No more plastics

The first time she walked into the building, she felt an aura she couldn't quite understand. There was a stillness and a chaos, almost in harmony and she took a seat on the very last row of the dark auditorium. There were about three rows between her and the rest of the congregation sitting ahead, attentively listening to the preacher.

Heaven knows if the lady at the door had not flashed a friendly smile and ushered her in, she'd have turned right back and walked away. But her warmness had lightened up Rea's heart. For a moment she forgot how repulsive she'd become to the public...how her hideous clothes and bare, cracked feet earned her hateful stares.
A groan, a very familiar groan, arose from the depths of her tummy and she immediately covered it as if to minimize its noise.
Just as she adjusted herself to sit comfortably in the solitary row, she heard a soft, yet deep voice singing in the most captivating way,
"Your grace has found me just as I am, empty-handed, but alive in your hands..."

Before Rea could comprehend what was happening, the  auditorium was filled with a gripping atmosphere. It wasn't the song, or the singer,but the power of the One addressed, that gripped her heart the most. She didn't know when and how the dark place where she sat, suddenly seemed soo flourescently bright that she shielded her eyes with her hands.

She felt a peace, one that transcends all understanding, overwhelm her, and almost instinctively, Rea knew she was in the presence of the Most High.
She fell to her knees and earnestly prayed, with each word peeling off every cell of the dead skin that was stuck to hers.  This was a girl who'd felt herself lose her identity the first moment she sat by the store's pavement with an outstretched arm, begging passer-bys for coins, afraid she could starve to death if she doesn't. Another part of it was lost when she was imprisoned for two days, for allegedly stealing a wealthy woman's ring. It had fell into the gutter next to where she sat when the lady tripped and fell because she was giving Rea a disgusted look instead of watching where she was going. And scrapes of what remained of her identity had been lost when she had been diagnosed with a 'mental illness' the day after that.

"I know!" she found herself shouting. "I know I am a child of God!" Her soul, once clogged-up with all sorts of gloom, felt refreshingly clean, and a huge smile beamed on Rea's face.

"Sister," a voice startled her up and she slowly opened her eyes. Her expression immediately turned to surprise when she realised the auditorium was then almost empty. The service had finished and people had left, and she had not been a single bit aware.

She looked up at the guy who'd called her.

"I'm sorry but we'll soon have to close the doors," he said, with an expressionless face.

She thought he was kidding, but this was the wrongest time to kid because he'd just interrupted what she could reckon had been the most delightful time of her life.

"The service is over," he said, adjusting the guitar case over his shoulder.

" It's okay Mark, leave her. Let her have as much time with the Lord as she desires," another voice said, approaching.

"Dude, we'd have to pay for the extra time she stays in here, we can't..."

"Mark, don't worry about that. Go home."

Rea recognised the second guy as the one who'd been up on stage leading that worship song.

"Are you okay?" he asked her when Mark had left.

She turned her gaze away and nodded. Then she rose to her feet, and gasped deeply, preparing to leave.

"You don't have to go if you still want to pray sister... what's your name?"

"Rea."

"You can stay and pray, sister Rea, it's alright."

She kept looking down, fidgeting with her dirty hands. What amazed her, though, was the fact that she would previously have felt as if there was a bold 'retard' tatooed across her forehead; but in that moment, she saw herself from the inside out.

He didn't seem repelled by her, not a bit. When he realised she was transfixed on the spot, he told her he'd be back, and then he scurried away and returned with the pastor;  Pastor Maria.

She had a lovely, motherly warmth to her and she embraced Rea without hesitating.
Silent tears ran down Rea's cheeks. For the first time, she felt accepted, and worthy. Worthy to belong.

After what seemed to be an hour inside the auditorium, Rea and the lady pastor stepped out. This was a very different Rea, a whole new creation.

"Joel!" Pastor Maria called out to that worship leader who was still outside, wiping some dust off his car.

"I have to rush off to the conference at Greenfields now, would you kindly direct Rea to my shop at the mall, I need her to pick out some clothes there."

"I can go with her, mum, I'm not doing anything right now."

"Great. Here you go, you may as well grab a few more things she might need. I'll cover up the rest when I get back," she said, handing him her bank card.

"Alright. Thanks mum." He turned to Rea. "Shall we?"

She was still in awe of every detail of this day, that when he opened the door of the car to usher her in, she couldn't stop the tear that escaped from her right eye.

Taking one step into that building earlier that day had been the first step to a staircase ascending heavenwards. A step into an adventure she had never imagined.

Sometimes just one step in the right direction makes a huge impact
...

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