“Of course I would have. But see, you’re assuming he would have been sick anyway. Why did God allow him to get sick in the first place? I’ve read my Bible and I’ve heard all the stories of great healings, both in days gone by and in other places around the world, so why not Thomas?”
“Do you believe Thomas is in Heaven? Do you believe your parents are there as well?”
“Yes. But that doesn’t…”
“Think about it before you start trying to go down that road. If they are in Heaven, we will see them again. God simply took them home first. Who knows what tragedies might have awaited them here on earth if they had stayed. And yes, it is hard on those left behind. But we don’t have to go through it alone.”
“I’ve always felt alone. Even when I found Jason, my ex, and I thought he understood, he didn’t. I was just an easy girlfriend at college because his fiancée was four hours away. I shared things with him, thinking he truly was sympathetic, but in reality, he was just going through the motions to humor me and keep me complacent.”
“He sounds like a real piece of work and you’re much better off without him.”
“I know that. Until Justin…”
“Yes?” Sarah asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Well, I really like him and he says the same, but he doesn’t understand why I can’t trust God.”
“Neither do I. Have you ever stopped to think about all of the blessings He’s bestowed upon you?”
“Blessings? What blessings?”
“That answers my question. Thursday is Thanksgiving. Why don’t you take some time over the next few days and try to answer that question. I promise you if you will, you’ll start thinking about things a whole lot differently.”
Jessica didn’t think so, but after several more minutes, she promised to think on the issue. She even promised to share some of those blessings, provided she could come up with some, with Justin the next time she saw him.
Chapter 20
Jessica spent Saturday night alone. Justin and his brothers had found the lost hikers, but one of them needed medical attention, and all three brothers had ended up in Vail at the hospital. They decided to spend the night, but Justin had promised to come back at first light, saying his Sunday School class was counting on him.
He’d once again urged Jessica to come to church with him, but she once again refused. Not as vehemently as she had in weeks past, but she refused nonetheless. After hanging up the phone, she heated up a bowl of soup and sat in front of the fire, her mind replaying everything Sarah had told her.
Blessings? What counted as a blessing?
Her mind drifted back to her childhood when the ladies in the church were always telling her how lucky she was to have her grandmother. Okay, that could be a blessing. Number one. Yay!
Her grandmother had been a blessing. If she hadn’t been around and willing to raise a young child, even though she was advanced in her years, Jessica might have ended up in South Africa with her parents. She could have been killed, or worse yet, taken as a hostage.
Okay, her grandmother really was a blessing.
As she thought about her life, she started adding more blessings to the list. Grandma always had plenty of food and money to buy the things they truly needed. No, Jessica didn’t get everything she’d wanted, but she had everything she needed and a little more.
She’d been raised in a Christian household, giving her life to Jesus when she was only six. She’d known she was loved.
She’d gotten into the college of her choice. Her grades had been good enough to earn her a partial scholarship. She’d thumbed her nose at God, but still she’d never felt abandoned by Him.
That thought caused her to pause. She’d abandoned God, but in her spirit, she’d always known He was waiting in the wings. Wow!
That thought floored her. She’d done everything wrong and still, somehow, God had been there waiting for her to come back around. She jumped forward to Jason. That hadn’t been God, that had been all her. She’d ignored the small voice inside her head, warning her he wasn’t the right one. She’d set herself up for failure.
She tried to stay mad at God for taking her grandmother, but the woman was 92 when she passed away, and she’d done so in her sleep. She hadn’t suffered, or had to suffer the indignities of being moved into a nursing home. She’d died peacefully in her sleep with her Bible clutched to her chest.
Tears filled her eyes as she realized how unfair she’d been to God. She’d held onto her anger, hoping to use it as a shield against the pain of loss, but had only succeeded in hurting herself in the process.
She fell to the floor, tears streaming down her face as she cried out to God to forgive her unbelief and misplaced anger. She used the entire box of tissues, and still the tears flowed.
Tears for her parents. Tears for her grandmother. Tears for the little boy and his family that would never see him grow up. She even shed some tears over Jason. For the emptiness that had to exist inside the man – otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to treat her so callously.
On a whim, she took a page from Justin’s catharsis book and fired up her laptop. She pulled up Jason’s email address and typed him a quick note.
Jason,
I know you will be shocked to read this, but I needed to send this for my own healing. I feel sorry for you and for your future wife. You used me for your own purposes, callously abusing my emotions, my time, and my energy, all so that you wouldn’t have to face being alone while at college.
I’m here to tell you that I forgive you for doing it. I’ve discovered something that I hope one day you’ll experience as well. Even though I turned my back on God, he never turned His back on me. I’ve started to make things right with Him, and part of that involved forgiving you.
So, I forgive you. I also pray that before you and your fiancée get married, you will do some soul searching and see if you aren’t running from God as well.
Please don’t contact me as I am putting that part of my life behind me. I’m taking the lessons I’ve learned with me, and I hope you do the same. I wish you a happy life. Please know that I am doing everything in my power to find a happy life for myself.
Jess
She hit send, and then closed the computer. She felt better! Amazingly, she truly did feel as if that part of her life was over. But there was still something missing. She didn’t have anyone to share her transformation with.
She thought about calling Chloe, but didn’t want to upset the mother-to-be. She thought about calling Sarah, but it was almost midnight, and she figured the woman would already be in bed. She turned down the lights, and then she remembered how her grandmother had always celebrated, after Jessica had gone to bed.
Her grandmother would turn on some worship music, and spend time with God. Singing. Praying. Talking. It didn’t matter, but she’d spied on her grandmother more than once and been amazed at how happy she’d seemed during those moments.
She retrieved her computer and found an online Christian radio station. She turned the audio player on and just listened. Song after song talked about God as a friend, as a shelter in the midst of the storm, as a good father. She sat there in the dark and let the words soak into her spirit.
She drifted off to sleep at some point, her computer battery finally dying as well, plunging the house into peace and quiet.
She woke up as the sun peeked through the windows and sat up on the mattress. She hadn’t even changed her clothes the night before, but she still felt refreshed!
She glanced at the clock and suddenly felt a sense of urgency. Church was due to start in twenty minutes, and she’d never before felt such a strong desire to be there. She didn’t have any skirts, but she donned a pair of corduroys, a sweater, and her boots. The church was located three blocks away, so she grabbed her keys and was pulling into the parking lot as the church bells rang out announcing the morning service was about to begin.
She f
elt very uncomfortable as she got out of her car, and really wished she didn’t have to walk into the church by herself. A pair of arms wrapped around her neck.
“Jessica! Welcome!”
Jessica looked up into the eyes of Shelley, and standing right behind her was Sarah. She gave the woman a hug and then walked to Sarah. “Thank you. I did what you suggested, and…” She broke off as tears filled her eyes.
“Enough of that. This is a morning of celebration. Come on. Justin’s going to be so thrilled!”
The two women bracketed her, each taking an elbow and escorting her into the small church building. She saw Mason and Kaillar sitting towards the back, and gave them a small smile when they grinned at her, and Kaillar gave her a thumbs up.
Justin was down front, talking to Pastor Jeremy, but the whispers of her arrival quickly reached his ears. He looked up, and the smile that split his face was one she would never forget. It was filled with joy and…love? He came towards her, almost running down the aisle.
“Jessica! You’re here!”
“I’m here. I have so much to tell you, but…”
“Later. Come, let’s sit down. I want to hear about everything, but right now, I want to enjoy having you sitting beside me during the service.”
Jessica allowed him to escort her back to the pew he shared with his brothers. She did her best to brush off her rusty hymn-singing skills, finally remaining silent and just allowing the moment to wash over her.
She’d come to Colorado to escape the events and her past in Arizona. She’d not only found a new beginning in her career and her love life, she’d found a new beginning with the One who had made all things possible.
As the service continued, she couldn’t wait for the coming weeks and months ahead. She was where God wanted her to be, and she was determined to live every moment and make it count.
Book 2: Mason
Chapter 1
Sunday before Thanksgiving, just above Silver Springs, Colorado…
“Gracie, did anyone happen to check the weather report before we headed up here?” Becca Edwards asked, watching the ever darkening sky with a sense of trepidation. She liked nature, but her experience of being in the mountains during a storm of any kind was more than limited. It was non-existent.
The gathering black and grey clouds were alarming, and they seemed to be getting closer and lower with each passing moment. A storm was brewing, and they were fixing to get caught right in the middle of it.
“Sure I did. They were expecting maybe a few snow flurries tonight and tomorrow, but nothing big,” Melanie Jenkins, now Melanie Walters, told her. “It’s not supposed to get real bad until next week.”
Melanie and Becca had become best friends when they’d become roommates at college four years earlier. Melanie had been a business major while Becca was a journalism major, specializing in outdoor photography. She was currently hoping to land a job as a wildlife photographer with the Division of Wildlife.
To that end, she needed some spectacular outdoor shots of the Colorado Mountains. She and Melanie had hiked in these mountains many times over the last few years, and being that Melanie was headed across the country to work in her father’s company the day after Thanksgiving, they had decided to make this last minute trip.
Melanie had gotten married three months earlier to her high school sweetheart via the Internet. Her husband, Master Chief Michael Walters, had just returned from his second tour in Afghanistan, and was currently undergoing a debriefing period in Colorado Springs. He was due to get his discharge papers at the end of the month. At that point in time, Melanie and her husband would be moving to Florida, and Becca was afraid that she’d never see her best friend again.
The third member of the hiking group was Gracie Shelton. She was a seasoned hiker and climber, and up until a month ago, their third roommate. The three had been together for several years, and shared a bond and sisterhood only friends who had weathered life’s storms together could appreciate.
Gracie, unlike the others who had grown up in a city environment, had grown up in Silver Springs, although she’d been gone since she was fourteen. Her parents had moved to the Denver area just before she entered high school, and while she’d never been back to visit, a part of her heart had always remained in Silver Springs, given to a teenage boy her age when they were much too young to understand that life didn’t always work out the way they wanted it to.
Now she was back, and ready to check out the small town. Gracie was in a class by herself, having skipped ahead in her schooling after leaving Silver Springs; she’d graduated from high school with two years of college already accomplished at seventeen. She’d gotten accepted into medical school at nineteen, and at the age of twenty-two, was now ready to begin her career.
She’d graduated from medical school a few months back, and been prepared to work as an emergency room physician while she decided if she wanted to specialize or just practice family medicine. She’d been having a hard time deciding just where she wanted to practice or what kind of medicine she wanted to do; nothing appeared to fit or feel right.
Then she’d seen the ad for a doctor in Silver Springs. It seemed that Doc Matthews was getting ready to retire, but hadn’t told anyone in town yet. He wanted to bring in a fresh young doctor, to work alongside him over the next six months. Then he would step out of the picture, allowing the new doctor a chance at owning their own practice in the small mountain town.
It was a dream come true, and she’d immediately emailed him her resume. She had explained about having grown up in Silver Springs, and Doc had immediately inquired about both of her parents, having recognized her surname. He’d delivered her, along with half of the town, and it seemed that he never forgot a name.
She’d had several phone conversations with the man over the last two months, and it had been decided that she would start on December first. She hadn’t gotten very far into her planning for the move when she had overheard Becca and Melanie talking about making a trip to Maroon Peak. Since it was directly above Silver Springs, she’d asked if she could tag along, and had laughed at the look of relief on both women’s faces. They both liked the outdoors well enough, but when it came to serious hiking, they were amateurs and they knew it. Gracie did not fit into that category.
She had contacted Sarah and made arrangements for her and her two friends to stay there for a few nights. Melanie was driving to Colorado Springs on Wednesday to spend the holiday weekend with her husband, and though Gracie had asked Becca numerous times about her plans, her hurting friend had been very quiet and noncommittal. Gracie was hoping she could get Becca to open up to her during this trip.
A gust of wind drew her attention skyward, and she watched the storm clouds gather over the mountain. A sense of urgency to seek shelter assailed her, and she knew that the chances of them making it down the mountain before nightfall were slim. At least, not without some assistance. The sunlight was completely hidden by the dark clouds, and the air temperature was dropping fast. The sky had been blue when they first set out on their hike, but two hours later, it was hard to remember what it looked like. They were in trouble, and needed to get back to town. Immediately.
There were several problems with that though. It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and they’d passed no other hikers or campers in the area. On top of that, they were currently on the opposite side of the mountain from the closest cell tower, meaning that they had absolutely no cell phone service.
None of them had short-wave radios with them, and Gracie mentally kicked herself for not having the foresight to stick one in her camping pack. She knew better, having grown up on the mountain, but this trip had been a hurried last attempt to help Becca get some pictures, and she hadn’t taken the proper precautions before leaving Denver. She only hoped they wouldn’t all pay a hefty price for that mistake.
They couldn’t even call for help from their present location. Deciding that it was time to speak up and t
ry to salvage this trip, she got Becca’s attention, “We need to head down.”
“But I haven’t gotten the shots I want yet.” The park ranger had told them there was a nest of eagles at the top of the Northern Trailhead, and had described the location of their nest. That was their current goal, but not one they were going to see today.
Of the three women, Becca was the least likely of their group to handle a difficult hike down. Six months previously, she’d been attacked while walking across a parking garage late at night, and since then she’d been different. No longer confident or willing to take any sort of risk, the fact that she’d wanted to come up on this mountain had been what Gracie saw as an attempt to return to normal.
Becca had healed physically, but mentally and emotionally, she seemed to be suffering from what Gracie thought was classic PTSD. Night terrors. Jumpy in strange situations. Being stuck atop a mountain in the middle of a winter storm was not something she would handle well, or at all. She’d been prone to panic attacks since the attack, and Gracie didn’t even want to think about having to talk her down from one of those while also fighting Mother Nature.
She did seem to listen to Gracie, turning to her for help and support, but Gracie knew what she had to offer wasn’t enough. She had tried to get her to attend some group counseling sessions, but Becca had adamantly refused, saying she was handling everything just fine and didn’t need to share her emotional meltdowns with a bunch of strangers. She was hoping to find the young woman someone to help her before she left town, but so far, that hadn’t occurred. Becca was handling things on her own, and in her own way, and Gracie’s biggest fear was that once she left Denver, Becca would completely shut down and isolate herself away from society. That would be detrimental to her ever recovering from the attacks and living a normal life.
She met Becca’s gaze and told her, “I know that you wanted more time to shoot up here, but those clouds aren’t going to go away. And if we don’t get over to the other side of the mountain before nightfall, no one’s even going to know we’re up here. Trust me; we don’t want that to happen.” The park ranger would know they’d come up, and if she looked, she’d see her vehicle in the parking area, but those were pretty big ifs, and Gracie would rather save herself than depend upon a stranger to do so.
Three Brothers Lodge - The Complete Series Box Set Page 10
