Forever Blessed (Women of Prayer) (23 page)

Ella was making scrambled eggs for breakfast when the phone rang. Marsha picked up after the first ring. “Mom, I’m going to take this in the bedroom. Would you hang this up after I pick up the other phone?”

“Sure, of course.”

Ella held the phone to her ear until she heard Marsha say, “Okay mom, I’ve got it.” If her daughter’s cell phone had a better signal, she doubted she’d even know when her son-in-law called. She finished breakfast and called the boys to the table. She no longer had an appetite. She got the boys settled and then sat in her rocking chair, praying.

Marsha came out of the bedroom, eyes and nose red, the obvious signs of tears. “Mom, I have to go back. Cliff’s doctor sent him to a neurosurgeon and he wants to talk to us, at the same time. He wouldn’t tell Cliff anything but we have an appointment for tomorrow morning.” She glanced toward the kitchen where her boys were still eating. “I have to get a hold of myself. We don’t know anything yet and I don’t want to upset the boys. I don’t think I can eat. I’m going to take a quick shower and gather our things. We have to get on the road.”

Marsha hurried out of the living room and headed for the bathroom. The boys kept on eating, like there was no tomorrow. Growing boys, they’ll eat you out of house and home. Ella shook her head and started cleaning up the kitchen. Four eggs each? How do they afford to keep them in food?

It didn’t take Marsha long to gather everything, especially after she put the boys to work. Their Gameboys were fully charged and ready for the trip. They were almost as anxious to see their father as their mother was. Perhaps the doctor had a good report. Ella doubted it though. Her daughter worked in the medical field and by her reaction, it wasn’t good news. Perhaps her daughter would think of her tomorrow and call her to let her know what was wrong. She sure hoped so.

Ella hugged Marsha and the boys and said goodbye. They were much more relaxed with her than they were a week ago. This time, they hugged her tight in return and ran to her daughter’s fancy car that looked more like a truck, yelling, "Shotgun!"
I guess things never change.

After they left, she settled into her rocking chair and read the Word.
Lord, thank you for your promises. Every day I see more and more evidence of you.
The rest of the evening she remained in an attitude of prayer.

             
             
Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ella waited for the phone call. Marsha had promised she would call when she knew what was going on. She stayed home from Merry’s prayer group at church, although she still participated from her rocking chair. God understood. She had to be here for news of her son-in-law.

It was late afternoon before she heard from Marsha. It wasn’t good news. “Mom, Cliff has a brain tumor. We had noticed little things for the past few months. He was forgetting more than normal. We chalked it up to stress. Apparently, the tumor is growing at a fairly rapid pace and is to blame for his forgetfulness as well as his aggression. We don’t know if it’s malignant or not. That is what the neurologist wanted to talk with us about, our options.”

Ella couldn’t speak. She’d never thought about the possibility of a medical condition being responsible for abusive behavior.

“Mom, are you there?”

“Yes, honey. I just don’t know what to say. I didn’t know that was possible. That being sick could cause someone to abuse someone else.”

“Mom, you couldn’t have known. The studies that are being done are relatively new. Sometimes people hurt other people because they want to, because they can and because it makes them feel better about themselves. Sometimes it has nothing to do with a sickness or a disease.”

“Can they remove the tumor?”

“They think so. They are going to first test to see if it’s cancer. If the tumor is operable, they will remove it. If not, then we are looking at radiation and possibly chemotherapy. Right now it’s a wait and see game. In the meantime, we are taking one day at a time and Cliff is watching for things that might trigger his aggression. Hopefully, until we can actually do something about the tumor, that will help.”

“Marsha, please be careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you or the kids, Cliff either.”

“Mom, now I’m asking you to pray. I don’t understand it, but we need all the help we can get. Will you do that for us?”

“You know I will. I have been and I won’t stop. God is going to work all this out, you’ll see. He has a plan. We may not understand it, but he has one nonetheless. Please keep me updated?”

“I promise, mom, I won’t let things get to where they used to be between us. I will call you and let you know what is happening every step of the way. I’ll bring the boys more often too, okay? Things are going to change. Again, I am so sorry for how I have treated you. Thank you for loving me anyway. I love you, mom. I have to go.”

Ella hung up the phone feeling guilty. Part of her was thankful, thankful that she had her little girl back. She shouldn’t feel gratitude when such a horrible disease has attacked her family. But holding her daughter, listening to her laughter and wiping away her tears brought her such joy, one she wouldn’t have known had it not been for this tumor. “God, if there had been another way, that would have been okay. I know, your ways are not my ways and your plans are not my plans. Just thought I’d bring it up in case you needed some ideas. Yeah, I know you don’t. Can you blame a girl for trying?”

Ella had a bounce in her step. Her daughter had come home. Just like the prodigal son from the Bible. She could imagine what that father felt like. Life was better; everything was better now that her baby was back in her life.

If she hurried, she could still make it in time for prayer before church service. When she arrived, there was a crowd gathered in front of the building. Everyone was blocking her view. She couldn’t see what they were all whispering about. She elbowed her way to the front. Written across the brick front of the church wall were “cowards” and “weaklings.” There were upside down crosses and pentagrams. Pastor Mark had already called the police and they were on their way.

This latest act of vandalism reminded Ella of the rock thrown through her window. The police had stopped investigating and told her it was probably kids from the neighborhood wreaking havoc. They would probably say the same thing about the vandalism to the church. There wasn’t enough damage to do a full investigation. No one had been hurt.

They were still looking into the arson at the shelter, but that was because the insurance company was breathing down their necks.

Ella was thinking hard about all the "incidents," as the local law enforcement liked to call them. There was only one thing they had in common and that was Laney. She was the common denominator in all of them.

The church members that had come for prayer made their way into the sanctuary, determined to pray regardless of the attacks of the enemy. These men and women of God knew that while people are often used by the enemy to accomplish his will, the battle is not with flesh and blood, but with the forces of evil. Some mighty prayer warriors went down on their knees that morning and the enemy knew full well that war had been waged.

Ella joined the forces and prayed like she’d never prayed before.

*  *  *  *

Laney stood in front of the church with the others only a moment before she entered. It had to be him. Who else would only be targeting people or places she went or had relationships with? It made no sense for it to be anyone else. It made her mad.

She leaned in toward Ella, gave her a side hug and quietly whispered, “I’ve missed you. Did you have a good time with Marsha?”

Ella grasped the hand that was placed on her shoulder. The smile and the tears welling up in her eyes were answer enough. Laney joined her on the pew.

If the worship was any indicator, it was business as usual this morning at church. Not one person let the supposed random graffiti interrupt their time with God. If anything, the Sunday morning worshippers seemed to be more enthusiastic than they usually were. Laney clapped along to the beat and sang as best she could. “He’s under our feet, under our feet, the enemy is under our feet.”

She’d never heard that song before. The worship and the message seemed to have a common theme, fighting in a war we can’t see and trampling the enemy, whom she assumed to be Satan. She assumed she would hear complaining and see some anger today at church. She couldn’t have been farther off. These people were worshipping God like never before.

Pastor Mark started the message by asking everyone to stand to their feet and let out some kind of war cry, as far as she could tell. People hooted and hollered, pumping their fists into the air and stomping their feet.

After a couple of minutes of this, everyone sat down and Pastor Mark began his message in earnest. “I’m excited! How about you?” Shouts came from all over the sanctuary in reply.

Laney looked around the room. Are they crazy? Excited because some nut job sprayed paint and crude symbols all over the front of the church building?

Pastor Mark continued. “Yeah, we are excited and I’ll tell you why, because we have the enemy’s attention. That’s right. We have to be doing something right if the enemy feels the need to mess with us.”

Laney never thought of it that way before.

“If we are a threat to his kingdom, the kingdom that is swiftly coming to an end, he’s going to try and dissuade us from continuing. But, I have news for him. It’s going to take more than him and his army of demons to stop us. 1 Peter 5, verses 8 through 10, tells us to "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

He continued. “Did you hear that? The word of God tells us to be aware, to know what is going on. Satan is going to come and he’s going to try and distract us from our work here on earth. The word also tells us we aren’t alone. Our brothers and sisters are going through the same stuff, all over the world. We have news for our adversary, don’t we? He isn’t going to win!” The whole sanctuary went crazy. “Verse ten tells us that there is good news. God, the creator of the universe, after he allows us to suffer for a while, is going to perfect us. He is going to establish us. He is going to strengthen us. And he is going to settle us. Anyone else feel like shouting 'Hallelujah 'with me?”

Again, the people erupted in shouts. “You see, he has established us in him through his son Jesus Christ. And he has strengthened us with the Holy Spirit. He will settle us with his perfect peace that passes all understanding. And he is going to perfect us as we are changed from glory to glory to always live with him in paradise. Can I hear an amen?”

Laney wasn’t used to hearing Pastor Mark preach like this. He was normally more even-tempered from the pulpit. She had to say it was an interesting service. She wondered what Ella was thinking.

The praise band struck up the song they had sung earlier about the enemy being under our feet as Pastor Mark dismissed the group. The atmosphere was charged with an expectant feel as people began to congregate and talk with one another. Laney met her older kids on her way to pick up Melanie from the toddler room. “Mom, can we go out to eat? Please?”

“Why not? You want to see if Miss Ella would like to go with us?”

Joy and Matt took off to find Ella while she signed Melanie out. Laney had just left the kids' area when one nursery worker said to the other, “Did you tell her about the guy who was in here asking about her and the kids?”

“Oh, no, I forgot. I’ll tell her next week.”

             
             
             
             
Chapter Thirty