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Second Chance in Summit County

By Katherine Karrol

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What was she thinking? Emily had been driving for hours and hadn’t heard one thing about where to go. Why did I think He would take me to the perfect hiding place? Do I really think He’s going to give me Old-Testament-hearing-His-voice-style guidance after what I’ve done? Maybe this was a crazy idea.

“Lord, I’m sorry for treating You like my personal vending machine. I’m sorry for asking You to give me answers and guidance I don’t deserve. I guess it was my voice I was hearing, not Yours. Well, at least it was a pretty drive.”

Pretty didn’t even begin to describe what this drive had been. The farther north and west she went on the two-lane highways, the more hints and spots of color she saw on the trees. It was just after Labor Day and fall was starting to show itself. Every time she drove over a hill, she let out an involuntary “Wow!” It had been a couple of years since she had been able to visit her parents in the fall and she drank in the scenery. Of all the things she missed about Michigan, fall color and coolness and everything that went with it topped the list.

These small towns and middle-of-nowhere motels she had seen while driving all day were so charming and drew her like a magnet, but none of them were the place. She thought for sure she’d heard God say to go home to Michigan and He would show her the town He would give her a new life in. She thought for sure He would lead her back to a town up north like the one she’d spent a week in as a teenager with a friend. It was a good thing that she wasn’t looking for that specific town, because she had no idea where it was or even what it was called.

“When I left Mom and Dad’s house this morning, I was sure You were going to take me on an adventure and take me to my new home. They thought I was a little out there, but I was certain I was following Your lead.”

She’d thought for sure God had accepted her into His personal witness protection program; someplace where no one had heard of Colin Meissner, let alone his wife who just must have known everything that he was doing. His wife who, according to local gossips and social media, was equally culpable for his crimes and moral failures, even though they were committed in secret.

“Is it too much to ask to send me to a town that doesn’t have the internet?” Yes, it’s too much. Stop asking for things and be thankful He got you out of LA. He doesn’t owe you anything, let alone a perfectly clean slate. He’s giving you a fresh start. Show some gratitude.

“Thank You, Lord. Thank You for getting me out of LA. Thank you for the nice visit with Mom and Dad. Thank You for giving me the hint that I needed to be stashing money away and giving me enough time to gather enough to make this trip. Thank You for giving me a chance to have a new start. I know it won’t be perfect, and it most certainly won’t be easy, but it will be new. This time I won’t be shutting You out. I paid a hefty price for doing that. I ignored Your warnings, along with everyone else’s, about marrying Colin, and I won’t do that again. Let’s just find a town that has a cheap motel I can sleep in tonight. Maybe I can get a decent night’s sleep and You’ll tell me tomorrow where to go next.” If I hear nothing, I can go back to Mom and Dad’s for another couple of days and regroup.

She passed a sign that said “Welcome to Summit County.” As long as it wasn’t LA, it was fine with her. She wanted to leave everything from there behind. That’s why she had only taken her clothes and the possessions she had before she met Colin when she left. It was her way of shaking the dust off her feet when she left that town and life behind. She looked forward to the day when she would be able to shake everything off. Well, if she could shake everything off. How do you shake off scandal and shame and public humiliation? How do you shake off being completely blind to the person you married and lived with for five years? How do you shake the feeling that if you’d paid attention to things better, you could have prevented others from being hurt?

Their pain was hanging like a cloud over her. That was the worst part. It was the others whose lives her husband had ruined. She’d ruined her own by her poor choices; he had ruined others’ by his abusive - and criminal - activity. And she’d been so blind to it that she’d done nothing to stop it.

She wiped a tear from her eye. Here she was, trying to start over, and she was already feeling defeated. How was she supposed to start over when the past followed her in her head?

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