In 2003, I owned a Weight
Control Center. It was a licensed dealership, and the Corporate Office made me an
offer I couldn't refuse. Because of the location, they wanted my dealership for
a corporate training center. So, I struck a deal, sold it to them, and began training other licensed dealerships
for company.
My former center would
continue to be a functioning weight control center, so they interviewed
applicants to manage it and thought to promote my current manager, I'll call her Karen, to a corporate position. They wanted my recommendation before doing
so.
It would have been a nice
promotion both in status and money for Karen. It would have launched a career
for her.
She was a talented young
woman in her late twenties. She was a professing Christian but had confided to
me that she did not live the life. Even so, we had a comfortable and amiable working
relationship. I considered her a friend, and, as she often had to run the weight control center alone, I trusted her to do the job.
During the transition from
licensed dealership to corporate training center, while going through the
files making sure everything was in order for the new manager, it became
painfully clear that Karen had not been living up to the trust I had placed
in her.
She had been managing my
center during a period of violent [dv] abuse in my life. I was being stalked
and had been largely in hiding for several months. I relied heavily on Karen to
manage every aspect of the Center for me during my absences. Though I made
random appearances at the office (usually several times weekly), Karen handled everything, from sales, to counseling clients, and keeping up with client files and daily book-keeping.
The books were in good shape,
and new business was coming in regularly (she was very good at selling the
programs and counseling clients). But it turned out, she had been using most
her free time at my center running her own independent travel agent business and had
woefully neglected our client records (and anything else that I might not
easily detect or that did not require her immediate attention.)
That was my life lesson in
placing too much trust in managers. We are now coming to the part that should
comfort the hearts of believing parents.
The corporate office was awaiting my recommendation as to whether Karen should be promoted or not, and I had been
putting off giving my answer. I was aghast at what I had learned about her job
performance and had reached a decision to recommend that Corporate terminate
her employment rather than promote her. But the Spirit of the Lord interrupted
my plans by emphatically commanding me to, "LEAVE HER ALONE! SHE HAS A
RIGHTEOUS MOTHER!"
Selfish as I am, my first
thoughts were for my own children. And I responded as a parent to God's
command to, "LEAVE HER ALONE!" My immediate response was, "Lord,
my children have a righteous mother too!"
I already knew the Bible
promise that the righteous are blessed AND THEIR SEED. But
that day, the Spirit of the Lord took that understanding to a whole new
level--He spoke directly to my heart and told me that He had Karen in his
sights and was dealing with her in his own special way ... because of his relationship with her mother.
I know there are limits to our
understanding of how God works, and the various trials we go through in our
lives often cry out for answers that we may never get this side of Heaven.
But for good reason, our hope is always in HIM.
Parents do not stop being parents when our children are grown. We still fret
and worry over them, just as we did when they were small. Sometimes even more
so, because now they are no longer under our wing of protection. We never stop praying for the safety and well-being of our children.
I find great comfort in my experience with Karen and the knowledge
that God had a wayward child's back because of her mother's faith. I pray God
will comfort and strengthen all our hearts as we, in faith, stand in the gap
for our children.
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