Page 53 of A Cowboy's Convenient Marriage

Chapter 21

Cash looked out onthe congregation that he used to consider his. It was the Lord’s congregation, the Lord’s people. He was just the under shepherd. Jesus was the real shepherd, and his job was to point people to Jesus. To help them in their Christian walk, and remind them of the gospel.

Maybe he’d been successful at times, maybe he hadn’t. He supposed time would tell. And eventually, he’d either hear ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant’, when he got to heaven, or... Something else. He definitely wanted that ‘well done’.

He looked over the crowd, seeing some familiar faces, seeing others who were not so familiar, seeing beloved friends, and he picked out his parents toward the back. That brought a smile to his face. He was glad that they could be here for this.

And then, as his eyes scanned the front, he saw his wife sitting there. She was gazing up at him with admiration, and he thought that she, perhaps more than anyone, knew how much this meant to him and maybe even how difficult it could have been.

But he felt no hard feelings, and could honestly examine his heart and say that Jesus had given him the grace to somehow overlook everything that had happened.

“I’m glad to be back in front of you today. It feels like coming home to come into the sanctuary. It’s beautiful, and the faces of familiar and welcoming friends were definitely a joyful experience for my wife and I. That’s my wife, Ada.” He smiled, as Ada glanced around, and waved a bit at people who waved to her.

He didn’t mean for her to be an afterthought. She wasn’t. She was the most important thing. And, as he saw her sitting there, watching her, he knew that she would be, unlike what he thought, a perfect pastor’s wife for a church like this, or church in Sweet Water.

Interesting, that he had two offers in front of him. The Sweet Water offer might end up being nothing, since Ezra had just said that it was contingent on Pastor Stone leaving, and the congregation voting him in. So it definitely was not a given. But he could come here, where he knew for sure that he would get voted in. They weren’t considering anyone else except for Pastor Stone. But if Cash made the decision to come, they would drop Pastor Stone in a heartbeat. John had told him as much.

“This church means so much to me. You guys were with me when I was starting out, and you came on board as the church grew and so did I. The Lord grew the church, not me. But, I love each and every one of you, and still do. That includes Zoe. I understand that sometimes we make mistakes, and just like we want other people to forgive our mistakes, we need to forgive the mistakes others make against us. It’s in the Lord’s prayer, right? Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors?” He smiled at the congregation, feeling at home in front of them, and this pulpit. The feeling of familiarity and belonging and that everything was right oozed through him.

“I wanted to thank you for this opportunity to stand up here and publicly say that I’m not holding anything against anyone. God has forgiven me freely, and he commanded me to forgive just as freely as He’s forgiven. It would not be right of me to hold anything against anyone.”

He thought of the command to freely give. It meant so much more than just material things. It meant of his time, of his energy, and yes of his forgiveness as well. It could mean to freely forgive.

“We’re to forgive whether we think people deserve it or not. I can say, that, perhaps when I left hear, I hadn’t completely forgiven. I felt a little bitter, I felt a little angry. I felt...like I hadn’t been given what I deserved.”

He looked again at Ada, sitting there hanging on his every word. She looked like she was enthralled by him. It definitely gave a man some encouragement to keep talking.

“But, as I stared at the pieces and started my life in Sweet Water, I was given opportunities that I could not have dreamed of. One of those was when I met the woman who is currently my wife, Ada. I was challenged by her. By her spirituality, by her walk with God, by her kindness and service to others. By her absolute and total love for God’s people, and she said something to me once that stuck with me, and probably always will. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. She said, I don’t see your faults. I focus on the good. I realized that was the way I needed to be. I need to make sure I didn’t focus on someone’s faults. But I needed to focus on the good. Because, we all have faults, don’t we?”

There was a murmur throughout the crowd.

“And we all have a choice. We can look at what is bad about someone, we can focus on that, or I can look about what is good about someone, and focus on that. And, that’s what I choose to do. Focus on the good. Every day, I think of Ada, and I think about how God brought her into my life. And, if Zoe hadn’t done what she did, then I wouldn’t be married to Ada right now. Ada was the best gift that God has ever given me. Nothing could outshine her beyond my salvation. So, I want to stand here and publicly thank Zoe for what she did. She might have meant it for bad, but God meant it for good. I didn’t see it at the time, but I can clearly look back and see that everything that I went through was for my good, the growth, my encouragement, faithfulness, and most especially, for the wife I got through it all.”

He smiled again at Ada, and from the distance, he could see her eyes sparkling. Perhaps that was a tear that was rolling down her cheek.

Yeah. Because she reached up two fingers and swiped it away. And gave him a tremulous smile.

He meant every word. He did not deserve her, but God had worked out the evil that had been in his life, and had done it for his good.

“If I had fought, if I had argued, if I had railed against God, and refused to see that there could be anything good about this, I would have missed the biggest blessing of my life. So, if you’d like to take a lesson from what I’ve learned over the last few months, it’s that no matter how bad things are in your life, God has a plan. He’ll take you through it, and He’ll give you blessings that you can’t imagine on the other side, but you need to handle it the right way. You need to handle it with love and compassion, looking for the good. Focusing on that. And, as much as you are able, ignoring the faults in others, because that’s how you want people to treat you, right? Ignoring your faults. I’m blessed to be married to a woman who does just that. And, I’m grateful to the Lord for the privilege of being Ada’s husband. Thank you.”

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