Tickle/Tease Tuesday

Give Us This Day
(Excerpt is unedited.)
Pastor Downing rose from his chair and stood at the pulpit, the lake visible behind his thin frame. Jess couldn't remember a Sunday when he wasn't blessed by the man's power-packed message. "My beloved, I want you to understand who you are in Christ."


Jess gazed down at the tissue Holly fingered again.

"Satan would have you believe you have no value, but the Lord wants you to know you have been bought with a price, and you belong to God."

Holly crossed and uncrossed her legs. She rummaged through her purse before setting it down on the pew.

"God is patient and slow to anger. You have been chosen by Him. Your relationship with Him is not based on yourself or anything you've done, but the work He did for you on the cross."

His new acquaintance picked up a hymnal and flipped through the pages.

"Believe me when I say you are free from condemnation. God loves you that much, my beloved."

Holly grew still, her gaze glued on Pastor Downing. His words must've struck a chord.

Her hands lay quietly in her lap as she stared at the preacher.

"You may approach God with freedom and confidence. Hope is only found in the Lord.
Our regret or grief should turn us toward him, not away from Him."

Holly ran a finger under her eye. She curved her gaze to Jess and then back toward the front, a look of discomfort on her face. Did the pastor say something to touch her heart?

Jess froze. Maybe her unease wasn't about church after all. Maybe it was about sitting next to him. The fattest man in the building.

Hint for book contest: June travels a lot.