The Will Of God - S01 E13

Story 3 years ago

The Will Of God - S01 E13

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 13

THE LETTER

My Beloved Bro. David,

I’m really sorry for what happened to you, although I

don’t know the cause. I believe you are getting

better.

I don’t really know how to say this, but, I have been

finding it real hard coping with my feelings of love

for you. With many dreams of both us praying

together, walking together, and doing things

together, I can’t help but say that you are the will of

God for me.

I know I’m not supposed to be saying this, but it’s

the best I can fully express my undying love and

affection for you.

When I heard the stories of how those sisters were

fighting because you, I have to pray fervently. What

is mine will always be mine and I don’t need to

struggle for it.

Sincerely, I love you and I do hope you feel same

for me.

Please, enjoy your food, well prepared from a heart

of love.

Your wife-to-be,

Sister Ibukun.

After reading the letter, I carefully pushed the food

away from me.

“GC, why? Aren’t you eating it?” Bro. James asked

with surprise.

I gave him the letter to read. He was surprised after

reading it.

“Ah…. another sister again…! Who is this sister

Ibukun? I’ve never heard that name among the

leaders, nor workers or even the members that I

know very well” James said as he tries to think

deeply about the bearer of that name.

We didn’t eat the food that night. We threw it away,

washed the plate and kept it back in the polythene

bag.

The next day, I went to meet the pastor to report

myself concerning everything.

“Bro. David….I thought I told you to wait and allow

me do the needful. Now you have embarrassed

yourself before the sister. If I were the sister, I

would do the same thing. You were so impatient”

Pastor Alex said as he rebuked me.

“I’m very sorry, sir. I’ve learnt my lesson. I won’t try

that again, sir” I said kneeling down before him.

“Stand up” he ordered me.

“You may have to go and pray for some time

because of what you have done. Call me bro.

James” He said with a firmness.

Bro. James was called.

“Bro. James, you will have to handle the fellowship

for the mean time while bro. David would be on

disciplined. Thank you, you may leave us now” He

said.

Despite the fact that Pastor Alex placed me on disciplined, he didn’t leave me alone. He spent his

time to talk to me concerning marriage and other

things. He encouraged me to be strong and be very courageous at this period.

He prayed for me and demanded that I should see

him after every service day for counseling and

prayers. I was faithful to that.

The next day after I was given that discipline, Sister

Faithfulness came to me. I was in my department.

“GC….. how are you doing?” She asked me.

“My sister, I’m okay, just that I need strength this

period” I said to her.

“Hmmmmmmm….GC, tell me what really

happened?” She said with concern.

I couldn’t hide it from her. I told her everything.

“GCcccc…..but I told you to exercise patience. You

know, we sisters who understand what marriage

truly means, don’t just give a ‘Yes’ to any

proposal…..” She said.

“Hmmmmmmm….MC 101. You can imagine, I’m in

400L final year, still I have to do a 100L course in

Marriage matters….ok ooo” I said as we moved to

sit down under a tree.

“What do you mean by that, sir?” She said looking

at me.

“Heyyyyy…. don’t look at me like that. I meant

Marriage Counseling 101…. You know you have

always been my lecturer on women matters” I said

jokingly.

“Let me continue before you distract me. As I was

saying, every godly sister, I mean genuine and

godly ones, hates backyard approach” she continued but I cut in…

“You have come again with all this your mysteries.

What’s backyard approach again?” I asked quite

confused.

“Pastor…! So, with all your preaching and years of

ministry, you want to tell me you don’t know what I

meant by that? Okay…. I will tell. What you did to

sister Esther is a backyard approach. You have to

followed the right channels as laid down by the

church. The church is a family of believers. The

pastor stands as the physical head. People jump

some principles laid down in the family because of

impatience and fear of delay. You should have been

patient just as I told you. God gives a vision, just a

child is conceived in the womb. The mother has to

patiently endure while she prepares for the day the

baby will be born. 9months is not a joke, but she

have to bear all the challenges within those months

of waiting. Let me not mention the pain and

groaning of labour before the child is born. So also

is the waiting period before Visions manifest to

Reality. Nevertheless, the mistake has been made.

She has said “NO”, but don’t worry, I still have the

strong assurance in my heart that she will say “Yes”

again, but I don’t know when. You just have to wait

till that time comes” she said and kept quiet.

“Hmmmmmmm, sincerely you have been a great

help to me. Your depth of wisdom and knowledge

sometimes do startled me. I’m indeed very grateful

for your advice. I will wait” I said to her as we

stood up to go into our various classes for lectures.

My final exams was two months away and I had to

prepare very much for it. It wasn’t easy coping with

the feeling of rejection coupled with the period of

discipline.

Been off duty in the church wasn’t easy for me. You

know that feeling when you’ll have to sit in the

congregation and all who knew you before will

begin to wonder what happened and ask you all

kinds of questions.

It was indeed a time to learn obedience, humility,

patience, brokenness and contriteness. I spent a lot

of time to pray and plead for mercy from the Lord.

I must confess, those days were not funny

Spiritually, but thank God for my pastor’s counseling

session as well as the comforting presence of

sister Faithfulness and her daily prayers for me

anytime we meet in the department.

At the end of that month of my discipline, that

night, I had a dream. The man came and gave me

back my suit. It looked washed, well ironed and

even more glorious than before. I thank him for it.

I woke up with joy and gladness. That Sunday, I

was restored back to my position as a General

Coordinator, but I had only that Thursday to preach

my last message to the congregation from the

pulpit as a GC, because the next Sunday was to be

my handing over ceremony.

I put all efforts into that message. I prayed and

fasted for it. When the day came, I spoke on

SERVING GOD IN TIMES LIKE THESE. The anointing

that followed that message that day was beyond my

imagination.

Lives were touched. Sinners were saved, backsliders

were restored. In fact, the altar was full with people

who came out during the Altar Call.

The handing over was successfully done. The next

week, a Sendforth ceremony was organized for all

the final year brethren by the church.

We started and ended our exams, I finished my

project defense, did my clearance and went home to

prepare for my NYSC program.

When my call up letter came out, I was posted to

one of the Northern state.

I was surprised to see sister Blessing also during

my clearance at the Local Government Secretariate,

because, from our last chat on WhatsApp, she told

me she was posted to the West.

When I asked her why she decided to relocate to

the North, she just told me she wanted to explore

the North.

I didn’t bother to question her further, not knowing

that it was because of me she took that decision

because of me.

What happened during those days of service will surprise you.

SISTER BLESSING (1).

My Place of Primary Assignment (PPA), was a secondary school in a very remote village. In fact, I had to cross many deserts to get there.

I almost rejected the place, but my passion for the souls there would not let me. I decided to accept the place. I settled down in my lodge. Fortunately for me, I had neighbors who were very kind and accommodating, just that their language wasn’t easy to learn, but I was already used to adapting with different languages, based on my experience with different people in my school days.

“Thank God, I can at least make call here” I said when I discovered that there was network in that village.

My stay in that village wasn’t easy. I felt quite isolated from civilization, but, calls from home and from sister Blessing always make me feel better.

I and sister Blessing always talk on the phone. She calls almost every day to check on me. She asked about my quiet time, the students and the place I live.

Sometimes, we laugh on the phone and other chit chat discussion.

There are times she’ll ask me about Evangelism and my prayer life. In fact, her constant checking to know about my Spiritual welfare, really helped me in that village.

With her encouragement, I started a school fellowship with the pupils as well as evangelism among the villagers.

I developed a midnight prayer life. Sometimes, I do prayed till Dawn during weekends. Why? Because she will ask me about it, and because I have to give her a positive response, I just have to observe it.

I was growing Spiritually by all these exercises, also, the villagers and my students were also happy and blessed by my action.

One day, she called me.

“Good afternoon, sister Blessing. How have you been?” I asked her on the phone.

“I’m ok. How are you? And hope you observed your quiet time today?” She asked in a smooth and wonderful tone.

“Why would I not observed it? I know my sister will always ask. I’m really grateful for your encouragement and constant checking on me. It has helped me to grow Spiritually and also relieved me of the boredom here” I said to her.

“Thank God for everything. Ehm….. I was thinking if you and I can be having time to pray together every weekend. Let’s say, from 12am – 4am. What do you think?” She said softly.

I felt it was a great idea.

“Oh….that would be great. I would love it” I said excitedly.

We ended the call.

Something within me was telling me to call her back and reject the plan, but I was like “it will help me to pray more and build up Spiritually”.

We actually held the prayers together on phone. She was always the one calling me when it was time.

Sometimes, I always ask her why she’ll spend her money on airtime for such purpose. “4hrs on MTN calls…. that’s not small money ooo” I will exclaim whenever I raised the issue”

She told me that her parents always send her airtime allowance every week of about #10, 000 so they can talk to her without any itch.

I kept quiet.

We continued the weekend prayers, but most of the Prayer points she released was always centered on marriage, family life, future children, future ambition etc codedly structured in such a way that I couldn’t even discern her intentions.

“Let’s pray that God would make us good, godly, gracious and glorious spouse in the future. You will be a good husband to your wife. I will be a good wife to my husband” she will say during the prayers.

Although, I’ve several times thought of ending the prayers with her, yet I couldn’t. I didn’t want to lose her like that.

The more we pray together and call each other, the more I forget about Esther Michael.

Sincerely, I literally forgot everything about Esther Michael. All my mind was now on sister Blessing.

There was a time I fell ill, she was really disturbed as if she was the one who was sick. She will call me in the morning, afternoon, evening, even around the early hours of the day.

“How do you feel now? Have you eaten? Ehm….what did you eat? How about your medication? Hope you are taking it?” She will asked anytime she calls.

If I ever tell her that I don’t have appetite to eat, she will be crying on the phone.

“Oh God… please, try to eat something, please. Even if it’s little, okay? You will get well soon.” She would say in tears.

There was a time she called me, I was very weak to talk. I was talking in a whisper.

“Jesus, have mercy… please, Lord, have mercy. I rebuke that sickness. I command healing upon your body. You will not die. You will be well” she said crying on the phone.

“God…..this sister is caring. I’ve never been shown so much love by anyone like this, not even from my mum..” I have always said to myself.

“But, why was she rejected by you. What else would a wife do that she’s not doing? Oh… how I wish there can be a change” I prayed.

That night,

“Do you want a change?” The same old man that had been with me during my campus days appeared in my room.

“I’m just confused. This sister has made my stay in this village a wonderful one. She has helped me Spiritually and otherwise. She calls, we pray together, she checks on me. Even my mum don’t call me often like her.” I said defensively

“Do you want a change?” He asked again.

“I don’t know. I’ve not heard from Esther. I don’t even know where she is. But this sister, has really been a wonderful help to me. A bird at hand is better than a thousand in the trees” I said trying to convince him.

“If you want a change, so be it” He said with a frown.

“No… please… I’m very sorry… I guess I’ve allowed my feelings to overwhelm me about Blessing” I pleaded with him.

It dawned on me that I was erring. I saw myself struggling with God. I was rejecting God’s Will. I was leaning on my own understanding.

I pleaded passionately again. Thank God, he didn’t leave me. He just stood there looking at me.

“Isaiah 55:8….read it” He said to me.

I quickly picked up my small Bible (I forgot my ministerial Bible at Esther’s place), and I read it.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord”

“Read 1Samuel 16:7” He said again.

“But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” I read it and it became clear to me that I was using the outward show of love by this sister to judge her.

“Please, who is this Blessing?” I asked curiously. “What is her mission in my life?” I asked because He told me about sister Faithfulness, so, I wanted to know about Blessing too.

“She was once my daughter. Very zealous, fervent and committed labourer, but she fell while on Campus” He said as he bowed his head in sadness.

“But she was my Sister Welfare Coordinator, sir” I said

“Yes, she was. She secretly committed fornication, got pregnant and aborted the precious seed” He said with even more sadness.

“Ah…. Jesus Christ!” I shouted.

“She’s seriously broken within, coupled with the pressure from her parents for her to get married. She do not want to make that mistake again, but she’s operating carnally. All the food that has been brought to you comes from her. She’s the Sister Ibukun that wrote that letter to you. “Ibukun” is the translation of her English name in Yoruba.” He said.

I was surprised.

“I still have a great plan for her life. I have been trying to get her attention, but she’s been carried away by her desires to get you. You have a mission to help her and not to be pinned down by her. I brought her close to you so you could direct her attention to back to me and not lust after her” He said and disappeared.

I woke up. Everything looks real.

I cried and seriously prayed for mercy that night as well as for sister Blessing.

She called me as usual in the morning to asked for the location of where I’m serving.

“Sister…..you can’t come here. You serve in the city which is almost a 6hr drive from here. Besides, the journey is not safe. You can’t come here and go back the same day” I told her trying to discourage her from coming.

She insisted on getting the location. I tried once again to discourage her, but she still insist.

“Oh….God, why will she want to come? Please, discourage her from coming” I prayed silently while still on the phone with her.

I couldn’t resist her request again, so, I gave her the description.

“I’m sure if she embark on the journey, she’ll go back because of the terrain and distance” I assured myself.

The Friday of that day, I closed quite early from school, I decided to do some washing that afternoon. It was 3:30pm.

I was so engrossed in the washing, my head bowed and I was singing cheerfully. As I raised my head….guess who I saw standing before me?

Find out in the next episode.