Was it just her imagination, or had her breathing gotten more relaxed? Esperanza hadn't supposed herself to be in chronic pain before, chalking such discomforts as she had up to age, but today she felt better all around than she had thought possible. What was the biblical saying she had learned way back when? Ah yes... "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Now that she wasn't fixating on what irritated her, everything felt better, and even Damon was starting to notice. Because she was smiling more, so was he. And Sophia? She must be laughing by now. That reminded her... Any new posts? Apparently, yes.
Hebrews 10:35-39; 11:1: "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Well, that was interesting. She wasn't immediately sure how it applied to her right now, but she supposed she was about to find out. Below it was a line in that strange code:
Á sazav dhuttab ruzas ma.
No visions yet, but below this line was another song: "Tears of Joy" by Crumbächer-Duke. Would she see something when she played it?
***
She saw a hospital room. In the bed lay Lazarus, softly singing along to the music playing on his phone.
Your smile greets me at / The dawning of the light / Your laughter haunts me in / The chambers of the night / And looking back on every warm, familiar sight / Will there be more?
Your fire burned so bright / But then you turned to go / And left me standing there / Amidst the afterglow / A thought occurred to me / Perhaps I'll never know / Whatever for?
But if I cried the day you said you were leaving / I'm sure to lose it even more / Upon the news of your returning / That must be what tears of joy are for
Your faith inspired me / To heights I'd never flown / Such childlike innocence is seldom ever shown / As I recall the change / It chills me to the bone / To the core...
His voice grew husky here, hands rising into the air and clenching as he laid his claim on a future for which he knew that he might be absent.
Everyone still talks about you / Some wonder why you walked away / They say carry on without you / I say you'll be home again someday
And if I cried the day you said you were leaving / I'm sure to lose it even more / Upon the news of your returning / That must be what tears of joy are for...
As the music wound down, his arms relaxed and his eyes closed.
***
Grief, long suppressed with bitterness, was now free to flow and though she had enough composure not to bawl, she couldn't help but choke up. His prospects of regaining either her or Sophia had been grim, yet in his adorably stubborn way, he had held onto them both all the way to the grave. Grandpa had finally gotten his wish, even though he never lived to see it on this side of the veil, and for the first time since her teens, Esperanza was happy to see it done.
Here also, she supposed, was proof that he was gifted at seeing into and perhaps imposing things onto the future, as shown by Sophia, who was likewise gifted at seeing into and retrieving things from the past. No one had been present to witness this moment, so God must have shown it to her directly, one way or another. What did she think of this?
***
Sophia stared at the screen, wiping a tear. This moment had touched her more deeply than she had expected. She had felt his emotions firsthand from the inside, heard them in musical form, even seen them on his face at a younger age, but to see them on the face that she knew from childhood--the raw feelings that he had carefully kept hidden in order to spare her the weight--that was both new and achingly familiar.
So sad from his position, but oh, the character it displayed, and the payoff? That was the stuff of legend. Here she was, living proof that the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man availed much and if this latest word meant what she thought it did, Mom had made it too. The line, formerly broken, was now fully restored. Faith really was the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.