by Melanie Hemry
home The
Long Journey
Deborah Friendly picked up a pen and stared at the blank page. January 1, 1982. A whole new year to set goals and dream. What should be her New Year’s resolution? She and her husband, Kenneth, had a sweet life. In the Air Force, they’d met at Hahn Air Force Base in Germany. They’d married, and the rest was history.
Now stationed in Florida, life was good. Biting her pen, Deborah pondered what she wanted to change this year. Once decided, she wrote it down. Get to know God. She wasn’t sure how to go about that. Still, she had a year to figure it out. In March, she volunteered to help a woman who, due to a complicated pregnancy, was confined to bed rest. Deborah noticed a huge Bible on the woman’s bed.
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“Wow, one day I’m going to get a Bible like that,” Deborah said. How the woman responded branded itself in Deborah’s mind. “You don’t have the Spirit of God in you. You’re going straight to hell.” Deborah went home and told Ken what the woman said. Neither of them had been raised in church. Sobbing, Deborah said, “I’m not going to hell!” “Well, I’m not going to hell by myself!” Ken replied. “I’m getting a Bible too!”
