Been There Prayed That (9781622860845) (20 page)

It had been a few days since Lorain had been discharged from the hospital. Physically, she was well; mentally, she was well too, if the fact that she couldn't remember certain people and things didn't count.

The doctors concluded that Broady had saved Lorain's life by performing the Heimlich maneuver on her, but when he released her and she fell, the bumping of her head on the hard ground affected part of her brain. Although they couldn't diagnose just how long Lorain would suffer from this partial memory loss or if it was permanent, they were certain that she was only remembering things and people that she wanted to. Her brain had suppressed things she most likely would want to forget.

It was Sunday, and Lorain had insisted on going to church. Eleanor thought that going to New Day would be too much for her since she would be trying to remember folks and things and all, so she talked her into going to visit Broady's church. Lorain was okay with that because what she did remember was that she loved the Lord and that He had been good to her. Surprisingly, she was okay with more than just going to church, but going to Broady's church. Considering she now only knew about Broady what her mother had told her, it probably shouldn't have been a surprise.

“What a lovely church,” Lorain said as she entered into the sanctuary of the church with her mother. There was soft music playing and a few saints were at the altar praying. At New Day, folks would have been chatting like they were in the halls of a high school catching up on all that had taken place over the weekend. At this church, they were setting the atmosphere, preparing the way for the Word of the Lord, Broady included.

As a leader, Broady was required to sit in the front couple of rows with all the leaders and ministers. They'd each arrived at church at least a half hour early for coffee and corporate prayer. From there they all headed straight for their posts. Their bishop's saying was that the devil ain't busy; the devil is simply doing what he's supposed to do, which is carry out his assignments. The devil ain't busy, he's just always at his post, in position to carry out such assignments. The saints should always do the same; be at their posts and in position to carry out their assignments.

“It is a lovely church indeed,” Eleanor agreed. She especially loved the mauve, cream, and gold color scheme. And now there were Christmas poinsettias decorating the pulpit. The first time she visited the church she felt as though she were walking through heaven's gates. That's just how beautiful and powerful the anointing was in that place.

The usher at the door kept one gloved hand down to her side while extending the other arm out, giving the two women freedom to sit in any vacant chair. Eleanor chose two seats that were together in the fourth row. When the women sat down, they followed suit of the other saints and began to enter into prayer. When the musicians took their places behind their instruments and began to play live music, and when the exhorter began clapping her way to the microphone while speaking praises to God, all saints stood to their feet and joined in on the celebration of who God is.

From that point on, Lorain was in awe of how the service flowed. Everyone seemed to be in order and on one accord. From the outside looking in, Broady's church appeared to be the perfect church, but of course everyone knew there was no such a thing. Behind closed doors, every church had their isms and skisms. The praising and worshipping of the Lord seemed to go on for so long that Bishop really didn't need to give a message. God had spoken to each individual in that place. He had given them His Word personally, and on this given Sunday, God really didn't need to use earthly flesh to relay it.

The windows of heaven opened up, and glory just filled the sanctuary. It was a Holy Ghost experience indeed. When things seemed to settle down a bit, Bishop opened the altar to allow folks to step up and give testimonies. After a couple of people did, Bishop attempted to give a word, but a bolt of Holy Ghost power struck him, causing him to stomp the devil back and forth across the altar. At one point, he almost fell out, but fortunately, Broady was there to catch the bishop and help him keep his balance. Bishop's happiness in the Spirit seemed to be contagious as Broady began to dance in the Spirit upon touching his bishop.

Eleanor's eyes filled with tears as she shouted for Broady and the demons and devils he was stomping on. Lorain's face was covered with joy as she watched the man her mother was going to marry dance for the Lord. At first she was skeptical when she found out that her mother hadn't been dating him that long and was about to exchange nuptials with this man. But now, seeing the God in this man, Lorain could understand. Her mother needed someone like him in her life, a God fearing man to keep her on the straight and narrow. She knew her mother could be a firecracker at times.

As Lorain continued to watch Broady, the expression on her face turned from joy to horror. All of sudden things began flashing before her mental eye, things about Broady. There were newspaper articles that flashed before her eyes. The articles had pictures of him. She saw the words “Molestation,” “School Girl,” “Sexual Relations” and “Jail.” She had a vision of court papers with Broady's name on it. Flashes of pictures of him on the computer screen came up. Lorain felt as though she were watching an eight millimeter movie. But she knew this wasn't a movie. She was confused at first, but then she realized that it might have been her mind reminding her of things, things that the doctor had told her she probably didn't want to remember, one of those
traumatic events
, she supposed.

Well, there was no doubt why she wouldn't have wanted to remember this if it were true. But it had to be true, right? Or how else would these visions have gotten into her head? It seemed so real, not like dejavu or anything. Not like her imagination was running wild. It seemed real.

The doctor had told Lorain that her complete memory may come back slowly, and that there was even a possibility that it could come back all at once. The doctor had also told her that some of the memories may be unpleasant. Well, these sudden memory flashes definitely fit the definition of unpleasant.

As Lorain looked over at her mother, she wondered that if these things were true about Broady, if her mother knew about them. “She couldn't possibly,” Lorain mumbled to herself. There was no way her mother would know such things about Broady and yet was still going to marry him. There was no way Lorain would let her. “Mom? Mom?” Lorain said to her mother, who was too caught up in the Spirit to even acknowledge the voice of her daughter. “Ma?” This time Lorain nudged her mother.

“What, dear?” Eleanor almost had an attitude.

“My memory—I think—I think it might be coming back,” Lorain told her. “But I'm not sure if what—”

“Oh hallelujah!” Eleanor started to shout after hearing only the first part of what Lorain had said, then cutting her off. “Praise God! Thank you, Jesus!” Eleanor began to dance and shout so hard, folks had to move out of her way so that she could get into the aisle. “Glory!” she shouted as tears poured from her eyes. “I'm a believer. God is everything everyone has claimed Him to be. He's a healer! He's a healer!” she shouted.

“Good Lord!” Bishop declared. “Sounds like we got another testimony that needs to be shared.

A couple of altar workers helped Eleanor up to the altar.

“Come on, sister, go ahead and speak on it,” Bishop told her.

“Oh Lord! Oh Jesus!” Eleanor cried. She tried several times to speak about what Lorain had just told her, but every time she tried to say something regarding it, nothing but a praise came out. “Oh Lord, I can't do it. Let my daughter do it. It's her testimony anyhow,” Eleanor said, out of breath.

If Lorain's face hadn't been horrified when those images had just popped in her head, it was certainly horrified now.
No she didn't
, is all her mind could say. “No, Mom, no,” Lorain said, shaking her head. “I can't.” She didn't want to. Even though she was ninety-nine percent sure those images held truth to them, there was still that one percent of confusion.

“Come on, sister. Don't be shy. Tell us what God did for you,” the Bishop ordered.

Lorain still continued shaking her head, refusing.

“Tell 'em, daughter. Tell 'em how you lost your memory, and God just restored it, right here in this sanctuary.” Upon Eleanor saying those words, the entire church, it seemed, began doing a praise shout and dance for what God had done for Lorain.

“Glory!” they shouted. “God is good. The God I serve is awesome. He's a healer!”

Once things calmed down a bit, Bishop said to one of the ushers as he handed him a microphone, “Go take this to the sister. She's too shy to come up front, so take the mic to where she is. God met her right there in her place of need, so surely you can too.”

“Amen,” the usher said as he made his way to Lorain and handed her the mic.

Lorain took the mic and just stood there without saying a word.

“Go on, baby, tell us what you remember,” Eleanor insisted with a look that said, “Don't you make a liar out of me, child. Don't you embarrass me by acting like you really didn't get your memory back.”

She stared at her mother. She then looked to Broady, and then back to her mother. She couldn't. She couldn't really tell them what she remembered. But it looked like she was going to have to. She knew God was present in that church today, and she wasn't about to stand before Him and lie.

“That man is not—he may not be—who you all think he is.” Lorain couldn't believe she'd found the courage to let the words flow out of her mouth.

“Huh? What? Who? What man?” She could hear the confusion among the congregation.

Without looking directly at him, Lorain pointed to Broady. “Him, Broady. He's not the man you all think he is.” Lorain looked to her mother. “Especially you, Mom. He may not be the kind of man you'd want to marry.” There was still that one percent of doubt voicing itself.

Now Eleanor had a look of horror on her face. “Oh Lord, God done gave her her memory back, but now the devil done took her mind. Oh Jesus!” Eleanor said as someone had to hurry up and catch her in order to keep her from falling out.

“I'm sorry, Mom, but you forced me to have to do this,” Lorain said. She stood there nervous as all get out, but convinced she was doing the right thing. “Broady is a child molester. I believe he's even been jailed for it, for having some type of sexual relations with a high school girl.”

Lorain expected to hear the same confusing
Huh, what, and who's
she'd heard among the congregation just a moment ago, but they never came. She looked at her mother and expected to see her face covered with shock, but it wasn't. Lorain was the only one in the sanctuary with a confused look on her face.

The usher went to take the mic back from Lorain as he whispered, “Young lady, I think you should sit down now.”

“No, let her finish,” Broady insisted.

Lorain released the mic to the usher, a sign that she was finished. She'd said all that she had to say. She'd told all that she'd just remembered seeing.

The church was silent before Bishop finally spoke. “Sister?” he said to Lorain, “we know all these things about Brother Leary. He shared it with us when he joined our ministry five years ago after moving here from Phoenix. See, back in Phoenix—”

Broady put his hand up as if to stop the bishop from speaking. “Please, allow me, Bishop. It's my testimony; allow me to tell it, again.” Broady stood down at the altar and faced the congregation. “Some of you already know my testimony, but for those of you who don't, I hope what I share may be able to help you or someone you know and love. The devil tormented me before about sharing this testimony with you all the first time, but now I'm especially glad that I listened to God and not Satan. Imagine how this moment might have turned out had I let the devil talk me out of it.”

Broady looked to Eleanor. She shook her head and softly said to Broady, “Baby, you don't have to do this.”

“Oh, but I do,” Broady insisted as he continued. “See, I moved to Phoenix about twenty-something years ago or so just to start fresh. Wait, that's a lie. I moved to Phoenix because I was running, running from a situation that I thought if I ran far enough from, it would go away. I'd worked in the school system here in Ohio. In Phoenix I started off as a guidance counselor just like I had been here in Ohio. But just like here in Ohio, I found myself in another exact same situation with just a different girl. See, I had the urge for young women. Young girls. Under age girls. I was what most of you would call a pedophile—a pervert. In Phoenix I started having a relationship with a young girl. She told her parents about what I'd done to her, and the next thing I knew, her father was barging in my office, and I was looking straight down the barrel of a loaded shotgun.

“I swear—I mean, I promise, that my whole life flashed before my eyes. The father said a few choice and colorful words, calling me every low down dirty name in the book. Shortly thereafter his wife came in behind him. She was crying and asking him not to do it. But her husband was like a mad man. You should have seen the look in his eyes. That man wasn't going to leave until he blew my brains out. It was like slow motion, me watching his finger pull that trigger. All I remember is both me and his wife calling out at the same time, ‘Jesus'!”

Broady's eyes filled with tears as he began to tremble. “I'd never been a praying man. I had never stepped a foot into church a day in my life except an occasional Easter Sunday here and there with my mom. But at that very moment I was made into a believer. I knew that simply by calling on the name of Jesus, my life had been spared. At the sound of the name of Jesus, the gun jammed. Through grace and mercy, knowing I was in the wrong, my life had still been spared. It was a second chance from God, an undeserving second chance. Without wasting tax payer's dollars on court cost, I pled guilty for what the father had accused me of doing to his daughter and went to jail willingly, without a trial, ready to serve my time.”