Too Late To Claim

Episode 3

Mother never stopped praying everyday.
We had a old torn Bible which we found in the dustbin.

Few chapters and verses were missing but we still used it to pray and study everyday.

Mother taught me how to say the psalm 23 and the Lord’s prayer too and I recited them before going to sell and during selling too.

Mother didn’t go to school but how she knew how to read remained a mystery to me.

Did I mention we picked things from the dumpsite?

Oh yes we did!

We went to find things others have thrown away even down to food and we make used of them.
Imagine, people waste product!

Sometimes we go to the neighbors to beg whenever we were hungry and had no food.

And if we were lucky,they gave us the leftovers of one week ago that have gone sour.

Once I attempted stealing but I was caught.
Mother flogged the living hell out of me when she got to know about it.

She was so angry and warned me never to repeat it again.

She told me that God is our source of provisions and he will never forsake us.

Whenever food was little,. Mother would give me to eat and go to bed on empty stomach.

Sometimes, when i woke up to pee in the middle of the night,I saw mother awake sitting by the corner weeping in sorrows.

I saw everything.

I understood everything.

I felt everything even though I was little.

I knew we were suffering beyond words but mother still continued to smile and pray.

I really admired her courage.

At times,I wonder if God is truly seeing our predicaments.

I wonder when he will turn things around.

I wonder why he allowed those who served him diligently to suffer like this.

I doubt if he will ever heard our sorrowful hearts cried out.

In all these, mother never gave up.

Every Sunday,we wore the same clothes and go to church.

We weren’t allowed in because of the way we dressed and smelled so we stand outside and listened.

We were mistaken for mad people due to the rags we were that were so precious to us.

We had no offering to give but we gave our hearts to God.

Once a church member had blessed us with a little amount of money.

We were so happy but mother took all of it to church and donated to the project of building another church.

I was so angry.

For Christ’s sake, we had absolutely nothing.
Why will mother ever do that?

She smiled and hugged me saying

“Nothing is impossible with God and he make everything beautiful in his own time.”
Oh Mother!!!