Ginny frowns up as she thinks about what Teri can go through as she really makes the transformation to allow God to rule.  Finally Ginny informs Teri by saying “This process is not for quitters.  Obviously you can’t succeed if you quit.  I guess what I am trying to say is that the process can be long, tedious and on going.  I personally don’t know anyone who is able to do it immediately, so you probably won’t be ready on time.”  Not happy with that remark, LaQueia looks at Ginny.  Noticing LaQueia’s disapproval Ginny continues in a more compassionate tone.  “I am just saying that we have close to three months before this all happens and I don’t want Teri to get her hopes up and feel the pressure and give up.”  Ginny puts her hand on Teri’s hand.  “Teri, I don’t want you to feel that you have to be perfect by Easter and crumble under the pressure.  I am a realist.  When you open yourself up to Jesus, you will be amazed on how much he shows you.  You can be overwhelmed just on what he shows you about you.  This event is about others, so I don’t know how you will feel when you are surrounded by all of this.”

Nervous Teri nods her head as she responds, “I know what you mean.  It is a lot to take in!  I am indeed willing, a hard worker and I am a committed person.  So I’m going to do whatever I need to in order to participate.  I don’t understand how everything is going to work, but I am willing to find out.”  LaQueia gives out her famous laugh and pats Teri on the back, commenting to Ginny “I told you Teri has what it takes.  It did not take the disciples years and years to do miracles.  It can be complex, but in essence, it’s simple—just believe!  All you have to do is believe!  So get started making your relationship with Jesus personal.”  All three women stay thirty more minutes talking the process through. 

When Teri finally makes it home, her head is spinning.  The whole drive home Teri contemplated everything as while she was trying to understand what she just heard--a day of healing?  Is it really possible?  Is it going to be just a day or a couple of days or is it going to be a week?  Teri’s questions are endless, now that no one was around to answer them.  Are the television, newspaper and even the radio news crews going to be there?  Is this going to be statewide, nationwide or international?  The most pressing question is; Is this going to even work?  Can a person really heal another person without medicine? 

Teri has seen television shows and movies where things miraculously happen, but those are just stories—feel good shows.  Consistent miracles can not really happen--right?  On those shows the media is never around to catch what happened.  Just like any legend or mystery the camera is always blurry and out of focus as the UFO or Loch Ness Monster goes by.  Even when spirits and ghosts are involved, only one person can see them, which proves a challenge for the person who does see or hear them.  But this is real life, how can angelic spottings and miracles really happen in such abundance?

 Then Teri begins to ponder things further.  Some televangelists dramatically touch or even blow on people and they will fall down.  Sister Kelly’s character is that of a wise older woman.  Teri can not imagine Sister Kelly doing anything that Teri has seen on the television.  It just does not seem to be in Sister Kelly’s character.  “How will this work?  What can I do to participate?  When the ridiculous images of Sister Kelly throwing handkerchiefs on people and making them fall down, change into Teri doing those things, all Teri can do is sit on her favorite living room chair flabbergasted as she lets out a long breath.. 

The distorted images keep coming, but Teri knows that Sister Kelly is really the real deal.  She has so much wisdom and is willing to share it, even to complete strangers.  Sister Kelly is so determined and helpful.  The more Teri thinks about it, the more she can see Sister Kelly doing exactly what she was talking about, considering that she is always going out of her way to help people that need help already.  But how can she just heal someone with a huge problem?  We haven’t even been able to remove the common cold yet and she will be able to give someone back their eyesight?

The magnitude of the desired end results overwhelm Teri and soon she is asleep while the wild imagery continue to play out in her mind.  It isn’t until Christopher wakes her up that Teri even realizes she has been dreaming.  Sitting up she grabs and hugs him.  “Our lives are about to change forever!”  Christopher smiles and kisses her as if he knows and agrees.  Teri gets up, turns on the audio bible and makes dinner.  Feeling exuberantly excited she quickly eats, feeds Christopher, and puts him to bed.  Christopher is normally a good sleeper, but tonight, every toy she shows him, to sleep next to him, he turns them all down.  Annoyed Teri picks up the last stuffed animal in the toy box and shows it to him and again he shakes his head no.  “Well then you have to go to bed with nothing.”  Displeased he sits up and shakes his head.  “There is nothing left to sleep with, so lay back down and go to sleep.”  He shakes his head again and points to Teri. 

Understanding his gesture Teri sighs and lays her head on the edge of his little car bed.  Teri can not fit in his little car and she does not want this to become a habit so she makes up words to a basic lullaby tune.  Since Teri is making up the words Teri is able to make the lullaby extra special and more personal, which Christopher loves.  Singing him a long soothing song and giving him an extra long hug, Teri finally kisses him goodnight and gets up. 

She stands in his doorway, looking at him and wondering, ‘how can I be the mother I need to be?’  He is so little and innocent.  People are not trying to protect or help babies, instead they are trying to force them, make them obey, and even kill them.  Little Christopher looks so sweet laying there; Teri’s heart goes out to him.  Teri knows that he will have to face so many challenges.  In her head she begins to pray for him as she imagines how much he will have to go through in the future.  He turns around, looks at her and smiles, like he is showing his appreciation for her prayers.  Then he closes his eyes and falls off to sleep.  Teri smiles, treasuring the moment as she continues to pray even harder.

  Immediately her future is displayed in front of her.  It appears to her in a flash.  The trance she is under is there and gone within a few seconds.  “Oh my God!”  She says.  Little Christopher moves because hearing her voice, but does not wake up.  Realizing that she has spoken out loud, Teri quickly leaves the room to call LaQueia.  Still amazed about what saw and felt, she dials and prays for LaQueia to be home.  Overjoyed when she hears LaQueia’s voice she quickly spills out what has happened to her.

“It’s like the words ‘PRAYER’ stood before me in bright vibrant colors….I just put Christopher to bed and he smiled at me, it was so cute….actually let me say this first; this whole thing came to me like a flash so there is no time laspse but everything was there like years had passed.  It was amazing.”  Teri paused as she tried to remember everything that she saw.  “Oh wow, I was so amazed that I really didn’t process everything….”  Flustered Teri begins to pace the room.  “Oh no!  I can’t really remember everything anymore…. It is a flash, like when your life flashes before your eyes before you die.  I can’t believe this, I can’t remember anything anymore!”  Panicking Teri, closes her eyes trying to recapture the moment, but everything seems blurry.  Hearing Teri’s heavy troubled breathing LaQueia tries to console her.  “You said that the word ‘Prayer’ is somewhere….” 

When LaQueia says that, a picture of what saw comes back but everything is out of focus making it hard to see anything.  Slowly the words ‘PRAYER’ start to stand out as each letter becomes more clear and focused but that is all that she can see.  Closing her eyes, Teri can tell that what she is seeing is the same as what she saw before.  However, because it is so blurry she just can not make out the various images anymore.  Teri begins speaking with her hands as she says, “Oh LaQueia, I am so mad!  It is like everything is right before me, it happened so fast….it’s like in a picture form.  I can see it right now, but I can’t really see it anymore.  The word prayer is now flashing before me, but that’s it.  I should have started by telling you everything first before going into the unimportant details.”  Teri feels horrible.  How can she have forgotten something so important so quickly? 

Compassionately LaQueia tries to comfort her friend, “Teri, I know what happened to you because it also happened to me.  I was putting my oldest to bed and while I was saying a prayer for her, she fell asleep.  She looked so peaceful that I sat next to her bed.  I felt so overwhelmed thinking about her future.  So I prayed and prayed, wanting her to be blessed.  I was just about to get up, when she turned over, opened her eyes and smiled at me.  Then she said “Thank you,” and then closed her eyes and turned back over.  It was such a tender moment between us, I just cried.  I know all the things I have gone through and I didn’t want her to repeat any of my mistakes.  I continued praying then I got up.  I said one more little prayer before leaving and as I was standing in her doorway that is when I saw my vision. 

Actually I tell people I saw a vision, but really it was my prophesy.  Its like I was in a trance, and what I saw is so hard to explain.  It’s been five years ago that I saw it and still I do not have words to describe it.  It feels like my life flashed before me.  You know the feeling that lasts seconds but years seem to pass before you eyes, but what makes it different is that I saw everything in a picture format.  I can still see it whenever I think about it and close my eyes.  Sometimes I can see it without closing my eyes.”  Teri nods her head, understanding what LaQueia is explaining.  “And the feeling that I get is so….I can’t even explain it.  So I don’t try anymore. 

“Exactly!” Teri responds happy that she is understood but still upset that she can not see or explain what has happened to her.  At least she is not feeling as overwhelmed.  Teri automatically feels an instant kinship to LaQueia.  Although she is excited, she can not help but to think about how much is on her plate right now—layoffs, divorce, bills and now a soul commitment that will require the uniting of her mind and spirit.  “LaQueia, I don’t want to disappoint you, but I feel so unprepared for all of this.  My life has been turned upside down lately.  If I was just dealing with one of the things that’s happening right now, I would be crazy enough, but everything is happening all at once.  I just don’t know.”  Teri shakes her head, knowing that right now she wants a drink.  Any drink will do at this point.  “I want to participate, but failure is chipping at my heels, I don’t want to disappoint you or anybody else.” 

LaQueia understands what Teri isn’t saying.  “Teri are you saying that you don’t want to participate or that you won’t participate?”  Teri slowly lets her body go down and sits on the floor as she thinks things through.  Tears swell up in her eyes.  How can she not participate?  How can she willingly ignore this opportunity?  It’s like God is giving her a way out of all of her mess and she prefers to wallow in it instead of getting out.  “What’s wrong with me?”  Teri says to herself aloud.  Everything seems to be pressing on her demanding a choice to be made. 

“Don’t worry Teri, your not alone.  This is the biggest thing that I’ve ever done as well.  I mean we are built to live in faith, but this is the hardest thing that I’ve ever done.  I’m going through a divorce too.  I know how hard it is to stay focused.  But just like I was telling Ginny, the devil knows that we are about to handle some amazing things and how can he not be the devil if he did not hit below the belt.  That’s why everyone is being filleted alive right now.  Sister Kelly told us last week that we have to be strong, and really be aware of our sensitivities because it is about to get really rough.  That scared me, because I don’t know how it can get any worse for me.  I already feel like I’m drowning at times.  We are now in the make it or break stage.  Either you are committed or you’re not.”

The tears strolling down Teri’s cheeks are falling full force now, as all sorts of thoughts bombard her thinking process.  Teri has always believed in a God, but she had no idea that there was so much more to it.  Now that she thinks about it, everything that she has been learning is very obvious—reading the entire bible, not just believing in God our of tradition, speaking to God and not just asking for things.  Teri lives her life as a good person, but now she does not feel like she is as good as she thought.  As thoughts of angels and devils, God and the devil, spiritual wars and battles, good vs evil, it fly through her head it all seems so much. 

She never really thought about spirits outside of movies and Halloween when a child is dressed like a ghost.  Flustered, her thoughts seem not her own.  Everything is coming out in full force.  Teri has always been a good person, going to church whenever she can on Sundays, never doing anything to outright hurt anyone else and helping out whenever she can, but now it just feels like all of that is not enough.  At work she is always doing extra but when it comes to God she does the bare minimum.  Teri just had never thought about it before.  Things just do not seem right anymore.

For the first time, Teri realizes that she does not want to be an overachiever at work, impressing her boss and coworkers and not be an overachiever for God.  She wants to do her best, but if she spends anymore time doing this, her job will definitely let her go, because she is not staying late like all the others.  She hasn’t even called her husband, so any hopes of that relationship will dwindle away as well.  How did things come to this, on this night?

LaQueia patiently waits as she silently prays for Teri.  Everything is flying through Teri’s mind as she tries to think through what choice she will make?  Finally LaQueia interrupts her thoughts by saying “This is the moment when you decide to send your soul to hell or not.”  LaQueia hesitates, then adds in a more compassionate tone, “Please don’t get me wrong.  Until you breathe your last breath, you always have a choice to choose.  But today, in this exact moment, will determine what you will be doing in the future.  In the movies people usually give their souls away for something that they want like money or fame.  But in actuality people usually give their souls away for the lust of living their lives.” 

Refocusing her eyes, Teri thinks about what is being said a little confused as LaQueia continues. “Teri, you are deciding right now, what course your life will take.  You are choosing which path you are going to go down.  Will it be focused on God, or on yourself.  The reason why the bible says the path is narrow is because it is God only or everything else.  You now can no longer do the little things that you do that make you feel like a good person any more.  You now are aware of how much more is required of you.  Your time in church can’t be a Sunday full of dressing up, paying a little tribute for the show, and mingling with the other patrons.  You can’t kind of obey the ten commandments and feel you are fine, all the while justifying yourself when you do break any of them.  You are no longer good because you try to do this or that.  You can never go back to your old way of life, knowing that the standards are not based on whatever you justify.” 

Sniffing and shaking her lowered head, Teri knows that what LaQueia is saying is true.  Teri has always considered herself a good person and that ultimately, if there is life after death and a heaven, she will make it into it.  For the first time Teri has to raise her standards.  If she is judged by her works she will fail and if she is judged against Jesus’ example she still can not favorably compare herself into heaven.  Mentally feeling trapped, Teri knows that she has to do something.  Taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes, she thinks. 

Understanding her silence LaQueia continues, “Teri you have as much time as you like to decide as long as you’re still breathing.”  LaQueia pauses and then adds.  “I am not a dooms day artist so you probably have more than a couple of decades to do this.  You can decide and even take your time doing it.  But don’t think that you can straddle the fence.  You are either following God or the devil.  Don’t think there is no way to balance God and the devil at the same time.  Either your God’s apostle or the devils disciple, which does not sound nice, but it’s true.  If you’re living for yourself, someone else or any thing naturally, you’re not able to live for God. 

God requires more of you and sharing you, your thoughts, your life, your desires, focus, needs and wants just will not work.  It won’t work, because you’ll constantly be choosing.  Sometimes God will win and other times the devil.  But in the end, I can guarantee that you will end up choosing the devils way more than God.  So it will end up being a God vs the devil battle going on in your head constantly.  You have to just decide.  You must decide who you will focus in on. 

The more you force yourself to stay oblivious to the spirit world, the harder things will be for you from now on.  You won’t understand a lot and in the end you’ll suffer.  I’m not saying that you have to completely ignore your natural self and needs, but you do need to be more careful what you are doing and choosing, if you decide to not chose God right now.  Be careful and don’t get upset when things don’t turn out the way you want, because evil will constantly try to deceive and hurt you.  When you don’t chose God you are choosing them and give them more lead way in your life. 

In order to make it, the door you are choosing now is important.  Even if you choose not to decide that is still a choice that you and you alone will have to live with.”  Teri still does not say anything, feeling the weight of LaQueia’s words.  This power of knowledge is not at all what she has been expecting.  Her thoughts are finally summed up with one thought.  All of the pain that she has ever felt is not of God but of the devil.  How can she choose to follow such evil in any way, when all he ever does is conspire against her?  How can she pass up the Love of God?  Teri knows that she still cares about many things that she shouldn’t, but she doesn’t want that to be the spiritual death of her.  The things that she has been reading and hearing in the bible, has exposed her to the importance of God’s loyalty. 

Although loyalty doesn’t mean as much to people anymore, Teri knows that if you are loyal to God he rewards you favorably for it.  If she can put all of her trust and loyalty in God, she will be able to not only accomplish great things and ultimately be with God when she dies, but she will also be able to get the devil back for all the horrible things he has done to her, her family and friends.  Teri also knows that she will really be a good person if she follows God.  When she participates she will experience the various spiritual gifts and be able to really help others out. 

Teri knows that if she does not make the right choice now she will constantly regret it.  Not wanting to go down a path where she does not really respect herself, Teri takes in a deep breath, knowing that her hesitation to say that she loves God makes her look bad already.  It’s not like she is really going to be losing a lot if she chooses God.  Her job is not her dream career, it just pays the bills.  And her husband is not going to change just because she spends more time and energy thinking and worrying about him.  She can use her time and energy for the one that will appreciate her good heart and loyal behavior.  ‘It is time,’ she thinks knowing that every second she wastes is time allocated the devils way.