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Daughters of Grace

By Jeannie Kirkpatrick

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Daughters of Grace is a collection of three short stories.
Courageous Grace
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous!
Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you
wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9 NKJV

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Ms. Brown was known to her friends as Sylvia. With her auburn hair and emerald-green eyes, Sylvia never considered herself anything other than passably pretty, but her late husband had called her beautiful. She had married and then widowed all before her thirtieth birthday. For the last ten years, Sylvia had worked as a librarian in her hometown of Gardendale. Her life was simple and structured, attending church on a regular basis, tending her garden, and loving her two German shepherd dogs, Hoss and Tiny.

Sylvia would have liked to marry again; however, with fast approaching that ripe old age of forty, the prospect of a husband simply could not be seen in the near future. Sylvia spent most of her time volunteering for the women’s ministry at her church. Since she had never had (and figured she would never have) children, she spoiled her two nieces and three nephews. She also made sure they were in Sunday school and church every Sunday. Sylvia was a quiet, unassuming woman. Preferring to work in the background on church projects, never sought the limelight for herself. The one thing that Sylvia was passionate about was her faith in Christ.

One Sunday Sylvia walked into the sanctuary after Sunday school. As she looked around for her nieces and nephews and concluded that they had not t been dismissed from their classes, she noticed an unfamiliar face. Sylvia thought the young lady standing in the back looked somewhat unsure of herself. Perhaps I can help and put her at ease.

As she came closer to the supposed visitor, Sylvia noticed that while her clothes were clean, they were very worn. The blonde girl with brown eyes was very petite and beautiful. Sylvia noticed that her hair was badly in need of a trim, and her nails had been chewed or broken down to the quick. Sylvia greeted her. “Welcome to our church! We are so happy you’re here.”

Sylvia had to listen very close to hear the very shy response. “Thank you.”

“My name is Sylvia Brown.”

Timidly, the visitor replied, “My name is Hope Delano.”

Encouraged Sylvia gently took her hand. “Well, Hope, I am so happy to have you here. Would you like to sit with me this morning?” Sylvia asked then quickly added “I hope you don’t mind kids, my nieces and nephews always sit with me on Sunday mornings.
“No I don’t mind at all thank you” Hope replied quietly.

After church, Sylvia said goodbye to Hope and invited her to return. As she watched Hope walk to her car, Sylvia sighed and went to meet her friends. Every Sunday, she went to lunch with the other single ladies in the church. After placing their order, Maggie opened the conversation. “Sylvia, who was the young woman sitting with you today?”

Sylvia replied, “A visitor.”

“Well,” Maggie remarked, “I hope she decides to go elsewhere. I don’t know who she is, but she certainly had the look of a drug addict and street person written all over her.”


Forgiving Grace

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave
You."
-Ephesians 4:32 NKJV
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Olivia Grace had been raised an only child; she had been blessed to be raised in a loving Christian home. Olivia was 24 years old, had just graduated college when her parents were tragically killed in a car accident. She had never experienced grief to this level before. Six months later she knew she needed to get her life back on track, she began sending out resumes, eventually taking a job in Texas, a long way from everything that was familiar to her.

Feeling a little alone, and a lot excited Olivia Grace prepared herself for a new life. While she still grieved for her parents, she knew that they would be excited at the new possibilities that lay ahead for her. She had landed an excellent job, had an apartment waiting for her, life was looking up for Olivia Grace.

Olivia settled into her new life and began attending church. She loved the singing; enjoyed the preaching and felt that this would be her church home. So following the next logical step Olivia joined the church, volunteered each time volunteers where needed. Olivia joined the choir and attended Sunday school regularly. She soon found that signing up for committees did not guarantee she would be called. Even though she had a beautiful voice, she was never asked to use her gift. Olivia did what we would term all the right things; Olivia was willing to serve and was faithful to attend. She persevered and continued to attend faithfully, but it became impossible not to become discouraged. After staying for two years, Olivia left the church feeling alone, unloved and unwanted.

Olivia’s life fell into somewhat of a rhythm, go to work, come home, and repeat until the weekend. She began making friends at work. She also attracted the eye of some of the single guys. At 5’5” with black hair and blue eyes, inherited from her Irish ancestors, Olivia was an extremely attractive young lady.
She had worked for a few months when two of her co-workers asked her to go out with them. She had turned them down in the past feeling uncomfortable with going clubbing with them
“Where are we going,” Olivia asked them, realizing what a dumb question that was.

“To a club of course,” Shara had told her, “there is a new one just a couple of blocks over.”

Olivia had never been to a club, her life had consisted of school, church, and home. Clubbing had never entered her orbit. She was still hurting from her experience with her church. So with an internal shrug and a why not attitude, Olivia agreed to go with them.

The club was like nothing she had ever experienced. The music was great (she never knew that she liked country music). Shortly after finding a table a waitress came over to them to get their drink order. Olivia ordered a coke, her friends looked at her “seriously” Shara asked, “That’s all you’re going to drink?” “It’s the weekend girl relax!”
Olivia informed her friend that she never drinks alcohol. Shrugging Shara and Deanna order their drinks. It didn’t take long for the Cowboys to start circling.

Redeeming Grace
The night was a dark and moonless, the rain had been pouring most of the evening, but had now slowed to a light mist. A damp chill was in the air, not uncommon for late October. Samara Grace noticed none of this, she stood at the curb, gazing across the street at the light spilling from the windows. The door to the building was opened the same warm light casting a dim, misty glow into the chilly night. She wanted to go in so badly, but doubts and questions kept swirling in her mind. She knew the warmth and a brief reprieve from the streets were just a few feet away. All it would take was a little courage to take the first step.

Was she dressed right? Would they accept her? Was she good enough?
Having done so much wrong in her life, made so many really bad choices allowing someone else control over her life, how could she ever crawl her way out of the pit? So once again with doubts, depression and hopelessness she turned away.
Samara repeated this routine for several more nights. Tonight felt different; she didn’t know why it just did. The sky was clear, the same lights from the same windows brightened the night, through the door same warm light shown into the night. Samara was determined tonight she would walk through.

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