And for some odd reason, Ty’s embarrassment about taking this trip down memory lane to prolong his time with Winnie didn’t feel so ridiculous after all.
10
Winnie closed her eyes and let the Sabbath Day sunshine coming in through the tall windows behind the dais pour through her soul. She took a deep breath and exhaled away all the busyness of the holidays, all the stress of having her sister in town, all the newness of going out with Ty.
They had not made plans to attend church together, though dinner last night had turned into one of the best meals she’d ever experienced. She opened her eyes and looked down at her phone, which rested in her lap.
She swiped it on and navigated to the picture of the two of them. They both leaned into the center of the table, and she smiled at the slightly asymmetrical shape of his smile, and then took in the joy on her own face.
Yes, that had been the best date of her life, the doorbell panic attack notwithstanding.
The services started, and Pastor Glover got up to deliver her sermon. Winnie sank further into the upholstered pew, as she’d come to enjoy the woman’s lectures.
“Today, I would like to start with a couple of scriptures.I love diving into the Bible, because each verse can hold so much personal meaning to the one reading it.”
She gripped the sides of the pulpit where she stood, and she had a way of sweeping her eyes across the crowd while seeing every single person individually. At least Winnie felt seen by her, and she tapped away from the picture of her and Ty and over to her digital app for the scriptures.
“Jeremiah, chapter twenty-nine, verse eleven,” Pastor Glover said. “For I know the plans I have for you.” She looked up and lifted her glasses up on top of her head. “Stop for a moment and consider this simple verse. Do you believe it? Do you believe that God has a plan for you? An individual plan, and that He knows it?”
She shook her head, reseated her glasses, and murmured. “I love thinking about the Lord like this—that He knows me personally, and getting that affirmation right here in the Bible.” She drew a breath. “Now, let’s couple that with Hebrews, chapter ten, verse twenty-three.”
Winnie couldn’t tap fast enough to get over to the new book of scripture. So she simply looked up and took in Pastor Glover’s energy as she read it.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” She looked up and removed her glasses again. “Unswervingly, my brothers and sisters. What have you ever done in your life with absoluteunswervingenergy?”
She put one hand down on her Bible, which rested on the pulpit in front of her. “God is asking us to hold to the hope we have in his plan unswervingly. And He will deliver. He alone is positively unswerving, and He alone keeps every promise He has made, and He will absolutely be faithful to those promises.”
A smile bloomed on her face. “Isn’t this amazing? Don’t these two verses just make you want to raise your hands toward heaven and say, ‘Thank You, Jesus.’?” She beamed her faith and happiness out to the congregation. “That’s how I feel. God knows me, and He knows you,and He knows each and every one of His children. Not only that, but He has a plan for each of us—me, you, and everyone—and He is unswervingly faithful to us each in guiding us toward and along that path.”
She nodded then, and Winnie’s heartstrings sang with truth. Pastor Glover continued to speak, telling a story about a time in her life when she’d lost her way, when the path and plan God had for her had been obstructed by darkness, but Winnie once again simply let her feelings take shape inside her mind and heart and soul without needing the words.
No, she might not know exactly why God had brought her to Three Rivers, but Winnie did know without a doubt that He had.
Hold unswervingly to my hope, she thought, and Winnie’s thoughts started moving through all the hopes and dreams she had for herself.
Marriage. Motherhood. Maybe a small-town farm with her cats, as well as a donkey or a couple of pygmy goats. Something simple and small that would feel big to her, the way the sky existed right around her but also extended across the whole world.
Definitely a donkey, she thought, and her smile touched her mouth and emanated through her whole body.
Before she knew it, Pastor Glover had finished her sermon, and the choir sang their closing number. Winnie stood after the benediction, and she smiled to the couple across from her, an elderly man and his wife, and let them enter the aisle first.
She followed them out of the chapel and into the foyer, where Pastor Glover stood with her husband and brother. Winnie joined the line of people to shake her hand, and when she got to them, she actually leaned in and hugged the pastor.
“I loved that sermon,” she said brightly. “You’re so good at public speaking.”
“Thank you, dear,” she said.
“How was the party at Signs for Success?” Cactus asked, and Winnie suddenly remembered that these two were Mitch’s parents.
“Amazing,” she said. “The steak was delicious—almost as good as the brownies I brought.”
“Oh, Mitch told usallabout the brownies,” Willa said. She grinned over to her husband. “I bet Cactus would trade you beef for brownies, because I’m terrible at baking.”
“Cactus would,” he said, and they laughed together.
Winnie moved out of the way, tightening her jacket across her chest as she exited the church and the January wind tried to steal her sleeves right off her body. She leaned into the weather and hurried toward her car.
“Whew.” She pushed her hair back and pulled out her pantleg that had gotten stuck under her body for how quickly she’d dove into the car. She looked up and out the windshield to see Tyson with one hand pressed to the top of his head, holding his cowboy hat in place, and driving forward against the wind too.
