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She sat down.
“Why didn’t you tell me you could draw?”
Selina yanked her head toward him.
“The first I heard of it was when you told Jake. What else should I know about you?”
“Ain’t much else to tell.”
“Where did you learn to doctor people?”
“Doc taught me.” Selina chuckled. “With six brothers who always had cuts and broken bones, Doc said it would save him a heap of trouble iffen I learned. When the boys got older, every free chance I got I went with either Doc or Josephine, the midwife back home, to learn not only how to doctor, but how to birth babies. I just wished I would have learned before it was too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“My cousin Lou Ellen. She died givin’ birth. Wouldn’t have happened iffen there had been someone there to help her.”
“Earlier you said you miss your home. What do you miss about it?”
“My family mostly.”
“Would you mind drawing me something?”
“Now?”
“Yes. Now.”
“I ain’t got no paper or pencil.”
“I do.” Michael walked over to his desk, and when he came back, he handed her a thin square board with a stack of papers on it and two sharpened pencils.
“What do you want me to draw?”
“Something about Kentucky that means something to you.”
She nodded.
Michael read his Bible while she drew.
The picture in her mind slowly came to life on the paper. When it was just the way she wanted it, she smiled, then looked over at Michael. “I’m done.”
Michael stood behind her. “Selina, it’s beautiful.”
“That’s the house I grew up in. On the porch are the rockers my pa made before my ma died. Hangin’ from the tree over yonder is a swing he’d made for all of us. It’s ratty now, but I drew it as I recollected it when it was new. All them trees—” she pointed to the ones in the drawing “—they’re hickory nut trees. And that’s the river we drew water from and caught fish from. It’s a whole lot bigger than the ones y’all have here.”
She continued to describe the boulders nearby, the different kinds of bushes and flowers. “Well, that’s it. That’s my home. Old home, anyways.”
“It’s very pretty. You are one talented, gifted lady.”
“Gifted? I ain’t gifted. Talents and gifts come from the Lord. The Holy Spirit does the drawin’. I just sit down and let Him use my fingers. Speakin’ of gifts and the Holy Spirit, would you read to me outta the Good Book? It’s been a long time since anyone has.”
“Of course. I’d love to. What would you like to hear?”
“Didn’t get much Bible readin’ back home, so I’d be mighty thankful for anythin’ you read.” She set her drawing, the rest of the paper and her pencils on the coffee table.
Paper rustled as he turned the Bible pages. “I’ll start in the book of James. ‘James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.’”
“What’s that mean? Diverse?”
“It means a great deal of variety. Or in this verse, many temptations.”
She nodded. “I see.”
“‘But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.’”
“I sure do struggle with patience sometimes.”
“Me, too. Actually, I think we all do—otherwise the Lord wouldn’t have bothered putting it in His Word.”
“So what’s it say we’re to do when we’re tempted?”
“Well…” The pages rustled as he turned them some more. He ran his finger down the page. “Here it is. It says here in James 4:7, ‘Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee.’”
“Submit? What does that mean?”
“Well, the way I understand it is, when we’re tempted, we’re supposed to turn to God. In doing that, we set ourselves up to receive His transforming, saving power. If we simply try to resist the devil without turning to God, then we’re depending on our own strength and our own willpower. And our strength and willpower are in no way sufficient.”
She frowned and tilted her head.
“Not sufficient means it isn’t enough.”
He must be getting to know the look she gave because he’d explained that word without her even asking.
“We need God’s grace and His mercy to help us resist the devil and flee temptation.”
