Turn The Page: Chapter Three, Living On A Prayer

     Terry found herself standing outside a local church. She was both tempted and hesistant to approach its cathedral-like, bronze doors.  
     What was inviting was the message written in marker on a bulletin board on the front yard: “YOU CAN SAVE YOURSELF.”
     Terry sighed and approached the front stone steps with the intention of resting herself. In her blue jean mini skirt and high boots, she crossed her bruised legs and lit a cigarette clip. “Heaven can wait for a sinner,” Terry broke into tears.
     “Young miss?” A soft voice spoke from behind her.
     Terry pivoted to see a nun with hands together in prayer and a look of compassion. And soft eyes that invited Terry to drop her cherried clip and acsend the steps to stand before her.
     “My child, you are melancholy and in need of the Lord’s blessing and forgiveness.”
     Terry remembered the cocaine in her purse.
     “Yes,” here Terry paused as she fought back more tears before continuing, “I need help, please.”
     “Oh, sweetheart! Come! Come!” The sister wrapped one of her robed arms around Terry, and guided her through the grand bronze doors into the church.
     It was the aromas of flowers and incense that made the walls of the church seem to whirl around her. Blackout.

    Voices distant yet so close. Then a blur of something coming into focus. It was the sister’s soft face. “My child you need water and dinner.”
She raised Terry to sitting posture as Terry then came to realize she had been laying in a pew with a long row of worn bibles on a shelf before her.
     “Have you ever read the Bible, my child?”
     For answer, Terry shook her head. The sister appeared taken back and implored Terryto pick up one of the bibles and open it to a random page. Terry scoffed before grabbing one and immediately opened it to a random passage. The sister leaned to view the passage. Terry’s eyes rolled to the sister and back to the minute print on the yellowing page.
     “Ephesians! In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…” the sister recited.
     “What does that even mean?” Terry inquired.
     “Redemption, my child. Redemption for accepting Christ in your heart.”
     Terry’s eyes boiled with tears of frustration as she said, “but I don’t know how to accept Chist in my heart.”
     “Listen now my child, you come here as ma y services as you can make it to and learn and make acquaintances with your fellow Christian brother and sister that’ll bloom into friendships.” The sister then dipped her head and confided in Terry, “I was once homeless and penniless, it’s terrible, I know the struggle girl. We also have beds open. Some simple paperwork and you will have a safe and warm place to sleep tonight, my child.”
     Then the sister guided Terry’s hands in hers into prayer posture. “Here child, let us pray together.”
     Terry inhaled deeply before a long exhale.
     “Recite this verse with me about changing your life.” Here the sister looked up at the vigin Mary and said, “therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
     “What does it all mean, sister?” Terry choked.
     “By accepting God, you are shedding the old sinful you, and you have reachrd eternal salvation. Now, child, I want you to close the Bible in your hands.”
     “OK, sister.”
     “Now look up at the virgin Mary and pray however you know how for your soul.”
     Terry’s elbows fell hard onto the pew and she confided in the sister, “but I don’t know how to pray!”
     “Close tour eyes and visualize your past sins and the beauty of salvation forever forward.”
     Terry took a moment to ponder and think of the words she only knew, “every page of my life tainted in sin has now burned in my heart, and now I will turn this page to light and all it’s beauty and forgiveness.”
     Terry turned to the sister and asked, “good enough?”
     “Yes, my child. Now cross yourself before this alter and make a promise to toyr soul and to any others you shall meet throughout the future that you will help save.”
     Resting herself and softly onto Terry’s shoulder, the sister said, “now let’s get you dinner, sweetie. And show you the shower and then your bed.”
     At this moment, the rigid statue fractured and chipped away from Terry’s once emotionless face, and a newborn smile appeared down her sunken cheeks.