The Crossroad (10 page)

Nine

Not only did Rachel listen to the taped sermon, she played it twice before retiring for the night. And the next afternoon, another tape arrived. This one from Esther herself.

Rachel squeezed time out of her busy day—cleaning, baking bread, and washing clothes—in order to hear snatches of it. Yet she was more than eager to do so, for it seemed that Esther
did
know something of the strange nature of Gabe’s death.

I’ve just been made privy to some shocking information
, her cousin’s words came strong and clear. Rachel was relieved that Esther had seen fit to position the highly personal information in the middle of the taped message. This way, if ever Mam was to eavesdrop on it, she would not discover what the two women were passing back and forth.

She continued listening, then was moved to tears as the strange story began to unfold.

Yesterday Levi had the chance, finally, to call his grandfather, your Beachy bishop, Isaac Glick. I just had no idea that Isaac would know one thing ’bout the events surrounding Gabriel Esh’s death. But let me tell you, Isaac shared some terrible frightening things with my husband. I best be careful how I say this, ’cause I sure don’t want to garble the truth. From what Isaac knows, Seth Fisher
did
put a hex on Gabe Esh! Now, I don’t exactly know what sort of spell it was. All I know is the very next day, Gabe and his friend were driving in a car somewheres, and Gabe’s friend hit a white dove. The friend turned deathly pale … terrified, to say the least. He told Gabe that in the religious circles he was akin to, killing a white dove was an omen, a sign that the person or persons would die unexpectedly, and soon.

Gabe didn’t know what to make of it, ’cause he, too, had heard of the powerful superstition. In fact, Gabe knew firsthand of people who’d died after an experience like that.

Oh, Rachel, if only your great-uncle had known to turn his back on such things—if only he’d known what
we
know now, that those who belong to the Lord can take authority over fears and false beliefs. I don’t honestly know if Gabe feared the superstition and his dread resulted in his untimely death. Only God knows for sure. But fear is such an open door, ’cause when we fear, we’re believin’ the devil, whereas faith is believin’ in what God says. The book of Job, chapter three, verse twenty-five says, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” It may be that Gabe didn’t understand how fear can open up a believer to front-line attacks from the ol’ enemy. And you know, all that Gabe was doin’ for the Lord—speaking out so strongly against the powwow practices—well, of course the devil was out to silence him.

Seein’ as how Gabe had followed the Lord so closely, though, it’s hard to understand how a hex of any kind could’ve affected him, really. We know, from some of the teaching we’ve had, that there are ever so many curses folk unknowingly put on each other. Even by things like jealousy, gossip, and rejection.

Even so, Levi and I both believe Gabe is in heaven with his Lord because of the stand he made. Honestly, we do
.

Rachel brushed tears from her face. Not only was she shocked, but saddened and confused by her cousin’s news. And she found herself wondering yet again why such past wicked activity had been hushed up.

Something rose up in her, and she felt so strongly that the darkness had to be exposed so that the way, the truth, and the life could flood hearts that had been hardened by tradition and deceived by the devil. This, more than anything, she desired for her people. The spreading of the Light was what she also desired for the old, now ailing bishop, a former powwow doctor in the community. Jah, Seth Fisher needed to hear that the Light has come. That God’s glory had appeared to at least one humble soul amongst the People … a distant relative of Gabe, the young man the bishop had despised enough to curse.

Yet Rachel truly felt she must be able to see, have her sight restored by the power of God—and not by powwowing—before she could ever approach the Old Order bishop. Why, surely, once her blindness was a thing of the past, the highly revered church leader would hear what she had to say—even if she
was
a woman. And she feared, in the shape he was in, his time on this earth was fast runnin’ out.

She fell to her knees beside her bed, impulsively claiming one healing promise after another found in the Bible. She knew many of the passages by heart, quoting them aloud in her prayer, as she held fast to God’s Word. Deep within she felt a sense of urgency, though she did not think she was demanding anything out of the ordinary from the Lord. No, she was merely acting on the Scripture tapes her father had purchased for her months before.

“Dear Lord in heaven, I ask that you heal me,” she prayed. “Body, mind, and spirit. I know your Word says, ‘Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.’ Well, I ain’t an elder, and I haven’t had much faith for my healin’ in the past—haven’t much cared to see, really. So I’m here to present my eyesight to you just now, askin’ you to heal me, as you promised. I am willing to go to the elders of our church, to be anointed with oil, if that is your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

She lifted her head and opened her eyes, fully expecting to see clearly. But the room was a shadowy gray, and she was ever so disappointed, wondering if her ongoing condition had now become a permanent blindness, yet not allowing herself to dread that possibility.

After telling Mam the highlights of the church meeting the next morning, Rachel rushed off to her room between chores to pray fervently for her sight. “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m reminding you this day of your many promises to heal. In your Word—in Luke, chapter four—you said that you were sent ‘to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recoverin’ of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.’ Well, Lord, I’m all of those things, ain’t so? I’m brokenhearted over losin’ Jacob and Aaron, my dear husband and little boy. I’ve been a captive awful long, too, ’cause of fear and bitterness, and I’m blind because I purposely blocked out every memory connected with the accident.” She paused, brushing tears away. “I’m bruised, too, Lord, way deep in my spirit, wounded ’cause of my family’s past sins. I know this from the Ohio pastor’s sermon tapes that Esther has him send. He teaches that ancestral sin brings curses and consequences on a family, whether a person believes in you or not.”

Just then, it dawned on her why Bishop Fisher’s hex might’ve actually worked on a Christian like Gabe and his friend. She just didn’t know for sure, but she had a perty gut idea that Gabe had had no inkling how to battle such things as the sins of his forefathers. One ancestor, whom Gabe had been named after, was known to be the originator of the powwow doctoring in the whole community.

The more Rachel thought on it, the more she wondered if that might’ve been the problem—the lack of spiritual warfare. From what she’d learned, generational sins had to be identified, confessed, and renounced in order for curses to be put to death on the cross of Jesus. She knew this only because of Esther’s pastor, out in Ohio, yet she was ever so thankful to God for bringin’ such teaching into her life. If she could just pass it on to her parents, her eleven siblings and their wives and children, and ’specially to Bishop Fisher. She’d hafta keep praying ’bout that, ’cause she needed more courage to speak out to the People. The way Gabe Esh had spoken out so long ago.

“Mamma’s spendin’ lots of time upstairs,” Annie informed Susanna.

“Well, now, you know your mam’s busy with her personal correspondence, and all.”

“Is it Cousin Esther in Ohio … that she’s making tapes to?” Annie’s round face was filled with questions. “Maybe we’re movin’ out there to live with Levi and Esther and their children.”

“What the world, child? Where’d you get a notion like that?”

“Mamma and I talked ’bout it once.” The little girl’s words came out a bit lispy, due to her missing front tooth.

“I’d say that’s just horse feathers.”

“What do you mean, Mammi Susanna?”

She knew she’d better come up with something perty gut, or the bright child would catch on. “Well, it’s like this. Your mamma feels right stuck here in Bird-in-Hand, prob’ly, what with her best cousin livin’ in wide-open spaces out there in Holmesville. We always want what we can’t have. That’s just human nature, I’d say.”

Annie looked at her with those big, innocent blue eyes of hers. “I wanna live on a farm, too, just like Mamma does.”

“Well, now, if that don’t beat all.” She couldn’t say much more. Truth was, there wasn’t nothin’ better in the whole wide world, far as she was concerned. Nothin’ better’n working the soil of God’s good earth.

“I think someday we’re gonna end up farmers,” Annie declared.

“You really do?”

“Jah, ’cause I have a powerful-strong feeling.”

Susanna perked up her ears at that. Could it be her granddaughter had some of the family giftings passed down through the generations? Could it be that Annie was next in line—after Rachel, of course. If this was true, she’d just received some mighty gut news indeedy. And so close to Christmas. Wait’ll Benjamin heard ’bout this!

Rachel began the next day with earnest prayer, not the silent rote prayers she’d been taught. She prayed with her eyes wide open, yet not seeing, waiting for the Lord to bless her with healing. Desiring her sight more than ever, she pleaded that God might grant her “a clear vision in time for Christmas. And what a
seelich
—blessed gift that would be,” she prayed, once again repeating the promises of God, so determined to receive.

“I’m willin’ to cross the horrible visions—to remember the accident that took Jacob’s and Aaron’s lives—to get to my sight. Whatever it takes, Lord. I want to see again!”

When her healing didn’t come just then, Rachel rose, washed, and dressed for the day. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was getting a bit impatient. After all, God didn’t seem to be answerin’ awful fast, especially now that she was wanting her sight, more than eager to see her little Annie-girl.