Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

R E D E E M I N G L O V E
dressed in black like a widow, and Magowan was with you. I guess he was
making sure you didn’t run away.”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. She closed her eyes and tried not
to think about any of it, but it was like a foul stench in the room. It lingered.
She couldn’t get rid of it. It was there under the clean smell of the soap he
had given her to use. The foulness was inside her, running in her blood.
“Do you remember when you asked me what kind of name Hosea was
and I said prophetic?” She began brushing her hair again slowly, but Michael
knew she was listening to him this time. “Hosea was a prophet. God told
him to marry a prostitute.”
She glanced at him with a mocking smile. “Did God tell you to marry me?”
“Yes. He did.”
She was scornful. “He talks to you personally?”
“He talks to everyone personally. Most people just don’t bother to listen.”
It was better to humor him. “Sorry I interrupted. You were telling me a
story. What happened next? Did this prophet marry the prostitute?”
“Yes. He figured God must have a reason. A good reason.”
The same as he probably did. “Did this Hosea beat the sin out of her? I
suppose she crawled to him on her face and kissed his feet for saving her
soul.”
“No, she went back to prostitution.”
Her stomach dropped. She looked up at him and searched his face. He
just looked back at her, solemn, self-contained, enigmatic. “So God isn’t so
all-powerful after all, is he?” she said quietly.
“God told him to go and get her back again.”
She frowned slightly. “Did he?”
“Yes.”
“Just because God told him to?” No man would do that.
“Yes, and because he loved her.”
She got up and went to look out the window at the darkening sky.
“Love? No, I don’t think that was his reason. It was his pride. The old
prophet just didn’t want to admit he couldn’t hold onto her all by himself.”
“Pride drives a man away, Mara. It drove me away from you that last
night in Pair-a-Dice.” He should have listened to the Lord and gone back.
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