A Sister's Hope by Wanda E. Brunstetter Page A

thank God for His many blessings. She thought about the sacrifice God had made to send His Son to earth to die for the sins of the world and how Jesus had suffered so those who believed in Him might have eternal life.
    Nothing we’ve had to go through can compare with the suffering Jesus endured, Grace thought. Even what Mary and Joseph went through as they searched for a place where Mary could give birth had to have been stressful.
    She watched Esta, dressed as Mary, enter carrying a baby doll in her arms. Grace thought about how God had told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt because Jesus’ life was in danger. Trials and suffering would always be part of life, she realized, but it was how people chose to get through those trials that made the difference. They could either cry about their troubles and live in fear, or they could trust Godand rely on Him to see them through. Tragedies either drove people away from God or drew them closer to Him. Grace hoped everyone in her family would draw closer to God during this Christmas season and keep their focus on Him, not the unpleasant circumstances that had been brought into their lives.

    Martha pulled the heavy quilt on her bed aside and sank onto the crisp, white sheets. She’d spent all day waiting on Mom and Dad and was exhausted. She rolled onto her back, watching the evening shadows dance across the ceiling and trying to relax. As tired as she felt, sleep refused to come.
    Ping! Ping! Ping!
    Martha bolted upright in bed and turned on the battery-operated lamp by her bed. It sounded like someone was throwing something against her window. She jumped up and raced over to the window, pulling the curtain aside. A man wearing Amish clothes, bathed in the light of the full, bright moon, appeared to be staring up at her room.
    She opened the window and stuck her head out, hoping to see who it was.
    “ Psst. Martha! Can you come down?”
    The man looking up at her was Luke. Martha willed her heart to stop throbbing.
    “I’ll be right there!” She closed the window and slipped out of her nightgown and into a dress and sneakers. She quickly did up her hair, set her kapp in place, and tiptoed out of the room. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stopped and listened, hoping Mom and Dad weren’t awake. Except for the soft snores coming from their room, all was quiet. She grabbed her jacket from the wall peg and slipped out the back door.

    The smile Martha gave Luke when she stepped up to him took his breath away. “Luke, what are you doing here?” she asked.
    “Came to see you.”
    She glanced around. “I don’t see your horse and buggy. I hope you didn’t walk all the way over here in the cold.”
    He shook his head. “I drove over in my truck, parked it down the road a piece, and came the rest of the way on foot. Didn’t want to take the chance of anyone hearing me come in.” He leaned casually against the trunk of a tree and reached into his jacket pocket, hoping she wouldn’t know how nervous he felt. “I wanted to give you this,” he said as he pulled out a paper sack.
    “What is it?”
    “Just a little something for Christmas.”
    “Ach, Luke, I wish you hadn’t done that.”
    “Why not?”
    She dropped her gaze to the ground. “Because I have nothing for you.”
    “That’s okay. I didn’t expect anything.” Luke pushed the paper sack at her, and she lifted her gaze. “It’s not much, but I thought you might like it.”
    With another smile that warmed Luke’s heart, Martha took the sack and peered inside.
    “It’s a book on grooming and boarding dogs. I figured since you’ve had some trouble breeding dogs, you might like to try something different for a change.”
    Martha removed the book from the sack and stood staring at it.
    “If you don’t like it, I can take it back. I bought it at a bookstore in New Philly, so it won’t be hard for me to return.”
    Martha shook her head. “No, no. I like the book. Danki,