Remember to Forget (41 page)

Maggie’s mind was frenzied with a new possibility. She dared to voice it now. “If you could forgive Jack . . . if you could forgive that awful
day, then maybe . . . you can forgive me? Maybe God can forgive me.”

“Tell me what there is to forgive, Meg?”

The way he spoke the words, Maggie knew he wasn’t letting her off the hook. He was asking her to be honest with him. To confess the ways she’d wronged him. A month ago, such a request would have made her shudder. But now the kindness in his eyes, in his touch washed away all her fears.

She told him then, as the river caressed them. Everything she’d already confessed to Wren. She suspected Trevor already knew, but she needed to say the words. Needed to hear herself speak them. “Even my name was a lie,” she said when she’d spilled everything out before him. “Can you forgive me?”

He drew his hand out of the water and placed it on her cheek. “I already have. I love you, Meg.” He kissed her again, this time on the bridge of her nose.

She rested her head against the soggy front of his shirt, scarcely believing his words could be for her. But the tenderness in his touch told her the truth.

“Meg . . . ?”

She looked up, waiting, trailing her hand in the river, then lifting it to paint the line of his jaw with her fingertips.

“Meg Anders.” He said it as if he were hearing it for the first time. “Would you mind too much if I go on calling you Meg? I don’t really know who Maggie is. It’s Meg I love.”

The sound of her name—her new name—on his lips was like a song.

In the park, above them, headlights flashed and the red strobe of an ambulance flashed off the water. She wanted them to go away. She was fine. She’d never been so fine.

She touched a finger to his lips. “I love you, too, Trevor. So much.”

He cupped her face in his strong hands and held her gaze. “Tonight you start all over. No more lies. No more secrets. Tonight is a new
beginning for you. For us.” He swept a wisp of damp hair away from her face and inclined his head toward the cluster of emergency vehicles that had gathered in the park. “Shall we go?”

She nodded against his chest. She was ready. It was time.

He lifted her up out of the water. She tightened her arms around his neck and let him carry her to shore.

Dear Reader

H
ow grateful I am that God never forgets to remember His promises and always remembers to forget my sins, all because of the amazing sacrifice of Jesus Christ. How glad I am that Christ pursued me even when I didn’t know what I was looking for, what I was
longing
for.

I think there is a little bit of Maggie in all of us—searching for one who sees us not as we are, but as we could be. Yet, we have a difficult time believing such a perfect love could really exist. If you haven’t yet discovered His perfect love, I pray that by the time you’ve turned the last page of this book, you will know that it is true, and that it is meant for you. You only have to ask.

Even if you have received Christ’s forgiveness, you may have a difficult time remembering to forget what is past. But when you accept Christ’s gift on your behalf,
all is forgiven.
All is purified by God’s “river” of grace and healing. No longer do you need to wallow in the muddy waters that try to suck you down or strangle the joy out of you. Nothing you’ve ever done is beyond God’s forgiveness. Of that you can be assured.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

Discussion Questions

1. In
Remember to Forget
, Maggie Anderson feels trapped in her life because of an abusive, controlling boyfriend. She’s unexpectedly given a chance to escape this life, but she’s lived under Kevin Bryson’s tyranny for so long, she scarcely knows how to handle her newfound freedom. Yet she longs for the new life she sees modeled by the people of Clayburn, Kansas.

If you think of
Remember to Forget
as an allegory—a story with layers of meaning, where characters and actions symbolize more than what is “on the surface”—in what ways does this story reveal what life is like without Christ? the longing the Holy Spirit puts within us for a relationship with God? and the transition into new life in Christ? (See 2 Corinthians 5:17.)

2. How much do you believe in “coincidence”? The Blakely family just happens to be headed where Maggie wants to go. Maggie just happens to be wearing tennis shoes and socks for the first time all summer. Wren just happens to have a bag of clothes in Maggie’s size . . . and that’s just for starters. There are many “coincidences” in
Remember to Forget.
Have you experienced similar circumstances—whether significant or trivial—that you believe are more than mere coincidence? Explain.

3. From the time Maggie escapes from her captor in New York, she is offered a ride several times by various people. Have you ever offered help to someone in need the way Opal Sanchez, the Henrys, the Blakelys, and Kaye DeVore did for Maggie, only to feel that your help was not appreciated? Tell the story. How did that make you feel at the time? Have you gained any other perspective since then? If so, what? Is it possible that somewhere down the road the person you helped became grateful for your help, but had no way of coming back to thank you?

Have you ever had a chance to go back and thank someone for leading you to Christ or helping you grow in your faith or develop your gifts? Did you take that opportunity? Why or why not?

4. When Maggie pours her heart out to Trevor at the bus station, she trusts him with her fears and tells him some of her needs. But she continues to harbor many secrets from him. If you’ve trusted God with your life, were you completely honest with Him—and with yourself—at first? Or did it take awhile to admit everything you are, were, or have done?

If you’ve come to the point in your faith walk where you have admitted every fault, fear, and mistake to God, what emotion accompanied that moment? Why do you think that is?

If you haven’t experienced that moment of confession yet, what do you think might be holding you back?

5. When Maggie first gets to Clayburn, she finds small-town life a little overwhelming and is amazed that everyone is so close and familiar in this community. If you didn’t grow up in a Christian environment, did your first encounter with Christian people—a church, Bible study, or Christian friends or neighbors—seem equally unfamiliar? Describe your feelings. If you are a believer, how might you help a new Christian feel more comfortable among the family of God?

6. Maggie gradually realizes that she has made a “crutch” of Kevin. As her attraction to Trevor grows, she feels cautious and worried that he, too, will become a crutch. How do you explain the difference between a worldly dependence on a person, and total dependence upon God, yet with encouragement and teaching from other Christians, which is completely scriptural? (See 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:24–25.)

7. When Maggie decides that she wants to stay in Clayburn and “come clean” with her friends there, she puts off telling them the truth, thinking she’ll first find a place of her own, pay off her bills, and straighten out her life. Have you ever responded this way to Christ’s invitation—tried to clean up your act first and then come to Him? What happened as a result? What have you learned because of that experience? How do you now respond when you feel His gentle tug on your life? Give an example, large or small, of how your life has been touched or transformed.

8. Even though they are usually law-abiding citizens, the proprietors of the inn, Bart and Wren Johannsen, “bend the laws” to allow Maggie to work at the inn (paying her instead with room and board, since she doesn’t have the proper identification to fill out tax forms, etc.). What do you think of their decision? How is it reflected in Scripture? (For a hint, see Romans 7:5–6 and 1 Corinthians 6:12.)

9. Business hasn’t been good at Wren’s Nest, but Maggie thinks up ideas to bring in new business. Soon people are coming in and recommending the inn to their friends. If you believe in Jesus, how might you “recommend” your faith to your friends? How might you bring people into “the nest”?

10. Although Wren is instrumental in helping Maggie find her new life, her own life has been far from perfect. She, and many others who
helped Maggie along the way, have experienced times of tragedy, sin, and doubt. Yet because of those times, they have great compassion and concern for those in need.

All of us are flawed. How can you help others find new life in Christ in spite of—or perhaps
because of—
your flaws? Tell about a real-life experience with this if you can.

11. When Jackson Linder shows an interest in having Maggie work for him, Trevor expresses concern and jealousy. Do you think concern and jealousy are good qualities, bad qualities, or a combination of both?

In Exodus 34:14, God says he is jealous for your affection and devotion. How does that make you feel? How might it affect your day-to-day actions?

12. After Maggie confesses her lies to Trevor, she wonders how he can possibly love her, knowing the way she was . . . not to mention everything she’s done. But Trevor tells her that he doesn’t even see those things when he looks at her. He tells her she’s not the same person she used to be.

How does this experience between Maggie and Trevor mirror our relationship with God through Christ? (Read Psalm 103:11–13 and Romans 4:4–8.)

13. Just when Maggie has decided to forget about New York and embrace her new life in Clayburn, Kevin Bryson comes back to attempt to take her back to New York. All the while Kevin is trying to haul her toward his car and is pursuing her to harm her, Maggie is unaware that Trevor is watching over her. He is simply waiting for her to call out to him to rescue her.

Read Acts 2:20–21 and Romans 10:13. In what ways have you experienced evil pursuing you? How have you experienced God’s protection in times of crisis (whether you were aware of it at the time or not until later)? Tell the story.

14. Maggie falls into the river, and Trevor rescues her there. She comes up out of the water in Trevor’s arms, knowing that she is now free from Kevin’s hold on her and free from the trappings of her old life. She is safe in Trevor’s arms. What might this experience in the river symbolize? Have you undergone this type of experience yourself? Where the old you became the new, transformed you? If so, share what happened.

15. When Trevor tells Maggie, “I don’t really know who Maggie is. It’s Meg I love,” how do you think she felt? (Read Revelation 2:17 and 3:5.) What does this tell you about what Christ does to you when you “come clean” with Him? What happens to your past? (See again Psalm 103:11–12 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.) What things do you need to “remember to forget” about your past life so you can move forward as a new creation—a new person with a new name, loved and accepted by Christ?

Go to the next page for an excerpt from

Yesterday’s Embers

by Deborah Raney

Prologue

Thanksgiving Day

Y
ou sure you guys’ll be okay?” Doug Devore leaned over the sofa to give his wife a kiss.

Kaye turned her head away and his lips landed on her left ear. She wrinkled her nose and put a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, but you better not kiss me. My luck, I’m probably already contagious.” She looked down at six-year-old Rachel, asleep in the crook of her arm.

The car horn tooted from the garage and Sarah appeared in the kitchen doorway. “C’mon, Daddy! Hurry up! Landon’s bein’ bossy and Kayeleigh says she’s gonna walk to Grandma’s if you don’t get the lead out.”

“You tell Landon to cut it out, and tell Kayeleigh to hold her horses and quit sassing.”
He gave Kaye what he hoped was a desperate frown. “You sure you don’t want me to stay home with you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t even think about it, buster.” She turned her pretty face to the hearth, where the first fire of the season crackled like brittle leaves underfoot. “But, hey, thanks for the fire.”