Lord, All I Want Is to Be Saved

By Phyllis Murphy

This humorous, yet thought-provoking story is about
a mother and Christian businesswoman who becomes entangled in a world of
religionist. She finds herself in a
battered relationship and the decisions she must make are based upon her desire
too live a righteous life and to be saved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 22, 2004
• ISBN: 9781418414535

Book preview

Chapter One

Cornerstone

Beatrice is standing in the doorway of her job with her arms folded thinking to herself what’s next. She works at a store name Home Interior that is located in the shopping mall in Saginaw, Michigan. While she is looking at the people who walk past her store she wonders if they think she is a mannequin. So she decides to move a little and smile at the little girl, who is standing staring up at her. Of course, the little girl run and catches up with her family. Beatrice begins to browse, thanking and praising God within herself when a voice speaks to her heart. The voice asks her, How would you like to sell books about Jesus and stuff? She replies, Noo! I can not sell books or anything in your name Jesus! Your name is not for sale! She thinks it’s the devil speaking to her, so she decides to walk out of the store and walk through the mall and window shop, as if she didn’t already know what is in the windows. Finally, she stops with her mouth open in front of a store window filled with bibles, literatures, gifts and stuff. The stuff is what did it because she really didn’t understand the voice when he says stuff anyway. She finds herself inside of the store with amazement. There are greeting cards, books, tapes, tee shirts, choir robes, key chains, etc. She thinks to herself this is what the voice was talking about. She repents quickly for calling the voice a devil and says, Yes Lord, I will be glad to open up a bookstore in your name.

Sometime later Beatrice is driving north on highway 75 from Flint, Michigan thinking about the voice. She decides to go and talk it over with her brother, George. When she arrives at her brother’s job, she is excited. She jumps out of the car and runs in and yells, George! I think I’m going to open up a Christian Book Store. He asks, What are you going to sell in a bookstore besides books? Do you know many people who read? Why buy a book when you can go to the library and check one out? What else can you sell in a bookstore to keep a customer coming back? What location have you chosen to open your bookstore? Where are you going to get the money? Matter-of-fact, who will loan you the money? While George is talking, Beatrice looks very displeased with all of his questions. She is so caught up in the voice speaking to her, she forgot to ask the Holy Spirit all of those questions. She walks slowly to the counter with her head down and speaks to the Holy Spirit softly and says, "Okay help me out. What am I going to do?" Finally, she looks up and says to her brother, I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but watch me. She turns around and walks briskly out of the store. She feels that, if she heard a voice speaking to her then, some way and some how, it will come to pass.

The next morning Beatrice went to the family bookstore in the mall and asks to speak to the manager. While she is waiting for the manager, she begins to pray within herself, picking up objects that are on the counter. Soon a young lady walk forward and asks, May I help you? Beatrice is nervous; she speaks in a soft business tone and says, Yes, can you tell me the name and telephone numbers of your suppliers? The manager looks at Beatrice with an expressive look on her face. Beatrice feels like she has asks the wrong question and says, I mean, I’m doing some research on how to open a bookstore, and I think maybe you can help me by giving me some leads. The manager looks around and says, Sure. You can call, well, she paused a little. Why don’t I write them down for you. She walks into the back of the store and returns with a sheet of paper in her hand and says, Here you go! Good Luck! Beatrice turns and says, Thanks! She takes the paper out of her hand and walks briskly out of the store before the manager can think about what she had done. Beatrice went straight to her car and says, That was easy. Now what’s next?"

On her way home she decides to drive through downtown Saginaw. Slowly she turns and drives down a one-way street call Market. There is Jacobsons department store on a corner and across the street is a News and Magazine Store. Next to it is a jewelry store, an oriental grocery store and a used clothes and furniture store. Beatrice proceeds to drive slowly. She looks on the opposite size of the storefronts and notices there is a big, empty, old two-story building; it looks like an old furniture store. Besides that building, there is a restaurant, upholstery shop, and an empty small building. She pulls over to the curve, gets out of her car, and runs to the building and looks through the window. There is a small room in the front as if there is a front counter set up like it is a dry cleaner’s. She can’t see passed the wall to see what is behind it. So she stepped back and looks around to see if there is someone around to inquire about the abandoned building. She walks into the upholstery shop and there is an old man leaning back in his chair as if he is expecting her. She asks, Who is the owner of the building next door? He directs her to the restaurant a few doors down. She waves at the old man and backs out of the store feeling as if he has undressed her with his eyes. She thinks, dirty old goat!

Inside of the Restaurant, she notices how small it is. The air is filled with thick moist greasy heat. She shudders and thinks everything looks, smells, and feels greasy. There are three booths on each side of the small room. Straight ahead, behind the counter is the kitchen. She can see a mingled gray hair man and a middle aged woman preparing meals. A young lady steps up to her and asks, May I help you? Beatrice turn looks at the young woman, smiles and asks, Yes who is the owner of that empty building on the end and if he’s here, may I speak with him? Sure, she replies and yells, Charlie! This lady wants to see you! Beatrice turns around to see how many people looked up from their plates to see the lady who wants to see Charlie. She looks in the eyes of a wrinkle face lady with a cigarette on the corner of her mouth. She turns around and there is the short mingled gray hair man from the kitchen standing in front of her. He is smiling and says, Yeah! Beatrice asks, Are you the owner of that building on end? He says, Yeah, are you interested in renting it? She replies, Maybe. May I see it? Sure, he says walking toward the front entrance. Come with me.

Before Beatrice can reply, she finds herself walking fast behind the man to catch up with him. He asks in a husky voice, Are you scouting for your boss? What kind of business are y’all in? Beatrice didn’t know which question to answer first. She clears her throat and in a clear soft voice says, I don’t have a boss, and I’m scouting for myself to open up a Christian Book Store. Looking back at her, he puts the key into the door and opens it. He walks in and asks, You are pretty young trying to do something as big as that, ain’t ya? Beatrice looks at the man and remembers the old dirty goat next-door and replies, Well, one of my brothers is going to help me. She walks past the man and walks into the next room. The room is large dark and damp. She asks, What type of business was this? He says, A printing company. She walks into the bathroom, and the toilet is black and blue. She winces. How much does it rent for? He says, Well if you want it, I would rent it to you for two hundred and fifty a month. If you will clean up the place I won’t charge you a deposit. You know, for a bookstore, you probably will have to knock down these walls, and remodel it to suit you, because that is what the last tenant did. Beatrice looked at the man with a blank face and murmurs to herself, knock down what wall? I don’t know anything about knocking down walls and remodeling! She smiles at the man and says, Okay. I’ll talk to my brother and get back with you. She turns and walks briskly out of the building with a lot to think about.

Beatrice walks into her front door exhausted. She drops her briefcase on the floor next to the big chair that sits in the middle of her living room. She drops down in the chair and begins to pray. "Heavenly Father, what’s next? I don’t know how to knock down walls, and where am I going to get two hundred and fifty dollars?" Beatrice picks up her purse and the telephone next to her. She calls her bank to check her balance. The recorder says, Your balance is twelve dollars and ninety-seven cents. If you’d like to return to the menu, press the star key. If you like to speak…Beatrice hangs up the telephone. Twelve dollars and ninety-seven cents! Jesus, I think I’m too zealous and I’m going to put all of this behind me. I’m going back to the hardware store to help my brothers! She leans her head back on the chair. Suddenly, she jumps up and picks up her briefcase. She took the piece of paper that the manager from the Family Bookstore gave her and starts dialing the first telephone number on the list.

Hello. Hello my name is Beatrice Williams. May I speak with one of your sales reps? Hello, this is Mr. Peterson. May I help you? Yes sir, my name is Beatrice Williams, and I would like to know can you send me some literature or catalogs on your merchandise? Sure, what’s the name of your company? Beatrice takes a deep breath and thinks to herself, Voice where are you? She replies, Mr. Peterson, if you don’t mind, can you send it to my home address because I’m researching the possibility of opening a bookstore and I don’t have a name yet. He says, Sure, but you have to pay for the shipping and handling. Okay, how much? She asks. Two ninety-five. She gave him the address and hangs up the telephone.

The next day she is on the telephone telling her Pastor’s wife, Monica, the whole story. Monica is excited and says, Girl you have a lot of faith! Beatrice stares off in a daze and murmurs, Faith! What do she mean faith? You ought to name the business Cornerstone. You know that’s another name for Jesus. The stone the builders rejected became the head of the corner. Girl, that’s in psalm 118:22. Yeah, yeah, name it Cornerstone. Beatrice closes her eyes and thinks of the walls in the building she looked at the day before and feels sorry for herself. Beatrice? Beatrice! Are you there? Girl, where did you go? Did you put the telephone down or something; did you hear what I said? Yeah, I heard you. Cornerstone, that’s a good name. Thank you girl, that’s what I’m going to name it. Cornerstone!

Beatrice calls her brother, George, to tell him what she has accomplished. George says, That is good! Real good! You did all of that in a day or so, huh? You found a good location downtown, that’s good. You sent for your literature, that’s good. You have a name, that’s good. Now, you need to go down to the city, register and get a license. If you’re really serious about opening a bookstore, I’ll give you two hundred and fifty dollars to get the building. Get back with me and let me know what’s going on. Beatrice thinks, He doesn’t think I’m serious! He thinks I have lost my mind. I don’t think he believes in me. I don’t think he’s sincere about my project. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he just brushed me off!

Beatrice gets up off the couch, picks up her briefcase and storms out of the door. I’ll show everyone who thinks I have fell off the rock. I’m going to get my license in the name of Jesus and let Him do the rest.

Beatrice filled out all of the paperwork, and the clerk asks for nine dollars. Beatrice looked up and said to herself, that’s all I have! I don’t have gas money! She pulls out her checkbook and begins to write. She walks slowly to the evaluator with her head down feeling like the lone ranger. She begins to pray. "Lord just the other day you spoke to me about opening a bookstore. Now Lord, I’m out here without much thought trying to do your will. So far, everything is falling into place so fast. You know I have two kids who need my attention. I don’t have the resources. All I have is your word and confidence that you will never lead me this far without my needs being met. Now Father, before I give this project to much thought and quit, please lead me into your wisdom and direct my next move!"

Chapter Two

Remodeling

Beatrice sits in her car in front of the building she rented a couple of weeks ago. Okay Jesus, if only I can find someone to help me to finish knocking down these walls, maybe just maybe, I can visualize what George sees in this beautiful place. George is a carpenter by hobby. He can build anything that is made out of wood. I have told him he should go into business for himself but like so many other people, they have a gift but fail to follow through with it.

Beatrice begins to think about the criticism he gave her when he came to see what he invested two hundred and fifty dollars into. In a concerned voice he says, You know Bea, I think you are putting the cart before the horse! She remembered walking around the empty building thinking when he spoke those words to her how this vision had come to pass. She thinks about how she tried to explain to him that she never thought she had the courage to be going into business without any money. Ever since she heard a voice speak to her, things just started to happen. She would go and inquire about something and, before she knew it, she had it. Things fail into place pretty much by itself. She felt she is just a vessel being used by God. God wants something to take place and she is going to go along for the ride to see what it is! It is exciting to see what would take place next! She told her brother, George, I’m not putting the cart before the horse. You can’t see the horse! The horse is Jesus!

Beatrice walks into the building, and picks up a crowbar and begins pulling down the wall. She thinks to herself, I’ll just do what I saw the other young man do when he hit the wall, tore a hole in it and started pulling from there. She pulls and pulls. When she finish, she notices all of the plywood is torn down, but the wood frame is still standing. She leans against the thick standing wood saying, Jesus this is the real wall. What or how am I supposed to take this hard thick stuff down? Jesus I need some help. Send someone down here who doesn’t mind helping me without expecting any pay. Because, so far, I don’t have the money to pay them.

As she is praying the front door opens. There stands Minister CeCe with a big smile on his face. Hey Sis! You know I had plans on sleeping in this morning, and the Lord woke me up and told me to come down here to help you! So here I am on command. What do you need done? Laughing he says, I see you’ve made a big mess! Beatrice, with white powder and little particles from her head to her toe, stands in a state of shock. She can’t believe that, before she can get the prayer out of her mouth, God had already answered her. Wow! she replies. God knows everything and he knows what we need before we ask! Minister CeCe, I’m glad you obeyed the voice of the Lord because I really don’t know what I’m doing! Sis, to tell you the truth, I don’t either. Looking around at the mess Beatrice has made he says, I never remodeled or built anything. But if God told me to get myself down here, he’ll supply us with the knowledge and the ability to get the job done!

That is the day miracles really begins to happen. Beatrice is amazed that with everything that is needed, it is at their hands. They re-used the boards and nails they removed from the previous walls they had knocked down. Whenever they needed a special sized piece of wood or a certain sized nail, they found it on the floor! Things were shaping up. On the north wall inside of the building is a red brick wall that wasn’t noticeable when the walls were up. George said to brush the wall with a wire brush to give it an antique look, then coat it with a clear coat of wax. She decides to cover the bottom half of the wall with brown paneling. It gave that side of the room a beautiful antique look.

While Beatrice is working on the brick wall, Minister CeCe is building a counter. He decided to build the counter with a brown and beige cedar panel. The rest of the building is painted light beige. In front of the building is a large bay window with a beautiful shade of light; it also has a large brown ledge. One of her friends gave her stands and shelves to put into the building for fixtures. Finally, it is finished. It is no longer a building but a potential place of business!

Beatrice sits on the window ledge with her elbows on her knees and her hands cuffed under her cheeks, and begins to pray. Now Lord, I have come this far by faith, and I know you are with me. But where am I going to get the merchandise for this store? What’s next? Beatrice jumps up, runs to her office and calls one of her nephews. With no complications, he gives her a small sum of money to get started. She went to the business supply store and purchase everything she needed for an office. She called the suppliers and put in an order for books, greeting cards, gifts, plaques, and pictures. She drove to Detroit to the music outlet warehouse and purchased music for the music department. She had gone as far as her limited resources