Summer (34 page)

Discussion Questions

1. Were you surprised that Ashley’s baby wasn’t healed? What did you expect would happen?

2. What did you think about Ashley’s decision to avoid doctor’s appointments through much of the summer? What do you think you would do in such a situation?

3. Brooke handled the news of Ashley’s troubled pregnancy the way many doctors might handle it. Explain your stance on abortion.

4. Read Psalm 139. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find a copy of Psalm 139 online at www.Bible.com. What do you think this chapter of Scripture says about life? According to these verses, when does life start?

5. What did you think about Ashley’s reaction to Brooke’s advice? Do you think this sort of situation could’ve ruined their relationship forever?

6. Tell of a relationship you are in or one that you’re aware of in which well-meaning actions on the part of one person created a seemingly unfixable rift. How did healing come for this relationship? If it hasn’t come, what steps would you need to take to help see that healing does come?

7. Ashley was struck by the fact that she had begged God for a miracle, yet God chose not to heal her daughter. What did this do to Ashley’s faith along the way?

8. Has there been a time when you prayed for something, but God chose to say no? Tell about that experience. What did you learn from it?

9. Against the backdrop of Ashley’s ordeal, Katy and Dayne’s marriage was strained badly. What are some events and choices that led to this strain?

10. Though your issues will be different, has your marriage or the marriage of someone you know ever been seriously strained? What led to that strain?

11. What could Katy and Dayne have done differently so that the news on the covers of the tabloids didn’t hurt them so badly? In your opinion, why didn’t they do this?

12. How important is communication to a marriage? How important is communication to a friendship or a sibling relationship? Give examples.

13. Ashley was looking for a miracle when she first received the diagnosis of a neural tube defect. By the end of
Summer
, what miracles had occurred because of little Sarah’s life? What other miracles might still happen in the months to come?

14. Ashley had a breakthrough in her relationship with Elaine. Describe that breakthrough and the importance of Elaine’s decision to buy baby Sarah a gift.

15. John described himself as feeling tired and discouraged by the impending loss of Ashley’s baby. What else was troubling John? How did the miracle of Sarah’s life affect his attitude?

16. Cole talked about seeing a picture from Jesus. In the Bible, Jesus tells us to have the faith of a child. How have you seen a child’s faith serve as an illustration in your own life?

17. Ashley took time to meet with God alone so she could question Him. Talk about her questions. Do you think it was right of her to question God? Why or why not?

18. Tell about a time when you or someone you know has questioned God. What was the net result to your faith or to the faith of the other person?

19. Ashley heard God tell her to look for Him in the gentle whisper. Read 1 Kings 19. What lesson was God trying to teach Elijah in this section of Scripture?

20. What lesson was God trying to teach Ashley from that same Bible story? What touched you most in the final chapter of
Summer
? How did the lesson of the gentle whisper bring healing to Ashley?

From

By Karen Kingsbury

Chapter One

John made his decision as his family was leaving the hospital.

Elaine had shared a moment with him and his family that had bonded them like nothing else had. He held her hand as they walked silently to the car. In a few hours, everyone would meet back at the Baxter house for dinner. They needed to be together, needed to share about the ways little Sarah had touched them, changed them.

But in the meantime, he couldn’t shake the certain feeling inside.

Elaine noticed it. Her car was parked not far from his, and before she went to it, she stopped. “You’re thinking about something.”

“Yes.” He smiled. He was worn-out and weary. But he was no longer discouraged, not after all he’d just witnessed. “I’ll tell you later.”

She would be coming over for dinner too, but for now she was going home. They all needed some downtime. “Tell me tonight, okay?” She angled her head, curious.

He wouldn’t tell her tonight, but he didn’t want to keep her guessing. “It’s just something God brought into focus for me.” He hugged her. “About how much I need you in my life.”

She looked surprised and touched and maybe a little shy.

They said their good-byes, but when John was alone in his car, the decision in his heart took root, writing itself across his soul and forever changing his picture of the future.

When he reached home, he went inside and took a long, slow breath. The house still held Elizabeth’s memories, the way it always would. He walked upstairs to their room and stopped in front of the photo of her on his dresser. “You were there today, dear. I felt you.”

Before he left the hospital, Ashley had shown him Cole’s picture. It brought him as much comfort as it brought Ashley and Landon. Because nothing could be more fitting than the image of Elizabeth holding little Sarah in heaven, taking care of her until they could all be together again.

He moved to the card table he’d set up at the end of his bed. Elizabeth’s letters were spread across it, and on one end was a stack of letters already copied. Six copies each—one for each of their children. He was almost finished with the project, almost ready to put the letters into scrapbooks and pass them out. He had a feeling there was something in those letters that would make a dramatic difference to all of their kids—one way or another.

Even with Sarah’s funeral planned for later in the week, he would focus his energy on the letters. It was time, and it was the right thing to do. When he was finished, he would know he’d finally found closure, finally walked through everything left of the woman he had so dearly loved. He would need that closure, because of the decision he’d made an hour ago.

The decision that one day very soon he would take the step he had been certain he would never take.

He would ask Elaine Denning to be his wife.