I had been studying about the cities of refuge, and what they mean to us as Christians, so this verse took on special meaning.
And I asked myself if the highways to Zion are in my heart. Do all of my roads take me to Christ? Do all my desires, all my thoughts, all my emotions, all my intentions, point me to him? Have I put obstacles in my own way, roadblocks that make me stumble? Are there potholes I haven’t repaired? Do I have detours that take me off that road?
I was further intrigued by the thought that the Lord didn’t say that the fastest one to Zion wins or that I had to move down that highway in a certain type of vehicle or that my journey would be compared with anyone else’s.
He simply blesses us if our hearts have the highways that take us to him!
I contemplated that for a while, and joyfully understood that the moment I surrendered my life to Christ, those highways were in my heart, already smooth and paved, and all of them took me to Christ. It is my job to keep them clear and well-maintained, to make sure they’re not compromised by obstacles or unexpected pitfalls. It’s my job to stay on that road. And if I ever do take a detour, with heartfelt repentance I can turn that road back to the highway.
Don’t we serve a remarkable Lord, that he would bless us just for looking toward him? That the journey itself is blessed.
My prayer for each of my readers is that you will have the highways to Zion in your heart, and that every single road in your life will move you closer to almighty God, who helps us on our journey and waits with open arms when we arrive!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terri Blackstock is an award-winning novelist who has written for several major publishers including HarperCollins, Dell, Harlequin, and Silhouette. Published under two pseudonyms, her books have sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.
With her success in secular publishing at its peak, Blackstock had what she calls “a spiritual awakening.” A Christian since the age of fourteen, she realized she had not been using her gift as God intended. It was at that point that she recommitted her life to Christ, gave up her secular career, and made the decision to write only books that would point her readers to him.
“I wanted to be able to tell the truth in my stories,” she said, “and not just be politically correct. It doesn’t matter how many readers I have if I can’t tell them what I know about the roots of their problems and the solutions that have literally saved my own life.”
Her books are about flawed Christians in crisis and God’s provisions for their mistakes and wrong choices. She claims to be extremely qualified to write such books, since she’s had years of personal experience.
A native of nowhere, since she was raised in the Air Force, Blackstock makes Mississippi her home. She and her husband are the parents of three children—a blended family which she considers one more of God’s provisions.
Read an excerpt form Book Three of the Cafe Refuge series, River’s Edge.
CHAPTER 1
The cramps woke Morgan at 3:30 a.m., startling her out of a deep slumber. She’d been immersed in a dream about a little girl on a swing set, her long brown hair flowing on the breeze. She knew without a doubt that the child was the baby she was carrying.
The cramps offered a stark warning, as if her anxiety had shaped into a blunt instrument that bludgeoned her hope.
She sat up, her hand pressed over her flat stomach, and looked at Jonathan, who slept peacefully next to her. Should she wake him to tell him she was cramping, or just be still and wait for it to pass?
She had taken the home pregnancy test yesterday morning, then followed up with a blood test at her doctor’s office that afternoon. Jonathan sat in the examining room with her, fidgeting and chattering to pass the time. When the nurse came back with the verdict, he sprang to his feet, muscles all tense, like a tiger tracking a gazelle.
“Before I tell you the results, I need to know if I’m bearing good or bad news.”
Jonathan glanced at Morgan, and she knew he was way too close to calling the woman a smart aleck and warning her not to toy with them. “Come on, just tell us.”
“But do you want to be pregnant? Is good news a yes or a no?”
Before he could grab the nurse by the shoulders and shake the playfulness out of her, Morgan blurted out, “Yes! More than anything!”
“Are we going to have a baby or not?” Jonathan asked.
“Congratulations!” The word burst out of the nurse’s mouth, and Morgan came off the table, flinging herself into his arms, and they yelled like kids as he swung her around.
They agreed not to announce it until today, so they could share that first night of giddy excitement, crushing the secret between them.
They waited until Caleb, their eighteen-month-old foster child, was sound asleep, then went across the street to Hanover House’s private stretch of beach. They giggled and danced under the May moonlight, to the music of the waves whooshing and frothing against the shore. When they’d finally gone to bed, they lay awake until close to midnight, wondering if it would be a girl or a boy, and how soon they would be able to see their child on a sonogram. Jonathan held Morgan and whispered about soccer games and ballet, piano lessons and PTA.
Finally, they had both fallen asleep, and now she didn’t want to wake him. It was probably nothing. Just something she ate last night. She would have to be more careful now.
But as the moments dragged on the cramping grew worse, and she couldn’t ignore it. She folded her arms across her stomach and slid her feet out of bed. She sat up and realized it was worse, even, than she thought. There was blood.
“Oh, no.” The words came out loud and unbidden, and Jonathan turned over and looked up at her in the night.
“Baby, what is it?”
She turned on the lamp. “Oh, Jonathan . . .”
He looked at her with an innocent, terrible dread, expecting something, though not clear what. Slowly, he sat up. “What?”
A sob rose in her throat as she pointed to the mattress.
For a moment they both just stared at it, the blood-spot of a dream dying.
Their unformed, barely real, secret baby dying.
Then he jolted out of his stunned stupor and sprang out of bed. “Are you okay?”
“I’m losing it.” The words bubbled up in her throat. “Jonathan, I’m losing the baby!”
“We’re going to the hospital. Maybe it’s not what you think. Maybe they can stop it.” He pulled on the jeans hanging over a chair by the bed.
Maybe he was right. Maybe the baby was still there, nestled in its little sac, unscathed by whatever thing had broken loose in her. Or if not, maybe the medical staff could ward off danger, stop the impending doom, give her some magic pill to make it hang on.
She quickly got dressed while Jonathan woke Sadie—their seventeen-year-old foster daughter and Caleb’s sister—to tell her of the emergency and ask her to listen for her little brother in case they weren’t back when he awoke.
Then Jonathan helped Morgan out to the car as though she were a sick woman who couldn’t walk on her own. She tried not to make sudden moves, not to walk too hard, not to cramp so tightly.
But it all seemed out of her control.
“It’s okay, baby,” Jonathan said as he drove at breakneck speed across the island. “We’ll be in Savannah in no time.”
Was it already too late? The drive from Cape Refuge to the closest hospital was too far. She cried quietly, staring out the windshield, praying that God would intervene.
“God’s going to save her,” he muttered as he drove. “He has to.”
Morgan’s face twisted. “Her . . . you said her.” She looked over at him and saw the tears on his face. “You think it’s a girl?”
He didn’t answer. “God, please . . .”
She sobbed as he drove, her hand pressed against her stomach. What kind of mother am I? I couldn’t keep it safe for a day? Her tears were cold against her face in the breeze of the air-conditioner.
Jonathan’s
lips moved in some silent monologue—a desperate preacher’s prayer of faith and hope—or the angry railing of a seaman who saw terror coming and believed he could head it off with enough threats. His hands clutched the steering wheel, and occasionally he reached over to touch her with fearful reassurance.
Finally, they reached St. Joseph’s, and Jonathan pulled up to the emergency room door. He got out and ran to Morgan’s side, helped her out. There was blood all over the back of her robe, and some of it had soaked into the seat.
“I need help here!” Jonathan helped her through the sliding glass door. “Please, someone help!”
But Morgan knew there was no help for her baby. It was already too late.
Number One Bestseller!
CAPE REFUGE
By Terri Blackstock
Mystery and suspense combine in this first book of an exciting new 4-book series by best-selling author Terri Blackstock.
Thelma and Wayne Owens run a bed and breakfast in Cape Refuge, Georgia. They minister to the seamen on the nearby docks and prisoners just out of nearby jails, holding services in an old warehouse and taking many of the “down-and-outers” into their home. They have two daughters: the dutiful Morgan who is married to Jonathan, a fisherman, and helps them out at the B & B, and Blair, the still-single town librarian, who would be beautiful if it weren’t for the serious scar on the side of her face.
After a heated, public argument with his in-laws, Jonathan discovers Thelma and Wayne murdered in the warehouse where they held their church services. Considered the prime suspect, Jonathan is arrested. Grief-stricken, Morgan and Blair launch their own investigation to help Matthew Cade, the town’s young police chief, find the real killer. Shady characters and a raft of suspects keep the plot twisting and the suspense building as we learn not only who murdered Thelma and Wayne, but also the secrets about their family’s past and the true reason for Blair’s disfigurement.
Softcover: 0-310-23592-8
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
Bestselling books with Beverly LaHaye
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Check out these great books from Terri Blackstock, too!
Second Chances Series
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Softcover 0-310-20202-X
Softcover 0-310-20708-8
Softcover 0-310-20709-6
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
Other favorites from Terri Blackstock . . .
Newpointe 911 Series
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, new media products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning children’s products. The world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.
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Terri Blackstock, Southern Storm
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