Forever by Your Side (Willamette Brides #3) - Tracie Peterson Page 0,30
building my own beliefs and knowing God better, or . . .” She stopped, uncertain she could or should explain.
“Or what?” He put his hand on her arm. “Connie, we’re too good of friends for you not to know you can be honest with me.”
“I know. But this . . . well, it wasn’t about you, Tom. It was about me. The things you were saying about why you didn’t believe in God were starting to make sense.” She paused long enough to swallow the lump in her throat. “I wasn’t strong enough in my faith. I stopped talking to you about it because I was afraid that I would start to think like you did. I was already so bitter about what had happened with Clint. Not only that, but I missed my home and family. I was scared, and when I talked to Aunt Phinny, she suggested I not talk to you about issues of faith for a time. And after a while, it just didn’t seem that important. We always had other things to talk about.”
Tom folded his arms. “I never considered that I was swaying you to forget your own faith.”
“But don’t you see, it wasn’t really my faith. It was what I’d been raised to believe. It was the teachings I’d been given, but I had to come to know God for myself. And I do now.”
He smiled ever so slightly. “Does that mean you’ll talk to me again about my beliefs? Will you try to get me into heaven?”
She wasn’t at all sure what to say. A part of her wanted to beg him to believe in God and the Bible. “I will always be willing to talk to you about what I believe, but I think maybe this time it’s more important for you to worry about what you believe and why. I think you should talk to my father. As you’ve seen, he won’t condemn you, and you will probably find it a very interesting conversation.”
“I’m sure I will.” He looked like he might say something else but didn’t. He got to his feet. “I’m heading up to my room for a quick nap before supper. I think everything has caught up with me.” He smiled. “Are we still friends?”
She nodded. “You will always be my best friend, Tom. No matter what.”
“What about your husband?”
Connie frowned. “What husband?”
Tom chuckled. “What will you do when you finally marry? As a man, I know I wouldn’t want my wife calling another man her best friend.”
She shrugged. “Then I guess I won’t ever get married.”
He gave her a look she couldn’t interpret, then turned and left without a word.
Connie felt a deep sadness that she couldn’t understand. She let Tom go without further prying and took a seat in her mother’s favorite rocking chair. Why did all of this with Tom bother her so much?
“Why should it bother me?” she murmured. “Foolish woman, why shouldn’t it bother you?”
Without Christ as his Savior, Tom would die and be forever separated from God. How could she just ignore that? Just yesterday she had been reading her Bible about the rich man and Lazarus. Chapter sixteen of Luke made it very clear that heaven and hell were real places. The rich man begged for help, first for water and then for Lazarus to be sent to warn his five brothers about hell.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
She stared for a moment at the words. Jesus was the One who rose from the dead, and still people denied He could save them from torment and hell. Tom denied it. Tears came to her eyes. He was her dearest friend in all the world, and despite this, she hadn’t wanted to upset him with the truth or risk the possibility of losing his friendship.
“But unless he believes in Jesus, he will be lost for all eternity.”
Chapter 8
Connie awoke early the following morning. Tom was uppermost on her mind as she dressed. He was at the forefront of her thoughts as she helped her mother with breakfast. Then, as they sat down to morning devotions and breakfast, there he was again—this time in the flesh.