Flint left the room quickly and Lisa held her two children perhaps harder than she would normally have as another hard contraction coursed through her.
"Oh God please not now!" She moaned out gutturally, as she tried to get a hold of her fractured emotions.
A little hand touched her face and Lisa's eyes opened to see her oldest daughter staring up at her tenderly, "I'm praying for you mommy."
"Me too!" Brian piped up, as they both laid their hands on their mother's tightly contracting belly.
More tears spilled down Lisa's cheeks, even as the contractions eased off a little. Lisa leaned to either side and kissed their heads as she said, "Thank you! Mama needs your prayers."
"Is daddy going to be all right?" Brian asked.
"Daddy will be fine. We'll all be fine. You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because God loves us."
Contented both children lay their heads against her, but Lisa stared at the darkness beyond the window before her praying fervently for her husband's safety. Everyone's safety this dark night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I walked across the large foyer headed for the big double doors, as a chill descended in the air. I threw both doors wide and stepped outside. It was freezing, but it wasn't a change in temperature so much as a spiritual loss.
Flint stepped up beside me and I heard Maria close the doors. I turned to her. Maria was shivering and very decidedly looked like she wanted no part of what was about to unfold, but she was here and she wasn't complaining. She was a good partner.
I walked up to her, "I want you to stay here at the doors and not let anything get past you. Understand?"
She nodded and gripped on to both door handles behind her back, as if her life depended on it. She was a brave woman.
My hands settled on her shoulders and I felt the trembling of her frame. There was a howling all around us and then sudden explosive gusts of wind. I watched her look to the left and then the right frantically and I snapped my fingers beside her ear and just as quickly her eyes came back to mine and I said, "Ignore all the theater and drama going on and focus on the Spirit of God residing inside of you."
Her lips moved, but no words came as tears began to fall.
Reading her mind I said, "No words to express what you feel you need to express through prayer in this moment?"
She nodded miserably.
My hands framed her cold cheeks, "In the New Testament there are nine gifts that are given. One of them is the gift of speaking in tongues. It's a gift by which the Holy Spirit enables your spirit to directly converse with the Father in groanings that cannot be expressed by any language known to man. Do you want this gift of the Holy Spirit Maria, because it's been made freely available to all who ask for it?"