A Woman Named Noah

By Xlibris US

Noah finds herself alone and expecting a baby when her husband was in a terrible car crash. Everyone believes that he died when the car exploded in a ball of fire. Noah finds her faith back in God, the faith she rejected when she married her husband. Will she find her husband alive and what will it do to her new found faith?
Garrett wakes up in a hospital room not knowing who he is or how he got there. All he knows is that the man who witnessed the accident said that he was on a mission to make some wrongs right. Will he remember who is and what his mission is? Will he make it back home before his wife looses her belief that he is still alive and goes on with her new life as a widow?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499047912

Book preview

A WOMAN NAMED NOAH

Debbie R. Brisco

Copyright © 2014 by Debbie R. Brisco

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014912225

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4990-4789-9

   Softcover   978-1-4990-4790-5

   eBook   978-1-4990-4791-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica.

Used by permission of Zondervan.

All rights reserved.

Rev. date: 08/

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Epilogue

In Numbers 27:1-11, we read a story about a young woman named Noah. She, along with her four sisters, approached Moses concerning an inheritance that she felt they deserved, even though it was against the customs back then. After Moses spoke to God on their behalf, they were given their inheritance. Noah set about making what was wrong right. In this story, there are several wrongs that have to be made right.

In Genesis 5:29, it says, ‘And he called his name Noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.’

In this story, there are grounds that are hardened that need softening. God uses the circumstances that a woman named Noah faces in this story to soften the hearts of the people who would otherwise have stayed hard and bitter. Sometimes, we don’t understand why God has allowed certain circumstances to happen, but God will always offer a way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, ‘There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make away to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.’

PROLOGUE

Sarah Carson sat motionlessly in her favorite rocking chair. Tears ran down her pale cheeks. Her hands trembled as she reached for a Kleenex on the nearby end table. Ben, her husband, sat in his worn recliner with his black leather Bible lying open on his lap. One of his grease-stained hands combed through his thin salt-and-pepper hair.

Ben, what are we going to do? Sarah asked.

What can we do, but pray? Ben responded from across the room. Noah has made her choice, and this is one that she will have to live with for the rest of her life.

That is what I fear the most, Ben, Sarah said as she threw her crumpled Kleenex in the small waste basket beside her. I never dreamed that she would do this! We don’t even know this guy! He could be making all this up about being the son of a wealthy petroleum business owner.

I understand. I was a bit skeptical too. Ben again ran his fingers threw his hair. However, I did my own investigation. From what I have gathered online, his story seems true.

But we really don’t know him, Honey. Sarah’s eyes pleaded for answers from her husband. Why would she do this to herself… to us? We’ve raised her right.

I know it, Sarah, but we’re going to have to trust God on this, Ben swallowed hard before finishing his sentence. I know it’s hard. I’ll admit that I’d like to get that old shotgun out of the safe, chase him down, and make him give her back. As it is, I can’t now. He shook his head sadly. They’ve already said their ‘I dos’ in front of Judge McPherson.

Sarah put the rocking chair back into motion. She stared at her husband as she fumbled with another Kleenex in her lap, the soft creaking of the chair filling the room.

Do you remember the day the doctor told us that she would have to be our last child? Sarah asked softly.

I do, Ben responded.

I was so upset. I wanted to give you a son. Instead, I gave you five daughters.

And five beautiful daughters, I might add.

Sarah smiled, Yes, but it would have been nice to have a boy to carry your name. Anyways, I was really distraught that day. I wanted a son, but if I would have had to endure this kind of heartache with anymore children, I don’t think I would have survived.

Ben rubbed his chin as he smiled.

What are you smiling about?

I was remembering your reaction when I told you that I wanted to name her Noah.

Sarah blinked her eyes as the corner of her mouth twitched slightly upward.

I wonder what went through Pete the cat’s mind when you dropped that pancake on top his furry little head!

Sarah ducked her head as tears refilled her red-rimmed eyes.

Why are you crying, Sweetheart? I thought I brought up a good memory, Ben said as he kicked his footrest down.

Quickly, he made his way to his wife’s side, where he knelt down beside her.

Honey, the memory of Pete jumping straight into the air and running into the living room where he jumped in the middle of Trouble is a good memory, although embarrassing on my part. I still can’t believe that big ol’ pit bull didn’t bite that cat’s sticky little head off!

Ben reached up and wiped a tear from Sarah’s cheek.

Then why the tears, Sweetheart? he asked as he massaged her shoulder.

Because today her name seems to have lost its significance.

Ben grabbed her still trembling hand and squeezed them between his two calloused hands. Sarah, as surely as I kneel here before you, I was kneeling before the Father in prayer, and I felt like He gave me that name. There was a young lady in the Bible by that name. She approached Moses about how she and her sisters could become heirs to her father’s property after his death. She had four sisters, just like our Noah. She was a very determined young lady, just like our Noah. So I daresay her name hasn’t lost its value.

That’s the part that scares me the most! She is so determined to prove us wrong!

Honey, I know today that all seems lost. I walked into her room and I felt like I had been sucker-punched. I sat on her bed rereading the note that she had left behind. It hurt like everything to read that she wouldn’t be back for anything, and even more that she didn’t want us to come looking for her.

Sarah locked eyes with her husband, her blue eyes glistening with unshed tears.

That is exactly my point, Dear! How can she be an heir of anything we give her if she’s given it all up today?

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air as Ben’s face indicated that he was trying to find an answer. Finally, he raised his eyes to meet hers.

Honey, I know that I’ve said some pretty stupid things to her, some pretty hurtful things. I told her not to bring that infidel back into this house. I wish that I could take back some things that I’ve said. No doubt in her mind we are the ones to blame. We told her she had to make a choice, us or him. Ben shook his head. Can you imagine what would have happened if your dad would have told you that?

Yes, but we had his blessing, Sarah whispered. Are you saying that you would give them your blessing?

Not exactly, but I would try harder to get along with him. I would try to be a better, understanding father to our Noah.

CHAPTER 1

Noah sat with one leg propped up on the coffee table in front of her. She flipped through the channels of her wall-sized television, trying to find one that wasn’t vulgar. Even though it had been a little over a year and a half since she walked away from her faith, she still found that most television programs were terribly offensive. She usually filled her evenings with a good book and a strong cup of coffee. This evening was different. She was excited. She had read the lab results over and over. Ever since the first month of her and Garrett’s marriage, she tried to hold back her disappointment. She also knew Garrett harbored a little resentment, even though he did well to hide it most of the time. The loss of the baby was hard on her and Garrett. She knew that Garrett married her because he loved her. Still, there was always the fact that they married because she was expecting a baby but lost it shortly after they married. Noah tried hard to be the best wife she could be, but deep inside, she knew that Garrett wanted more. She knew he would make a good dad. She was tired of being a disappointment to him. Whatever he went after, he achieved, except parenthood.

The day that Noah walked away from her family, her friends, and her faith, she never told a soul, except Garrett, that she was six weeks pregnant. She had never cried more in her whole life. She loved her family. She had never intended to displease them. She loved her faith. She sincerely believed that Holiness was the best way to live. She never doubted what her parents had taught her. She had watched as her older sisters married and began having children of their own. Then she started college where there was a combination of married women with children and the group who