His Marvelous Plans

 By Faith H., age 15

#7 Attic Surprise

Andi gazed into the warm, dancing flames that crackled in the sitting room fireplace. Between her fingers lay a string of white lace which she mindlessly played with.

Her mother, Elisabeth Carter, sat on the couch, a sewing basket beside her. She worked diligently at finishing the final touches on the elegant, white dress that lay in her lap but paused to spare a glance at her daughter.

          “In two days,” Andi whispered absently, resting her chin on her hands and sitting before the hearth, “just two days and I’ll be ‘Mrs. Andrea Prescott.’”

          A feeling of nervousness shot through her body and she let out a sigh.

Riley would have to be busy all day today. Andi thought, then was stabbed with guilt at the uncharitable thought. He can’t help it. There’s lots he needs to do before… she swallowed, …the wedding.

          She bit her lip as a horde of thoughts and worries rushed to her mind. Determined not to be the ‘anxious bride’ she shook her head to clear her thoughts.

          I know with all my heart that I love Riley and that I want to marry him! Then why am I so nervous? Please help me trust you, Lord, that everything will go smoothly on our wedding day!

After a minute she cleared her throat.

“What should I be doing, Mother?” She asked for the second time that hour.

          “Well,” Elisabeth began with an amused look, “that’s entirely up to you. How about you take a ride on Taffy?”

“No good,” Andi said slowly, “it’s far too rainy outside. You can’t see six feet in front of you it’s raining so hard!”

An unexpected summer rain storm had hit the Fresno Valley and had poured mercilessly all morning. Chad presumed that the storm would be over far before supper, much to the relief of Andi.

“Oh yes,” Elisabeth nodded. She smiled. “I don’t know what to tell you, sweetheart.”

Suddenly Andi sprang to her feet and dusted off her skirt.

“I suppose there’s no use simply staring into the fire,” she said sensibly. “I think I’ll go to my room and…” she stuttered as she thought of something do to, “and check again and make sure I have everything already packed for the honeymoon.”

Elisabeth gave a sympathetic grin, “Alright, honey.”

Andi slipped from the room and wandered up the staircase.

Of course, you already have everything packed! You’ve only checked it four times, she smirked.

She pushed open the bedroom door. She suddenly realized that she would miss her childhood room once she lived in her own house. Thoughts of her childhood spurred in her memory.

The journal on her vanity caught her eye and she suddenly remembered the journal that her sister, Melinda, had gifted her when she was a girl.

“Where is that journal, anyway?” she wondered aloud. “Oh yes, the attic! I believe it was put there a year or two ago. That would be fun to read through.”

With a mischievous grin, Andi fetched a candle and then began making her way to the Carter’s upstairs, rarely-used attic. She reached it at last and gave the old wood door a good shove, it creaked noisily as she did so.

The slight gust of wind that spilled into the attic sent a swirl of dust through the doorway and into Andi’s face. She gave a loud, unladylike sneeze.

“Let’s get some fresh air in here,” Andi declared, stifling another sneeze. At once, she stepped into the room and opened the attic’s small, single window.

There wasn’t much in the Carter’s attic, simply a handful of sealed crates, several large similar-looking chests, and a few other minuscule items.

One of the chests in particular caught Andi’s attention.

“Yes, I believe it’s that one,” she muttered, stepping toward the trunk. She set aside the candle, bent on her knees, and lifted the heavy lid. In the trunk before her lay various books and small vintage articles such as an old fountain pen, strings of cream-colored lace, and a parcel of yellowed letters.

Andi looked on in utter curiosity, the girlhood journal she had been searching for quickly forgotten.

Whose trunk could this be? I’ve never seen it before!

She carefully selected a dark brown, leather-bound book and gingerly opened the cover. The name Elisabeth Johnson was etched on the inside. Andi’s eyes widened.

It’s Mother’s Journal! And before she was married, too. She began to place it back into the chest then hesitated.

“I’m sure,” she began slowly, “I’m sure mother wouldn’t mind if…”

Then, before she could change her mind, Andi sat back on the attic floorboards and opened the cover of the journal once more. She glanced over the first pages and realized that Elisabeth had been in her early twenties when she first started the journal.

Andi carefully flipped a few more pages then stopped when she noticed the date on the top of a journal entry.

“That’s a mere few weeks before mother and father got married!” Andi gasped. Intrigued, she began to read the delicate, fine writing.

 

Dear Journal,                                                        January, 26^th, 1851

Today Jim asked me to marry him! I said yes at once. I am so thrilled!

I will admit that I’m quite nervous when I think about actually getting married… but the magnificent blessing of it all outweighs any nervousness of mine by far!

 

Andi paused. Reading those words in her mother’s very own writing instilled both a feeling of wonder and excitement in her heart.

She was nervous, too. But what else does she write…?

Andi continued reading the journal entry.

 

I keep thinking of that verse, Jeremiah 29:11, where it says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you and to give you hope and a future.”

How wonderful to know that God planned all along for Jim and me to meet and for us to get married! How marvelous are the Lord’s plans for His children!

I pray that I will trust God in everything, especially with my upcoming wedding! I know He will guide me and direct my steps, so I have no need to be nervous.

Even now I am beaming as I write this entry!

 

Sincerely,

Elisabeth Johnson (soon to be Carter!)

 

The words “I know He will guide me and direct my steps, so I have no need to be nervous” played themselves over in Andi’s mind. She sat back and suddenly blinked back happy tears.

How true it is! If I trust completely in God, I don’t need to be anxious. Help me trust you, Lord! she thought, and a sense of peace flooded her heart.

“I know He will guide me and direct my steps, so I have no need to be nervous,” Andi repeated quietly.

“Ah, yes.”

Andi jumped, startled, at her mother’s voice. She looked up to see Elisabeth standing in the attic doorway.

“Oh, hello Mother!” Andi blushed. She felt rather silly looking through her mother’s journal all the while with her mother watching her.

“Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine with you looking through my old trunk,” Elisabeth laughed. “I decided to see if you were alright but found your room empty. And, after hearing the creaks from the attic, I wanted to see if it was you.”

“So, this your journal when you were a young woman?” Andi asked.

“Yes,” Elisabeth replied, stepping into the attic.

“I was just reading what you wrote in the days before you married Father,” Andi said in a quiet, excited tone.

“Your Father was such a fine man, Andrea,” Elisabeth smiled, “And so is Riley. My dear, you are very blessed!”

A thrilled feeling shot through Andi and she beamed. Then, remembering the journal entry, she quoted softly, “How marvelous are the Lord’s plans for His children!”