The Amish Voice 11
Lena hummed Louisa Stead’s meaningful
hymn as she smoothed the warming soil over
the lettuce seeds she’d sown. “Well, what
makes you so happy this morning?” Sadie
had just come to help her daughter plant their
garden.
“
Oh, it could be different things. Did you
notice how warm the sun feels and how good
it is to be out in the fresh spring air?” Lena’s
answer wasn’t the real reason for her happi-
ness. “I heard you had someone bring you
home from the singing last night,” Sadie per-
sisted.
“
Yes, it was Johnny Beachy. We had a love-
ly evening.”
“
Isn’t this the third Sunday night in a row
that he’s brought you home?”
“
Yah zis, (yes, it is)” Lena replied
“
Didn’t I hear that Johnny and preacher John
were spending some time with Bible stud-
ies?”
“
Yah,” Lena smiled radiantly. “Johnny was
telling me that they had been studying Ephe-
sians chapter one. That is what we read last
night.”
Sadie was thoughtful before she answered. “I
am so thankful that God is giving you the
opportunity to be with a young man who is
interested in the things of God. I wish I
would have been blessed in that way at your
age. Learning the Scriptures wasn’t encour-
aged when I was growing up.”
“
Reading Ephesians One with Johnny last
night made me happy. It was refreshing to be
with someone who could carry on a mean-
ingful conversation. Do you realize how
many promises are in that chapter?”
Lena resumed humming her tune. Realizing
that she was
“
blessed with all spiritual bless-
ings in heavenly places in Christ,”
made her
feel closer to God. That chapter also said she
was chosen of God from the very foundation
of the world. Why not feel happy?
“
Vell, I will admit, mother, there are some
big words there that I don’t understand, like
predestinated, redemption and riches of His
grace, but they all seem to hold some
weighty promises that I want to understand.”
“
As long as you study the Word of God we
won’t have to be concerned that you will turn
out like Elroy’s Emma did.” Sadie continued.
“
If she had just seen all that Jesus did on the
cross for her, she probably wouldn’t have
snuck away during the night and gotten her-
self in such a mess. Though she was with a
group of ex-Amish she missed her family
and came back all messed up.
“
Ich vayz, (I know)”, Lena replied. “I don’t
know why Emma left like she did. I just want
to know more about God’s Word. I want to
learn what ‘redemption’ and all the other big
words mean and how they relate to me.
“
Some of those words are hard to under-
stand, but I think I have heard it explained
that redemption means to buy back. It has to
do with Jesus’ death on the cross.”
“
Mother, we are planting good seed here,
aren’t we?” “Why, yes,” Sadie answered.
“
It’s the same seed that always yields praise-
winning produce.”
“
That’s just it. In Genesis I read that God
made everything to produce fruit after its
own kind. Can’t I believe that if I read God’s
holy Word that it will help me produce godly
fruit? I will surely learn the meaning of these
words.”
“
There are still so many things to learn, but
you are right. Scripture is truth and truth pro-
duces more truth. ” Sadie replied
“
Mother, I love you and I love being here in
the garden planting seed in hopes of a good
harvest. I do think that as I study God’s
Word I will better understand Scriptures like
Ephesians 2: 8 and 9. These verses say that
I’m saved by God’s grace and not by my
own works. I’d like to believe that under-
standing these concepts would yield a spir-
itual harvest.”
As if in deep thought Sadie covered the peas
she had just sown into her neat, straight
rows.
“
It was refreshing for me to be with a young
man who could speak about concepts and
values. Somewhere I heard that little people
talk about people. The average people talk
about weather, but it takes a big person to
talk about concepts and values.”
“
You have a point there,” Sadie chuckled.
“
I’ll pray that we will both understand God’s
Word and become more like Him as we do.”
Lena resumed humming Louisa’s hymn,
“
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!”
Lydia Chorpening
324
Boland Private Dr.
Shell Lake, WI 54871
Phone: 715-731-0035
In Hopes of a Good Harvest
—
By Lydia Chorpening
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1.
Justified by Faith, Part 1
2.
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Moral Addiction with John Regier
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