Rain in Hell

"If I get to Heaven and find her there, I'd rather be in Hell."

Six years ago, an ultrasound diagnosed baby Annie with an incurable birth defect. She'd be born, and then she'd die. 

Doctor Olivia Thackeray walked into the exam room and did the unforgivable. She lied to Annie's mother, badgered her, and finally yelled to coerce her into an abortion she didn't want.

Today, Doctor Thackeray walks into the mother's church. And she's still unforgivable.

An outraged mother and an embittered doctor stand before the same altar, hear the same words, and need the same mercy. But mercy was the last thing Doctor Thackeray had on baby Annie and her mother. She doesn't even remember them. 

With her husband and best friend as her guides, a bereaved mother has to navigate this invasion of her church community. God doesn't want this. How can God possibly want this?

But sometimes God wants things we never dreamed. In this short story, a protective mother learns how a God who requires us to love our enemies can ask a lot of other impossible things along the way.