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Janet made a profession of faith in the Lord when she was seven.”
    “Yes, and you remember how we talked with Janet when she claimed to be saved but had no desire for spiritual things.”
    Adrienne nodded. “And she swore she was saved. What else could we do? We couldn’t ram salvation down her throat.”
    “And she’s quite obviously been running from God ever since she left this house to live on her own. And then there’s Lewis,” Nolan said with a note of disgust in his voice. “How—”
    His words were interrupted by a knock at the front door.
    “I’ll get it,” he said, letting go of Linda’s limp hand. “You stay with her, dear.”
    While Nolan was gone, Linda looked up at Adrienne and said, “Mom, I want to die.”
    “Linda, please don’t talk this way. You’ve still got your whole life ahead of you. The Lord has someone else for you to marry.”
    “No. My life is nothing now.”
    “Honey, listen. Right now, the full impact of this terrible thing is on you. This is the worst part. It’s totally understandable why you feel like you do. But believe me, it will get better as time passes.”
    “I’d rather be in heaven, Mom. I don’t like this wicked old world, with all its heartache and pain.”
    Voices came from the hallway, punctuated by footsteps.
    “Please, Linda,” Adrienne said, “don’t talk about wanting to die. Everything will work out. The Lord has a plan for your life.”
    Pastor and Mrs. Lloyd Stanford and Beth Chalmers followed Nolan into Linda’s room. She watched them impassively.
    Beth forged ahead of Nolan and touched Linda’s hand. “Hello, sweetheart. Are you doing any better?”
    Linda’s eyes softened. She loved her Aunt Beth. “I … I don’t think so.”
    Beth forced a smile. “Well, it’ll all work out for the best. God’s Word says so.”
    Linda held her gaze but said nothing more.
    The Stanfords drew up beside Adrienne. Doris leaned down and said, “I know you’re hurting something terrible, Linda. I can’t say I know
how
you feel, because I’ve never been through what you’re experiencing. But I know you’re hurting more than you ever have in your life. Pastor and I have come to tell you we love you, and to see if there’s anything we can do to help.”
    The preacher leaned close and said, “Linda, Jesus knows you’re hurting. He loves you more than anyone else in this room does. He is God, and God is love. His capacity to love is greater than ours. Let Him speak to your heart and comfort you through His sweet Holy Spirit.”
    Linda nodded but didn’t respond.
    “Honey,” Nolan said, “Pastor and I were talking at the church. He said something that made good sense in the face of all this, and I’d like for him to tell it to you.”
    Stanford looked at Nolan. “You mean about if the Lord had let her marry Lewis?”
    “Yes.”
    The preacher leaned close to Linda again. “God knew all along that Lewis was playing the hypocrite, and that by allowing Lewis to run off with Janet, the Lord was keeping you from marrying him. If you had married Lewis, and
then
he had run off with Janet, your devastation would have been that much worse. A marriage would have been broken.”
    “That’s a good way to look at it, Pastor,” Adrienne said. “It would have been even worse if they had brought children into the world, then Lewis had run off.”
    Beth squeezed Linda’s hand. “So you see, honey, it could have been much worse if the Lord hadn’t let this thing happen when He did. Can you understand that?”
    Linda closed her eyes and set her jaw. She strained every muscle in her body until she was as stiff as granite. Then she said calmly, “I want to die.”

4
    P ASTOR S TANFORD BLINKED AT L INDA’S WORDS and then glanced at her parents.
    Nolan looked stunned.
    Adrienne gripped her daughters hand and said to the others, “She already said this to me twice when we were alone.”
    Nolan dropped to one knee beside the bed and laid a hand on Linda’s