Preparation Day Read online

handle your abortion, and I will take you to the hospital in the morning.” The stern look on his face frightened her, but she knew she had to stand her ground.

  “No Dad, there will be no abortion, I am leaving to go to a place where this baby will be born and there’s nothing you can do about it!” Her black eyes flashed lightening at her father; her face was like stone.

  Rage came into her father’s face, and his face turned red as he choked back the temptation to hit her.

  “So that’s how it is to be, is it? So be it, you shall leave this house! You have brought shame on this family, and you shall not stay here with your illegitimate bastard.” Lori was shocked to her very core at that kind of language coming from her father; her siblings both sneered at her, and her mother swooned on the couch. Lori turned and walked to her room and started packing her things.

 

  No one was home when she hauled her suitcase over to Mrs. McGruder’s house. She suspected that her father had taken the family out of the house purposefully. One last time, she turned and looked at the house where she had been born. Then she turned toward Mrs. McGruder’s house, her face a mask of pain.

  Mrs. McGruder helped her put her things in the car. She suggested they have a prayer before they left. She prayed long and hard for Lori, her family, and the other women she was to stay with for the long months ahead.

  Again the Holy Spirit came on her in waves as Mrs. McGruder laid hands on her and prayed. She had never heard anyone pray that way before that day. I wish I could pray like that, she thought wistfully, her eyes again filling with tears of gratitude for her neighbor and friend.

  There was not much conversation as Lori stared out the side window at the passing scenery. They arrived at the large rambling house on the outskirts of North Hollywood, and Mrs. McGruder helped her inside with her things. Anne met them at the door. The house was quiet, but she could hear the murmur of voices down a hallway. The muffled cry of a baby came from somewhere in the house.

  “Welcome, Lori. I’ll show you to your room and introduce you to your roommate,” she said smiling. She knocked on the door of a room at the far end of a hallway that went past a large kitchen. A girl about Lori’s age opened the door, looked shyly at Lori, and motioned them in, saying nothing.

  “This is Kelly. Kelly, I would like you to meet Lori Binghamton, your new roommate. Lori tried to hide the shock on her face as she looked at the girl’s bruised and battered features. There was not a place on her face that was clear of bruises, and she had an ugly cut over her right eye about two inches long, with black stitches. The ends of the stitches stuck out at awkward angles.

  Kelly looked frightened at the sight of Lori’s immaculate long black hair and flawless face; she reached out and brushed Lori’s extended hand, then quickly drew her hand back. Lori's legs almost went out from under her when suddenly she heard the voice of the Holy Spirit for the first time inside her skull, “This is the work, I have called you unto, and I will send you to whom I will send you.” Then the waves came upon her time and again, washing through her body like the waves of the sea, blessing after confirming blessing. It made her so weak she thought she was going to faint. She looked at the others, but they didn’t seem to notice.

  Mrs. McGruder hugged her tightly and suggested they have a prayer before she left. She took her daughter’s hand in one hand and Lori’s hand in the other. Her daughter reached for Kelly’s hand, and Kelly shyly took it, and then took Lori’s other hand lightly in hers. The circle was complete. Again Mrs. McGruder prayed long and hard, her voice rising and falling in supplication to God and again the waves of blessing washed through Lori’s body in wave after wave of confirmation.

  When Lori was left alone with Kelly, Kelly looked at the wall but spoke to Lori in a tiny voice, “You can use my computer if you want; it’s hooked to the Internet.” While she said this she would not raise her eyes to Lori, but stared at the floor. Lori could barely hear her voice, but it sounded like her face looked; beaten and bruised beyond description.

  Lori gradually became acquainted with Kelly, although Kelly hardly ever spoke. When she did speak, she could never look at Lori in the eyes; she would glance up and then down would go the eyes. Lori learned that she was a runaway from Seattle. She had run from her mother’s live-in boyfriend, who had tried to molest her. Landing in L.A., hungry and ragged, she had met the pimp on 19th street, and he had talked her into prostitution. He had kept her broke, with only enough to get a little to eat and a rundown flat. He had become mean to her and had finally beaten her almost to death. The cops had found her, and after a short hospital stay, a detective had brought her here. There was no room at the time, but they made an exception and housed her with two other girls.

  So God Did

  A few days later the Holy Spirit spoke to Lori again, “Lay your hands on Kelly and pray for her each evening.” That evening Lori asked her if she could pray for her and Kelly said ok. Lori reached to lay hands on her and Kelly jerked back. “It’s ok Kelly; is it ok if I touch you while I pray for you?”

  Kelly looked at her with scared eyes, then dropped her eyes and shook her head yes. Lori began learning to pray for others that day; short, stumbling prayers were the best she could muster. She wondered if she would ever be able to pray like Mrs. McGruder.

  As the days passed, Kelly grew better, her face cleared up, and she began to glow under the daily prayers of Lori. As the months passed, in spite of the discomfort of her stomach growing so large, Lori found more and more of the girls in the dorm wanting her to pray for them.

  Lori did use Kelly’s computer, and found several websites that talked about cult religions and how dangerous they were. The one she had grown up in was among the ones named. Over time, she began to realize that what she had been taught was a lie.

  Then came the day that Kelly was to go to the hospital, and she returned a few days later with a healthy baby boy. The girls all came in order to make a fuss over the new baby, but Kelly refused to allow anyone to touch him. If anyone came too close, including Lori, she would stand in front of the crib protectively, her eyes wild. She would sit and clutch the baby to her chest and rock back and forth for hours on end. There was only a tiny white streak above Kelly’s eye where the deep cut had been, and the bruises were completely gone, but Lori knew that the girl’s soul was scarred for life.

  Lori found Anne working away at some papers in her tiny cubicle she called her office, which was actually a partitioned off place in the large living room. Anne had long since moved out of one of the bedrooms to make room for needier girls. She looked up as Lori came in.

  “Kelly won’t let anyone touch her baby.”

  “It will take time, but in time she will. Just keep praying for her.”

  “I wish I could pray good like Mrs. McGruder does.”

  “That will take time too Lori, in this work I have learned to have patience.” Lori felt a little doubtful as she turned to go.

  “Lori, would you consider staying on here as staff after your baby is born? You have a gift for ministering to these girls.”

  Lori turned back to her in shock. “Me?”

  “Yes you… I need your help Lori.”

  “Can I take some time to think and pray about it?”

  “Sure, take all the time you want.” She smiled up at her, and then turned back to her never ending paper work. Lord, one of these days you're going to have to send me a secretary.

  As time went on Kelly did let Lori hold the baby a little. One day Lori asked her, “What are you going to do now Kelly?”

 

  “My mom doesn’t live with anyone any more. She is sending me a bus ticket back to Seattle, and I am going home. My mom seems changed, and I want to try to make a go of it with her. I will be leaving in two weeks.”

  “That’s swell Kelly, but I am going to miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you too; you will never know how much you have helped me to heal.”

  The day came when Kelly packe
d and was ready and waiting for the cab to take her to the North Hollywood bus station. Lori waited with her on the front porch until the cab drove up. They hugged and cried, and then Kelly was gone from her life. Lori wiped the tears as she watched the cab leave. Before nightfall she had another young woman to pray for, another young girl who had fought the streets of L.A. and lost the battle. That same detective brought her bruised and bleeding to Safe Haven Home for Girls.

  Before she had gotten the girl healed up this time though, Lori’s due date came, and she was in the hospital. She had a beautiful little girl with her eyes and black hair. The young girl, along with the rest of the dorm, visited Lori’s room, and she saw how many friends she had there. Anne came to her shortly thereafter and said, “Lori, I would like an answer now, would you like to stay on with us?” Lori was delighted at the prospect, and she stayed for another two years. She ministered to each of the girls, and then one day she caught herself praying long and hard for one of the girls, and she knew she sounded just like Mrs. McGruder.

  One day Lori took her daughter, Gabby to the nearby park to swing on the swings. As she swung her gently in the little baby swing, a man came up and put his little girl in the other swing. “Hi, my name is Tom Haskell, and this is Gail, my daughter,” he said. “My name is Lori, and this is my daughter, Gabby.”

  The Holy Spirit spoke to her again and said, “This is to be your husband.” Lori had been with the Lord long enough now to know that when he said something, that was exactly the way it would turn out. That night, she prayed long and hard for the man she was to marry, and for their two daughters.

  The end

  Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; Isaiah 44:24