Season of Blessing Read Free

resulted. He would never tell the children how the church members had insisted that he was demon-possessed when his anger about his broken family surfaced. His father had died with a shipwrecked faith, and just five years ago, his mother died without ever forgiving his father—or the church.
    Brenda didn’t blame David for being bitter about the church.
    â€œBut, Dad, if you’re a facts man, then how come you can’t see the true facts? It wasn’t so long ago that I was dying, and Jesus healed me. Now I’m perfect,” Joseph said.
    â€œPerfect?” Leah grunted. “Get real.”
    â€œI mean my body is perfect. I’m healthy and normal, except for all the medicine I have to take. But I was dying, Dad. God didn’t have to give me a heart transplant, but he did.”
    David met Brenda’s eyes again. She knew Joseph had put him in a tight spot. They had agreed that he would never denigrate the children’s belief in God. But how could he defend his own beliefs without doing that?
    â€œIsn’t that proof, Dad?” Joseph demanded. David swallowed. “To some people it is.”
    â€œBut not to you?” He went back to the paint can and got more paint on his brush. “Dad, it’s like this. You know how I was dying, and I couldn’t be healed without a heart transplant? Somebody had to die so I could live?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWell, that’s a lot like what happened with God. We were all dying, and we had no hope. So Jesus came and died in our place, so that we could have a new heart and a new spirit. So that we could live.”
    â€œI know how it works, Joseph.” David’s aggravation shone clearly on his face.
    â€œBut how could you not want to live?”
    David gazed down at his son. “I think I am living, son. Don’t we have a good life?”
    â€œWell, yeah, but it’s not just this life that you have to consider.”
    Brenda suppressed her smile and caught a black drip cutting down through the white paint. She doubted David had ever had the gospel presented to him in such a clear way. She knew that seeds had been sown, whether they took root or not.
    Joseph was getting sloppier with his painting, but Brenda didn’t dare interrupt. His words to his father hit dead center.
    David reached out and tousled Joseph’s hair. “I appreciate your concern, son. I really do. And I’m proud of you for being able to make your case that way. Someday you’ll probably be a lawyer. If I ever have to face a judge, it’s you I’d want speaking for me.”
    Joseph’s face betrayed his sorrow as he looked up at his father. “When you face the Judge, Dad, I won’t be with you. You’ll have to answer him for yourself.”

C HAPTER
    Three

    Up.…down… up.…down…”
    Tory Sullivan mouthed the words with Melissa, the physical therapist, as she moved Hannah’s legs in an effort to tone her weak muscles. The small woman sitting on the classroom floor had become like a member of their family, ever since Hannah had been born with Down’s Syndrome. Now, at twenty-two months, the child was just beginning to make the effort to stand on her own. Watching the other Down’s babies at the Breezewood Development Center had been an encouragement to Tory, reminding her that these children did develop, even if they did it slowly.
    But the struggle didn’t get easier for Tory. A former Miss Tennessee, she had always expected near perfection from herself and her family. Her home was immaculate and decorated like something out of House and Garden . Brittany, her ten-year-old, was into frills and curls, ribbons and lace, just as Tory had been at her age. Eight-year-old Spencer was a textbook boy—athletic, outgoing, and definite leadership material, even if he was sometimes a handful.
    And then there was Hannah. It was almost like the Lord had declared Hannah the