She’d cleaned their house and taken their abuse for eight years, never knowing a word of kindness.
Somehow this series of events had led to her current predicament. Standing on a stage in the town hall, terrified, and dressed in clothes she wasn't accustomed to while carriages and horses bustled outside on the busy street.
Someone cleared their throat in the audience and brought her back to the present.
Mr. Voss was impatiently tapping his foot and glaring at her from the front row, his beady eyes angrily searching her face. He was a tall man with a round belly and a cruel hooked nose that was permanently thrust into the air. The words, “you better not disappoint me,” were clearly etched across his stern face. He had repeated them often enough before they had arrived at the hall.
Taking a deep breath, she thought of her favorite verse to give her strength.
(Isaiah 41:10) “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”
She closed her eyes and conjured up a picture of her mother singing her to sleep. She opened her mouth, letting the words pour from her like a nightingale.
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee
Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee…”
She opened her eyes as the rustling ceased. Everyone was silent as they watched her sing, a mixture of surprise and pleasure spreading across the faces in front of her.
“Let the water and the blood
From Thy riven side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure
Cleanse me from its guilt and power…”
Once again she closed her eyes and her lips broke into a smile as she pictured her mother encouraging her, matching her note for note. Every fiber of her being wanted that image to be real. She wanted to run towards her mother. Towards the last place she had ever felt loved.
“Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to thy cross I cling
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to thy cross I cling…”
She was transported in her mind to a place she loved, watching her mother prepare the evening meal in their tiny kitchen as she played with her doll on the steps, her auburn hair floating around her. Not pinned so tightly into place as it was at the moment with that it made her head ache.
“Naked, come to Thee for dress.
Helpless, look to Thee for grace
Oh, look to Thee for grace
Vile, I to the fountain fly
Wash me, Savior, or I die”
“Rock of ages, ooh, rock of ages,
Cleft for me, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in Thee
