Meleah's Western - Part 44

Welcome Western Wednesday Readers,
In
case you were wondering, no, I didn't get the other Western finished.
My nephews were here Friday night as well and last night I was too
tired to do any thinking.:) (I'm writing this Sunday afternoon since we
won't have Internet at the conference, so I have to get this ready to
post before we leave in the morning. That is why I said "last night."
Confused yet? I am.)

I'd
love to get a lot of this Western written when I come back, but we'll
see. Did you realize I've written an average of one Western a week
since the beginning of the year? I'd say that was pretty good since the
last Western I posted in December was Part 24. And there are more
things to happen that I know about and maybe some I don't know about.
Ah, I am enjoying Meleah's Western. Hope you all are too.

Part 44

“Jesus Christ will never leave you if you come to him.”
“I can’t!”
“Why not?” that gentle voice persisted. “He has promised that all who
come to Him, He will in no wise cast out.”
“I can’t pray.” The misery and distress in Sally’s voice was more
pathetic than even the heartrending cry for her brother had been.
“Why not?” Joe repeated.
For several seconds, Sally could only cry, then, in a voice muffled by
her hands, she answered, “My prayers n--never seem to go h--higher than
the ceiling a--and I know God doesn’t hear them.” The last words ended
in a sob.
“Oh, you poor child,” murmured Joe, his face, had she seen it, betrayed
his compassion. “Sally,” he began gently, “if you and I were in the
same room, and you asked me something, do you think I would hear you?”
“Y--yes,” Sally stammered, sniffing.
“You wouldn’t say I couldn’t hear you, even if I was standing behind
you and you couldn’t see me?”
“No.” This time Sally ventured a timid look at the face of her
companion, wondering what he meant. Of course he would hear her if he
was in the same room even if he was behind her.
“Then have you never read the words of the Lord Jesus when he said,
‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,’ and again
‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee’? If He is with us always,
then why must our prayers reach beyond the ceiling? He is with us
wherever we are.”
For a moment she looked at him, her eyes full of this new thought, then
suddenly she buried her face once more in her hands and sobbed forth,
“Then why doesn’t he heal Ty?”
“Sally,” very gently, “do you trust me?”
The question, so unexpected, caught Sally off guard. Did she trust Joe?
She knew instinctively that she did, but why? What was it about him and
the rest of his family that made her feel that she could trust them?
They were perfect strangers to her only a few days before.
“Do you?” the question was repeated softly.
Wordlessly, Sally nodded, her face still buried in shaking hands.
“Then, if you were to ask me for something and I was to tell you to
wait and trust me, would you say I hadn’t answered you?”
In the fast, waning light of day, the shake of Sally’s head was almost
undetected, but Joe was watching. “Sometimes the Lord Jesus tells us to
wait and trust Him. Can’t you do that, Sally?”
It was a full minute before Sally spoke and then in tones so low that
had not the evening hush already closed over the world, even Joe, who
was sitting beside her and listening, wouldn’t have heard them. “I want
to trust. Help me.”
And there, out in the peaceful evening, as the stars came out one by
one, Joe and Sally prayed. And in heaven, the angels were rejoicing
over the new lamb brought home to the fold.
At last Sally gave a long, weary sigh and looked up. Her face, still
streaked with tears and showing signs of her struggle, wore a look of
peace which Joe had never seen before. She shivered and he, pulling off
his jacket, wrapped it around her, for the air was growing cooler.
Neither one spoke. Sally was gathering strength to face the night with
its unknown results and trying to hush the tiny voices of worry which
still persisted in tormenting her. Joe sat and waited.
At last, when Sally still didn’t move, he spoke, “Are you ready to go
inside?”
She looked up at him, nodded, and allowed him to help her to her feet.
“Thank you,” she whispered as they started toward the house.
A smile and a gentle pressure of the hand was his only response.
Pausing on the doorstep, Joe turned to the girl at his side and asked
in low tones, “Will you not go and try to get some sleep now? Jack
doesn’t think there will be any change before midnight.”
Only an hour before Sally would have rebelled against such a thought
and have insisted on sitting up even if she couldn’t be in the sick
room. Now, however, her heart was at rest and, feeling exhausted, she
nodded assent but added, “Promise you’ll waken me if’n there’s a
change? I want ta know.”
Joe promised, and Sally, without a word to anyone, slipped into her
little room and shut the door. There, before she lay down, she dropped
on her knees
and prayed. What did it matter if her prayers only reached the ceiling?
Wasn’t there Someone here in the room with her? With that comforting
thought, she closed her eyes and slept.
A hand gently shook her shoulder and Joe’s soft voice called her name.
Starting up quickly, her heart pounding wildly, Sally waited for the
news.
“The fever has broken and Ty’s sleeping.”
In that moment of relief and excitement, Sally did what she would never
have done otherwise, she flung her arms around Joe’s neck and kissed
him. “Oh!” she gasped, letting go, her cheeks flushing scarlet at the
realization of what she had just done. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what
I’m doin’ an’ ya’ve been just like a brother to me, an’--” she broke
off in confusion.
“It’s all right,” Joe said, and Sally could tell he was smiling. “I
know I’m a stand in for Ty right now. Jed is with him and Carson is
sleeping. I’d suggest that you get some more sleep or Jack will give me
what for for waking you.”
“I’m glad you did. Thank you.” And her words were full of feeling.
“You’re welcome. Now sleep,” Joe whispered back from the doorway as he
slipped out.
After a prayer of gratitude to her loving Friend, Sally slept again and
it was quite late when she again opened her eyes.

Anything you want to know?