Page 7 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

“If they’re saved, they’re baby Christians,” Rosie said. “If they’re not saved, then they might know enough about Christianity, but they may not be true believers. Only God knows their hearts and where they’re at. I don’t know.”

No sugarcoating.

“Anyway, my parents didn’t take my brother and me to church.

They were always busy with work, even on Sundays,” Evan said.

“However, my parents sent us to camp every year. In one of the summer youth camps, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. When I came home, my neighbors took me to church.”

When Rosie’s turn came, she blinked away tears in her eyes. “My mom led me to the Lord when I was five years old. My parents took me to church every Sunday. After Dad died, Mom and I continued to go to church together.”

Her mother had just lived past Stage 4 cancer. If it returned, Rosie would have no parents left on earth. Life would go on, but Evan wondered whether Rosie had other family in town or close friends.

“In verse 30, Simeon said that his eyes had seen God’s salvation,” Rosie said. “Does the word ‘seen’ remind you of another Bible passage? Put up your hand and I’ll call your name.”

A girl did.

“Yes, Myra?”

“Walk by sight?” she replied.

“Yes, 1 Corinthians 5:17 comes to my mind too. ‘For we walk by faith, not by sight.’ How does this verse apply to Simeon’s story? Does anyone know?”

Not a hand went up.

“No one knows?” Rosie asked.

When nobody said anything, Evan did. “Simeon walked by faith because he trusted that God would show him the Messiah. His faith in God allowed him to see God at work.”

“Oh. That’s very good, Mr. Evan,” Rosie said.

“He didn’t raise his hand before he answered,” a random kid said.

Indicted, Evan raised his hand right away.

“Too late!” another kid said.

“We raise our hands and wait to be called so that we’re not all talking over one another and all at once,” Rosie said.

“Before Mr. Evan answered the question, it was quiet in the room and nobody raised their hands. Besides, he’s a teacher.

Not only does he not have to raise his hand, but when he speaks, everyone else needs to be quiet. ”

“Is that called playing favorites?” a girl asked.

Evan chuckled. He wanted to be Rosie’s favorite.

Rosie blushed. She moved on to the next point she had to cover in the lesson today.

“As we know, the Holy Spirit is not only our comforter, but also our teacher. He brings to mind what God has taught us in the Bible. He also guides us according to God’s will.

” Rosie looked around the room but avoided eye contact with Evan.

“Are you praying about something now? Let’s ask for God to show you the way. ”

Four kids had prayer requests today, and it was eye-opening for Evan to hear them.

One kid said that his father has lost his job and they might have to move out of state.

Another kid said that he wants a baby sister but all his mom ever had were boys.

The next kid told the class that his parents fought in the car all the way to church this morning.

Out of the mouths of babes…

The fourth kid asked everyone to pray for Rosie’s mom because “mommies are important.”

Tears filled Rosie’s eyes.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” He wanted to hug her right there, but the other kids got to her first. Soon they were all surrounding her, hugging her, patting her head, telling her, “Trust God, Miss Rosie.”

Evan was impressed with the faith of these children. He felt that he had a lot to learn still.

Rosie seemed to be holding back a lot in front of the kids. She was smiling the whole time even as tears streamed down her cheeks. Evan wondered how much she cried when she was alone, away from her mother and everybody else.

He wanted to be there for her in those moments. Could he? Was he strong enough to comfort her? Then again, he could only do so in the strength of the Lord.

Evan looked around for tissues and spotted a box on the folding table. He handed a couple of pieces of tissues to Rosie.

“Thanks.” Her voice was soft.

Then she steeled herself. “Mr. Evan, how about you pray for us this morning? There are four prayer requests.”

They hadn’t written any of them down. Fortunately for Evan, he had a good memory. “Yes, I will pray.”

As he did, he added a silent prayer for himself that God would direct his career. “And also, Lord, I pray for all of us here that You will protect us and guide us always. Thank You for sending Jesus to come down to earth to save our souls. In His Holy name, I pray. Amen.”

Everyone said, “Amen.”

“Let’s put our Bibles by the wall and put away all the things we took out from the shelves. Clean-up time, everyone!” Rosie clapped. She was no longer crying.

Her eyes were a bit red, and Evan hated to see her gray eyes looking sad like that.

She smiled at him. “Thank you for volunteering in our Sunday school class this morning.”

“No problem.” Evan wondered if she had compartmentalized her feelings and moved on to the next thing. It was very businesslike, but he had seen a glimpse into what she felt.

He wanted to be there for her forever.

Well, maybe not forever, but for the rest of his life on earth.

His thoughts were muffled by a boisterous rendition of the clean-up song.

“Now it’s exercise time!” a kid shouted.

“Who wants to lead today?” Rosie asked.

A resounding “Me!” went around the room.

Rosie picked a random kid. “What one exercise do you want us to do, Benjamin?”

“Jumping jacks!” The boy directed the class. “Everybody, stand facing me.”

A girl stood next to Rosie. She must be new because Rosie told her she was glad the girl came to their class this morning.

“Aren’t you too old to exercise?” the girl asked.

“I’m only thirty.” Rosie laughed.

She’s thirty.

However, she looked younger, like she might only be in her late twenties.

“I’m three years older than you.” Evan stood on the other side of her.

Rosie didn’t say anything. She only smiled.

The smile warmed Evan’s heart. It was a genuine smile, not a put-on fake smile like those he’d encountered among Mom’s circle of friends’ daughters whom Mom had been trying to marry off to him. Mom had insisted that matchmaking was an Asian thing, but Evan disagreed.

He wanted to find his own one true love.

And she might be standing next to him right now.

His heartbeat increased, not because they were doing jumping jacks but because he was this close to Rosie. The tips of their fingers nearly touched.

He wondered if he should keep volunteering in her class even after the sick co-teacher returned. Would that be too obvious? He didn’t want to drive Rosie away before their relationship even had a chance.

“Boys and girls, it’s snack time before your parents pick you up for the service,” Rosie announced after they had stretched.

“If you brought your own snacks and drinks, please take them out now. Everyone, sit down in a circle. Mr. Evan and I will pass out juice boxes and crackers if you want those.”

Rosie passed by Evan to get to a small table up against a wall. There was a small dorm-room refrigerator to one side of the table and two chairs on the other side. On the table were two plastic trays. One was empty and the other had assorted packets of crackers on them.

She handed the empty tray to Evan and pointed to the small refrigerator. “Could you get some juice boxes and water bottles from the refrigerator and serve the kids?”

Evan finally noticed the mini fridge in retro teal. “Too cute. Is this in every room?”

“No, just this one. I brought it from home. It used to be in my dorm room in college.”

Carrying trays, the two adults went around the room serving the third graders juice and crackers. When everyone had something to snack on, Rosie asked for a volunteer to say a blessing for their food.

Evan followed Rosie back to the counter.

“Have some crackers and juice if you want.” Rosie drank cold water from a half-height water bottle.

Evan realized that he had been in such a rush this morning that he hadn’t had breakfast, only coffee. He snacked on some crackers and watched Rosie.

Rosie picked up a piece of paper from the folding table. “Everyone, there’s a new announcement you might want to know. This Friday is free skate night for families with kids from six to eight o’clock at the Waterpark Ice Rink. The church will email your mom and dad tomorrow.”

She retrieved her phone from her purse and a small portable speaker from her tote bag. She also pulled out a charge cable and handed it to Evan. “Do you need to charge up your phone? This works for my phone, so I don’t know if it works for yours.”

Turned out Evan had the same latest iPhone as Rosie, only in different case colors. He needed the latest phone for work back in Seattle, but he was curious as to why Rosie would need the latest phone. What did she use it for? He wanted to know.

Evan found a socket on the wall near Rosie’s tote bag. His phone was completely out of juice.

“Are you going to the skate night?” Evan asked.

“I can’t skate.” Rosie laughed. “Besides, it’s not free for me unless I can borrow a kid.”

“I’ll pay for it. Let’s go.”

“It’s a waste of money if I can’t skate.” She looked like she wished she could skate.

“I’ll teach you. It’ll be fun.”

“No. I’m afraid of falling.”

“You won’t.”

“Guarantee?” Rosie laughed.

Evan wasn’t sure if he could guarantee that she wouldn’t fall. “Nothing is guaranteed except salvation in Christ, right? How about I promise to hold you?”

He couldn’t believe he said that. Was ice skating a flimsy excuse for him to hold Rosie?

“I’ll think about it.” She didn’t turn him down right away.

Evan’s confidence level rose. “Meanwhile, I’ll go to the gym every day this week so that my arms will be strong enough to hold you without letting you fall on the ice.”

“I don’t know if gyms can work emergency wonders that way.” Rosie left it at that.

She connected her phone to her JBL speaker. “Since it’s December, let’s play some Christmas songs, shall we?”

Soon, “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” filled the room. She hummed along with it.

“What else is on your playlist?” Evan asked.

Rosie handed him her phone. It contained Christmas songs that he enjoyed listening to. He wanted to check out her other playlists, but didn’t feel that it was polite to look through her phone at this stage of his pursuit of her.

His what?

He stopped his own train of thought and returned the phone to her.

Rosie pointed to two chairs by the wall. “Feel free to sit on a chair or on the floor with the kids.”

“I’ll follow you.”

Rosie was on the floor among the kids. “When the weather warms up, we sometimes have our Sunday school class on the top deck. Today it’s too cold outside.”

Evan found himself wanting to be there with Rosie when the weather warmed up. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to teach Sunday school, but he wanted to be with Rosie, whatever she was doing.

Was that a prayer he could ask God? Would God grant him his heart’s desire?

This morning’s Bible study reminded him to walk by faith. If it was God’s perfect will for him to be with Rosie, then it would all work out, wouldn’t it?

If Mom got wind of Rosie Hamilton, she’d order a comprehensive background check, which would probably include finding out her blood type and if she had any genetically predisposed diseases. Mom might also test Rosie’s IQ and look into her career and her personal life.

It would be so intrusive that Mom might end up driving Rosie away.

Evan feared that Rosie might not live up to Mom’s standards because Rosie didn’t graduate from an Ivy League university—even though she had graduated from the oldest public university in the country.

Still, whatever hidden talents she might have would probably not satisfy Mom. And Mom wouldn’t consider being a Christian as a plus. In fact, she might not like Rosie from the get-go because of her belief, especially if it was strong.

Which meant that Evan had better keep his newfound interest a secret for now. He shouldn’t even tell his brother, just in case he told his wife and she, in turn, told Mom.

After all, this was only the third day Evan had been with Rosie, even though he was sure he had not only fallen in love with her gray eyes and cute dimples, but also with her voice, as she sang the refrain of the next song, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Her pronunciation was clear and her voice was warm. He could listen to her sing every day.

Didn’t I say she’s the one?