Chapter Two
Disciplined
Maria ate her meal hungrily, but she watched Elon throughout her meal closely. He was a mystery and yet it was as if she suddenly knew him better than any other man before in her life. Everything she learned built a picture of a man that became more and more desirable to her with every passing second.
Was she already falling for him?
Wasn’t she supposed to do exactly that?
She resisted where her thoughts were taking her. She abruptly stopped her mind wondering, as she mentally traced back over what Elon had said in their room. Was she truly choosing God’s will for her life by resisting what she knew God wanted of her in concern to Elon?
It was hard to think of herself as a gift to be given away to someone. The independent and in control of her life way she had lived bridled at the submissive quality of the action required of her.
What about her?
Didn’t what she want out of life count?
“Who are you to question My will for your life? Did you fashion yourself out of the dust of the ground? Did you give yourself breath that you could so selfishly consider your ways higher than Mine? Your thoughts more wise than Mine? Behold I have spoken into existence all things that are and those things that are yet to come. Who are you to question the purpose for which I have fashioned you? I require an answer!”
Maria’s fork clattered to the table, as the greatest and most terrible fear that she had ever known coursed through her entire being at the feeling of her Maker’s words emblazoning their way across all corners of her consciousness. She jolted away from the table.
“Maria!”
She ignored Elon’s concerned call out to her and ducked into the first door she could find, which happened to be the men’s restroom. She was beyond caring.
Maria barely made it to the sink where she heaved up everything in her stomach sure in the knowledge that she was in the process of dying. She wanted to apologize though before she did die.
“I’m sorry!!! I’m so sorry! I……”
“I heard you the first time. You’re forgiven.”
Maria started to apologize again feeling as if she should continue begging for mercy, but the voice of authority spoke a tenant of wisdom into her that she hadn’t known before, “Do not continue to apologize for a sin that has been forgiven by My Son’s redemptive act of sacrifice on the cross or else you will declare His sacrifice to have been in vain.”
Maria bit back her words and sobbed against the edge of the sink.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I quickly stepped into the restroom only to behold Maria sobbing against the sink halfway to her knees, as several men stood around looking helpless as to what to do in the situation. The men’s eyes traced over to me and I gestured toward the door behind me and roughly said, “Get out!
My tone and manner were not nice and the men practically tripped over each other in their haste to vacate the restroom. I came up behind Maria and pulled her up more onto her feet, as I turned the faucet on to wash away her vomit. It didn’t smell nice, but it was a mild thing in comparison to the sights and experiences that I’d had before in life.
The poor girl was shaking to death. This was so not the Maria I had thought I had known. I pulled her hair back and leaning over I got a paper towel, which I got wet and started to mop at her face with.
She glanced up briefly into the mirror to meet my eyes, “Thank you.”
She was becoming more aware of her surroundings again and with that progression came embarrassment. Maria was a proud woman, who prided herself on control and this whole scene was abjectly nightmarish in terms of embarrassment.
“Terrifying isn’t it?” I said only loud enough to be heard over the running of the water faucet.
She glanced back up into the mirror as her mind left the thought of how embarrassed she should be for a moment. “What?” She asked.
I elaborated, “To be chastised, disciplined, heavenly spanked if you will.”
Her corresponding shiver was answer enough to my question.
I held up a palm full of water to her mouth for her to wash her mouth out even as I said, “A thing to remember in this moment is that no matter how scared you are God still loves you.”
She spit the water out and looked up her eyes miserable looking in their reflection from the mirror, “I made Him angry! I……”
“His anger passes quickly and yes even though angry He loves you still.” I said consolingly as I rubbed her back softly.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because just like a parent, who truly loves their child will discipline their child when he’s done something wrong, He disciplined you. It is a pattern of love that bears witness to how God lovingly admonishes those of us who believe in Him. When He stops disciplining you is when you should be truly afraid.”
Maria looked up, “I don’t ever want to make Him angry again! It felt…….”
“Like the glue holding you together was removed for a moment.” I inter-joined softly.
“Yes!” Then Maria asked, “You’ve been disciplined?”
“I’m far from perfect Maria and I’ve had longer than most to make mistakes. I’m living proof of God’s enduring mercy.”
I gave her a little more room, as she started to mess around with her hair.
“Out of curiosity what is it that you’re having a hard time with in concern to God? Can I help in some way?”
Her eyes flashed to mine, “I uhh…… I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you, because it concerns you.” She managed to stutter out looking very uncomfortable.
I held up my hands, “If you don’t feel released from God to share that is perfectly fine. Any allegiance to me is subservient to any direction you have from God.”
She looked relieved at my words and I couldn’t but help wonder what God had tasked her with in concern to me.
“Now how do you feel?” I asked.
“Like a fool.”
“Well by that very statement you prove you are not a fool, by the way of simply stating that a true fool wouldn’t think to wonder whether or not she was a fool or not. See the logic?”
A hint of a smile lightened up Maria’s face briefly, as I attempted to coax her into a better frame of mind.
“Now that we’ve determined that you are most definitely not a fool is there something I can do for you?”
Her hands twisted together, “I’m hungry again.”
I glanced toward the sink feeling sorry for her. It was my opinion that throwing up never gets any better no matter how long you live.
“But of course you are! How does pizza sound?”
“Wonderful!”
I made my way to the door and she took several steps after me before stopping. I saw it all take place then on her face. She was imagining how terrible her exit from the hotel dining room must’ve looked, only to then run into the men’s restroom.
Both of those occurrences paled in comparison to then walking out of the men’s room with a man after a considerable period of duration inside. She was helpless to put words to it, but the imploring look she gave me said it all.
I reached up and tore the cover off the fire alarm and then I jammed it on. Alarms erupted throughout the hotel, as Maria’s mouth fell open in shock.
Grinning at her I said, “This is a first for me! Come on, I bet you’ve always wanted to do that?”
Her mouth moved wordlessly and I held up a finger, “Shhh. You might lie and get spanked again.”
Her mouth abruptly closed.
I went to the door and opened it a crack, as Maria came to an anxious fret beside me, “What about security cameras? They’ll track us back to our room! They’ll know it was us!”
“Curious thing about security cameras and me. They don’t work when I’m around.”
I pulled the door open and escorted Maria out into the scene of pandemonium taking place within the hotel. People rushed all around highly agitated, the last thing on their minds being the woman who had dashed into the men’s restroom.
By the time I reached the street I was laughing hard. I caught Maria looking at me enigmatically and I sobered up in a Peloponnesian moment.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“I’ve never heard you laugh. You have a very nice laugh. I like it.”
I was quite positive that I’d never had my laugh complemented before and I really didn’t know what to say in reply. Vaguely I pointed off to the right, “Pizza’s this way.”
She reached out to me to grasp my hand briefly, “Thank you for getting me out of there, with a little pride left intact.”
I nodded and then we headed up the street towards the glowing sign of a pizza parlor.