free? She was sure Jesus had said that. It probably didn’t
mean knowing the truth about your husband out with another woman
 
—surely that couldn’t set you free
 
—but still, knowing the truth was better than living in the dark. Living with truth was much better than living with what you hoped life was like. Knowing the truth about your diagnosis or bank account or marriage was better than believing something that wasn’t true.

Oh, Lord, I’m scared,
Elizabeth prayed.
I’m frightened. There’s the truth. But if this message about Tony is right, if he’s seeing someone else and this is where we are, thank You for showing me. As hard as it is to take, thank You for letting me see the truth now rather than finding it out down the road. But I don’t know what to do.

She let those words echo in her heart.
I don’t know what to do.

That wasn’t true. She did know what to do. She could pick up right where she had left off on her list. She looked at the words on the pages on the wall and something stood out to her, something Clara had copied down from her Bible.

A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

Tony probably thought that running after another relationship would bring him life. Someone prettier or younger would make him happy. But the truth was it
would only lead to death, the death of their marriage. He was probably as tired of all the fighting and bickering as Elizabeth was. How could he buy into that lie?

She looked at the wall and read the next verse aloud. “‘But the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen and guard you from the evil one.’”

The Lord is
faithful
. The Lord will
strengthen
. He will
guard you
.

She focused on those words and her heart felt lighter somehow. God had seen what was happening. He knew her need. And He knew that Tony was headed down a path he’d regret the rest of his life, if what she feared was true.

She put her hand against the wall and looked at the next verse she had copied.

Submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

She repeated the verse and wiped away her tears as a feeling rushed through her. Call it fire or resolve or determination
 
—no matter the term, it rose up and so did she, finally understanding. If she submitted to God, which she had done, asking Him to take control of her life, then she could resist the devil. She was resisting the urge to move toward anger and bitterness or anything but God Himself, and she was standing up for her husband’s heart, for the life of her family. If those things were true
 
—and by faith she believed they were
 
—the enemy had no recourse.
There was only one thing he could do. He had to leave. She wiped at new tears and stood, walking into the living room and staring as if there were unseen forces behind the scenes. She remembered what Clara had said to her before she had ever begun to study with her.

“I see in you a warrior that needs to be awakened.”

Now, here Elizabeth stood, fully awake to the battle.

“I don’t know where you are, devil,” she said loudly, “but I know you can hear me.” She looked at the stone fireplace and the furniture in the room. “You have played with my mind. And had your way long enough. No more! You are done!”

She walked into the kitchen, lights reflecting on the granite countertop. She glanced back from where she had just come. “Jesus is Lord of this house, and that means there’s no place for you here anymore! So take your lies, your schemes and accusations, and get out! In Jesus’ name!”

Elizabeth could hear Clara’s voice echoing in her head
 
—the way she would say those words. She opened the back door and walked onto the deck.

“You can’t have my marriage, you can’t have my daughter, and you sure can’t have my man! This house is under new management, and that means you are out!”

She walked inside and slammed the door behind her. Then something clicked in her mind and she opened the door again and stepped outside.

“And another thing! I am so sick of you stealing my joy. But that’s changing too. My joy doesn’t come from my
friends, it doesn’t come from my job, it doesn’t even come from my husband. My joy is found in Jesus, and just in case you forgot, He has already defeated you. So go back to hell where you belong and leave my family alone!”

Elizabeth slammed the door again and it felt like the exclamation point to her proclamation. She was finally taking control. No, that wasn’t the truth. She was getting out of the way and letting God take control. She was going with Him, agreeing with Him instead of her enemy. No longer would she be ruled by fear or by the actions of anyone else.

As she walked back into the house, she glanced upstairs and saw Danielle looking at her with a puzzled stare. There was no way to explain this change, so she didn’t try. She just kept moving, back to her closet, back to the war room. There was something urgent she had to say, something she needed to do on her knees.

She got to the closet and knelt, closing the door. “Father, I am asking You now to intercede for me. I don’t know how any of this works. I don’t know if You send angels or if Your Holy Spirit works this way. But I don’t need to know how it works. I need to believe You can do what I’m asking. And I’m asking You in faith to stop my husband from doing something he’s going to regret. Stop him somehow, Lord.

“If Tony is honoring You, bless him. But if he’s doing something wrong, don’t let him succeed. Stand in his way, Jesus.”

She let the words drift toward heaven and realized something had changed. Something wonderful and assuring had come over her. It was more than a feeling
 
—it was a deep-rooted conviction that she was no longer going through life alone. God was with her. Maybe He had been there all along and she hadn’t noticed. But He was going to walk with her through all of this. And she couldn’t wait to see what He was about to do.