Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 13
THE LETTER
My Beloved Bro. David,
Iâm really sorry for what happened to you, although I
donât know the cause. I believe you are getting
better.
I donât 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 canât help but say that you are the will of
God for me.
I know Iâm not supposed to be saying this, but itâs
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 donât 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.
âGC, why? Arenât you eating it?â Bro. James asked
with surprise.
I gave him the letter to read. He was surprised after
reading it.
âAhâŠ. another sister againâŠ! Who is this sister
Ibukun? Iâve never heard that name among the
leaders, nor workers or even the members that I
know very wellâ James said as he tries to think
deeply about the bearer of that name.
We didnât 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.
âBro. DavidâŠ.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 impatientâ
Pastor Alex said as he rebuked me.
âIâm very sorry, sir. Iâve learnt my lesson. I wonât try
that again, sirâ I said kneeling down before him.
âStand upâ he ordered me.
âYou may have to go and pray for some time
because of what you have done. Call me bro.
Jamesâ He said with a firmness.
Bro. James was called.
âBro. 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 nowâ He
said.
Despite the fact that Pastor Alex placed me on disciplined, he didnât 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.
âGCâŠ.. how are you doing?â She asked me.
âMy sister, Iâm okay, just that I need strength this
periodâ I said to her.
âHmmmmmmmâŠ.GC, tell me what really
happened?â She said with concern.
I couldnât hide it from her. I told her everything.
âGCccccâŠ..but I told you to exercise patience. You
know, we sisters who understand what marriage
truly means, donât just give a âYesâ to any
proposalâŠ..â She said.
âHmmmmmmmâŠ.MC 101. You can imagine, Iâm in
400L final year, still I have to do a 100L course in
Marriage mattersâŠ.ok oooâ I said as we moved to
sit down under a tree.
âWhat do you mean by that, sir?â She said looking
at me.
âHeyyyyyâŠ. donât look at me like that. I meant
Marriage Counseling 101âŠ. You know you have
always been my lecturer on women mattersâ I said
jokingly.
âLet me continue before you distract me. As I was
saying, every godly sister, I mean genuine and
godly ones, hates backyard approachâ she continued but I cut inâŠ
âYou have come again with all this your mysteries.
Whatâs backyard approach again?â I asked quite
confused.
âPastorâŠ! So, with all your preaching and years of
ministry, you want to tell me you donât know what I
meant by that? OkayâŠ. 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 âNOâ, but donât worry, I still have the
strong assurance in my heart that she will say âYesâ
again, but I donât know when. You just have to wait
till that time comesâ she said and kept quiet.
âHmmmmmmm, sincerely you have been a great
help to me. Your depth of wisdom and knowledge
sometimes do startled me. Iâm indeed very grateful
for your advice. I will waitâ 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 wasnât easy coping with
the feeling of rejection coupled with the period of
discipline.
Been off duty in the church wasnât easy for me. You
know that feeling when youâll 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 pastorâs 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 didnât 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 wasnât easy to learn, but I was already used to adapting with different languages, based on my experience with different people in my school days.
âThank God, I can at least make call hereâ I said when I discovered that there was network in that village.
My stay in that village wasnât 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 sheâll 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.
âGood afternoon, sister Blessing. How have you been?â I asked her on the phone.
âIâm ok. How are you? And hope you observed your quiet time today?â She asked in a smooth and wonderful tone.
âWhy would I not observed it? I know my sister will always ask. Iâm really grateful for your encouragement and constant checking on me. It has helped me to grow Spiritually and also relieved me of the boredom hereâ I said to her.
âThank God for everything. EhmâŠ.. I was thinking if you and I can be having time to pray together every weekend. Letâs say, from 12am â 4am. What do you think?â She said softly.
I felt it was a great idea.
âOhâŠ.that would be great. I would love itâ 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 âit will help me to pray more and build up Spirituallyâ.
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 sheâll spend her money on airtime for such purpose. â4hrs on MTN callsâŠ. thatâs not small money oooâ I will exclaim whenever I raised the issueâ
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 couldnât even discern her intentions.
âLetâs 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 husbandâ she will say during the prayers.
Although, Iâve several times thought of ending the prayers with her, yet I couldnât. I didnât 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.
âHow do you feel now? Have you eaten? EhmâŠ.what did you eat? How about your medication? Hope you are taking it?â She will asked anytime she calls.
If I ever tell her that I donât have appetite to eat, she will be crying on the phone.
âOh God⊠please, try to eat something, please. Even if itâs little, okay? You will get well soon.â She would say in tears.
There was a time she called me, I was very weak to talk. I was talking in a whisper.
âJesus, have mercy⊠please, Lord, have mercy. I rebuke that sickness. I command healing upon your body. You will not die. You will be wellâ she said crying on the phone.
âGodâŠ..this sister is caring. Iâve never been shown so much love by anyone like this, not even from my mum..â I have always said to myself.
âBut, why was she rejected by you. What else would a wife do that sheâs not doing? Oh⊠how I wish there can be a changeâ I prayed.
That night,
âDo you want a change?â The same old man that had been with me during my campus days appeared in my room.
âIâm 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 donât call me often like her.â I said defensively
âDo you want a change?â He asked again.
âI donât know. Iâve not heard from Esther. I donât 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 treesâ I said trying to convince him.
âIf you want a change, so be itâ He said with a frown.
âNo⊠please⊠Iâm very sorry⊠I guess Iâve allowed my feelings to overwhelm me about Blessingâ I pleaded with him.
It dawned on me that I was erring. I saw myself struggling with God. I was rejecting Godâs Will. I was leaning on my own understanding.
I pleaded passionately again. Thank God, he didnât leave me. He just stood there looking at me.
âIsaiah 55:8âŠ.read itâ He said to me.
I quickly picked up my small Bible (I forgot my ministerial Bible at Estherâs place), and I read it.
âFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lordâ
âRead 1Samuel 16:7â He said again.
âBut 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 heartâ I read it and it became clear to me that I was using the outward show of love by this sister to judge her.
âPlease, who is this Blessing?â I asked curiously. âWhat is her mission in my life?â I asked because He told me about sister Faithfulness, so, I wanted to know about Blessing too.
âShe was once my daughter. Very zealous, fervent and committed labourer, but she fell while on Campusâ He said as he bowed his head in sadness.
âBut she was my Sister Welfare Coordinator, sirâ I said
âYes, she was. She secretly committed fornication, got pregnant and aborted the precious seedâ He said with even more sadness.
âAhâŠ. Jesus Christ!â I shouted.
âSheâs 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 sheâs operating carnally. All the food that has been brought to you comes from her. Sheâs the Sister Ibukun that wrote that letter to you. âIbukunâ is the translation of her English name in Yoruba.â He said.
I was surprised.
âI still have a great plan for her life. I have been trying to get her attention, but sheâs 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 herâ 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 Iâm serving.
âSisterâŠ..you canât come here. You serve in the city which is almost a 6hr drive from here. Besides, the journey is not safe. You canât come here and go back the same dayâ 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.
âOhâŠ.God, why will she want to come? Please, discourage her from comingâ I prayed silently while still on the phone with her.
I couldnât resist her request again, so, I gave her the description.
âIâm sure if she embark on the journey, sheâll go back because of the terrain and distanceâ 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 headâŠ.guess who I saw standing before me?
Find out in the next episode.
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