The Tempted Soul: An Amish Quilt Novel by Senft Adina

Author:Senft, Adina [Senft, Adina]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781455517930
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2013-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,

Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

Her voice only broke once, on the last line. She looked up. Was he trying to punish her? Had he found out somehow about her journey in the market wagon on Friday and this was his way of telling her?

“Carrie, don’t look at me like that.”

She closed the book. “How did you find out?”

His callused hands, which were reaching across the table, hitched. Then he took hers in both of his. “Find out what?”

“That I went to the fertility clinic on Friday.”

For a moment, the kitchen was so quiet she could hear the clock ticking over the door. “You did? And what did you learn there?”

So she told him. It was pointless, but she did it anyway, more to punish herself for having such hopes and being so foolish, than to give him information. The samples, the drugs, the needles, the cost—she told him everything.

“Thirty thousand dollars to have a baby?” He sat back, and her hands slid out of his. She folded them on top of the Bible.

“That’s just to conceive it. I think it might cost nine or ten to go to the hospital and have it.”

“I think our way is easier,” he said with a feeble attempt at humor. “As you say, the old-fashioned way.”

“I want you to know,” she said steadily, “that I’ve given up. Even if the bishop were to say the treatment is the next best thing to a Honda generator and everyone should have one, I wouldn’t do it. We have no way of coming up with that money short of selling the farm.”

“Which would not be wise. I suppose we could bring up our family in a buggy, but it would be cramped.”

His face was so gentle, his eyes so kind, that her own filled with tears. “I’m sorry I’ve put you through this. I know I’ve made you think that I think less of you somehow—that because we can’t have children that you’re less of a man and I’m a defective woman. But it’s not so. You’re far too good for me.”

“God does not create defective people,” he told her. “Every one can serve Him in their own way. Ours will just have to be as friends and neighbors, not as parents. Until God decides otherwise.”

“He won’t.”

“Don’t be so sure.” He reached under her hands and opened the Bible again, where a slip of ribbon lay between the pages to mark Psalm 113. “He has kept all these promises to us so far, Carrie. Look. We were poor and needy, and he raised us up with better work that I can do with joy and confidence.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.