Page 63 of Zane

Love is kind.

Love doesn’t envy.

Love doesn’t boast.

Love is not proud.

Love is not rude.

Love is not selfish.

Love is not easily angered.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

Love doesn’t rejoice in evil.

Love rejoices in the truth.

Love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

The words, every single one of them, pressed against the wall she’d placed around her love for Zane. Especially the last two lines.Love endures all things,andlove never fails.

In contemplating walking away from Zane, she wasn’t enduring all things. A terrible thing had happened—there was no denying that—and it would demand a lot of her to stay, but it seemed that was what God wanted.

But did she care what God wanted?

Never before had she thought about whether the decisions she made were what God would want her to make. She’d made her choices based on what worked best for her in fulfilling the plans she had for her life.

Was she willing to now give God more significance in her life?

As the pastor spoke, he shared personal experiences he’d had with love and even confessing to the areas where he’d failed. Like being as patient as he should have been.

“The love talked about in first Corinthians can seem too extreme. Too impossible a standard to achieve, but if we allow God to love through us, it becomes possible.”

The whole concept was foreign to her. The idea of trusting God to help her love better.

“God set an example for us when He sent His Son to die for our sins. He did that out of His love for us. If He’s willing to do that, why wouldn’t He want us to succeed in loving others the way He has loved them?”

Kelsey glanced over at Zane, thinking she might find him dozing off. But rather, Zane was focused on the pastor, his expression serious as he seemed to be paying attention to what the man was saying.

She wished she could read his mind, but there was no chance of that. Given what she’d learned over the past few weeks, she was beginning to wish that she could have read Zane’s mind pre-accident so that she could have known what he thought about Sarah and how he really felt about her.

It was hard not feeling like she was his second choice. That if he had the opportunity, he’d rather be with Sarah. From what she’d picked up from things his family had said, Sarah had been the one to end the relationship, and she’d left Zane heartbroken.

Could she love Zane the way the Bible said she should, even knowing all of that?

The question lingered in her mind even after the service had ended.

“Ready to head out?” she asked Zane once the service was over. “Or did you want to hang around and catch a ride with Lee and Rori?”