Also by Vanessa Davis Griggs
Ray of Hope
The Blessed Trinity Series
The Truth Is the Light
Goodness and Mercy
Practicing What You Preach
If Memory Serves
Strongholds
Blessed Trinity
Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.
Redeeming Waters
VANESSA DAVIS GRIGGS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Also by Vanessa Davis Griggs
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Discussion Questions
Teaser chapter
Copyright Page
Dedicated to the memory of my late friend Irene Egerton Perry,
who fought and survived breast cancer; however,
lost her fight against brain cancer. I miss you much!
Still, in all of this, I take comfort in my belief that
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
To all who may have dreams and goals, but at times you feel
like giving up or have felt defeated: Keep working toward your
dreams and goals, knowing that should you fall, should things
come against you, someone—a friend, a loved one, someone you
might least expect—will be there to help you up, to grab and even
hold the banner, if needed, to keep the dream alive and to help the
ultimate essence of the dream to continue on....
Acknowledgments
All praises to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for all that I am and all that I ever hope to be. For loving me so much that You would choose me, in every sense and connotation of the word. Thank You for strength and all that you’ve given me along this journey we call life on earth as well as my life in Heaven to come.
I give honor to my mother and father, Josephine and James Davis Jr. I thank you for giving me life and for nurturing me throughout the years with love and belief. But I thank you most of all for introducing me to Jesus, my Lord and Savior, who loved me so much that He gave His life so that I might not just have life, but life more abundantly.
I dedicate this book to Irene Egerton Perry, a good friend, who lost her life in August 2010. She was a writer. We met at a publishers’ conference in October 1999. She was full of life, with never-ending ideas, drive and dreams. Irene and I talked about the business of publishing and writing on so many levels. She had so many dreams left inside of her she didn’t get to fulfill. I want to encourage all of you to please live each and every day you have on this earth to the fullest. No, things may not be going the way you had hoped, especially by now. But if you’re still here, then you still have the opportunity to do things. Through all of the noise and disappointment, look for the good and celebrate that.
My sincere thanks to Selena James, my editor at Kensington /Dafina, and all of the hardworking, dedicated people at this publishing house for allowing me this opportunity to have yet another book that will prayerfully bless millions of people, should God see fit that we reach that many. To my husband, Jeffery; my children, Jeffery, Jeremy, and Johnathan; my grandchildren, Asia and Ashlynn: the depth of who I am has been increased by having each of you in my life. I thank you for helping to fill that depth with love that springs up and out of me for each of you and to so many others. To Danette Dial, Terence Davis, Cameron Davis, and Arlinda Davis, who never fail to let me know that you care, and also for cheering me on as I run this race God has given me. I believe faith really can move mountains. So may the mountains in your way always recognize the power of God’s spoken Word when you speak it and tell them to move, mountain, move!
To Bonita Chaney, a friend and prayer warrior: I don’t know why things happen, but I know it has been a joy when you and I have gotten together and released God’s Word, through prayer, into the atmosphere. I love the power of one being able to put a thousand to flight, but then two putting ten thousand to flight is something I know God has called us to do for such a time as this! Thanks to Vanessa L. Rice, Zelda Miles, Linda H. Jones, Rosetta Moore, Shirley Walker, Ella Wells, and Stephanie Perry Moore for the people you are, not only to me but to all whose lives you touch in your own special way.
I am forever grateful to all who have been in my corner for so long (some of you from the beginning), and am equally grateful for the new people just discovering my books. Thank you for one more opportunity to share with you what God has given to me. Please know that God loves you so much that He won’t let me bring you anything but the best I have in me to give. I am always in absolute awe of what God is doing. And I say this with confidence: I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future! Again, thank you for things done large and small to help spread the word about my novels. Thank you for choosing my books. And please know I love and appreciate you so much!
Prologue
And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
—2 Samuel 23:4
It was summertime, school was out, and with sky-high temperatures reaching near one hundred degrees, even the bees appeared to be chilling out from the smothering heat. Ten years old, Brianna and Alana were outside on the long, covered front porch playing a game of Monopoly—the board type, not something electronic like all the other children their age normally played. Brianna’s father, Amos Wright, didn’t believe children should stay cooped up in the house watching television and playing video games all day. Brianna didn’t mind; she liked being outside. On the other hand, Brianna’s mother, Diane, would have preferred her daughter do things inside, especially on scorching hot days like this.
Around midday, suddenly and unexpectedly, dark clouds rolled in.
“Girls, it looks like it’s going to rain. You probably need to come inside now,” Brianna’s mother said as she stood holding the front door open.
“We’re on the porch, Mother,” Brianna said. “We won’t get wet on the porch.”
“Well, if it starts lightning, I want you to come in the house immediately. Do you two understand me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brianna and Alana said in such perfect uniso
n that it sounded like one voice.
“Older people sure are funny when it comes to rain,” Brianna said after her mother closed the front door.
Alana loosely shook the two white dice around in her hand, then threw them on the board, rolling a double three, automatically garnering herself another turn. “I know,” Alana said as she counted out loud and advanced her wheelbarrow six spaces. “Boardwalk,” she said with obvious disappointment.
“Yes!” Brianna said, picking up her title deed card to that property. “Let’s see now, with two houses, you owe me six hundred dollars!” Brianna held out her hand for payment.
Alana slowly counted out the money, leaving her with only a small amount of money to play with. “It’s a good thing I’m close to passing go and collecting two hundred dollars,” Alana said. “I just hope I don’t land on any of your other properties on my next roll, or this game will pretty much be over—two hundred more dollars or not.”
The rain started pouring down. And then the sun, just as quickly, came back out, brightly lighting up the sky even as the rain continued to fall.
“Look!” Brianna said. “The sun is shining while it’s raining!” Brianna got up and walked over to the top step. “Wow. With the sun shining like that, all of those falling raindrops look like diamonds bouncing all over the walkway. Do you see how they’re sparkling as they hit?”
Alana stood up and walked over to Brianna. “You do know what this means, don’t you?”
“Know what what means?”
Alana turned and grinned at her friend. “When it’s raining and the sun is shining.”
“No. What?” Brianna could see that Alana was pleased, knowing something that she apparently didn’t.
“It means that the devil is beating his wife.”
“It does not,” Brianna said.
“Yes, it does. If you don’t believe me, then go ask your mother. She’ll tell you.”
“Well, I don’t believe you because the devil doesn’t have a wife.”
“Apparently, he does,” Alana said with a snarky shake to her head as she moved her face in toward Brianna’s. “That’s why the sun is shining while it’s raining: to let us know that he’s beating her. I feel a little sorry for her even if she is the devil’s wife. It’s got to be bad enough to be married to the devil. Then to have him beat on you like that . . . Then again, she should have known better than to hook up with a creature like him. I mean, what did she expect when she married the devil?”
“Well, I’m not going to let any man ever beat on me,” Brianna said. “Not ever.”
“They say if you stick a pin in the ground, you can hear her screaming when he’s beating her.”
Brianna frowned, then winced. “Who would want to hear anything like that?”
“Hey, let’s go get a pin and see if we can hear her. That way, you’ll see whether what I told you is the truth or not.”
Brianna and Alana hurried into the house. “Wait right here while I find two pins.” Brianna started upstairs to her room, then stopped and looked back. “Does it matter what kind of pin it is? A straight pin, a hat pin, a safety pin, or is it actually a writing pen . . . ?”
Alana shook her head. “As long as it pierces the ground, it should work.”
Brianna came back quickly and handed Alana a large safety pin. They started toward the door.
“And just where do you two think you’re going now?” Brianna’s mother asked as she walked out of the kitchen into the den wiping her hands on a dish towel.
“To listen to the devil beat his wife and to see if we can hear her scream,” Brianna said as easily as though she were saying that they were going to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Brianna’s mother shook her head as she smiled, but didn’t protest—essentially telling Brianna that she had no objections to what they were about to do or the idea of it.
Brianna opened the large, lead-glass door and allowed Alana to go out first. Brianna grinned. She saw him before he saw her, and she ran full force, straight into his arms. “Granddad!” she said.
“Hey there,” sixty-year-old Pearson Wright said as he picked her up and spun her around two full turns. He set Brianna back down. The two of them now stood close to the man who had come with him. “So where are you two going in such a hurry?” Pearson asked.
“We’re going to listen to the devil as he beats his wife and to see if we can hear her screaming.” Brianna held up her safety pin to prove they were serious.
“Oh, that,” her grandfather said as he looked back at what he’d just come in out of. “You’re talking about the rain with the sun shining. That’s a beautiful sight for sure: rain and the sun shining at the same time, a phenomenon that’s always fascinated folks.”
The good-looking man standing next to her grandfather began to chuckle as he smiled at Brianna.
“Gracious, where are my manners,” Pearson said. “This is my granddaughter”—he placed his hand on top of Brianna’s head—“the lovely and talented young poet and short story writer, Miss Brianna Wright.”
“And this”—Brianna pointed to Alana as soon as her grandfather finished introducing her—“is my best friend in the whole wide world, Alana Norwood.”
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Alana Norwood. And this is David R. Shepherd, aka King d.Avid,” Pearson said, pronouncing it “King dee-Avid.” “That’s a small d, period, capital A, small v-i-d. You’re looking at the next world-renowned, recording artist.”
“Are you a real king?” Brianna asked the tall man with black wavy hair and caramel-colored skin. She placed her hand in the man’s waiting hand he’d presented to her to shake.
“No, not in the way you may be thinking,” King d.Avid said. “But I do plan—with your grandfather advising and managing me—to rule the world of music someday.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Brianna said. “I plan on being the queen of something myself. Just not exactly sure what I intend to rule over. But I’m going to be somebody great, or at least produce something great one day, just like you. I promise you that. A lady at church spoke that Word over me last year. That’s what she called it: ‘A Word from God.’ ”
“I’m impressed,” King d.Avid said, smiling at her as he continued to hold her young hand in his. “And I believe that.” He gave Brianna a slight bow with his head, then let go of her hand. He reached over and held out his hand to Alana. “And you are the best friend of the queen-to-be?”
Alana walked over, shook his hand, and giggled. “Yes. Although, it’s likely we’ll both be queens. That’s how a lot of friends roll, you know.”
“Absolutely,” King d.Avid said. “It’s always good to be in the company of those who are going somewhere, instead of hanging around people who are going nowhere. That’s precisely why I hang with Mister Wright, here, the way I do. The man is good at what he does.” He glanced over at Pearson. “And I believe he’s going to help get me where I’m destined to be.” King d.Avid turned his attention back to Alana and gave her a slight nod.
“So, how old are you?” Alana asked.
King d.Avid laughed. “Why, I’m twenty-five.”
“You’re kind of old,” Alana said, turning up her nose slightly. “Me and Brianna are only ten. Well, we don’t mean to be rude, but we need to finish before the rain stops just as quickly as it started. Otherwise, Brianna won’t believe that the devil really is beating his wife.”
“Okay.” King d.Avid sang the word. “But I don’t think the devil really is beating his wife. Because I don’t think that the devil is married.”
“That’s what I told her,” Brianna said triumphantly with a grin.
Alana trotted down the steps into the rain and stood in the grassy, manicured yard. She looked back up at the porch, her eyes blinking with the raindrops before she eventually shielded her eyes with her hand. “Brianna, will you come on, already!”
Brianna hurried and caught up with her friend. They unlatched their safety pins, kneeled down, stuck
their pins into the ground, and placed their ears over their respective pins with the rain drenching them and all.
Pearson shook his head, laughed, then escorted King d.Avid into the house.
Chapter 1
The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
—Job 14:19
Brianna Bathsheba Wright Waters looked out of the window of their three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom house at the rain. A “starter home” is what her twenty-three-year-old (three years her senior) husband of eight months, Unzell Michael Waters, told her over two months ago when they bought it.
“Baby, I promise you, things are going to get better for us down the road,” Unzell had said after they officially moved in. “I know this is not what either of us envisioned we’d be doing right about now. But I promise you, I’m going to get us into that mansion we talked about. I am.”
She’d married Unzell at age nineteen, a year and a half after her high school graduation, as Unzell was finishing his final year at the University of Michigan. Unlike most women she knew, Brianna wanted to marry in December. The wintertime was her favorite time of the year. She loved everything about winter. It wasn’t a dead period as far as she was concerned. To her, that was the time of rest, renewal, anticipation, and miracles taking place that the eyes weren’t always privy to. Winter was the time when flower bulbs, trees, and other plants could establish themselves underground, developing better and stronger roots. Winter was the time when various pests and bugs were killed off; otherwise the world would be overrun with them. Brianna loved the rich colors she would be able to use in a winter wedding: deep reds and dark greens.
But she equally loved summertime. Summer was a reminder of life bursting forth in its fullness and full potential after all seemed dead not so long ago. Summer now reminded her of her days of playing carefree outside, truly without a care in the world.
So she and Unzell married the Saturday before Christmas. It was a beautiful ceremony; her parents had spared no expense. After all, this would be the only time they would be the parents of the bride. Her older brother, Mack, might settle down someday. But even if he did, they would merely be the parents of the groom, which was a totally different expense, experience, and responsibility.
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