Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1




Three things will last forever- faith, hope, love-The greatest of these is love.
Corinthians 13:13

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was all as they had practiced. Every single detail to the tee. Natasha was in her living room intently watching the television. Her stomach was tied in knots as she anxiously waited for the sports news to end. She said one more prayer,
"Dear Lord, I know this is Your will. Thank You for answering our prayers. We will give back to Your children as planned".


Back in the hospital, Vanessa finished up passing her 9pm medications so that she could sneak a peak at the T.V. in room 269 which was vacant. She managed to tidy up both her patients by 9:55pm. Vanessa scurried down the hall to room 269 and turned on channel 9, WGN-TV just as the sports news ended. Then, it came on the screen. Vanessa grabbed the dual call light/remote control and turned the volume dial up. Across town, Natasha was squirming around in her favorite leather massage chair.

It was done.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vanessa was sorting through the mail that had come in for that day. Bill, another bill…silly, wasteful grocery sale ads, but what’s this, she thought. It was a colorful post card sized flyer that had a crowd of young individuals in what appeared to be a concert. They looked to be about her age, late 20’s, and one girl looked out of the crowd with her arms open, smiling, almost speaking to her directly. She flipped it over and it was a “Grand Opening” invitation to West Ridge Community Church. Their slogan, “Never Church As Usual”. Perhaps I should stop by. We have been wanting to find the right church. She called her sister, Natasha, who lived on the other side of town to invite her to attend the grand opening with her. Natasha excitedly accepted the invite, since she too had been wanting to find a church that would truly uplift her soul.

Vanessa, 27, and Natasha, 25, were sisters, but they were also best friends. Sure they had their quarrels, but Natasha called that healthy bonding. Such as the times they pulled one another’s hair and choked each other as kids. They couldn’t help but giggle when they reminisced those fights. The girls didn’t really have any family to speak of, other than themselves. Their father died from a sudden heart attack while running his daily jog, and their mother died just a couple years later in her sleep. The doctors had diagnosed the cause of death during her autopsy as a brain embolism or clot, but Natasha, who was still attached to her parents via umbilical cord, felt otherwise. She thought their mother wanted to be in heaven with her husband. Especially because their parents had been the best of friends and were always inseparable when they were alive. Nevertheless, their children missed them both very much.

Their family had never been dedicated church-goers. As most Americans, they categorized themselves as “Christian”, but they would only attend Easter and Christmas service. As the girls grew up, it seemed the family went to church even less. It wasn’t that their parents didn’t believe in God or Jesus, they just felt that church was too ritualistic. It was full of hypocrites and people trying to uphold a certain image. Vanessa and Natasha’s parents felt that they could be just as close to God and Jesus through prayers in the privacy of their own home. During the last couple years of their lives, their parents would read the bible together before bed. They tried to convince the girls to read with them, but the girls felt they had enough to read at that point, since they were both in school. Plus, who could understand all that complicated jargon? Nevertheless, their family had a beautiful and encouraging verse from the bible that hung in their living room:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2, NLT

Natasha currently lived in her parents’ home and loved walking past the verse so much that she copied it and gave it to her sister, “Vaness” on her 27th birthday, which they had recently celebrated. The girls really felt a connection to it, because their mother had given the framed phrase to their father on the last Christmas they all spent together.

It was on Vanessa’s birthday that the sisters had the discussion that they both felt they were missing something in their lives’. There was a hole in their souls that needed filling. Vanessa and Natasha were “over” their days of drinking and partying until the break of dawn. They partied when Vanessa was in college and then as adults starting their careers. Vanessa had already been a cardiac critical care nurse for five years, and Natasha a flight attendant for just as long. It wasn’t that they didn’t appreciate their jobs, nor that they weren’t super good at their professions, they just felt this itch in their hearts for something more. As for romance, the two young women were very attractive and received numerous compliments on their beauty, but no man they dated was ever “right” for them. It seemed like all men they encountered were smothering with affection. Plus, in their line of work, they were surrounded by pilots and doctors, and Vanessa and Natasha weren’t interested in dating either category. Truth be known, Natasha was following her older sister’s lead, because it was easier than dating. It seemed every time Natasha would even discuss a new male friend her life, her older sister appeared extremely uncomfortable. Since Vaness was her only living family member and she didn’t want to make her feel uneasy in any way, Natasha never pursued the subject. Who needed men anyway, when they could snuggle up with their Shitzu dogs, Mimi and Nikko, while watching romantic comedies and devour yummy sushi take-out. Nevertheless, both young women decided that it was indeed time to do something different. They weren’t getting any younger, and they were ready to listen to the yearning in their hearts. Vanessa and Natasha were going to pursue a better relationship with God and become the most enlightened individuals they could be.

The sisters began the quest for fulfillment by “trying out” various churches in the area. They went to a Catholic church and couldn’t keep up with the ritualistic prayers. They felt so silly not knowing when to say what, that they lost the enthusiasm to listen to the sermon. The next church they tried was Baptist. Vanessa enjoyed it because there was a live band and there was a lot of singing. Most importantly, people were dressed in jeans! But, Natasha said she didn’t “feel” the connection, so they agreed to try another church. That’s when Vanessa received the postcard in the mail for West Ridge Community Church. Vanessa felt God was trying to send them a message to try this “new” church on for size.

On Sunday, January 21st, 2007 Vanessa and Natasha put their best “Sunday clothes” on and nervously entered the new church building. Nervous, because if this wasn’t the church for them, their search had to continue. All they wanted was a place of worship to call home. The greeters were nice as usual. But the facility didn’t look like a church. They were given service programs as they passed a doorway into what appeared to be a stage at the “House of Blues”, in Chicago. Candles were lit on stage, a live band played in such a delightful tune, and the warm, inviting décor was a relief to the sisters. The girls decided to sit in the front row, since, Vanessa had a tendency to fall asleep, and sitting in the front kept her awake a little longer. The lead singer and the rest of the vocalists came on to the stage a couple minutes later and so began the best church experience the sisters had ever experienced.

The girls had been listening to the renowned “KLOVE” Christian station for some time. So it was utterly exciting to see the words to some of their favorite songs on the projector screen and have an incredible live band playing the tune. And the drums, they were so stimulating. One couldn’t help but feel God and Jesus hug everyone’s soul in the room as people enthusiastically sang songs of praise to the heavens. Natasha reached for Vanessa’s hand when she couldn’t stop the tears of relief and joy trickle down her cheeks. Vanessa was just as touched and without saying anything, they both knew they had finally found a church they could call home.

The sermon had been just as heart-warming. Pastor Darren invited everyone from all walks of life to join the congregation. He told his story of being a pastor’s child and how he had been raised to be religious, went to Bible College because he was supposed to, but wasn’t authentic in his love for God. Not until he had endured many trials in his life, and even after questioning his own faith, he was now able to share his true love for God with others. This church wouldn’t stand in judgment, but rather welcome everyone as they were, sinners. “God loves us all”, Pastor Darren stated, “ And we are here to praise Him and learn more about him”. Vanessa and Natasha were so awe-struck as they left West Ridge that day, that they were silent all the way home. The only thing Vanessa said as they walked to the car was, “Pastor Darren was wearing jeans! And they let you have coffee while you listen to the sermon!”

The girls immediately became involved with the church. They signed up for a women’s group that met every Tuesday night. They were finally able to take a closer look at the Bible and actually decipher and understand what some of the passages meant. Vanessa and Natasha also helped in the child care center every Sunday after attending the 9am service. Their prayers grew stronger and they were happy to report that they were able to have conversations with God. Sunday and Tuesday didn’t roll around fast enough. They wanted more of God and Jesus, but they were glad to be filling some of that spirituality hole.

By early February Vanessa had found a great bible named, “The Everyday Life Bible”, featuring notes and commentaries by Joyce Meyer. Vanessa felt so blessed to have come across this bible because Joyce Meyer did such a great job of translated the bible verses into words that Vanessa was able to apply to her life. Vanessa really felt that each day she was able to apply that exact reading to her dilemma or anything she had on her mind. Vanessa felt so connected to God through this tool and would proceed to write in her journal all of her thoughts on the verse for that day. Vanessa tried to get Natasha to read her bible, but Natasha felt her bible was just fine. Natasha didn’t see the need to look at another bible since all bibles were the word of God and especially since her mother had given her the bible she currently owned.

However, Natasha did have something of utter importance to share with Vanessa. Natasha had been watching “Oprah” as of recent and she caught the end of a show on a new video and book called, “The Secret”.

“It seemed to have really cool concepts. Like, people attract the positive or negative things in their lives, and humans are unlimited beings. That was the gist of the show I was able to catch, plus, Oprah said she has been trying to share the ideas purposed in the movie in her shows for years. We should check it out, Vaness”, Natasha told her sister during their Sunday brunch. “I already ordered it and I’ll bring it over when it comes in”.

Vanessa agreed, “I guess that fits into us becoming enlightened individuals. It sounds kinda interesting.”