Christmas Surprises Read Online Free PDF Page A

living every day for Christ and more about waiting for a day when she would see her love again, something she knew wasn't right, because she was longing for a person more than her Lord.
     
    She'd listened to Rachel's declaration and made one of her own.
     
    She was going to live again.  It wasn't too late to climb her way out of the pit. 
     
    So, she'd found a grief group at a large church near her own small church.   Solid, Biblical answers about what she had experienced, hope for tomorrow, godly counsel, and affirming friendships from those who were there - she experienced it all and remembered what life was about and just who she was made to be.
     
    She had just begun to feel like she was right with the Lord again, that life wasn't over, and that she was still here for a reason.
     
    And then, she met Brian.
     
    He was a leader in the group, a pastor from yet another church, two years widowed and empty nested himself, the father of three daughters and the Pops of ten -- yes, ten -- grandchildren.  Kind, compassionate, thoughtful, and completely and totally uninterested in ever finding romance again because he said he'd never love anyone the way he'd loved Lisa, his wife.
     
    It was that last part that Natalie most appreciated.  Because he wasn't looking for anything and neither was she, they were both comfortable with the friendship that grew out of that group time, the nights they chatted with everyone else, the evenings they all looked through Scripture, and the countless times that their eyes met when they were in silent agreement over how well their grief had been articulated by one of the counselors. 
     
    From there, they had conversations alone, apart from the group.  About Chris, about Lisa, about those daughters of his, about Micah and Joy, about the ten grandchildren, about the twins, about how life doesn't always turn out the way you want it to.  About work, about being a pastor, about being a research engineer, about the triathlons he did, about the cooking that she enjoyed, about retirement, about travel, about the future.
     
    It wasn't long before their eyes would meet during the group time for a different reason entirely.
     
    Being wooed and won over at seventeen had been one thing, but having it happen when you were old enough to be a grandmother was another.  Natalie could well remember the talk that had confirmed it all in her heart that fall.  They'd each been on their way to the group and had pulled into the parking lot at the same time, both of them five minutes late.
     
    Instead of rushing in together, though, Brian had gotten out of his truck, paused for just a moment, and asked her, "Have you eaten dinner yet?"
     
    She had.  A big dinner with Micah, Rachel, and the girls at Grant's restaurant.
     
    "No, not yet," she'd lied.  Lying to a pastor.  It made what she was about to do feel even more dangerous.
     
    Because she'd known what she was about to do, watching him watch her, knowing where this was going, letting it happen, and thanking God even as she questioned Him, wondering at how her heart could even take another risk after all that she'd been through.
     
    To love someone again, after you'd lost everything.  To know that you would likely lose him, too, one day, and still having enough faith to embrace it all.
     
    Terrifying.  Thrilling.  And right.  So right.
     
    The conversation had been easy as he'd driven her to a restaurant in his part of town, as they'd sat down together for the meal, and as he'd taken her to his church afterwards to show her around. 
     
    "We have the same Scripture on the stained glass above the baptistry at my church," she'd noted as they'd walked through the sanctuary, as he'd told her about plans they had for expansion for a new building project that he was hesitant to start this close to retirement.
     
    "Do you?," he'd asked, and his eyes had been on her, not on the baptistry.
     
    "Yeah," she'd said softly, calm despite the awareness