Jean had thought maybe the fame of her video would have prepared her for seeing her picture all over the internet, or her interview on the news, but it didn't. The entire thing felt surreal.
Just about every person she had ever known reached out to her to express their support. Others were calling her a hero, even though she really didn't have much to do with anything. God had the entire situation in His hand the entire time.
Jean finally had a different attitude when walking into church. Sunday's had become her favorite day of the week. Jean's first week back, the pastor prayed over Jean with the entire church, and they thanked Jesus his faithfulness in bringing her back home.
This was the family she had been longing to have her entire life.
The incident made her quite popular in the church, and through it she was able to get to know many people. Now she always had someone to talk to when she walked through the doors as she always knew someone. She had even met a counselor who asked to meet with her so she could help her move forward. The door had swung wide open on that one.
Jean put on the dress she had worn the very first time she went to church with Shawn. She wanted to dress up nice, as Scottie was getting baptized and it was a huge deal to everyone. Shawn had often talked to her about Scottie's journey to faith and even Jean saw a recognizable difference in him.
Jean was surprised when she saw a big tub on the stage. She had always imagined baptisms as just a sprinkling of water, not an actual bath. She was shocked when the first person, wearing a t shirt and shorts, gave their testimony and stepped inside. She had never seen anyone actually get dunked completely under the water. She had read about Jesus getting baptized, and she supposed this was closer to that. If it really was supposed to symbolize dying to your old self and becoming a new creation, it seemed to be a good representation.
When Scottie walked up, he didn't have a piece of paper like everyone else to reference. Jean admired his confidence and she couldn't help but laugh when he had that big goofy smile on his face.
Not to her surprise, he had everyone laughing right away. However, Jean was surprised to see a more serious side of Scottie that she didn't see much. He talked about his family life and how he felt in comparison to his brother. He talked about the struggles he had. Jean was so tired of crying, but the tears fought at her eyes by seeing Scottie be so open and vulnerable in front of the entire church.
"So, all my friends decided to become believers, so I had to play along. It wasn't that I didn't believe, I just didn't want to be uncomfortable or change my life. I was happy with the way things were, or at least I thought I was."
He went on to say how he met a girl at church who was way too good for him, and the entire audience laughed when he looked up in the crowd and winked at Chloe. Jean looked over at her, she was sitting just a few seats down. She gazed up at him, that soft smile on her face as her eyes gleamed in response.
"It was Chloe," he said bluntly, making everyone laugh harder. Jean couldn't have been more proud to have him as one of her best friends.
He went on to say he knew he didn't stand a chance with her, and he actually started to read the Bible to impress her. He said that when he was doing so was when Jesus spoke to him the most.
Then he looked to Jean, and she felt her heart start racing when he didn't say anything more. He shook his head, looking at his feet, and for the first time since Jean had known him, he started to get emotional. He cleared his throat and recovered quickly, blinking a few times before carrying on with the same confidence he had before.
"So, when I found out what happened to my friend Jean Arthur, my best friend's girlfriend, I wanted to stop believing. I was so angry. If anyone knows Shawn, you know he is literally the best person on this planet."
The room has grown more tense, but people laughed in agreement and Jean smiled over at Shawn. He grabbed her hand.
"I'm serious, the guy will park in the farthest parking spot possible because he feels bad taking the close spots from other people. It's a little much."
When the crowd stopped laughing, his smile faded a bit and he shook his head. "I just kept thinking that night; why them? Shawn was the greatest person I've ever known, and Jean too, and I just couldn't understand why he would let that happen. I honestly didn't think she was going to come back. I really didn't."
He smiled when he looked up at her then, and she smiled back, her eyes glistening.
"But she did come back. I was so angry for her, but somehow she wasn't. She all of a sudden had all this faith in God's reasoning. This is a girl who didn't know anything about Jesus when I met her. Like, Shawn is indebted to buy her lunch for the rest of her life or something just to get her here."
Scottie laughed, looking at his feet and shaking his head like he was still in disbelief.
"Then you find out all this other stuff, and it's like, wow. This thing is so much bigger than just us."
Jean couldn't agree more. He couldn't have said it better.
He spread his arms out wide and shrugged. "So that's it, I guess. I'm ready to live my life for Jesus."
Everyone cheered, and he gave Jean a friendly wink as he stepped into the tub. She had no idea she had that kind of impact on him.
She couldn't help but envy Scottie as he came up from the water, dripping wet with a huge smile on his face. It was truly a beautiful thing, having your old life washed away and making a public declaration to live a new life for Jesus.
When the pastor looked at the crowd and joked as he said "Anyone else?" she knew Jesus was giving her her chance.
She wanted it. She wanted it more than anything. She had already felt transformed, and after what had happened to her, there was no going back. She was done with her old self. Done with her past. The shame she felt no longer had a place in her life, and she was ready for it to be cleansed of all of it.
"Should I do it?" Jean whispered, looking at Shawn. His eyes widened.
"Really?"
She had never been more sure. She would follow Jesus until the end, and she already knew she was never going back.
Jean didn't let herself speak as she rose to her feet, heads turning to look at her. Scottie jumped in the air and pointed to her. "I knew it!!" He yelled.
Jean felt her heart start to race as people began to laugh and cheer. The pastor's eyes met Jean's, and his smile grew.
"You know, I had a feeling," the pastor said, waving her forward. Jean was shaking as she walked past her friends down the row and walked onto stage. Was this really happening?
Pastor Tom hugged her. "Would you mind just introducing yourself?" He said.
Jean felt her legs shaking as she turned towards the crowd of people. The clapping quieted as they anticipated what she might say.
"Hello," she said into the microphone. It was weird to hear her voice echo all around. Luckily for her, she couldn't see very many people because of the stage lights. She could see Shawn and her friends, all sitting in the second row.
"I'm Jean," she said, her voice shaking. She motioned down to her dress. "Clearly I didn't plan for this."
The people in the church laughed loudly and Jean felt her nerves calming down. She looked back to the pastor for direction, but he motioned for her to keep going. She took a deep breath.
"I've been coming here for a little while now, with Shawn Lewis and his friends," Jean started. "Like Scottie said, they bribed me with lunch." She smiled at the memory. "But I really never felt comfortable or like I belonged, mostly because of some choices I had made and some secrets I was hiding."
Jean paused, not believing what she was about to say.
"Most of my life, I was really lonely. I ran away from my problems and I tried to make myself feel better with things of this world. I didn't know the love of Jesus, so I relied on the love of others to fulfill me. That led me to ultimately star in a viral video. You might have seen it. Shawn also got to star in it."
People chuckled, and Jean looked at Shawn in the crowd. He winked at her.
"However, I know now that even then, God was chasing me down." She swallowed hard. "Because of that video, I became friends with Shawn, and his cousin, Zeiler, and Scottie and Tyler. They were all believers and I wasn't. Yet for some reason, they all pursued me and genuinely cared about me. They made me feel special. The love of God poured through each one of them and I was drawn to them."
She kept going. "However, because of the video, my self-worth plummeted. I started working as a waitress at a Carmello's, which is a strip club if you don't know." She let the fact that she had just openly declared that in front of the entire church sink in. She laughed to herself quietly. "I was so ashamed that I didn't tell anyone. Most people still don't know that part of my life. So the fact that I'm standing inside a church announcing it to all of you is really throwing me for a loop."
Everyone laughed at what she said, and she smiled as she sighed in relief. They all still looked at her with smiles on their faces.
"That led me to the story that happened recently; the one you guys all know. I was abducted by a coworker who worked at this strip club who was also affiliated in the sex trade."
Jean felt the tears flow to her eyes. "Standing on the other side of it, I'm so thankful to be alive."
Jean felt the eyes on her. "I have never felt Jesus so present as I did the night I was taken. When I knew there was nothing else that could save me, I cried out to him for the first time in my life and he was merciful enough to answer."
She wiped the tears from her face.
"What happened that night was a miracle. Things that could never be logically explained. Not only did he save my life and the other girl who was with me," she paused, making sure she had the strength to speak. "He saved my soul."
The crowd erupted in applause and cheers, and she laughed when she saw Shawn and Zeiler, Scottie and Tyler rise to their feet. The rest of the church followed suit, and she couldn't believe this was her reality.
The last time she had been on a stage, she was dancing for money. Now she was on stage testifying the name of Jesus. She had asked the Lord to rewrite her story, and he did. He had a funny way of doing so.
The pastor called up Shawn and his friends to come surround Jean as she stepped into the tub. She hugged Shawn tightly before he let her go and held her hand as she lowered herself down into the tub.
"Jean, do you believe that Jesus Christ died to save your sins?" Pastor Tom asked her quietly so only she could hear.
Jean blinked the tears away as she smiled. "Yes."
"Do you accept that you are dead to your sins and ready to live the life that Jesus has prepared for you?"
Loneliness no longer defined her. A video didn't define her. A relationship, a rescue story. None of it defined her. She was a daughter of the most high king, and that was the only definition she would accept.
"Absolutely."
"Then it is," he looked up at Shawn. "Shawn and I's honor to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit."
And just like that, Jean fell back under the water, and all the shame, brokenness, and pain from her old life was washed away.
When she came up, she took her very first breath as her new life began.
The End