Page 99 of Share with Me

Cancer? Hiram has cancer? He looks so… at peace.

The thought lingered in Brinley’s mind throughout the turkey dinner and afterwards when she drove Yun and Aunt Ella back to her parents’ home on Sea Island. She had to take one of Dad’s SUVs since the Bugatti didn’t have room for three people.

After sending her guests off to bed, Brinley found that she was thirsty. Too much sodium in the dishes at dinner? Minutes later she was downstairs in the kitchen, drinking a small bottle of San Pellegrino.

Looking around the chef’s kitchen, Brinley knew her family had everything, and yet they had nothing.

They had nothing compared to Hiram and Yun. Even struggling Ivan had something she didn’t have. Brinley knew she hadn’t meant it completely when she made the deal with Ivan over his then termite-infested porch.

You tell me about the peace of God, and I help you with your peace on earth.

Had she dissimulated? Ivan hadn’t known then that she didn’t really want to know about the peace of God.

Tonight, though, she wondered.

Something about what Hiram said.

If you have Jesus, you have peace.

The ping of the elevator made Brinley turn to look. It was Yun McMillan.

“You thirsty too?” Brinley asked.

“No. I thought I should come downstairs.”

“God told you?”

“Well, I would say Godledme, not necessarily in an audible voice. You see, God and I have a relationship through Jesus.”

Jesus.

Peace in my heart.

All year long.

“I want Jesus, Yun.” Brinley put down her mineral water.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Yun walked to the island where Brinley was still standing.

“That’s all?”

“By believing in Jesus it means you acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins and rose again from the grave to give you eternal life. By believing in Him it means you recognize Him as your personal Lord and Savior. Would you like to pray to accept Jesus into your heart?”

“Yes.”

Divine timing was something unexplainable. Brinley echoed Yun in the simple prayer, asking Jesus to live in her heart, believing that He had died on the cross to save her from her sins, and that He had risen from the grave to give her eternal life.

Brinley thought that the heavens would send angels to carry her up and away, but alas, no such epiphany, though who knew if they were cheering her on at the moment.

All she knew was that for the first time in her life, her heart felt light, as if the burden of a thousand years had been lifted from her chest, the weight of it gone.

Gone!

A pure, unadulterated peace swept through her soul. And then she felt a whisper descend on her heart like a gentle feather. Three quiet words.

Pray for Ivan.

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