“Ladies,” Johnnie Mae said, “I think we’re getting a little off our agenda here.” She flashed a stern look at both Sapphire and Faith.
“Sorry,” Faith said, lowering her head for a second. “We can come if we’re not married, though, can’t we? I mean, married folks need a seminar to make their marriages better, but wouldn’t it be better if singles learned these principles, too?”
“You know…” Johnnie Mae thought for a moment, then continued speaking, “maybe it would be okay if you guys came to the seminar. I don’t want to open it up to every single person just yet, but Faith has a point. I can see us possibly expanding this marriage seminar to something similar for single people who want to be married someday. If you three were present, you could take notes to suggest what we can expand upon for a singles’ workbook and seminar.”
Johnnie Mae looked at Faith and smiled. “We’ll start with the married couples first, then move on to the SIP: Singles In Preparation. And eventually we’ll expand it to include young adults. Too much is left for the world to teach our own. We need to quit sticking our heads in the sand, thinking people are going to just ‘get it’ the godly way without us teaching the information. Our folk are learning it from somewhere—it ought to be from us. The truth, but the Bible way of truth.”
Sapphire nodded. “It is a good idea.”
“I like it,” Angel said. “I’ll be there. You can count me in.”
Faith smiled. “I can’t wait. This is going to be such fun!”
“Angel, will you type up what we decided here and print a copy for each of us? Then we can pray, adjourn, and go home,” Johnnie Mae said.
Chapter 33
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11:28)
Johnnie Mae saw Hope coming down the corridor. “Hope, hi,” she said in a soft voice. “How are you?”
Hope hugged her and smiled. “I’m so much better—thank you for asking.”
“I’ve been a bit worried about you lately. Is there anything you need? Anything I can do?”
“I’m fine—why do you ask?”
“It’s just I know you volunteered to help with the marriage seminar.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Hope said. She began lightly touching Johnnie Mae’s arm. “I didn’t mean to volunteer and not be able to make good on my commitment but—”
“Hope, please don’t. I wasn’t bringing it up to make you feel guilty. I’m just concerned about you. Can you and I set a date and go out to lunch or something?”
“You know, things are so busy these days. And honestly, I’m not a real meet-for-lunch kind of person. I hope you understand. I do apologize for not being able to help with the seminar the way I promised, but it just can’t be helped. Look, I really need to run.” Hope started walking away.
“You’re not sick or anything and not letting us know, are you?” Johnnie Mae asked. “I don’t mean to pry, but I care about you. I want you to know that, Hope. I just want to be sure you’re all right.”
“I’m fine. I sometimes have these little episodes, but they don’t last long. When they happen, I may lose track of time. I usually rest, and in a little while, I’m back to myself again. I’ve been dealing with this since age seven or eight,” Hope said. “I’ve learned to manage it.”
“Forgive me if I’m out of line, but it doesn’t sound to me like you’re fine,” Johnnie Mae said. “Maybe you should go see someone about it…a doctor—”
“I have seen someone about it. The best thing that seems to work during that time is to lie down and wait until it passes.” She smiled. “I’ve grown quite accustomed to it, and generally, it hasn’t been a concern. I suppose it’s because I’ve never actually put myself out there like I’ve done here. Maybe I should back off trying to work in the church for now until I get a better handle on things.”
Johnnie Mae grabbed her by the hand. “Please don’t do that. That’s the worst thing you can do. Whatever is going on with you…”
Hope nodded. “It’s okay. I know you’re worried about me, and I appreciate that. I don’t know if I’ve ever had anyone care specifically about me—it’s always Faith or Charity, but never me.”
“Don’t let what I’ve just said or done keep you from doing what you can,” Johnnie Mae said. “My husband and I really appreciate whatever you’re able to do here. Your spirit is wonderful, your work impeccable. In fact, I was looking forward to you putting together the marriage workbook for me. You seem to understand what I want without me having to explain it. That’s such a rare quality. Whatever you can find the time to do will be received happily.”
“I could still type the work for the seminar—I like doing things like that. Why don’t you get it together and give it to me—”
“Oh, Faith didn’t tell you?” Johnnie Mae said.
“Tell me what?”
“She came to the meeting the other day and volunteered to type it after Sapphire and I finish.”
“Faith? Faith volunteered to type the work for you?”
“Yes. I thought you knew. I’m sorry…I never would have brought it up like that had I known you didn’t know.”
Hope put on a smile and hunched her shoulders. “No biggie. Faith will make sure it gets handled one way or the other. She’ll probably bring it home. And knowing her like I do, she’ll let me help just because she knows this is my forte.”
“I didn’t know you were a twin until she showed up. I had no idea you both had a younger sister. Charity. I believe that’s what Faith said her name is.”
“Charity. Of course Faith told you about Charity.”
“Not a lot, just that she’s your younger sister. And that she wasn’t attending church or, at least, she wasn’t attending one earlier this year when she and I talked about it. I don’t know if that’s changed or not. We haven’t discussed it since.”
Hope touched her head and started rubbing it slowly.
Johnnie Mae moved in closer. “Are you okay? Is it a headache?”
“I really have to go now,” Hope said. “Just get the information you want typed to Faith. If she needs my help, you know I’ll do what I can.”
“Hope…” Johnnie Mae called after her, but Hope quickly scurried away.
“Lord, touch her right now. Please, Jesus, let her be all right. In Jesus’ name.”
Chapter 34
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
(James 1:8)
Sapphire and Thomas hadn’t spoken in over a week and she was worried. Since he had begun working for Reverend Walker, he’d really become distant with everybody who cared anything about him—including his own brother. Sapphire also knew his bipolar symptoms were probably active. She feared it would only be a matter of time before he would crash and burn completely.
“Thomas, if you don’t get help, you’re not going to get any better,” Sapphire said.
“Look, I’ve told you, if that’s all you want to talk about with me, you don’t even have to bother calling or coming over.”
“You’re being unreasonable, Thomas. I’m not your enemy. You need help. If you won’t let me do it, then find someone you feel comfortable with. I’ve seen people with this before. Everyone behaves differently, but it’s never a pretty sight. I don’t want that for you.”
“It’s not your problem or your concern,” Thomas snapped.
“Talk to your brother, Thomas. Talk to Pastor Landris—”
“For what? He doesn’t care about me. All he cares about is his family, his church, and his new house. Can you believe he’s building a new house? Reverend Walker and I rode by there the other week. It’s a disgrace what people do in the name of God.”
“What are you talking about, Thomas? You know his heart. Pastor’s a good man—”
“Good ain’t always godly.”
“See, that doesn’t even sound like you. It sounds like something that pastor you’re running around with would say. Wha
t does he know about Pastor Landris? Has he ever talked with him?”
“He doesn’t have to. He and I talked when I first started working there. He was interested in what George was doing—genuinely interested. He was talking about Divine Conquerors giving a large donation toward the church facility.” He continued to walk as he talked. “When he learned about the shopping area, the subdivisions, and all that other stuff, he became suspicious of the real motive behind all of this.”
Sapphire grabbed Thomas by the hand and sat down on the couch. No longer in the small apartment he’d lived in since he moved to Birmingham, he was now in a house with three bedrooms and two and a half baths. They were in the great room with the gas fireplace. She looked around the room. It was furnished with all new furniture.
“I see. Suspicious in, like, the way you’re living now? It’s okay for you to move into something bigger and better, get all new furniture? But if Pastor Landris gets something bigger and better, he’s no longer godly?”
Thomas surveyed the room. “This house is a blessing from God. Because I was obedient, and came out from among those heathens that were blinding me to the true light of God. Reverend Walker arranged for me to have this place. And do you know how much I’m paying to live here?”
“How much, Thomas?”
“I know you think I spend money like crazy, but I get to live here now for free. That’s right. This is one of the houses the church owns, and Reverend Walker appreciates my talents and abilities so much, he arranged for me to live here for nothing for as long as I want. Now, what did George do for me?”
“Thomas!” Sapphire bore her eyes into him. “I do not believe you’re about to say anything negative about your brother. Do you realize all you’ve done to Pastor Landris over the past years? And he forgave you. He tried to help you by giving you money when the radio deal fell through.” She frowned as she spoke. “The radio deal you arranged with his money. That wasn’t any of his doing.”
“You know what? I don’t have to let you put me down in my own home. Yes, I’ve made some mistakes. So have you. So has my dear, perfect brother. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have had any of that money to lose. None of it. George forgave me—big deal. When I really needed him, what did he do?”
Sapphire calmed her voice. A soft answer turns away wrath. “What did he do, Thomas?”
“He closed his wallet up to me. He told me to fix it myself. I didn’t have any money or anywhere else to turn, and he left me hanging. My brother. If it wasn’t for Reverend Walker and his congregation—they may not be perfect, but at least they aren’t trying to show off by building the biggest ‘this’ or the biggest ‘that’ just to entice people.” Thomas stood up. He was jittery. “Sapphire, I’ve enjoyed our time together, but I’m in a different place now. And the Bible tells us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.”
“Thomas, if you’re going to quote scripture to make a point, make sure it applies,” Sapphire said. “I’m not an unbeliever.”
“Well, however you want to believe, it’s on you. There are women out there praying for a man like me. Reverend Walker is talking about ordaining me a minister.”
“You’re kidding.”
“See, that’s exactly why you and I don’t need to be together.”
“I’m not trying to be with you right now, Thomas. I want to get you help.”
“I have all the help I need. If I am bipolar, God can heal me if He chooses for me to be healed. I have faith in God,” Thomas said.
“I do, too. But God works with doctors. Don’t you know you can take all the pills you want, you can have all the operations, but without God, it won’t be successful? If you need to take medication to help with your problem, God can work through that until your healing manifests. It was God who gave man the knowledge to develop these medicines. Everything still comes from God, so you’re not a sell-out if you get the help you need through doctors.”
Thomas walked over and opened the door. “I can’t have all this negative talk polluting my home. You’ve got to go. I wish you the best, and when you see my brother, tell him I’m praying for him,” Thomas said.
Sapphire stood up, in shock. She looked in Thomas’s eyes as she walked past him—they were blood red. She knew he wasn’t getting hardly any sleep. He was in need of help. And Sapphire realized she probably wasn’t the one to do it.
Chapter 35
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman.
(Proverbs 7:4)
Sapphire and Johnnie Mae were meeting to complete her part of the workbook. It was coming together beautifully. Johnnie Mae was concentrating on using many of the principles and a few actual scriptures found in the Book of Proverbs, chapter 7.
“One of my Bibles,” Johnnie Mae began, “contains subheadings, summarizing what certain passages in a section will be. Proverbs 7 has, ‘The wiles of a harlot.’ Sapphire, I believe there’s a reason God inspired this chapter to be included in the Bible. Pastor Landris and I feel if we glean the real jewels from these passages of scriptures here, it will bless so many marriages but especially those in the household of faith.”
Sapphire scanned a few of the scriptures. “Wow, verse 5 says in essence that if this is done, it will keep the men from the strange woman.” She read, “‘from the stranger which flattereth with her words.’ I don’t know. Are you sure you want to use this?”
“I’m not encouraging women to be harlots outside of their marriage, but things like verse 13: ‘So she caught him, and kissed him.’ What husband wouldn’t want his wife to catch him and lay one on him like that?” Johnnie Mae flipped through the pages of her notes. “In verse 15: she’s looking for him, seeking his face, and happy that she’s found him. Do you know how many women, after they get married, can’t stand seeing their husbands come through the door? But when they were dating, they were diligently looking for their future husbands to show up. This needs to be put back into marriages.”
“Oooh, Mrs. Landris. I can’t imagine you acting like that at any time in your life, let alone with Pastor Landris. You’re always so cool and collected. Looking for him…seeking his face?” Sapphire shuffled through the pages she’d pulled off the Internet and copied from books and magazines that discussed how a woman should be excited about her man. She handed those pages over to Johnnie Mae.
“Don’t get this all wrong, now. There is balance to all of this,” Johnnie Mae said. “Pastor Landris and I have instructions for the men as well. It’s just that men are moved by sight. Women are moved by the heart…they’re emotional. Women like to be talked to, to be made to feel like they’re the only one who matters, even if it’s not always true at the time. Women like to cuddle and be cuddled. So we’ll be hitting the men with their section on The Way to Loving Your Woman is Through Her Heart: Romancing the Heart. But women have been told and taught so many things growing up about ‘good girls’; they get mixed signals about how they should be with their men after they marry.”
“I have to deal with this in the real world on a daily basis,” Sapphire said. “Wives with low self-esteem. I find women are so confused. They aren’t sure how they should act with their mates. The image they have been given of, as you said, a ‘good girl,’ doesn’t match married life. I think it’s great how you and Pastor Landris will be using the Bible to let women and men know what God has to say on the subject of marriage. How couples can add zest to their relationships, while keeping it holy. Like here in Proverbs 7, verse 16. The bed is decked out with a pretty covering and fine linen of Egypt. Then verse 17 says, ‘I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.’” Sapphire started laughing. “Can you imagine a wife thinking like this for her husband? Thinking about what she can do in a marriage to spice it up like she did before she married?” Sapphire stopped and gasped. “Oh, my goodness…look at this!”
“You’re reading verse 18, aren’t you?” Johnnie Mae said with a knowing giggle.
Sapphire continued to la
ugh and nod vigorously as she read the verse aloud. “‘Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us solace ourselves with loves.’ And this is all in the Bible! How many people even know this is in here? It’s so perfect for marriages.”
“We’re not going to use everything, but I do think verse 18 is a good one for the husbands and wives to reflect on. Pastor Landris and I have also included a section on communication. It’s important to see a marriage as a two-way street. The superhighway of love knows how to send and receive. Those on DSL and broadband may need to slow things down and go back to dial-up. We touch on how each spouse should be mindful of how they present themselves. You know, reminding the wife not to always wear rollers and flannel pajamas around her husband. Again, men are moved by sight. A wife needs to let her husband see what he has in his fearfully and wonderfully made, beautiful, and godly woman. That’ll keep him at home.”
“And the men?”
“Some of these men act like having a basketball under their too-little-tops is synonymous with wealth. In the first place, a big stomach is not healthy. Women like their men taking care of themselves, too. You know what else we have in the workbook that’s absolutely spectacular? Romantic ways to exercise together.”
“You have an exercise section, too?” Sapphire said.
“Indeed we do. It’s called: Exercising Your Right to Be Left in Love: Working Out the Romance.” Johnnie Mae smiled. “I gave Angel a note to find graphics with two people participating in various exercises together. Can’t you just see how romantic that can be? She’s on the floor doing crunches; he’s holding her feet or ankles, and every time she pulls herself forward, he meets her and gives her a peck on the lips and vice versa. They can do other things like rock-the-boat.”
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