God’s Got This

The following story is fictional.

         Jenna, Lecatia, and Camalee were inseparable friends since first grade. When they entered middle school, their varied interests limited their time together, but usually, if you saw one, you knew the other two were close by. And, of course, when not in school, they’d text and talk to each other on the phone.

         All through middle school and high school, Lecatia and Camalee excelled on the track team just like their big brothers, who were two years older than them, while Jenna became the star of the tennis team.

         Jenna tried to attend as many of her friends’ track meets as possible, saying she was their number one fan. Camalee told her, “You know by now you will have to share that title with my big brother, Paxlin, and Lecatia’s big brother, Marcett, both of whom starred on the football and track teams in middle school and high school.”

         Jenna spoke up, “I am well aware of how you feel about your brothers. You brag and talk about them all the time!”

         Lecatia said, “We’re sorry if that offends you, but if you had a brother like ours, you would probably brag on him all the time, too.”

         During summer vacations, the three friends stayed in close touch. Almost every picture Lecatia and Camalee texted to Jenna included their brothers. It was obvious they were having a great time together, while she sat home alone, day after day, fantasizing about how great it would be to have a big brother like her friends had, who would spend time with her. Still, like Lecatia had said, much to her disappointment, she didn’t have one.

         It was during the fall of their junior year in high school when Jenna started to pull away from Lecatia and Camalee. They always bragged about their big brothers and how both of them now played college ball. It was during that year that Jenna couldn’t stand them bragging about their brothers any longer. Envy and jealousy began to strain their relationship, so she declined their offer to attend their brother’s football games with them.

         It was during the second semester of their senior year in high school when she decided to really surprise both of them. She said she had just found out she had a big brother, too. She was so happy. They had been texting and talking on the phone about all the things they were going to be doing together when he came to see her for the first time.

         Lecatia and Camalee were both very excited for her but confused about why she hadn’t known about him before. The more they questioned her about him, the more evasive or nonsensical Jenna’s replies became. It finally got to the point where Jenna decided to avoid them, so she didn’t have to answer all their questions, sensing their skepticism, which, of course, was justified. 

         That spring, when Jenna’s big brother was supposed to come watch her tennis matches, he never showed up. Her teammates, her two best friends, and everyone she talked to claimed she was delusional. It had gotten so bizarre that Lecatia’s mother called Jenna’s mother, who was quite shocked by what she heard, saying Jenna didn’t have a big brother. It was at that point that Lecatia’s and Camalee’s parents felt it best that their daughters discontinue their friendship with Jenna, feeling that whatever was going on with her was growing worse. She obviously needed help if she was claiming to have an imaginary big brother, which was delusional.

A few days later

            “Who is that girl sitting alone?” Cayden asked his friend, Walthan, during lunch in the cafeteria. “She’s that delusional girl,” he said before telling him what he knew about her. Cayden said, “I’m going to go over and talk to her.” Walthan replied, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Cayden then got up from the table and went over to introduce himself to Jenna. After doing so, he asked her if he could sit down. She replied in a caustic tone, “It’s a free country.”

         When Cayden asked why she was always sitting alone, she replied, “Haven’t you heard? Everyone thinks I’m delusional.” When the bell rang for them to get back to class, Cayden asked if he could sit with her during lunch again tomorrow; she shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “It is up to you.”

         After sitting with her at lunch a couple more times that week, she agreed to meet after school one day so they could talk in private. As they sat at the picnic tables near the tennis court, Jenna, feeling his sincerity and needing friendship, opened up to him. She told him that when Lecatia and Camalee started spending so much time with their big brothers and less and less time with her, she became very jealous, wishing she had a big brother too. She explained how a few months previous, her mother, having to work overtime once again, asked Jenna to clean her room for her, not having time to do it herself. When she entered her mother’s room, she saw her mother’s diary on the nightstand next to her bed. Curiosity got the best of her, and she opened it up and began to read. The entry she read dated back to when her mother was a teenager. Her mother’s boyfriend, at that time, had left her when she was five months pregnant. She had already found out that she was expecting a boy and had picked out a name for him, Lathan. Sadly, her mother confessed that she didn’t feel she could make ends meet while taking care of a baby, so she ended her pregnancy.

            “As soon as I read that, and knowing I would have had a big brother two years older than me, just like my friends, made me cry all night,” Jenna confessed. “I never wanted to see my mother again, knowing she had taken his life. I hated her and still do. How could she have ever done such a horrible thing? It’s scientifically proven that a baby in the womb can feel pain at only four months, just like we do. I started thinking she could have done the same thing to me. That is when I started having nightmares, waking up crying in fear of my mother, wondering what kind of person she was.”

         Cayden took in all Jenna had to say before she paused and asked hesitantly, “Do you still want to see me tomorrow?”

         He responded, “I have faith God will mend that broken heart of yours! And because of that faith, I’ll be here, you can count on it!”

         That night, Cayden shared everything Jenna had told him with his parents, as well as his cousins, Lily and Paige. They all agreed that the jealousy and envy Jenna had towards her best friends, and then learning what she had regarding her brother, had to have been devastating for her. His parents told him that kind of trauma could cause any sane person to have mental anguish, become depressed, delusional, and have the type of nightmares she was having. “God has brought you two together for a reason,” they assured him. “We have faith it will all work out as He has planned.”

         Paige, Cayden’s cousin, agreed and responded with, “God’s got this.”

Lily nodded her head in agreement as she said, “Cayden, since we are going bike riding together this Saturday, why don’t you invite Jenna to join us so we can get to know her?”

         Cayden prayed about it and decided to do just that. During the bike ride, Lily told Jenna that after hearing about Lathan, she felt guilty being so blessed with a loving family, knowing how many children’s lives had been cut short, never knowing love. “I truly feel that Jesus, with tears in His eyes, was there holding your brother’s hand through that horrible ordeal, knowing the pain Lathan was feeling was like the pain He felt when they nailed him to the cross,” Lily added with tears in her eyes as her sister Paige gave Jenna a reassuring hug and invited her to attend a Christian camp with them in July.

         Jenna would later say that week at the Christian camp was the best week of her life because on the last night at camp, as everyone sat around the bonfire, the director spoke about Jesus’ promise that if anyone put their faith in Him as Savior, they would have eternal life with Him in heaven. Jenna, with Lily and Paige holding her hands, had gone forward, knelt down at the foot of the cross, and invited Jesus into her heart and life!

         As time went on, Jenna’s faith grew, and she knew she had to forgive her mother for the hate she felt toward her. She now realized that if the love of Jesus had been in her mother’s heart when she was pregnant with her older brother, she would have made a different decision and not have ended her brother’s life when she was a young pregnant mother.

         It was about a year and a half later when Cayden asked Jenna to marry him. She was so excited she said yes before he had finished asking her. The first thing she did was call her friends, Lily and Paige, who had faithfully stood by her since they first met, asking them both to be in her wedding, to which she got an enthusiastic yes!

         A few weeks before the wedding, Cayden’s cousins came to see him. Lily explained how Jenna hadn’t seen her two childhood friends, Lecatia and Camalee for the past two years because of everything that had occurred. They wanted to help make things right and had arranged to meet with them both at Lecatia’s home. They asked Cayden to pray for everything to go well, to which he said he would.

         When they got to Lecatia’s home, they told them the reason for Jenna’s jealousy, the trauma she experienced upon reading her mother’s diary, how her mother ended the life of her brother, how much Jenna missed them, and how, when they were her best friends, they always talked about being in each other’s weddings. As they were talking, tears streamed down Lecatia and Camalee’s cheeks. They wanted to know how soon they could see Jenna. Paige asked, “Is right now soon enough? We felt it best for us to meet with you first. Jenna is waiting outside in our car.”

         Lecatia and Camalee jumped to their feet, about to tear the front door off its hinges. They ran outside, opened the door to the car and pulled Jenna into their arms. The “Son” shine was as bright that day as you could ever imagine; it was a reunion ordained by a loving God!

Six months later

         Jenna began the day of her wedding by thanking the Lord, knowing most people are fortunate if they have one best friend; she now had four, all of whom would be in her wedding. As the music began to play, the wedding party started walking down the aisle. Tomlin, Cayden’s best man, was still not there. Cayden’s mother, seeing her son’s look of concern, stepped forward and handed him a handkerchief, knowing he was going to need it. At that very moment, he recalled Jenna asking him: “The Bible says when a man and a woman get married, the two become one, does that mean your big brother Tomlin will be my big brother too?”

         Cayden had smiled and said, “Even though I never thought of it that way before, I know Tomlin would feel honored if you did!”

         Jenna’s fantasy of having a big brother walk her down the aisle came true. She knew in her heart that the only thing that could have made her happier was if Lathan had been allowed to live and could have been the one to have the honor!

         Cayden needed that handkerchief when he saw Tomlin escorting his lovely bride down the aisle and thought of Paige’s words when he first told his cousins about Jenna – “God’s Got This!”

Psalm 139:16  –   “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

Luke 1:39-42 –  “And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah; and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elisabeth.  And it happened, when Elisabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

Jeremiah 1:4-5 – “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

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© Copyrighted – All right reserved – ChristianShortStories.com  or RainBeforeTheReign.com –  You do have our permission to share this story with others if you add what is in bold to any of the stories you share with others. Perhaps some boy or girl will be blessed with a loving sister, brother, cousin or whomever because of you sharing this story.