Song of My Soul by Ginny Aiken

Author:Ginny Aiken [Ginny Aiken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781585587650
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

Through the window in the store, Phoebe watched Adrian walk away. The night’s shadows seemed to shift and weave, but his stride carried him forward with purpose.

As he’d kissed her, he became the single concrete thing in her universe. Her world tilted in those moments and threw her off kilter, not unlike when she fainted. But instead of the oblivion she experienced when she felt unwell, Adrian’s kiss had made her feel more alive than ever before. He’d kissed her gently at first, with a tenderness that brought tears of joy to her eyes.

Then the kiss had changed. It had sparked with a new, unfamiliar passion. It didn’t surprise her to recognize the richness of her feelings for Adrian. After all, he was as unique and distinct an individual as she’d ever met. But the heated desire that had struck her left her stunned and even a bit afraid.

As Adrian walked out of her sight, she turned and went to her apartment. She pulled out the bureau drawer that baby Lee used for a bed during the days he and Mei-Mei spent with her. With one hand she made a nest of toweling in it. She kissed his smooth ivory cheek and laid him down. A surge of fierce protectiveness rose inside her.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” she whispered. “I promised your mother that, and I’ll keep my promise.” She prayed the Lord would help her keep that promise in this flawed and sinful world.

Phoebe lit the lamp and picked up her Bible. She went to the Shaker rocker Eldress Clymena had given her just before she left North Union and opened God’s Word.

She’d loved John with her whole heart, and she’d grieved his loss. But she’d never known the urgent desire Adrian had awakened tonight.

Was it wrong? They weren’t married, and they’d only shared a kiss.

Memories of Shaker teachings barraged her. Mother Ann’s followers believed that sensual pleasure in the Garden of Eden had caused man’s original sin, and it lay at the root of all evil. Since Jesus remained unwed during His earthly ministry, and since a Christian was to emulate Him in everything, then it followed that the celibate life was essential to purity and holiness, in their view. Scripture did call those who received the gospel of salvation to take up the cross and deny their flesh in every way, and Mother Ann included marriage in that denial. Only then could believers take their place in the kingdom of God.

But Phoebe had never believed that God called everyone to such abstinence. In the book of Genesis, God Himself told His children to go forth and multiply. How else was His creation to continue? Where would the children the Shakers took in to augment their number come from if no one conceived? And the New Testament offered guidance for a good marriage.

But now, in the face of the strength of her desire, Phoebe wondered if there wasn’t some truth in Shaker teaching. Yea, she’d known she had feelings for Adrian from almost the first time they met.

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