Bone of my Bones

Bone of my bones I heard the first shot and then another, followed by a deafening cry that cut right through me, there was a big thud. A few moments later I heard frantic knocking on my door, “Help me!” she cried. “Please let me in, my husband just shot me”. I contemplated for a second on what to do, what if he came after her and realizing I had witnessed the crime chooses to eliminate me as well? I quickly grabbed the phone, dialed 911 and then decided to take the greatest gamble of my life. I peeked out of my window, he was a few steps behind her; swiftly I opened my door and literally carried her in and shut the door as quickly as I could. With a split second to think I dragged her as far away as I could from the doorway in case he decides to shoot through. She passed out on my kitchen floor. My hands were horribly bloody; a trail of blood followed from the front of my doorway to my kitchen. As she laid there motionless, I could hear my heart pounding, “think girl think”, I murmured to myself. I grabbed a kitchen napkin from off my stove and began applying pressure to her chest wound; just as I had seen done many a time in the ER series. Her pulse was faint and irregular. Meanwhile I awaited her husband’s wrath to descend upon us any minute; I prayed that the police would show up soon. It was the longest 12 minutes of my life. When they finally did, I was too scared to look up let alone answer in case the perpetrator was still in the vicinity. Paramedics rushed us both to the nearest hospital as they were unsure if I had been shot as well considering the amount of blood on me. I was treated for shock and she was rushed into surgery. She survived surgery but died of a cardiac arrest post operatively. Her name I came to find out was Lorna Forman. Lorna was a mere 26 years old; a mother of two beautiful girls 5 and 3. She was finally putting her life together after being abused for 6 years by her husband. Lorna had suffered in silence but had finally gathered courage to leave him for the sake of her children. She had moved into her new apartment only two days earlier. Her girls were at her mom’s when the vicious animal of a husband broke in. Three days after the incident, I was discharged to a hotel; my home had become a part of a crime scene. I remember sitting at the edge of my bed and though I had an armed policeman guarding me, I was petrified of the “what ifs”. I turned on the radio to my favorite reggae station, coincidentally “Where is the love you promised” by Eric Donaldson was playing! Ten years it’s been and he remains at large and I still watching over my shoulder in case he shows up to complete that which he had begun. He has outsmarted the law for 10 years and who knows, he may never be caught! The above scenario is every woman’s worse night mare; being so afraid of a husband, partner, a friend or a total stranger and be able to do absolutely nothing about it! Domestic violence is an epidemic in this era, every year in the United States alone it is reported that about 320,000 are seen by doctors for abuse and 1,200 deaths among women from the result of intimate partner violence. This form of abuse costs as much as $8.3 billion in related medical and mental services alone reports Baiden Live. It is even more mind bugging when spousal abuse takes place right under the nose of the church for many churches still are of the view that it is better for an abused wife or husband to suffer in silence rather than seek a separation, true I agree marriage is sacred ; So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let not man separate (Matthew 19.6,” however my question again is what does a believer do when he or she is in an abusive marriage? Matthew 18: 15-17 gives three steps which are: a believer who has a conflict with another is expected to address the matter with the other person personally in this instance his/her spouse. If that fails, he is to take one or two other believers and meet with the person with whom they have the conflict, that way witnesses are established and also a proper cause of action is determined. If that too fails, he is to bring the matter before his church in the hope that because the other party is also a believer, it is unlikely that he would fail to resolve the conflict when the church is involved. So maybe it is a good idea when a Christian decides to enter a relationship to ensure that the other party is equally yoked