Read Online And the Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers - Free Book Online Page B

in anger this time. He wanted to respond wisely, and do what was best for Brittany. And Kathryn. He could fight all right, and probably win some rounds. She had had an affair three years ago, after she’d farmed out Brittany to a preschool. In usual form, she’d blamed him for being too insensitive to her needs, and he’d bought a bottle of Glenfiddich. He could fight her, and fill his attorney’s pocket with money while accomplishing nothing but momentary satisfaction. He didn’t feel like punching back this time. They had done enough damage to one another over the past five years. Having Brittany had been an attempt to save their floundering marriage. And it had worked for two years. But how much damage had they done to their daughter during their shouting matches in the last three?
    No, this time he’d swallow his pride and let Kathryn have everything she wanted. He’d crush the urge to defend himself. No more casting blame. No more rationalizing or justifying his side of things. Even if he had to go bankrupt.
    Maybe when she was on her own, she’d find out he wasn’t the cause of all of her problems.
    He was going to put one foot in front of the other and live one day at a time. He’d faced up to his drinking problem when he checked into the Salvation Army rehab facility. Knew he was going to live with the urge to drink for the rest of his life. The first few weeks, he’d worked the program on his own terms, determined to win against alcohol, to put a finish to addiction. Loss of his wife, daughter, and home had removed any illusions that he had control over his life. He crashed and burned. But it was in the anguish that followed that he knew everything was changing from the inside out.
    It wasn’t until he hit rock bottom that he had been willing to look up and cry out to Jesus for help because he finally faced the fact that he was powerless. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Al-mighty.” Something happened that night that changed everything. Stephen heard what people who walked the walk were saying. He believed the promises the Bible offered. “Come to me and I will give you rest—all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke.”
    He had been warned of the enemy on the prowl. “Read your Bible daily,” Rick said. “Go to your AA meetings. Find a fellowship of believers. The biggest mistake an alcoholic can make is to isolate, going off by himself and thinking he can make it on his own.” Stephen took the advice to heart, knowing it came from the voice of experience.
    He’d been out of rehab for six weeks now. He read his One Year Bible at five o’clock every morning, attended AA meetings three times a week, and worked out at a gym when the urge to drink hit him. The house had sold two days after Kathryn put it on the market. The few pieces of furniture Kathryn had left behind went into a storage facility until he could find an apartment. By the grace of God, Stephen had a project waiting for him, and would make enough off it to keep Decker Design and Construction in the black for months to come.
    A few members of his old crew made themselves available. Carl Henderson, a carpenter dubbed “Tree House” by his friends because of his six-foot-nine-inch frame, and Hector Mendoza, Stephen’s “Mexican backhoe,” who could be counted on to do the labor of two men. Carl had been one of Stephen’s drinking buddies, so he warned him up front, “Those days are over for me.” Hector, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was a devout Catholic and dedicated son, helping support his mother, father, and various siblings still south of the border.
    All in all, life was bearable. It would be even better when he moved into a place of his own, rather than paying by the week at a motel on Highway 99. He’d run his business out of his house, and now that the house was gone, he was going to have to make some decisions. The thought of going back to the rush of Sacramento depressed him, but