Today's Reading
If he wanted honesty, she could give him honesty tempered with kindness. "I think it is important not to pretend, Reverend Covington. I am intrigued by the idea of teaching in your mission area. Sourwood, did you say?" When he nodded, she went on. "But I have no intention of marrying you or anyone."
"Nor did I have intentions to be a preacher or, once I did surrender to preach, to go to the mountains. But the Lord can change our intentions."
"The Lord may have spoken to you and given you a mission. He has not spoken to me." When she stepped away from him, he dropped his hand to his side. The strange urge came over her to move back toward him in the hope he might claim her arm again.
"Are you sure? You did come to hear my message. You seem sympathetic to my plea for help."
"This is the church I attend regularly. I put a gift in the collection they took for you." Her words sounded stiff.
"Such funds are much appreciated, but you have so much more to give." He pinned her in place with his gaze. "Will you do me one favor?"
"I cannot marry you." As he had said, honesty was best.
"I have asked that, and it would be a fine favor, but this is a different request."
"Very well. What is it?"
"Will you pray about what I've asked? Will you let the Lord put that intention in your heart if it is meant to be? As I think. As I hope."
"I will pray for you and for your mission." That seemed a reasonable answer to his request.
"I do covet your prayers, but will you also pray to be open to what the Lord wants from you? I do not believe he ever demands more than we are able to give, and I, should you accept my outrageous request, would never demand anything you are not ready to give with an open heart."
"I will pray for you," she repeated.
His eyes looked sad then, as he nodded slightly. "Thank you. Your presence here was a gift and so will be your prayers for me."
As she turned away from him to find her way out of the church, she wondered if she would ever see him again. For some reason, that thought bothered her. Not because of him, she was sure, but because of her sympathy and concern for his mission.
Under her cloak, she touched her arm where his hand had held her. Despite the frosty chill in the January air, her skin still felt warm. She jerked her hand away and pulled on her gloves. She would pray he would find the teacher he sought.
CHAPTER TWO
Gordon Covington watched Mira Dean hurry out of the church as if flames were rising from the pews. He could hope his words had stirred awake a fire in her heart, but more likely he had simply frightened her.
Perhaps he had been too direct. A fault he always had, but one that became even worse once he surrendered to the calling to preach. He had no time for dithering. Not when the Lord had so plainly pointed out Mira Dean as the teacher he needed. And the wife.
The wife part had shocked her. The idea was somewhat shocking to him as well. After all, they hadn't seen each other for years. He was a different person than when she knew him in school. Back then, he thought of little but the next good time with his friends. And girls. But wasn't that always what young men had on their minds at that age? He had even looked on Mira with favor, but she had eyes only for Edward Hamilton. Other girls were there to grab his attention.
But no other girl had sufficiently caught his interest. Friends told him a preacher needed a wife, but he was unbothered by his single life. Such seemed best when he decided to go to the Eastern Kentucky mountains to ride circuit, preaching wherever ears were ready to hear.
A wife would not want to ride along on the rough trails in all sorts of weather, nor would any of the women he had ever seriously courted wish to stay alone in a mountain cabin while he was away spreading the gospel.
He had faith the Lord would supply his needs, whether of food or shelter, and he had. If the Lord determined Gordon truly needed a wife, he would send the right woman his way. Hadn't Rebekah come to the well to water her sheep at the very hour Abraham's servant was there with a mission to find Isaac a wife?
Gordon sincerely believed in God's provision. So when his heart stirred at the sight of Mira coming into the church, he had no doubt the Lord was doing the stirring. Often in his ministry, the Lord had given him such a poke. Sometimes to stop at this or that cabin or to soften his words in a sermon or to harden them.
Such a nudge was why he had established a mission in Sourwood. That time the Lord hadn't nudged him. Instead, Dugan Foster felt the Lord pushing him to ask Gordon to come minister to his community.
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