Prelude
About four years ago my wife and I moved next door to a couple she has been friends with for over a decade. We enjoy their company, and our kids are the same age, so our families mesh well together. Last summer they began to experience marital problems and are now going through a bitter divorce. Neither of them live next door currently yet we still have my wife’s girlfriend over for dinners and to allow our kids to see each other. She has stated many times that
she doesn’t believe in a god who would allow so much evil in the world, so we don’t approach her much on the subject. Part One
We signed our son up to go to a Christian youth camp for a week that was a few hundred dollars to attend. Our friend’s son wanted to go also but his mom didn’t have the money to pay, so we offered to pay for his camp as well. At first, she refused, saying that it was too much money, and she didn’t know when she would be able to pay it back, but we insisted. Eventually she allowed us to pay, and both boys had an amazing time at camp.
Part Two
Her initial reaction was embarrassment mixed with not understanding why we were so persistent in wanting to pay for her son to have a fun week. After we explained that we knew she
was going through a rough time financially, and that we wanted to relieve some stress for her as much as we could, she was excited for her son and thankful we could help. She told us she would
pay us back, but we told her that wouldn’t be necessary as we wanted her to remain worry free regarding this situation.
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