How to Say Goodbye?

As some of you already know, I have been leading a Bible study since the beginning of March. There have been conflicts with the people from the Bible study. I asked my pastor for advice. He said, "Are the problems stemming from one person?" After thinking about it for only a short time, I realized all the conflicts were coming from one person.

So, at that point, I had to have a hard conversation with the person. It was a conversation I would rather not have. I said, "You have to apologize to these three people if you want to be part of the Bible study." The person never apologized properly to any of them so she could not be part of the Bible study.

This was a person I helped move their belonging from one apartment to another within our building. Things were never really the same between us after I said she needed to apologize. She didn't want to do it. I would still say hi to her if I saw her, but we never really talked in any depth after that.

The other people in the Bible study who would talk to her would tell me she was telling people I told her she couldn't come to the Bible study. But she could; she just needed to apologize first. So these people who were telling me what this woman was saying were still having conflicts with her. I would say things like, "It will be hard when she is on her deathbed because she will have all these unresolved issues in her mind." I would also say I think I made the right decision with the rule I set up for her.

All she had to do is apologize to some people. But she would say, "Why do I have to apologize? I don't think I need to apologize."

Not less than a week ago, we had one person who was starting to come to the Bible study more often move out of the building. So he had some stuff to get rid of. He told both this woman who I am talking about and another that they could have a piece of furniture he was not going to take with him. He told the woman who is still in the Bible study she could have it first. But they fought like cats and dogs over that piece of furniture. It even got a little physical between them. It seems the woman who I told had to apologize to people (including the person who ended up getting the piece of furniture) didn't like that woman very much.

And now that woman is dead. They took her body out of the apartment on 07/24/2023. I don't know how she died. I was thinking about her death sometimes. I would say to the people who go to the Bible study (but not in the Bible study), "I feel bad for her because she will not die happy. It's sad."

I worked for unity between these people tirelessly for a month plus straight talking to each one of them involved with the conflict regularly. I thought at one point that I didn't know if the Bible study was even going to keep going for much longer due to how few people were showing up for it. I never knew who was telling the truth because different people would tell me different things. But then I realized it was all stemming from one person. This one person I would never expect to be the problem person since before that I never had a problem with them. But it is well known at this point that this woman would lie a lot.

So, now I don't know what to do or what to tell the people in the Bible study. We will have Bible study again this Thursday, but I don't have a clue what it will be about. I want to do something related to this woman dying, but can't for the life of me think of a way to be both honest and hopeful about it. Perhaps God will give me grace on what I should say. I have a few days to think about it.

God bless you. Until next time.