Free Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) by Jaclyn Hawkes

turning bacon on a huge griddle.
                  “You’re right.  There is a secret, but it’s not my secret.  And it‘s not just to know what to say.  We can know what God would have us do in every situation, if we listen closely enough.  Sometimes His answers take time or extra effort, but He is all knowing and will lead us if we try to let Him.  Everyone has the right to have personal inspiration.  We're blessed with divine insight if we ask for it, and are worthy of it, and listen to it, and heed it, when we receive it.”  Naomi was at her side making hot cakes on an identical griddle.
                  Kit repeated this softly to herself, “If we ask, are worthy, listen and heed it.  Okay, how do you ask?”
                  “The way man has communicated with God from the days of Adam and Eve.  Pray.  Everyday, several times a day, for all the things we're grateful for, or need, or are concerned about, or are happy and excited about.  He’s a loving parent who wants to bless us, but we have to ask.”  Naomi poured another round of batter out.
                  “And how do we be worthy of it?” 
                  Naomi set the pitcher of batter aside to consider this question.  “I guess the answer to that is to do our best, as imperfect mortals, to try to do what we know is right.  The more we're in tune with deity; the clearer the lines of communication are going to be.  It’s sort of like tuning in a radio, in a way, I guess.  If we're trying, and are doing good things in the right places, there’s going to be less static and it’s easier to hear.  When we make poor choices, or are in places we shouldn’t be, we chase the Spirit away and God can’t communicate.  The more we do our best, the easier and clearer it becomes.  Does that make sense?”
                  “What did you mean by ‘if we heed it’?”
                  “Well, think about it.  If you were a parent and gave your child wise counsel over and over, if they didn’t listen and obey, wouldn’t you soon stop giving it to them?”
                  Kit nodded as she considered this.  The more she learned about all this, the more it just made sense. 
                  They had mountains of food when the others came in, but it didn’t take long to make it disappear.  After this long, Kit was still amazed at how much food this family put away.  It’s a good thing they had oil wells.  It probably took the proceeds from one just to buy groceries. 
                  They ate and opened gifts and even Slade’s ranch help, Hank and his wife Ruby, who were family friends, showed up to be welcomed in.  There was every gift imaginable, and some of the gag gifts were hilarious.  Joey had given three of her brothers, Rossen, Sean and Treyne, girl watching glasses.  They were huge neon colored plastic sunglasses to help them find wives.  And she’d given Cooper fake dynamite to help him learn to fish better.  Rob received a real “Fragile” leg lamp like in The Christmas Story , and even Isabel got into the spirit of the thing and gave the brothers Slade’s collection of women’s unsolicited phone numbers from a friendly competition he and Rossen had had on the rodeo circuit.  There was a shoebox crammed full and Kit wondered if Rossen had collected one just like it. 
                  Rossen had purchased board games for the family from her and many of them had given her clothing to build up her wardrobe.  By day’s end she had more clothes than she'd ever owned at one time in her life.  Isabel gave her cosmetics and then helped her put them on and Naomi gave her her own Book of Mormon.  Rob gave her a new ski parka and matching hat and gloves.  It was slightly big, but she knew she would need the extra room soon. 
                  Everyone pitched in to make a huge