Crossing's Redemption
Page 9
John stopped in front of Patricia. “Call me if you need me.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
As John walked away from the house, Melody sat down beside Patricia. “I’m sorry I shocked you. I suppose that wasn’t the best way to approach the subject.”
“How did you find out?”
“Jake was worried about you, and he called Mom. The poor man is very confused, but he was able to give her enough details that she figured it all out. Why didn’t you tell us you’ve been sick?”
“I’m not really sick.”
Melody grimaced. “Aunt Patty.”
“They are just panic attacks.”
“Were you having them last fall when David and I came?”
Patricia thought for a moment about skirting the truth. Pride doesn’t give in easily, Lord. “Yes.”
“And they are all about me?”
Patricia reached out and grabbed Melody’s hand. “No, child. They are all about me—trying to deny truth for too long.”
“I have questions.”
“Go ahead and ask. Anything you want to know. I owe you that much.”
“Aunt Patty, don’t you see? You’ve already given me so much. You gave me life. You made sure I was protected and loved. You walked with me while my child died. And then you took me in while I was hurting and only wanted to hurt others.”
Patricia’s eyes filled with tears. “I could not do less.”
“I can’t imagine the sacrifices my life has cost you.”
“You listen to me. You are a blessing. The sacrifices I made were largely self-imposed and caused more pain. About the only good decision I made during those months was to give birth to you.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, and Patricia enjoyed the multi-colored sky as the sun set and night took over. The crickets were beginning to sing their chorus, and Patricia thought she heard an owl in the distance.
“Why? Why give me to your sister?”
Patricia took a deep breath, allowing herself to remember the heart-wrenching days as she let Dorothy become Melody’s mom. “Because I didn’t think I would be the mother you needed, but I couldn’t take the chance on giving you to a family I didn’t know. I wanted to be a part of your life, no matter how small that part might be.”
“Mom said you were the one who named me.”
“After one of my favorite flowers.” Patricia smiled. “That plant down there on the corner of the porch . . .”
“The one with the little pink bells?”
“Yes. Most people call it Mediterranean pink heather, although it’s really a heath plant.” Patricia shifted in her chair slightly before continuing. “It’s a small plant, never growing much more than about twelve inches tall, but it’s strong. It not only survives the tough Northwest winters, but it usually blooms before spring arrives.”
“That explains my middle name, but why Melody?”
“Because that plant is also full of life. Animals love its sweet flowers and dense ground cover, so a song of one type or another is always coming from it, depending on who’s nestled into it.”
“That’s quite a lot to live up to.”
“The circumstances of your conception may have been horrid, but I knew God had a plan for you. And I wanted to give you the best foundation I could.”
Melody squeezed Patricia’s hand. “You did a good job, Aunt Patty.”
“You aren’t hurt or angry?”
Melody shook her head. “No. I wonder what would be different if I’d have grown up with you as a mother instead of Mom. But I’m okay with it all. God wasn’t surprised by any of this. He knew the choices we would each make, and He’s working it out for our good.”
“Dorothy did a good job with you.”
“I suspect she had a lot of prayer support happening here in Crossing.”
Patricia smiled. “Come on. I have some cake inside. We can eat while you catch me up on what’s happened with you since you left here last November.”
Melody reached out to help Patricia stand. “And I can tell you all about the baby.”
“Baby?”
Melody smiled. “I’m seven weeks pregnant.”
Chapter 19
MATTHEW STOOD AT THE CORNER watching Melody tell Patricia the baby news. He smiled as they hugged, rejoicing at the work the Father had accomplished in each of their lives.
“The old one still has a long way to go,” said Michael, appearing suddenly beside Matthew, his golden curls bobbing in the wind.
“Yes,” said Matthew as he turned to face him, “but she is moving again. And her secrets are revealed to some of those she most loves.”
Michael nodded. “The enemy has been effectively pushed back here.” He watched as Matthew crouched down to pet an orange tabby that rubbed up against their blue jeans. “You did well.”
Matthew thought about his moments with the various people of this town, the battles he’d helped them face in the enemy’s desire to destroy them. “They found their hope.”
“And it brought the Father great glory.”
Matthew watched as Melody and Patricia walked inside. He had confidence in what God had worked out in each of them, as well as what God had done in the hearts of the Yagers and Griffins. None of them would be easily shaken again.
“You have a new assignment,” said Michael.
Matthew stood and blew a bit of cat hair from his hands. “Here?”
“Portland.”
Quotes
Chapter 9, Lewis Smedes quote
Justin and Lindsey Holcomb, Rid of My Disgrace (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011), 21% through eBook.
From the bibliography of Rid of My Disgrace: Lewis B. Smedes, Shame and Grace (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993), 80.
Recommended Resources
Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson, 2011
Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb, 2011
Verses to Consider
Genesis 1:26–27 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
Psalm 139:13–16 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 149:4 The Lord takes delight in his people.
John 10:10 [Jesus speaking] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 14:15–18 [Jesus speaking] “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 [The Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Colossians 1:21–23 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds
because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.
Hebrews 4:13–16 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
1 John 3:1–2 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Also by Carrie Daws — book one of the Crossing series
Crossing Values
Paperback: 160 pages
ISBN: 9781935507925
FOR YEARS, AMBER TRAIPSED AROUND the Northwest avoiding the skeletons in her closet. Job-hopping every few weeks, she refused to let anyone get close to her as she slowly made her way east. As winter plants itself firmly across the Rockies, she decides to take a chance on a job at a logging company with a family different from any she’s ever known before.
Watching the family interact creates more questions than answers for Amber. Feeling like she’s entered the happily-ever-after written at the end of a fairytale, she watches for cracks in the facade. Surely as the days pass, the play-acting will cease and the real family will emerge.
Or could she be wrong? Could they truly be genuine? Could Faye understand the trauma from her past or Peter think of her as more than just the winter office help? Could this family really hold the key to what she’s seeking?
Book two of the Crossing series
Ryan’s Crossing
Paperback: 176 pages
ISBN: 9781620201022
AFTER TEN YEARS, RYAN’S PARENTS found his runaway sister, Amber. Now, as he drives to meet up with her and his parents before her wedding, his mind fills with the changes coming. Besides figuring out where she will fit into his life, a job change is on the horizon for him. But should he stick with small town life? Or should he move to Portland, Oregon?
Meeting the family his sister is marrying into only brings more questions. Maybe moving to nearby Portland is the better choice. But something about the town of Crossing calls to him. Is it the friendly people who openly accept him as Amber’s brother or the cute brunette who happens to be sister of the groom?
As Ryan weighs the pros and cons, he decides to put God to the test. Will He answer? Will He let him know which choices to make? And what if Ryan doesn’t like the answer?
Book three of the Crossing series
Romancing Melody
Paperback: 160 pages
ISBN: 9781620201350
NEWLYWED MELODY PODELL GIVES UP everything she has ever known to follow her husband, a soldier in the US Army, across the country to his duty station at Fort Bragg, NC. Army life is not what she expected and she struggles to adapt to it and its constant call on her husband’s time.
Soon after giving birth to their first child and dealing with her husband’s deployment to a dangerous part of the world, tragedy strikes forcing Melody to travel back to home. Walking back into the lives of her old friends in Crossing, Oregon, is the last thing Melody wants to do, but could she be missing something?
Melody must decide if God is trustworthy even when she doesn’t like His plan. Is He really in control? Does He have a plan and a family for Melody in Fort Bragg?
For more information about
CARRIE DAWS
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CROSSING’S REDEMPTION
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www.CarrieDaws.com
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AMBASSADOR INTERNATIONAL
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Ryan’s Crossing Book Club Discussion Sheet
SO YOU WANT TO RECOMMEND to your book club that you read Crossing Values, but then you’d be responsible for coming up with the discussion? Not a problem! Simply download the free Discussion Sheet available at CarrieDaws.com/Freebies and take it along with you.