Page 69 of Let Me Hold You

“Your eyesight is amazing.”

“I happened to look in that particular direction.”

Her explanation sounded logical. Levi wasn’t sure if Maggie was the jealous type, like he was. He had tried to keep his own jealousy in check. As long as Alden stayed away from Maggie, Levi would have less stress.

“So let’s pray about this some more and see where God leads us,” Levi said. “I’m open to God’s directions because His ways are higher than my ways.”

“I know that verse. Isaiah 55:9.” She even had it memorized.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

“You know your Bible, Maggie.”

“This is because I grew up at Midtown Chapel where we had—and still do—solid Bible studies and Bible sword drills.My youth was filled with church life. I almost went to Bible college like my brother, but the Lord directed me to study communications instead.”

“Doesn’t that remind you of the verse that Pastor Kim mentioned a few weeks ago?” Levi almost read the verse aloud from his Bible app, but Maggie beat him to it because she also had Proverbs 16:9 memorized.

A man’s heart plans his way,

But the Lord directs his steps.

“That verse also applies to our situation with this house and with our careers.” Maggie cleared Levi’s plates and started loading the dishwasher.

“We have discussed multiple scenarios,” Levi put away the leftovers in the refrigerator. “Let’s pray over all of them because we have to choose one.”

“If God leads me to Lakeside, will you accept it?” Maggie asked as she watched Levi wiped down the countertop.

“If we are sure He is, then I’ll move to Lakeside too.”

“What if you have to be in Atlanta and I have to be in Lakeside?”

“Ideally, we would both stay in the same city. I’d rather not have a long distance relationship across two states, you know?”

“Maybe not permanently, but for some months?”

Levi thought about soldiers on deployment overseas away from their spouses stateside. They had it harder than seven hours of driving between him and Maggie.

“I’ll have to endure the separation.”

Yes, he’d have to.

As long as God was in it, Levi knew he could endure it.

Chapter Sixteen

“Have you ever driven on a road, missed your exit, and heard your GPS tell you to please make a U-turn?” Pastor Kim walked back and forth on the raised platform that connected the lectern to the choir loft. He stopped at the edge, where a row of potted red poinsettias had been arranged.

The row of poinsettias stretched all the way to the front of the orchestra section, the grand piano, and ended at the door where the choir had left after they finished singing the last Christmas carol, which still echoed in Maggie’s head because it was loud.

Normally, she’d sit further back in the sanctuary. However, she had carpooled with Levi, who had run late due to Christmas Eve traffic in Dunwoody. As it was with Midtown Chapel tradition, if you arrived at church late, you ended up sitting in the front rows if you couldn’t find anyone to save you the prized back row seats.

Still, there was no better place to be for Maggie than right here in church on Christmas Eve, which fell on a Sunday morning this year. Maggie loved being in church. She felt at home in church.

“Life can be filled with wrong roads, potholes, U-turns, endless detours, and dead ends, as we all know. How is this a Christmas message? Stay awake and you’ll find out. Let’s pray.”

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