Reunion (Redemption, #5)

by Karen Kingsbury

I know the plans I have for you, daughter . . . plans to give you a hope and a future, and not to harm you.

Never mind the mistakes she’d made in the past. God was bigger than all of them, and suddenly she was filled with a kind of joy she’d never known before.

God . . . heal me. Let them open me up and find that it’s all a mistake, please, God . . . She hesitated, the whisper of a prayer still on her lips, the stream of water washing the shampoo down her back. If not, God . . . then give me the strength. Please give me the strength.

He entered his office, closed the door behind him, and did the only thing he knew to do. He dropped to his knees, bowed his head, and let the sorrow come. Then he lifted Elizabeth to the God who had created her, the God who loved her and wanted his best for her. The God who was somewhere in this room, weeping right along with him.

You are beautiful, daughter. I knit you together in your mother’s womb.

“Skin color isn’t all we make it out to be,” Sam had told her back then. “I think God must be up there shaking his head, wondering why we chose that as such a dividing line among peoples of the world.”

“Dear God . . .” His words were hushed, meant for her ears and God’s alone. “Please . . . give Elizabeth your peace, a peace that passes all understanding. Let her remember that you are a God of miracles, that you haven’t ever stopped loving her and that you have a plan, even now.”

She wanted to fall to her knees, to beg God to forgive her for every time she’d ever doubted him. But she’d already done that so many times before that here, now, she looked across the park to Landon and Cole and grinned. Thank you, God. I’ll spend the rest of my life being thankful. A verse flashed in her mind, so real, so distinct she wasn’t sure if she’d heard it or just remembered it. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Until now. Now, with storm clouds gathering outside her window, Elizabeth felt a burst of sunlight in her heart, a warmth that had been missing since before her surgery. Peace flooded her being, warding off what had become a permanent chill. “Do not be afraid. . . . Not your will, but mine be done.”

he told me that knowing God’s will was like getting in the car and letting God do the driving. You, the passenger, never have to worry about a thing because God’s at the wheel. No matter how scary the ride gets, God’s in control, and in the end he’ll get you home safely.”

His steps were slow, and she could sense a helplessness in him. John Baxter, strong in every sense of the word, the one whose faith and character had been a rock for this family since its beginning, couldn’t do anything about her cancer. Couldn’t pray it away or will it away or fight it with knowledge and determination.

God had been faithful time and time and time again. That was the type of God the Baxters served. No, they didn’t always get the answers they wanted. But they always got the right answers, even now with her cancer.

God was always faithful. He would be faithful in this, too.

You say to ask anything in your name, according to your will, and you will hear. Please, God . . .

“He always has a plan for us; either to give us a hope and a future here in this world. Or—”

“Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee.”

But they were not without hope.

You were made to be a mother, and a mother you will be. No matter how dark the night, morning always comes, Erin. That’s the message in Lamentations, chapter 3. The basis for my favorite hymn. The dark valleys are not where life ends. Not for you and your desire to have a family, and not for me.’ ”

With Christ there will also be hope and forgiveness and faith and love. “ ‘And most of all, because of what he did on the cross, there will always be his amazing, unlimited, perfect redemption.

And when you come home, I’ll be here waiting for you. Then we’ll have the greatest reunion of all.’ ”