Song of Hope

Song of Hope - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Sydney had cried herself to sleep again and woke up Sunday morning with red matted eyes. She had not heard from Austin and was worried he had done something stupid in his alcohol induced state. She had prayed for him since he called her early Saturday morning and he was still weighing heavy on her mind now on Sunday morning.

She went through the motions of getting ready for church. She covered the bags under her eyes with make-up and stopped at the drug store for eye drops to remove the redness. Pulling into the church parking lot, she pasted a smile on her face, trying to get through the morning without her closest friends knowing her pain.

Pre-Service practice went as well as it could. Praise team practice during Sunday School went well also. Wisely, Sydney dropped any song that sang about love. It didn’t matter that it was God’s love they were singing about. She could not handle the reminders of what she lost.

She thought she almost made it. That was until Paul pulled her over after the staff prayer meeting in the office.

“What’s wrong?” He asked bringing her into his office.

She took a deep breath, “Austin and I had a fight. I think it is over. I have not heard from him since he called around two o’clock Saturday morning.

“You want to talk about it?” Paul asked as he put his hand on her shoulder. Always wanting to be a comfort for his friend.

“I don’t have enough time right now, but the Reader’s Digest version is that he blames God for his wife’s death and has this anger built up toward God. So, I left him, told him that he could call me when... if he ever forgives God and is ready to move on.”

“Are you okay? What can Millie and I do?”

“Same thing I am doing, pray.”

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The service had already begun when Austin arrived. He slipped into the back pew and watched the woman he loved sing worship songs to her God. The God that until hours ago, Austin thought had left him.

Yet in retrospect, Austin realized that he left God long before Sonya’s death. He began growing away when Sonya was diagnosed with breast cancer. By the time of her death, he was already angry with God.

On the drive down he thought about how he use to go to church first with his parents and then later on with Sonya and her parents. He enjoyed church, even had friendships with other people that attended the church.

Watching Sydney on stage, giving her all to God, made him long for that also. Not just to be with Sydney, but to heal his heart, to move on with his life, to live the life God has intended him to live. Sydney moved to center stage with a man from her praise team and sat on stools as Paul walked to the pulpit.

“God has a plan for your life,” Paul began, “whether you accept that plan or not is a choice you will have to make. However, from experience, the plan he has for us by far surpasses anything we can imagine. Right now you may be at a point of giving up and giving in, I want to tell you to hang on, press forward for God’s plan in your life is worth the trial. You can’t have a testimony without a test. For those of you that would like to pray with our prayer team during praise and worship, we are here to pray with you.” Paul walked off the stage and stood in front of the pulpit.

Sydney and the man on the stage began singing “God Bless the Broken Road” and her angelic voice soothed his soul like a balm for a wound.

Without realizing what his legs were doing until he was halfway down the aisle, Austin headed straight for Paul. That was when his eyes locked on Sydney’s eyes like magnets drawn to each other, unwilling to be pulled apart.

Paul greeted him with a hug and as he pulled away he said, “Austin, it is good to see you again.” Knowing what Sydney had told him, he allowed Austin to tell him his prayer request.

“Paul, I need to ask God to forgive me for my anger and hatred towards him. I need to ask Christ to be my personal Savior.” He looked past Paul’s shoulder and said, “I need to ask Sydney to forgive me. But, I guess you can’t help me with that.”

“All things are possible with God,” Paul said with a smile, “right now, let’s get the other things taken care of first, then you can worry about Syd.”

Putting a hand on Austin’s shoulder, Paul said, “First you need to ask Christ to forgive you of your sins. Repeat after me, God, I am a sinner. I ask for you to wash away every sin. Those that I knowingly committed and those that I committed unknowingly. I plead the blood of Jesus over every sin.”

After Austin repeated the words Paul continued, “Next you need to believe that Christ died for your sins and wants to be Lord of your life. That means you need to surrender everything to Him. You need to ask Jesus to live within you and move through you.”

“Jesus, I surrender everything to you. I ask that you live in me and work through my life. Help me be the person you want me to be.” Austin said, silently to himself he asked God to help him be the son, father and husband he needed to be.

Paul hugged him again, “That’s it Austin. You asked God to forgive you, you believe Jesus is your Savior and you confessed your sins.”

Austin smiled at him and looked over Paul’s shoulder again and saw that Sydney had not taken her eyes off of him and she had tears streaming down her face. In that moment he knew he needed to have her in his arms.

Boldly he walked to the stage and pulled Sydney up from her stool wrapped his arms around her and said, “I’m so sorry. Will you forgive me?” She couldn’t say anything due to the lump in her throat, she just nodded into his shoulder.

He helped her sit back on her stool and said, “I did not plan to do it this way, but I can’t wait any longer.” Austin dropped to one knee in front of her. He held on to her left hand and her right hand went to her mouth in shock. “I have messed things up royally. I know I don’t deserve a second or even a third chance, but I love you and can’t imagine my life without you in it. Will you forgive me and let me promise to make it up to you for the rest of our lives? Will you marry me?”

“Yes Austin, yes, I forgive you and yes I will marry you.” Sydney said with tears in her eyes.

He pulled the small blue velvet ring box out of his pocket and opened it for her. Inside was the most spectacular ring she had ever seen. It had a huge yellow diamond in a white gold band, it was surrounded by small diamonds and more diamonds flowed around the band. It had to at least be three carats.

The church was quiet and everyone heard Sydney gasp. She had grown up in this church, everyone knew her. Accepted her during her awkward teenage years, encouraged her as she began to sing and went to college, and welcomed her home in her role as Minister of Music. It was only natural that they witness her accepting Austin as her future husband.

Austin rose from his knee and placed the ring on her finger, pulled her into his arms and kissed her in front of God and everyone! And neither of them were concerned of their audience, until the gentleman sitting on the stool next to her said, “This is streaming video guys. Congratulations!”

As they pulled away from each other, the congregation erupted in applause. Sydney’s family, friends and everyone she knew watched as she finally found the love of her life and were happy for her.

As Tony Davis stepped on stage moments later to preach he said, “Well thanks to my daughter and her fiance, my sermon on love will be a lot easier to preach!” The crowd laughed and Austin pulled Sydney closer to him, wrapping her in his arms.

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A/N - No the story is not over yet. But as of right now only has two more uploads. So, it will come to an end soon. Is there anything you want to see resolved? What's next? What characters should I focus on next? Or should I leave the Spiritual Networking group and begin a new story?