Would I be able to stay on my spiritual course or would the devil that was lurking around the corner, steer me into the darkness? I strolled down a well-lit path at the start of 2012. I posted blessings in my journal and focused on giving more. Then, as the year went along, my life started erupting like a volcano. Hot lava started flowing on my path of righteousness. Finances were wreaking havoc on my life, the boys demanded much of my time and money, and then the evil surfaced in my youngest son’s Nook.
I opened up my Citibank statement and was astounded by the balance. I knew about their high interest rates so I always paid off my monthly charge. Also, I was the only user of this card, so I thought. There was no way this was right. I quickly scanned the items and noticed some obscure charges by google.com. How could this happen? I seldom make online purchases. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had placed my card on my son’s Nook so he could use his gift card.
The company set up their application whereby it requires a credit card on file in order to use a gift card for purchases. After my son used up his gift card, he just kept on purchasing every book and app he wanted. His bill totaled over $300.00. I was outraged and furiously screamed at him for all these charges; after all I had told him not to spend more than his $25.00 balance. Eventually, I calmed down and thought surely the company would feel sorry for me, given my level of ignorance, and take these charges off my account…no such luck. However, they did remove the 12 most expensive items which resulted in a credit of about $80.00. Then, I set out to teach my son a lesson. We drove to the bank, removed $100.00 from his savings account, and then I granted grace allowing him to work off the other $142.00 through chores. Be aware…there is evil lurking all around.
As time went on, I made fewer posts in my journal and started worrying about all of my problems, resulting in some sleepless nights. My days of giving, reading the Bible and writing in my journal diminished. I didn’t stop for one moment in March to record any blessings. The next post was almost two months later when I was feeling major anguish toward one of my son’s baseball coaches. The coach had cornered my son in the dugout, between the trash can and wall, and began cursing and threatening him. I sat on the other side and watched my son storm out of the dugout, through the gate, spouting “I want to kill him”. My son loved baseball so I pondered what to do about this situation.
I knew I could just move on, but I doubt my son would be able to continue in this environment. I turned to prayer in this dark place. A song by Josh Wilson, “I Refuse”, played on KLOVE one day and moved me to stand up for these young boys. They had been experiencing this type of treatment for quite some time so I scheduled a meeting. I spoke with the coach, along with his head coach, about that dreadful day in the dugout. I also discussed other incidents that I became aware of during this time. At the end of the conversation, they both agreed they would work on their attitudes toward the boys. The baseball season became more peaceful, not a perfect situation yet, but my son enjoyed the rest of his season catching on the Varsity team. Then the calm ensued before the storm.
By Jeanette Lytle