One More Chance

~~~Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light~~~ -Matthew 11:28-30 NIV-novelbin

"Seriously, where are we going?" I asked for the third time since I got in her car.

"Jeez, Samantha! I told you it's a surprise, duh!" I bit my lip with her reaction.

We were driving towards the place she was mentioning with me still bothering her to tell me where that place was.

"And by the way, I have someone to introduce you later."

"Huh? And who is that someone?"

"It's a secret for now." She shrugged.

"Again?"

"Yup." She even popped the letter 'p'. "I'm sure this someone would be a great help, like great among the greatest who could help you with all your problems."

I stared at her for a few seconds and nodded, even though I know she didn't see it and decided to close my mouth.

After almost an hour of driving, we finally stopped and reached our destination. Since I didn't bring the electric wheelchair, she gave me the metal clutch and helped me get out of the car.

I looked around us and noticed the three-storey building in front of us.

"Where are we?" I asked confused as we started walking slowly towards the entrance.

"You'll know when we get inside."

-'Haist!'- I couldn't help but sigh and rolled my eyes.

But my frown got deeper when we get inside. There are statues of Christ's apostles and a large statue of the Virgin Mary.

"Whoa! Where are we?" I asked for the second time.

"We are in a convent, Sam."

"C-Convent?" I turned to her wide-eyed and she nodded, smiling. "I-I have no plans of being a nun," I uttered subconsciously that made her burst out laughing.

"Oh, my goodness, Samantha Soriano!" She said between her laugh. "I didn't bring you here to become a nun, forgodsake! Where did you get that idea? I know you wouldn't be a nun because it's a natural calling besides, how can someone like you be a nun when you're loving two persons at the same time, duh!"

"Hmmp! I know!" I huffed but she just chuckled again.

As we were about to walk towards Mary's statue, we heard a woman's voice coming from the hallway to our left.

"Jack, sweetie."

We both turned to the woman having a different expression on our face. Jack has a wide smile spread on her lips while I got a surprised look when I saw the beautiful middle-aged woman wearing a white long dress and a veil on her head. "Sister Fatima!" Jack squealed in excitement as she run to her and they both hugged each other.

-'Wow!'- I just uttered in silence and couldn't help but stare at her in awe.

I watched how they exchanged compliments and giggles as they've never seen each other for such a long time.

"Anyway, Sister, I have someone to introduce to you," Jack said as she turned to me with the same smile and I tried to walk as fast as I can to reach them. Well, we meet halfway. "Sister Fatima, this is Sam, my best friend." "H-Hi, Sister," I smiled and immediately offered my hand for a handshake.

"And Sam, this is Sister Fatima."

She accepted my hand with the same expression as mine.

"Sister, she's the one I was telling you that I wanted to introduce you," Jack said that made my forehead scrunched in confusion.

"What do you mean---" but I didn't get the chance to continue what I was about to say as Sister Fatima interrupted me.

"Ohh... really? Well, I'm glad to finally meet you, Sam, but anyway, have you already eaten lunch?"

"Yeah, Sister, we had our lunch on our way here earlier."

"I see," she nodded. "Shall we go inside? I want you to meet someone." Her smile widened and lead the way to the corridor.

I turned to Jack as the confusion already got to my nerves.

"Hey, is she the one that you wanted me to meet?" I asked Jack in a whisper as we followed the nun.

"Uhm... yeah, but there's still someone more important that she wanted you to meet."

"Huh?" I frowned. "And what do you mean when you said you wanted me to introduce to her?"

"Shhh... I just her you're my best friend, that's it." She shrugged.

"Tss! I don't believe you." I huffed, but she just chuckled.

After a few minutes of walking in the long corridor and to I don't know where we've finally stopped in front of a huge double wooden door. "Are you ready?"

"H-Huh?" I was surprised when Sister Fatima suddenly asked me. "Uhm... yeah, Sister." I nodded and then took a deep breath.

She then opened the door and my eyes blinked in surprise when I realized it was a connecting door to the church.

"Come here." She took my hand and we walked slowly to the altar.

My mind was still in shock when we reached the front seat. I turned to her with knitted eyebrows as I still don't understand why she wanted me to take a seat next to her. But seeing her genuine and encouraging smile, I took a deep breath and sat down on the space she patted.

"I want you to meet him." She said that made me gasp inwardly.

But then my gaze followed where she was pointing at and within a second, I just found my mouth hanging in mid-air. She was pointing to the altar where the statue of Christ hanging in a cross where standing.

"I know you already know him, but I want to introduce him to you as a friend. A special friend who you can count and cry on anytime. A special someone with who you can share your thoughts, your problems and everything. Someone who will not leave you nor even judge you."

At first, I didn't get what she meant by those words. -'What is she talking about?'- I asked myself, but then her next words made me realize everything.

"There are reasons why God allowed trials and tribulations, Sam. A gem cannot be polished without friction nor a man perfected without trials."

I turned to Jack with a silent question dancing in my eyes and to my surprise, she nodded.

"I'm sorry, I just want to help. I know you're in a state of confusion. You don't know what to do and you don't know who to choose because you're afraid that you might choose the wrong person and turn unhappy in the end. So I... I thought of Sister Fatima and decided to bring you here to clear up your mind, take some rest and see a different ambience." Jack explained with an apologetic smile.

She doesn't have to tell me that she told to someone about my personal problem because her words answered it all. But I don't mind it and I don't know why. The only thing I knew while I was staring at her to Sister Fatima and the Christ statue was peace. I don't know, I haven't even told Sister Fatima what's inside me, what I feel, but my heart became at peace inside the church. And because of that, I suddenly felt like I wanted to cry.

"You shouldn't be sorry," I whispered, smiling. "I think I must thank you for bringing me here."

Sister Fatima patted me in the arm and Jack nodded at me as she smiled.

"I don't know where to start, Sister Fatima. Just like what Jack said, I don't know what to do." I said, lowering my head.

"I understand. I know your heart is in

trouble, but don't worry because as I

said, God will not permit any

troubles to come upon us and he won't allow us to go through hardships unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of difficulty. Where you are today is no accident. He is just using the situation you are in right now to shape and prepare you for the place He wants to bring you into tomorrow. Everything will work out in the end. It's just that sometimes, we don't need to know how. We just simply need to trust Him and believe that it will."

As I looked again to the altar, a smile stretched on my lips as tears began to form around my eyes and soon ran down my cheeks. I don't know why I'm crying at that moment. I couldn't explain what I'm feeling. Peace, calmness, contentment.