Come Before Winter – Chapter Nineteen
December 19th, 2021
2 Timothy 4:21, “Do your utmost to come before winter.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN – Fancy That
It was way too easy to forget her purpose, why she really had come all this distance. It seemed very surreal and yet discouraging if Mercy gave it too much thought. ‘Do your best to come before winter,’ haunted her in her sleep, taunted her while she was awake. She texted with Patsy numerous times throughout most days and no further communications had ever been received, and Mercy had walked the streets and asked sparse questions containing no details with which to ask. Everyday she found herself on a dead-end street. It was like her dad had vanished and eventually materialized and then vanished once again. Was it for good this time?
She made—and had—an appointment with a social worker who was kind to meet with her but really could have cared less about a coldcase. The woman might know someone who knew someone who had been on staff at the time and might be able to be of some assistance. She’d make a call, but Mercy really didn’t expect to receive any information. Most days she felt she had wasted money, time, a chapter, or maybe even a book of her life, once more let down by promises from the man who was supposed to be her protector, her everything.
But the flipside of it was, Mercy was proud of herself for her bravery, for being successful on her own, for ‘doing it’ actually as it would have been so much easier and less painful and less time and cost consuming to have ignored the phantom request from someone she didn’t know. She’d look back someday and have no regret; of that she was certain. She loved exploring, even if she wasn’t able to maybe finish what she had come to find, and she was beginning to respect Gwen and their growing relationship. The parttime help she was able to offer helped Gwen and helped herself for sure. Sometimes the quiet was dreadful, and on days when she didn’t work at the Giver, she seldom even heard her voice, unless of course, she talked aloud to herself just to hear someone talk. The more time that passed, the more her dreams faded and the less insistent and persistent was the gentle voice in her mind that seemed to be wanting just to set her free from herself. Just when her longing and homesickness began to subside, however, something would prick her and remind her how far away she truly was, sending her into a slump again for a few days.
She’d admit though, it was growing colder in this place as fall moved into winter, and Mercy agreed with herself, she wasn’t really a fan of the cold. She fantasized about snowboarding and ice skating and even tobogganing, but she knew she never would. She didn’t have the money and means or resources and friends, so it was just a daydream. The impending weather though chided her…’Do your best to come before winter.’
‘Well sure,’ Mercy had just felt the vibration of her phone in her back-pocket and had answered when she saw it was Gwen. Work? she wondered. But no, that wasn’t what Gwen had in mind. Meet her at Continuum? Mercy wondered. That was an odd idea. There was someone there Gwen wished to introduce her to. Hmmm…’Well, sure,’ she heard herself answer, while her questions conflicted in her mind. ‘When were you thinking?’ Unfortunately, Gwen knew Mercy had nothing else going on, so an excuse was not likely forthcoming.
‘Well, we can’t go during office hours now can we since I’d need you to cover for me and then you’d need me to cover for you,’ Gwen paused and laughed at herself. ‘How about tonight? I’ll pick you up after work. There’s someone special who I think you might like to meet. What say?’ Trepidation filled Mercy, but her gut told her there wasn’t any missing this, and who knew, maybe just maybe, this would lead her somewhere she needed to go…
Jeremiah 29:10-14, ‘This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for Me, you’ll find Me. Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.”’ (MSG)
To Be Continued…
