When Prayer Comes Knocking

Do you let it in? But what if it's brought by someone you haven't even seen in your entire life? Would you trust enough?

Well, I did not. Barely 5 minutes ago, some woman came to our house. Alone that I was, of course I got a little cautious. I could not let her in despite being informed that she's a member of the church and that she has something to show me. "Hindi naman ako masamang tao" (I'm not a bad person.) That's what she said. Still, I refused to open up. So she said we could talk by the window instead. Seeing no harm with that, I agreed. She asked if I was still single. I said yes. She asked about my family's provincial origin. I said none.

Then she brought out a small statue, the Lady of Manaoag. Now, I didn't know for sure who the Lady was. Please forgive my lack of religious memory, but at that moment, I totally failed to remember. Anyway, the church woman said I ought to take the Lady and put a 5-peso coin on her crown. Then, on either my birthday or the soonest possible birthday my family would celebrate, I'm supposed to take the coin off the crown, buy a white candle with it, light the candle, and pray for something I need. And that's supposed to come to me, said the church woman.

Fascinating belief and an offer worth trying, right? The thing was, she was selling the Lady. For a hefty 850 pesos. I could not possibly give her 850 for that, nor did I have that much money with me. So I was with good reason to decline. Mightily decline, that is.

What got to me, really, was the prayer the church woman shared with me before she left. She asked me to hold on to the Lady while she prayed. Then she prayed for me to get a job. I could not believe my ears, needless to say. Yeah, she prayed for the usual safety in the family and being granted with my heart's wishes. But that particular "give her a job" thing was something.

Fine, you might say that maybe she deduced I didn't have a job because I'm at home at a fair should-be-out time. But honestly, I look more like student who missed her class than some jobless lady.

Oh my mad hat. I don't know what to think about. I don't know how to react.

P.S.
Dear Lady, I didn't mean to turn my back against you. I just . . . couldn't. I'm so sorry.