Faith Journeys with Hope and Love: Short Stories of Inspiration

By Debora J. McGill

Faith Journeys with Hope and Love is a compilation of short stories written as though from a child’s perspective. In Mrs. Connolly’s Backyard, the main character celebrates individual differences and uniqueness. Hope on Grizzly Mountain is the story of a young girl who walks several miles through a wilderness. Finding herself in a frightening situation, she gives God the glory for eventually leading her to safety. In obvious, as well as implied ways, each of the stories points to Jesus Christ as the one firm foundation of life. The characters discover through crisis events that one thing never changes- God’s good character and love for us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462830374

Debora J. McGill

Debora J. McGill has been writing poetry and short stories since high school. She is the author of one previous novel, Faith Journeys with Hope and Love. A single mom of two adult daughters, she is a lifelong resident of Oregon and currently lives in the Willamette Valley city of Keizer.

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Debora J. McGill.

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 Historical fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

All Bible references are from the New International Version. Co-published By: B.B. Kirkbride Bible Co, Inc and The Zondervan Corporation, 1983

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/11/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

582038

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Jackson and the Big Red Barn

Mrs. Connolly’s Backyard

Mrs. Connolly’s Digs

Porta Pets

Smiling and Styling

Cooking Ahead of Her Time

Sales Woman Extraordinaire

Driving With Mrs. C

Faith, Hope, and Charity

Faith’s Motorcycle Miracle

Hope on Grizzly Mountain

Charity’s Sandbox

The Neighbor Girl

Joy

Sounds of Joy

Sights of Joy

Touches of Joy

Stillness of Joy

Let Joy Be Joy

Christmas Crossing

Warm Rain Falls

The River Runs Through

Send an angel or an ark

Angels in a Rowboat

Ride on a Fire Truck of Grace

Evaporated

A Rainbow

Wind of Change

Mrs. Stelleno’s Example

Jumping, Jitters, and Jam

Early Release

Get in this house before a tree falls on it!

Blowin’ Boards and Barn

Naked Geese

Sovereignty and the Silver Maple

Afterword

Dedication

To the glory of God!

In appreciation for family members, friends and

neighbors who have encouraged me.

In honor of the brave firefighters, agriculture, timber

and fishing industries, police, military men and women

and those within the clergy and the medical profession,

who have answered the call to serve and protect.

Introduction

The journey of life brings circumstances that we aren’t expecting. Therefore, we learn to walk by faith. Who is the ultimate source of faith? That’s a question we’re given opportunity to answer often throughout our lifetime.*

These short stories illustrate that stressful events can happen with little or no warning. The fictional narratives and dialogues within each story were written as encouragement. If our primary goal is accumulating mega amounts of material possessions we may find that at the end of the day those things don’t brings us joy. Abiding in the assurance that we are loved and accepted by God produces joy. Seeing the good in challenging situations is difficult. However, humor and good memories of times spent with those we love somehow lift a heavy heart. As the story of Mrs. Connolly’s Backyard reminds, it really is ok to be different from the crowd and follow the narrow road of faith. Trust in God’s acceptance of us is what will free us from hopelessly striving to please people.

A line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Rainy Day© reads . . . Into each life some rain must fall . . . No person or place is immune from events that support the truth held in those words. In December of 1964, the Willamette Valley of Oregon experienced heavy snowfall. Not long after warm rain fell, melting large packs of snow in the Cascade Mountains, water-logging the valley floor. The event was the Christmas week flood, which was one of the worst disasters to hit the area in the twentieth century. The damage from this flood exceeded those of the Columbus Day Storm, another memorable disaster that hit the area on October 12, 1962.

In Wind of Change, students of a small Oregon elementary school discover life’s uncertainty during the Columbus Day Storm. A young girl named Libby learns that a meaningful life isn’t defined by the absence of tragedy. A meaningful life comes through acceptance of God’s love and sharing His hope with others. The story shows that changes are required for growth, and that God is the source of wisdom to know which outcomes we can and cannot alter. The circumstances surrounding the characters in Wind of Change affirm that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, gave the world hope. Sorrow becomes joy and a new beginning for all who will look and see.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Jackson and the

Big Red Barn

Lessons Learned from a Strong-willed Pony

Fotolia_7150407_M-edited.jpg

Sunrays radiated through Patience’s bedroom window that July Saturday morning, waking the pre-teen earlier than she had planned. Privileged on this day to sleep in without anyone telling her when to get up, she had the luxury of taking her time.

Patience kicked off the bedcovers in search of a more comfortable temperature. She turned her back to the window; shut her eyes for another moment before giving in to her restlessness and stretching her way to the side of the bed. She dropped her feet to the carpeted floor, caught up in thoughts of her day as though a flipped switch activated files of good memories stored in her brain. She felt energized as she thought about what she would be doing in a few hours. Patience’s favorite Aunt Rita had invited the family to her home for one of her delicious meals. Aunt Rita was a wonderful cook known for baking the yummiest pies and chocolate cakes to touch the taste buds. Aunt Rita would be a sure bet to receive a blue ribbon at the state fair, Patience thought to herself, if only I could talk her into entering one of her double chocolate cakes.

The anticipation of eating one of her Aunt Rita’s mouthwatering dinners was only partly responsible for the excitement Patience felt as she thought about the upcoming afternoon visit. Rita had two teenage daughters who were enough older than Patience to be her definition of cool. She thought Pam and Carrie were the best, so throughout her childhood, Patience was eager to spend a day or an overnight at their place. A visit to their home was special for her, in part, because they served Pepsi® in frosted mugs and they let Patience change out of her generic jeans into a pair of their outgrown button fly Levi’s 501s®. Patience felt like a real cowgirl wearing the Levi’s® and a pair of their western boots. She was a twelve-year-old who dreamed of living on a horse ranch, so this was enough to make her day. However, there was always so much more. A day at her Aunt Rita’s place was like spending a day at an amusement park with unlimited tickets in her pocket.

A big red barn sat near her Aunt’s home attached to a large corral and surrounded by a pasture where horses, a few cattle, and a flock of sheep grazed. Weather permitting on days Patience visited, Pam would saddle her horse, Rolly, and Carrie would saddle her mare, Sunny, while Patience attempted to catch either Kip or Jackson, the Welsh pony.

Both Kip and Jackson were difficult to catch, but it was Jackson that she could generally coax close enough with a can of oats to grab his halter. She needed to force him to accept the bit, and then wrestle the bridle over his ears. Whenever Patience attempted to thread the strap and buckle it, Jackson would shake his head in protest. He put her tolerance to the test, whether or not he was aware of it. Patience always suspected he knew what he was doing. She usually needed Pam’s help to cinch the saddle because the stubborn pony didn’t like to stand still. His body became a moving target she walked around as she tried to hoist up and set the saddle down on the middle part of his back.

Patience attempted to climb into the saddle during one of these roundabouts and somehow ended up seated backwards. When Pam and Carrie saw Patience facing them as Jackson trotted in the opposite direction, they fell to the ground and held their sides as they laughed. She looked like a stunt rider on the pouting pony.

Jackson had many tactics he used to avoid the saddle. He could puff out his stomach so the straps appeared tightly cinched around his belly. When a would-be rider stepped into a stirrup and reached for the saddle horn, Jackson would exhale, the saddle would slip, and she’d end up on the ground as the horse trotted away.

In a humorous way he could curl his lips back the way a TV horse did after he pulled a joke on his owner. That little rascal Jackson was smart and seemed pleased each time he outwitted Patience. Unfortunately, when she wised up to one