Page 43 of There I Find Hope

“That’s true. You can surround yourself with friends, jump into the church and get involved, focus on your work and do your very best there, keep yourself busy and active. And to some extent, that’s what I’ve done. That’s what I’ve always done. But there’s just the loneliness of living with someone who is supposed to love you but doesn’t.”

That’s as honest as she’d ever been with anyone. It was lonely and hurtful, and hard, because a person was trapped unless they wanted to renege on their marriage vows and find someone else.

“You know, I don’t know how this would look, but we’re supposed to look to Jesus to fulfill our needs. I don’t think we need to be lonely.”

“You’re probably right. Whether we’re married, or whether we’re not, Jesus wants to be the One we run to. I am definitely guilty of turning to other things, when I know that Jesus wants me to turn to him.”

Sunday appreciated that he had been honest, which made her feel like she could be frank, too. She’d been thinking back over her life. There were so many times where she felt like she was sad and alone, but she really wasn’t alone, she didn’t have to be alone ever. Jesus was with her. Why couldn’t she remember that?

“Sometimes I think the reason He wants us to remember that He is with us is because it gives us hope. After all, when we remember that this world isn’t our final destination, that there is more for us, that we have so much to look forward to, we feel hopeful instead of hopeless.”

“That’s what I’m going to name her.” Sunday stroked down the foal’s neck and scratched under her throat while she lifted her head up in enjoyment. “Hope.”

Chapter 17

“Oh my goodness, I think Ricky pulled a muscle or something.”

Noah looked over to see that Sunday’s horse was indeed limping quite badly.

“We’d better get off and walk. We can hardly treat him here. He’s going to have to make it back to the stable.”

“Yeah. I just feel terrible.”

“All we were doing was walking. I’m sure it wasn’t anything you did.”

“No. You’re right. I just feel terrible because he’s obviously in pain.”

Sunday swung out of the saddle, and Noah did as well. He certainly wasn’t going to ride his horse while Sunday was walking beside hers.

“I want to check his feet and just make sure that he didn’t get something stuck in one. I’ve never seen a seashell get stuck in a horse’s foot, but I suppose it’s possible.” She reached down, picking up each hoof and checking it thoroughly while he held the reins.

She straightened back up. “Nothing.”

“I think these things happen sometimes.”

“Yeah. Like a person pulls a muscle putting their shirt on in the morning or something.”

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