Page 110 of Wish You Faith

That sounded like the first volley of a potential argument—their first quarrel, if it came to that. Was Rosie on Mom’s side? Evan wasn’t sure. He tried not to be sensitive about it, but he did not want Rosie to side with Mom at all. Not in anything. Not ever.

“What do you mean?” he asked carefully.

“Maybe she’s like an insurance company whose default answer is always no? No matter what you ask her, she will always say no.”

“Interesting take.”

“How about finding another approach or angle, and ask again?” Rosie suggested.

“Like what angle?”

“Let’s pray and ask God,” Rosie said.

“Now? We already said grace before we ate.”

“Does the Bible say we can only pray once at a meal?”

Evan put his fork down on the plate. He closed his eyes. “You go ahead.”

He waited.

Slowly, Rosie began to pray. “Father God, thank You again for bringing Mei, Mom, and me safely to Seattle without any flight problems. It’s a beautiful Friday to see Evan again and have lunch with him. Thank You for the unexpected surprises, including the one coming up on Sunday when we take Mei to church with us.”

“Thank You, Lord,” Evan whispered.

“Lord, You know Mei’s heart and why she is who she is. You know all about her. She is fearfully and wonderfully made, as Your Word says in Psalm 139:14. You are her creator, whether she acknowledges it or not. You have given her a will to choose and make decisions.”

Evan wasn’t sure where Rosie was going with it, so he waited.

“I pray that You will guide Mei to make the right decision regarding Cavanaugh Shipping. If it’s Your perfect will for Evan to work for this company from Savannah, then I pray that You will work out every detail and move Mei’s heart to match Your plan. If it’s not Your will for Evan to work at this company, then I pray that You will provide a new job for Evan that he will just love and enjoy getting up every weekday to go to.”

Evan smiled. It was how he would have prayed.

“Either way, we know that You want Evan and me to be together. Others might be able to live in separate cities while married, but for us two, we want to live in the same house all year round and maybe even carpool to work. I leave it in Your hands, Lord. In Your holy name, I pray. Amen.”

“Amen!” Evan opened his eyes.

After they finished their lunch, Evan shook his head. “I’m surprised you get along with Mom.”

“For now.” Rosie tapped her lips with a paper napkin. “She had a kind heart but a hard shell.”

“How so?” Maybe he wasn’t objective enough, being shrouded in the fog of war with his parents. He had already forgiven Mom on Christmas night, but he still had to deal with matters of emotion.

“She is sweet to my mom, especially after finding out she survived Stage 4 cancer,” Rosie said. “She flew us out here for free and invited us to stay at her house. She even offered to pay for our return tickets, but I turned her down.”

“She thinks she can throw money around.”

“She wants to be liked and loved, you might say.”

Evan nodded.

“But I see it differently. She does all the above not because of Mom or me, but because of our association with you. It’s you she’s doing all these acts of kindness for.”

“Me?”

Rosie nodded. “She can’t do it for you directly because you won’t accept it, so she does it for the people around you. See how much she helps your older brother? She knows that he will be there for you.”

“Are you defending her now?”

---