The Secret's in the Sauce by Linda Evans Shepherd

Author:Linda Evans Shepherd [Shepherd, Linda Evans]
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Vonnie

17

Deviled Lunch

Sunday lunchtime at my house was becoming a habit with my family, a habit with responsibility that rested solely on me. I mean, I counted my blessings, glad that Fred and I could have each other, my son David, and my mom and dad at our table. But to tell the truth, I was about Sundayed out.

With mom’s care demands, then the disappointing news she had a fresh ankle fracture, I was stressed to the max. How could I survive another six weeks as her personal caregiver? And how could I do that while I played cook and housemaid to both her and our men?

All I knew was I needed help. In fact, “help!” was the theme of my morning prayers as I somehow managed to peel potatoes, chop carrots, and slice an onion before dumping them, along with my roast, into my trusty Crock-Pot. Of course, all the while I ran in and out of the kitchen in an effort to get both myself and my cantankerous mother ready for church.

By the time I sat down in the pew with Mother, Dad, and Fred on one side and David and Donna on the other, I was ready for a mid-morning nap. And I would have taken one too, if the sermon’s topic hadn’t been based on the text of Psalm 37. As the pastor read it in his NIV, I’d underlined bits of text from verses eight through eleven in my Living Bible: “Stop your anger! Turn off your wrath. Don’t fret and worry—it only leads to harm. . . . But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing and shall have wonderful peace.”

Peace? What would that be like? And as for anger, I’d been more than a little familiar with the feeling of late.

I stole a look at my mother sitting so straight in her pale pink knit suit. Judging by her elegant appearance, no one would suspect how difficult she’d been.

My mind began to wander from the sermon. . . . It wasn’t that Mother had mistreated me as a child. She’d been decent enough, but she’d hurt me over my first husband. Then, she’d betrayed me over my baby, tricking me into signing David’s adoption papers after she told me he died at childbirth, a birth I’d slept through due to the strong medications I’d been given. Yes, I was angry. Yes, I’d love to turn off that feeling, but how? How does one get to that “wonderful peace”?

The only solution I could think of was for God to heal my mother so she could go back home. Lord, please?

But it was my home she would return to this afternoon. Mother and a band of hungry men would soon be expecting Sunday lunch, compliments of Vonnie, cook and self-sacrificing slave to all.

So help me, I sighed as I thought about getting everything on the table, taking care of Mother, then cleaning up the mountain of dirty dinner plates that would be left behind.

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.