After rescuing Hannah, a young girl being held by a man for two years, Ricky and Bree Kino try to wrap their minds around what has taken place. This is what God’s warriors do. A strong and faithful man, a strong and compassionate woman, working together to thwart evil.
December 5th 10 PM Thursday Night
Kino Plantation House, Pine Forest, Georgia
Ricky Kino sat at his desk in his study gazing at his large computer monitor. He’d been doing a security check before he went up to bed, getting a quick check of each camera. Outside the home, everything was quiet. Inside the home, it was also quiet, but there was a storm brewing. Currently he watched his beautiful wife walking slowly around the giant entrance foyer of the home that was as wide as three living rooms from their Cali home, and extended all the way to the back of the house with giant windows overlooking the back of the property.
Bree seemed to be in a trance, or simply deep in thought. She moved all the way to the double front doors, turned slowly to the left, as if she would head upstairs, but turned again and headed back across the foyer toward the back of the house. Every once in a while she shook her head. A few times she raised her hands and wiped something from her cheeks. Ricky assumed that would be tears. This was her third trip back and forth and suddenly she stopped. She looked heavenward, held her hands out in a pleading gesture and simply sunk down onto her knees. Ricky rose from his desk and quickly made his way to the foyer.
He came up behind her, got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around her. She didn’t say anything but did lean her head back against his chest. He kissed her cheek. “I got you, Bree. I got you.”
She sniffed. Tried to hold it in, but the flood came. She turned into his arms and sobbed. “Ricky, oh Ricky, I can’t stand it. I can’t stand the evil in this world. It hurts so much. It’s like I can feel this thick darkness seeping in through every corner, through every crack. That child, that sweet child, what she’s been through, what she’s seen. The beatings she’s taken. When I helped her change, Ricky, there were bruises all over her back and her backside and her legs. And she’s obviously malnourished. She’s so tiny. So thin. Nothing more than skin and bones really.
“And she had strips of material wrapped around her chest. I thought it was her attempt at making a bra, but Ricky...” She stopped as her throat clogged with emotion again. “She told us she did it to hide her breasts from that horrible man who told her he was gonna have her once she grew breasts.”
Ricky sighed. “Okay, that’s terrible, yes, but then that means he hasn’t taken her yet, and I was sure that he probably had, so, actually, that’s a relief.”
Bree nodded. “I hope that’s what that means. We’ll know tomorrow.” She drew a deep breath. “But Ricky, I know they said not to let her bathe yet, but we washed her hair in the sink. She couldn’t even remember when it had been washed last. It was tangled and matted and it took us forever to get it untangled and clean and combed out. I tried to be so gentle, but she cried. And that is what really got to me. She’d been so stoic up to that point, answering all of the questions from the police and answering all of our questions so calmly with no emotion, and then she cries over her hair being combed.”
Ricky gently ran his hand over his wife’s head and cheek, stroking and comforting. “It’s a hard thing, Bree, and you are absolutely right, there is a whole lot of evil in this world. That’s what we fight on a daily basis, baby. And we won’t stop and we won’t give in and we can’t let it get to us. We can’t let it stop us or destroy us.”
She sniffed and wiped her cheek. “I’m trying. Oh, but Ricky, it broke my heart to see this sweet child so abused. It really hurts. And I was worried about Taylor, about how she was taking this, what she was thinking and feeling, but she seems to be so much stronger than me. I’m really proud of her.”
Ricky nodded. “You know, your mom used to say the same thing about you, that you were so much stronger than her.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Bree murmured.
“And yet, I understood what she meant. And I understand what you mean. Our girl is a strong girl, but she’s strong like her mother.” He sighed. “Thank goodness she noticed Hannah. I think she was supposed to see her. I think God had her look in that direction. I think Taylor was very much in tune, and I’m proud of her too, because she acted so quickly. Almost instinctively. And actually, so did Gabe.”
Bree nodded as she wiped away the last of her tears. “Those two were meant to be together.”
Sighing, Ricky nodded. “I have to agree.”
Bree whimpered. “I need this ache in my heart to go away.”
“I know, sweetheart. I know. You’re feeling exactly what Satan wants you to feel. Hopeless. Hurting. Sad. He and his followers get off on the pain, on the desperation. What you feel right now is why a lot of people turn their backs on God. The pain makes them withdraw. It makes them angry, and who better to be angry with than God? Slowly, they stop believing He exists at all. But this is where we, you and I and the rest of our warrior family, this is where we come in. We stand strong in the faith. We help people to understand the plan. These trials either make us or break us, and I won’t let them break us. We’ll use them to make us stronger. We’ll use them to help more people. We’ll freakin’ occupy this world until Jesus comes.”
He hugged her tighter and nodded his head. “And Bree, after all our family has been through, especially this year, He’s shown us without a shadow of a doubt that He’s real. We just have to stand strong, keep the faith, trust Jesus. Even more, we have to help others to do that. God allows us, all of us, to have freewill. He allows these things to happen. But remember, He’s with us through these trials. Hannah will heal and grow to be stronger than ever. Stronger than us maybe. And God sent Taylor to rescue her, so, He finally put an end to Hannah’s trial. I think God plans to use Hannah in a big way. We don’t know the whole plan for Hannah, but we know she’s important to God and we need to be strong for her.”
Bree nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Rick, for falling apart.”
“We all fall apart at times. You’re always so strong. I’m glad I had the opportunity to let you cry on my shoulder. That hasn’t happened in a long time. I’m glad you needed me.”
She blinked up at him. “Oh honey, I need you more than you’ll ever know. I depend on you for everything, Ricky. And you never disappoint me. Not ever.” She sighed. “I guess it was just hard to see such a young girl go through such a hard trial.”
“You know, this reminds me of your favorite scripture,” Ricky said.
Bree smiled. “Which one. I have a lot of favorite scriptures.”
“James 1:2-4.”
She nodded with a smile and quoted, “‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’” She looked up into his handsome face. “Thank you, Ricky.”
“You’re welcome.”
"Will you pray with me?”
“Absolutely.”
He kept his arms around her, kept her held against his chest as he closed his eyes and prayed, his lips close to her ear. He prayed for peace of heart and mind, he prayed for strength, he prayed for Hannah’s healing in body, mind and spirit, he gave thanks for his daughter and Gabe acting so quickly and for their strength. He went on to pray for everyone in their family, for their friends, for the people of the town, the state, the country and the world. He prayed for quite some time and as he did, Bree relaxed and felt the pain in her heart ease, and the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach dissolve and her spirit fill with the love of God.
They didn’t know that they had an audience. The tiny girl who’d begged God for so long to help her sat on the steps to the left of the front door and listened. Her heart also eased as the kind man prayed with his wife. She knew what they said was the truth. Hannah knew evil, but she also remembered God. A long time ago, before her mother left her real father, she had a friend who use to tell her about God. Her own parents never talked about God, but Hannah remembered the words her friend had said to her. ‘If you pray to God He will help you. He loves us all but you have to talk to Him. Sometimes it takes a while before He answers you, but He always does.’
Excerpt from DND #12 Feed My Sheep-In Jesus’ Name. Download Free Here!
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