Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

Ten
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness,
and speak kindly to her. Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
and the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
H O S E A
2:14–15 A
The mess in the fireplace was cleaned up when Angel came back, but Hosea
was gone. She expected to feel relief at his absence, but she didn’t. Instead
there was a hollowness inside her that made her feel she was drifting in
empty space. Was he out there somewhere thinking up a suitable punishment
for her outburst?
What a fool he must think her. She could bet his sister had known how
to build a fire, cook a fine meal, plow a field, and do whatever else needed
doing. She’d probably known every wild vegetable plant from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, at a distance of a hundred feet. She probably had been able to
smell out wild game and then shoot and dress it herself.
Dejected, Angel sat on the floor before the hearth and looked at the barren
fireplace. My life is just like that: a bare, cold, useless hole in a wall. She was
stupid and clumsy. Oh, but she was beautiful. She touched her face. Or she
had been.
She got up. She had to do something. Anything. She needed light and
warmth. She had watched Hosea build a fire often enough. Maybe she could
do it herself. She took wood chips and piled them, then laid kindling and
small branches. She took the flint and steel from the mantle, but no matter
how hard she tried, she could barely strike a spark.
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