Well Done

She looked back. Nothing could be changed now. She couldn’t return. 

The road ahead was winding and long, straight and narrow. The voice in her head said it would be okay, but she didn’t know how to trust it, or if she even could.

Sophia looked up. The sun was bright and shining. She began to get a little anxious, and swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the fear creeping in the back of her throat. Yet, somehow, she stood tall, the fear departing and confidence overtaking her. She took hold of the straps of her heavy bag full of the supplies for her journey, and began. 

Sophia had never traveled outside of the house. There was no way that she could do it without the voice in her head. The voice that had told her to leave in the first place. At first, she just thought that it was her own doubts, but the voice kept saying to go, to leave everything behind.

“You will die here,” it said,” you must leave home. I will lead you. Now go. I will lead you to the Land that I have promised to those who love Me. Trust Me” it had spoken. 

“The Land?” Sophia had questioned,”what Land? Why only I? Why not my sisters or brothers? Can’t they come with me?” Sophia’s trust for the voice did not get better, for she had many older brothers and sisters.

“Trust Me.” the voice repeated.

So Sophia left. She left everything, save a couple of essentials; food, extra clothes, as well as some of her favourite things. The bag was heavy and would often distract from the journey. In order to stay on the road, she would need to focus completely. Yet, the items seemed to speak to her, leading her astray. The voice became less clear and she couldn’t hear it when she wandered too much off the path. Usually, she would fall into the other voices that would overtake her, and the voice she had listened to in the first place became very blurry and hazy. A lot of the time, however, when Sophia did come to a place where an evil voice was trying to trap her in going against the voice and what it said, a knight in shining armor would jump in front and protect her. 

“The Lord of the Land of Promise has sent me to protect you, no matter what.” he had said,” You are one of His set-apart ones. Whenever you are in danger, I will protect you.”

Sophia would thank the knight whenever he would protect or save her, yet every single time he would say,”My strength comes from the Lord. Thank Him, not me.”

After a long time of constantly falling off the path, Sophia decided that she would have to leave her bag behind too. 

“It’s just..too much. I can’t carry it anymore.”

After she finally dropped her bag, she felt more free and light than she had since she had left home. The voice said,”You have finally gotten rid of those things that you used to hang so tight to. You shall now be able to travel much easier. I will protect you, so keep going. I am with you always” 

Sophia smiled knowing that the Lord cared for so dearly. She looked straight ahead and pressed forward. Soon as she began to turn the corner, another voice began to talk, one she recognized, for it sounded exactly like her own. Although, after hearing the gentle, kind, and loving voice of the Lord compared to the harsh, unloving, and angry voice that sounded much like her own, except different, she knew it was not a voice from the Lord.

You know that you won’t make it. It said, you’re not strong enough. You’re disappointing the Lord. He won’t want you anymore. You might as well go away and never come back. 

Sophia would cover her ears and stop walking. She told it to stop,”Stop..stop..stop..shut up! Shut up!”

Then the knight would appear and begin fighting an invisible enemy. His sword would thrash and block, strike and swipe. Finally, with one final kick, holding the enemy down, he would stab his sword into the ground and get up, panting and sweating. After the battle was won, he would look at Sophia , a smile on his face. 

He also hadn’t hesitated to remind her that soon, when Sophia got her armor, she would be able to fight the enemies too. She would also be able to see them, since, as she was beginning her piglarmidge, she was not strong enough to see the enemies or even be aware they were there at all. One time, after he had reminded her, an unprecedented fear lodged itself in Sophia’s throat.

Sophia gulped. The thought of fighting all by herself was terrifying. It had been hard enough to resist the voices that told her to stray off the path or go back home, nevermind fighting for herself. 

“I ..don’t think so. I can’t fight, I’m too weak. Besides, if you are fighting for me, why do I need to fight?”

The soldier looked at her. He held her gaze for a moment before looking ahead at the road. Sophia followed his eyes.”Sophia, there will come a day when you will fight alongside the Lord. I will still be here, but you will not notice me.” 

Sophia clenched her fists and tried to drive the fear out of her mind. The little strength she had she used up when she replied, “Okay.” 

They continued down the path, Sophia earnestly dreading the day that she would need to pick up a sword. Finally, after many days and nights, the two came to a house. The house’s entrance was open, revealing a room in which Sophia could catch something shining inside. 

“Here it is,” the soldier said,”Your armor was laid out in advance. Are you ready to put it on?”

Sophia stood up taller.”Ready as I’ll be, I suppose.”

The soldier led her to the house, which looked very old, yet the windows and steps were clean and looked as if they had never been used, as if someone came every day to clean up. Sophia followed the soldier inside where a suit of armor was laid out on a fine wooden table. He picked up the blade and handed it to Sophia. 

“This is..mine?” she asked. The anxiety she had had before about fighting crept a bit higher.

“Yes. All yours. The Lord has provided everything we need. Although, now you will not be able to see me anymore.”

Sophia looked up at him, then looked at her sword again.”I see.”

He gave her a reassuring look. Sophia looked at her armor as he explained what each piece was and why it was essential. 

“The boots are for the peace that the Lord gives His servants. You will have the peace of the Lord with you all day and night as long as you wear  the boots. Here is the helmet of salvation. It is the confidence that you will make it to the Land of Promise.This is the breastplate of righteousness. You wear this to protect your heart from the lies of the outside of the path.”

“How about the sword?” Sophia asked.

“Ah! The sword! This is the Word of the Lord. His Words are built upon the things that He says to you. You’ve heard Him say before,’Do not be afraid. I will help you.’ That is in His Word. You fight with it. You may recite it, and the blade becomes more sharp and powerful. You see, He is in this sword. That’s why it’s one of the most powerful of the armor pieces”

“Wow.. that’s epic. So, what about the belt? Or that shield over there?”

“The belt is for the truth of the Message of the resurrection. That is that the Lord took on all crookedness on Himself and died and rose again. After He rose again, all evil was defeated. He made a way for His His travelers to travel to His Land through the creation of this road.”

“And the shield?” Sophia asked eagerly, holding up the shield and pretending to block an attack.

“The shield is the most important of all of them. You see, the enemy’s minions will try to attack you, but nothing can ever get through this shield, unless you let it. But you must guard yourself. He will train you to fight the battles, but you must learn to truly listen to His voice.”

Sophia began to put on the boots, then the helmet, then the breastplate, then lastly the belt. It all felt heavy, and Sophia wondered how she was expected to carry all of it around on her. 

“So..I’m supposed to carry all of this around with me? On me?” she began to get worried that she wasn’t fit to travel to the Land of Promise and that maybe she should have turned back a long time ago.

“Haha, you get used to it after a while. It’s meant to protect you.”

Sophia didn’t want to wear the armor. She felt weak in it, not stronger. Exposed, not protected.

However, after a bit, she became used to the armor. She would take up her sword and shield and began to fight the battles, the voice guiding her every step of the way. Sophia began to trust the voice and let it guide her through everyday trials such as temptation and getting into situations that she couldn’t get herself out of alone.

One day, she came across a battlefield. It wasn’t pretty. There were many bodies lying on the ground, lifeless and unmoving . She stumbled backward a bit due to the surprise of having stumbled upon this field, but caught herself in time. Her eyes caught a monster in the center of the corpses, looking straight at her. Her heart skipped a beat and beads of sweat began to form on her brow.

Then, in the most hideous, deep and terrifying voice that Sophia has ever heard it said,”Come down and fight me.”

Sophia pulled her sword out of her belt but her hands were shaking too much to have a good grip on it.

“Go on. I will help you.”

Sohia heard the Lord’s voice so clearly that she could have sworn that He would be inside of her head. Sophia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, refocusing on the upcoming battle. Her hands stopped shaking and she composed herself quite a bit.

“Accepted.” she replied to the beast.

Sophia lunged forward onto the battlefield, which was an area surrounded with a steep ledge of rock. She slid and when she got to the bottom, walked right up to the beast, not a hint of fear in her eyes. 

“Hey, those same eyes. All of them had them, but they all dead now.” The beast spoke.

Sophia turned around and walked a fair distance away, then turned back around and made eye contact with the monster once more.”That will be one of the last things you say, I’m afraid.”

The beast laughed a sick, twisted laugh that seemed to shake the ground. Sophia let a bint of fear slip out but she was able to gather courage once more. The beast simply walked around the battlefield and went on to begin to curse the Lord and nothing but lies came out from his mouth. 

Sophia said a quick prayer before beginning the battle.”Stop wasting time. My Lord is mighty and powerful, and He’s about to show you how powerful.”

The beast stopped and looked at her, an eagerness in his eyes.”Alright then. I’ll go first.”

The beast lunged at her so fast that Sophia could hardly react in time to place her shield in front and block the attack, which pushed her back and she toppled onto the ground. The beast found a blind spot and hit Sophia in the arm. She heard a crack and felt a sharp pain in her arm that pounded harder each time. She stumbled back, but continued to hold her shield up. 

The battle continued, even with Sophia’s arm. Although she couldn’t attack, she was holding her own against the beast and blocking every attack with only one arm. 

Then, out of nowhere, the soldier stepped in front of her and blocked one of the attacks, then striked and managed to cut the beast’s face. It held its face and stumbled backward, crying out. 

“Are you okay?” he asked hastily. “Your arm is broken.”

Sophia looked at her swollen arm.”I’m fine. I’ve broken bones before in battle. I’m used to it.”

“Haha! You sure have gotten stronger since the last time I saw you. What was that? A year? Two?”

“I think about three.” Sophia replied,”And also watch out. That thing’s about to strike again.”

“I know, I’m being careful.” he suddenly whipped out his shield and blocked an uncoordinated punch from the goliath beast.

“You’ll...pay.” it said.

The soldier tossed Sophia a bottle with a blue liquid in it. She screwed the cap off and gulped the contents down.”Ugh, it’s worse than last time.”  she looked at her arm as the swelling went down and the pain disappeared. 

“Wow, that was fast.” the soldier said to Sophia, blocking an attack with the shield just in time.”Who brought you bottles of healing anyways?”

“I found them on the road sometimes and somehow knew what they were for. Enough talk. We need to fight this beast together.” 

“I need to go, Sophia. I was only meant to come until your arm was better.”

“Oh. Alright then.” She came in with her sword and lunged it into the beast while saying a quick passage.”God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her.”

Sophia managed to strike the beast. It shrieked in pain and landed on its knees. Just as Sophia was about to strike the final blow, the beast swept its arm hard at Sophia’s leg, knocking her to the ground. She fell hard as the beast took her by the legs and swept her into the air, then plunged both fists into her back. Sophia smashed into the ground and lost consciousness.

“Hello? Are you awake?” A man’s voice asked. 

Sophia slowly opened her eyes. There was a bright light. She sat up quickly and tried to look at the light, but it seemed to blind her.

“Who.. is that?” she asked herself.

A hand full of scars reached out, clearly wanting her to take it. Sophia did and it pulled her up. The light was still bright, and seemed to come from the man’s face.

“You were knocked out cold, but I carried you away and fought the battle for you.” His voice also sounded like the flow of a dozen rivers. 

“Oh..I see.” Sophia knew deep in her spirit Who this Man was. She could feel the holiness coming from His very presence.”So..bright. Who are You?”

He looked at her, but she could not see His face, for it was shining like the sun, maybe brighter.

“You can call Me Lord.”

Sophia felt her breath stop and her jaw dropped a little bit. She couldn’t move, couldn’t comprehend the love in the presence of the Lord. She thought that she had felt holiness before, but she had not. 

“Come. I must lead you to the Land of Promise. You are very close.”

Sophia stood for a moment, too shocked to speak. Along the way, she had heard of people travelling for nearly 60 years. She had expected this, but did not expect to come so quickly after only ten years.

“Already?”

“Yes.”  was all He said. He held out His left hand for her to grab.

“But..I don’t feel worthy. I haven’t been very faithful.”

“That is not for you to decide, beloved.” He said.

Sophia looked up once more to see that His face was no longer shining, and she could look straight into His eyes. They were brown, almost hazel. His hair was a dark chocolate brown as well. His skin was tanned and He wore a white robe and a golden crown sat atop His head. His face was set in a sweet smile and His eyes seemed to almost pierce any darkness hiding itself inside of Sophia.

“Okay.” She walked up to Him, joy overflowing like a glass full of water inside of her and a love so unexplainable seeming to cover every inch of her being. She grabbed His hand and instantly felt comfort and peace within her.

“Let’s go.”

The Lord led her to a clearing with a path. On both sides it was covered with flowers, the most beautiful that Sophia had ever beheld. She almost wanted to stop to sniff them. The two kept walking until Sophia suddenly stopped and remembered the soldier.”Lord, what about the soldier? Did we leave him alone back there?”

The Lord looked at her kindly and patiently,”He is in the Land of Promise.”

Sophia felt relief and peace once again and nodded. The Lord led her to the door which was made out of beautiful pearls and the walls surrounding it were covered with beautiful jewels and rubies. Sophia could feel more holiness inside of the walls. It seemed to come through the cracks of the door. 

The Lord spoke the word “open” and the door opened on command. Then, He looked at Sophia and said,

“Well done, good and faithful servant. You’re finally truly home.”

Sophia’s armor plummeted off as the holiness filled her and she was freed from every ounce of burden. She had finally heard Him say,”well done.”