came home from playing with Sally Jane across the road, the child was napping on her bed while Nadine and Kate searched through Victoria’s old clothes for a dress that wouldn’t completely swallow Lorena. Victoria wasn’t the least bit bothered by the prospect of her place as baby in the family being usurped. Instead she put her favorite rag doll beside Lorena and sat down on the floor by the bed to wait for the child to open her eyes.
By the time Victor had come home late that afternoon, Lorena was the same as adopted into their family. That was three days ago. Three days of the little girl sitting at their table eating their food and running around their yard and sleeping in the girls’ bedroom. Finding a place in their hearts as they held back tomorrow.
Now tomorrow had come, and Nadine’s dismay was almost overpowering as her father stepped behind the pulpit to call the meeting to order. It wasn’t simply the look on his face and the way he kept sliding his eyes over Nadine without really looking at her. He knew what she wanted. She had cornered him that morning before worship services in his usual place in the back of the church reading the Scripture and told him straight out that she and Victor were willing and able to give Lorena a home until her parents came back for her.
Her father had breathed a heavy sigh and placed his finger on the Bible page to hold his place before he looked up at Nadine. “You know her parents will never come back for her, Nadine. They tossed her aside as easily as we might get rid of a stray cat.”
“They were desperate. They didn’t have any way to feed her,” Nadine argued.
Up in the front of the church, the men’s and women’s Sunday school classes were being taught on opposite sides of the pulpit. Because of the heat, the children’s classes were being held outside under the shade tree.
Her father raised his eyebrows and peered at her over his reading glasses. “They had a way to get gasoline. Don’t you think food should have come before gasoline for their automobile?”
He didn’t expect her to answer him, but she did. “We can’t know their reasons or motives.”
“That is true, but we can know and examine our own motives. The Lord surely placed this child here for a reason, and we must do what is best for the child without consideration of our own selfish desires. Now leave me so that I may receive the holy message the Lord would have me deliver to my people today.” He looked back down at his Bible in dismissal.
Nadine stared at the thinning gray hair on top of his head and dared to speak again. “Doesn’t the Lord promise to give us the desires of our heart?”
He pulled in a breath and let it out slowly as if having to work to control his temper. When he did finally speak, his words sounded calm enough, but his eyes showed anger with her refusal to bend to his will. “Psalm 37:4. Nadine, you know it is sinful to pick and choose this or that portion of Scripture to justify one’s faulty thinking. The first of that verse says to delight thyself also in the Lord. You must first do that, and then you will be standing in the will of the Lord and not be desiring in your heart things that are not of the Lord.”
She refused to back down even in the face of the storm gathering in his eyes. “How could wanting to care for a homeless child not be of the Lord?”
“Enough.” His voice boomed out so loudly that the people in the Sunday school classes looked around at them. He stuck his fingers and thumb up under his glasses and rubbed his eyes to compose himself before he went on. “It will be decided what the Lord’s will is for the child at the meeting this afternoon. But it would be well for you to remember, Nadine, that the Lord has already blessed you with three daughters.”
So it was with much trepidation that she brought Lorena back to the church that afternoon. Nadine’s heart sank as she saw the people gathering in the church. Her father
By the time Victor had come home late that afternoon, Lorena was the same as adopted into their family. That was three days ago. Three days of the little girl sitting at their table eating their food and running around their yard and sleeping in the girls’ bedroom. Finding a place in their hearts as they held back tomorrow.
Now tomorrow had come, and Nadine’s dismay was almost overpowering as her father stepped behind the pulpit to call the meeting to order. It wasn’t simply the look on his face and the way he kept sliding his eyes over Nadine without really looking at her. He knew what she wanted. She had cornered him that morning before worship services in his usual place in the back of the church reading the Scripture and told him straight out that she and Victor were willing and able to give Lorena a home until her parents came back for her.
Her father had breathed a heavy sigh and placed his finger on the Bible page to hold his place before he looked up at Nadine. “You know her parents will never come back for her, Nadine. They tossed her aside as easily as we might get rid of a stray cat.”
“They were desperate. They didn’t have any way to feed her,” Nadine argued.
Up in the front of the church, the men’s and women’s Sunday school classes were being taught on opposite sides of the pulpit. Because of the heat, the children’s classes were being held outside under the shade tree.
Her father raised his eyebrows and peered at her over his reading glasses. “They had a way to get gasoline. Don’t you think food should have come before gasoline for their automobile?”
He didn’t expect her to answer him, but she did. “We can’t know their reasons or motives.”
“That is true, but we can know and examine our own motives. The Lord surely placed this child here for a reason, and we must do what is best for the child without consideration of our own selfish desires. Now leave me so that I may receive the holy message the Lord would have me deliver to my people today.” He looked back down at his Bible in dismissal.
Nadine stared at the thinning gray hair on top of his head and dared to speak again. “Doesn’t the Lord promise to give us the desires of our heart?”
He pulled in a breath and let it out slowly as if having to work to control his temper. When he did finally speak, his words sounded calm enough, but his eyes showed anger with her refusal to bend to his will. “Psalm 37:4. Nadine, you know it is sinful to pick and choose this or that portion of Scripture to justify one’s faulty thinking. The first of that verse says to delight thyself also in the Lord. You must first do that, and then you will be standing in the will of the Lord and not be desiring in your heart things that are not of the Lord.”
She refused to back down even in the face of the storm gathering in his eyes. “How could wanting to care for a homeless child not be of the Lord?”
“Enough.” His voice boomed out so loudly that the people in the Sunday school classes looked around at them. He stuck his fingers and thumb up under his glasses and rubbed his eyes to compose himself before he went on. “It will be decided what the Lord’s will is for the child at the meeting this afternoon. But it would be well for you to remember, Nadine, that the Lord has already blessed you with three daughters.”
So it was with much trepidation that she brought Lorena back to the church that afternoon. Nadine’s heart sank as she saw the people gathering in the church. Her father
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