Saturday 11th April 2015.

Morning.

She left a note.

On the kitchen table.

It said “Fri / Sat night”.

He must have come to pick her up.

Thank goodness, I had a prayer group of friendsto share my sorrow with.

Sat, 11 Apr 2015, 11:12

Oh Anne so sad. She will be back I am confident of that. Hold onto the positives. And you are not where you were. XXxX
Much loveSat, 11 Apr 2015, 11:17

Oh dearest Anne,

I can hardly bear it for you.. I will sit and pray right now. How well your heavenly Father knows precisely your feelings right now, how brokenhearted He is with and for you... as children return to exactly what is worst for them. He truly knows that all too well.

We all want to stand with you in the thick of it.

Prayers and love galore.

D xxxxx

Sat, 11 Apr 2015, 12:01

Thank you D. I hadn’t realised how upset I would be. It means so much to me to have your reply. Funnily enough, I was thinking of ringing you before this, because I felt life was a bit overwhelming already… but nothing like this!

There is light on the horizon, somewhere. At least she wrote to me, and very politely. As Shaun said, two or three months ago she could never have written something like that. Or indeed, probably, anything at all. I think she even thanked me for looking after her though I need to read it again.

xxxxx

Sat, 11 Apr 2015, 12:16

Will ring when finished teaching – this pm

Love

Sat, 11 Apr 2015, 12:39

Oh no. The biggest difference surely is that she is speaking to all of you again and willing to come home.This is such a complicated situation. I’m so sorry. We continue to pray.

Love

There is, indeed – Shaun has pointed out – much to be grateful for. A few months ago she could never have written me a note. And it was courteous and kind. And by no means final.

But oh! She is SO ill. It is like watching an alcoholic hit the bottle again. And all her beautiful youth, so wasted…

Thanks for your support, as always.

xxx

Sat, 11 Apr 2015, 14:52

I'm so glad you can take comfort in the fact that she could write, and write kindly. That IS a real step forward.

When I prayed I had a sense of her standing on the edge of a cliff and taking just one step forward and falling. It didn’t bring with it a sense of tragedy, and it wasn't a suicide picture at all, and the picture wasn’t of her death or even injury: just the falling. Rather, it seemed to me the main emphasis seemed to be that she had only made a choice to take the one step and the rest was about a sort of negative spiritual ‘gravity’.

You may think me completely bonkers to write like this...

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8). On that basis, I will keep on praying.

As to ringing, please please do.. whenever it strikes you to do so, and I will listen if I possibly can.

Loads of love as ever

D xxxx

Sat, 11 Apr 2015, 23:01

Dearest D

What a fascinating picture. I will hold it in my heart.

I am inordinately tired so I won’t write much, but Alex has shown me the move in a more positive light: that sooner or later she had to “sort things out” with Gatsby.

Who has emailed Shaun and me for rapprochement.

I struggle to respect a man who comes like a thief in the night, taking a woman from her family under cover of darkness rather than greeting us by day.

Axxx