March 29, 2024

LORD, IS IT HIM? (A CHRISTIAN LOVE STORY)

Written By: Lizzy Oyebola Yakubu

“Sister, hello sister, can you hear me?”

“Yes I can. Good evening Bro. Saul”

“But Sister, why are you treating me like this? When are you going to give me an answer to my request? When?”

“I gave you the answer already Brother. My answer is `no’”

“Why sister, why? Am I not good enough? Sister, why are you…”

“Bro Saul, please don’t try to coerce me. I have prayed to God and He has not given me a go-ahead!”

“I know your type! You are proud and pompous because of your beauty, right? Sister, beauty is vain o! It is vain! See yourself in the mirror every day you wake up, do you look younger? You will be twenty eight! Twenty eight my sister!”

“Bro. Saul, to what do I owe this call? You want to remind me of my age or you…”

“Marry me! The Spirit of the Lord says marry me! Do so fast before you lose a very great…”

“Bro. Saul, thanks for your call. I…”

“I have handed you over to my God! He will personally deal with you! Why nah Sister Jane? Why? Don’t you have human feelings at all? I have waited this long for you…”

“Why did you wait when I had already told you an emphatic ‘NO’?”

“But why did you give me an emphatic ‘no’? Don’t you know it’s the Lord that sent me? If you do not say yes to me, you will remain single for life. You will never be able to get to where God wants you to get to. You will be…”

“Ah ah, Brother Saul, are you threatening or cursing me?”

“I am not. The Lord is in this case, so why should I threaten you? But why sister? I am tall, dark and handsome. I also have pink lips. What else do you want?”

“Bro, see…”

“Is it because I am not rich? Because I do not have a job of my own? Sister, the future is bright! You shouldn’t judge me as…”

“Bro. Saul, I am not judging you. You are one committed, wonderful brother. When you proposed to me, I took out time to pray sincerely but the Lord said no. I know who my husband is and…”

“Bro. Roland abi? I know it’s Bro. Roland! Do you know how many sisters want to marry Bro. Roland? So, you have also joined the queue, abi? You want to have many rivals right? Continue wasting your life! Just continue! Because a brother works with Chevron and uses a Rangerover, you are dying for him, right?”

“Bro. Saul, those things are good but they are immaterial! I do not love Bro. Roland for what he has but for who the Lord has told me he would be to me. I am…”

“So I am so correct that it is this Bro. Roland! Ah! I pity you”

“If that would be all sir.”

“Before you drop that call, listen attentively! I don’t know if it is my financial state or the goiter on my neck or my pot belly that is chasing you away from me. But you can’t totally run away from me! I am yours and you are mine! You will be an ingrate to choose any other person over me.”

“Ingrate? I do not understand”

“You were dying at the hospital two years ago and needed a kidney. Do you know who donated his kidney to you? Do you…”

“Impossible! You?”

“Yes, it was me! I told the hospital to keep it a secret from you so I can tell you on our wedding night but you are here saying that you will carry my kidney to another man’s house? Lailai!”

“I didn’t know that…”

“Now you know! Go and take your time to pray again! It is me, not Bro. Roland! If you are grateful, say yes to me! If you believe in my glory and destiny, say yes to me! If you do not want to be single, cold and lonely forever, say yes to me! If you are not judging me by the goiter on my neck and the pot belly I have, say yes to me! Pray again Sister Jane or I hand you over to the sovereign God!”

“Bro Saul, I…” Jane was going to say when Saul dropped the call. Jane’s throbbing head gave way as she burst out crying loudly, wailing uncontrollably.

Sandra, her friend and a sister to Saul moves to her fridge, withdrew a bottle of chilled water and moved towards Jane again. She uncapped the bottle anthe bottle and passed the bottle to her.

“Take some water my dear friend.” She said but Jane wouldn’t be appeased.

“Where am I missing it? Why am I this confused? Why is it hard to make a choice in this marital thing? Why am I so frustrated? Why am I…”

“When your whys become so many, watch it because ingratitude is already taking a hold you!” Sandra said and Jane shook her head.

“Do you know how many days I fasted and prayed just to know what the Lord’s mind is concerning my marriage?”

“Do I need to be told?”

“So, why am I still confused? Why hasn’t the Lord still spoken clearly?”

“Maybe the Lord has spoken clearly and you are too confused to see it. Not because the confusion is coming from the Lord because of course, the Lord is not an author of confusion but because you choose to be confused.”

“Oh, really? What does that mean?” Jane said, wiping the gathered clouds off her eyes. Sandra sat on the bed and stretched the bottle of water to her.

“Whenever I am confused, I move to my fridge if I have water inside and gulp a whole bottle of cold water down! By the time I am done, I would be too full to say foul words to the Lord! I would be too full to complain and murmur. I would be weak to my mouth and helplessly, I would cry, ‘Mercy, Lord. Mercy Lord’.”

“Hmmm” Jane sighed, collected the bottle of water and gulped down in a second. Sandra burst out laughing.

“That’s the spirit!” She said and lay on the bed.

“Talk to me now. Why are you lying down?”

“I will. When you become too weak to murmur and complain, call me, I will speak with you then” Sandra said. Jane looked forlorn for a while, slapped her stomach twice but she didn’t seem to be satisfied.

Getting up, she moved to the fridge, picked three bottles of cold water and moved to the settee. She gulped the content of the three bottles down till she was breathing hard. She would belch and gasp again. She crashed further into the settee, rubbing her protuded tummy.

“Oh Lord!” She moaned uneasily. Sandra smiled and sat up.

“I think you are weak enough now, so I can talk and you will listen!” She said and Jane nodded.

“Let us see if the Lord is the cause of your confusion or you, yourself” Sandra said, pulled a chair to her front and started.

“How does the Lord speak to you?”

“Through my dreams. I also have deep impressions in my spirit.”

“Who are the major guys causing you confusion?”

“Bro Saul and Bro. Roland”

“And they have both proposed to you?”

“Yes”

“Why are they making you confused?”

“Bro. Roland is every lady’s dream. He is rich, spiritual, handsome and influential. I am afraid that I might be attracted to him because of all these.”

“And Saul?”

“He’s been a mentor since I was a youth. He is very strict, talented and spiritual. If the Lord has revealed me to him, then, he might be correct. He is very spiritual and he hears God but I am not seeing him.”

“Through the ways God speaks to you, have you heard or seen anything about Saul?”

“Yes. I dreamt about him when I was in the second year at school. We were married obviously and were in a matching ankara attire. On a closer look at him though, the hair on his head was ruffled and his own attire tattered. When I called his attention to it, he started beating me till I started gasping for breath. Then I woke up.”

“Hmmm! And the impression in your heart?”

“Anytime I think about him, I am very afraid. When I imagine us together, I get irritated. It is not intentional because I tell the Lord about my feelings. I tell Him to make me love him and give me peace yet, I become troubled and irritated.”

“Hmmm…And Bro. Roland?”

“I had a dream about him when I was serving. I had not met him before but in that dream, I saw him. I was very tired from the heat of the parade and decided to crash to the ground. He walked up to me, shook hands with me and smiled. That smile gave me immediate strength. ‘Hey Jane, howdy?My name is Roland’ He said and I woke up. At the fellowship in the evening, the president of the fellowship was introduced to us as Bro. Roland. Alas, it was the same man I had seen in my dream!”

“Hmmmm. Any deep impression?”

“When I started praying about marriage last year, his picture kept coming to my mind. I would be praying about Bro. Saul but I would be seeing Bro. Roland. I fell completely in love with him though we were states apart. Last month as he was transferred to our state, I was shocked to see him in church and I just love to see him.”

“So, do you love Bro. Saul?”

“Yes but not as a man, my man!”

“Do you love Bro. Roland?”

“I absolutely do but…”

“But what?”

“I have phobia for fine guys. Plus, people would think I am saying yes to him for his money and influence. Who am I?”

“Do you have peace about Saul?”

“No, I don’t. I try to but…”

“Do you have peace about Roland?”

“I am at peace with him, I must be very sincere with you.”

“So, isn’t it sure that the Lord has spoken to you?”

“I know but I am confused. I am greatly indebted to Bro. Saul. He brought me up in the way of the Lord, he has so many challenges in his health and finances and I would have loved to be a helper to him in those areas.”

“You are the source of your own confusion! You want to marry my brother out of pity and indebtedness?”

“Well, I just even realized he was the one who donated his kidney to…”

“Please can you get your acts together sis? Wasn’t the donation legal? Wasn’t he paid heavily? Why should such a thing hook you down? See my sister, when a man starts to use threats to hook you down, flee for your life! He says you are becoming too old; that you are an ingrate; that he has just visions and no plans for tomorrow; that if you miss him, you miss all chances and you tremble because of all those and tie the nuptial knots with him? I pity you!”

Jane burst into tears, looking into Sandra’s face like a lost, helpless lamb.

“I hear so many pastors and evangelists praise their spouses for staying with them when all they had was a vision instead of going for the rich guys. I want that kind of testimo…”

“So, the sisters who marry the rich, godly guys are carnal? No two love stories will be exactly the same! Go and ask the evangelists and pastors you are talking about if the woman simply trusted the vision they had. No! Their women must have loved them in their poor states! They cherished them! They had peace about them and that was why they could lay down their lives and future just for them!”

“Hmmmm”

“The Fruit of the Spirit is what?”

“Love”

“And then?”

“Joy”

“And then?’

“Peace”

“When you have had dreams, visions, deep impressions, whatever, then, try those convictions with the Word of God”

“Okay?”

“Do I love him? Am I proud of him? Can I show him off to my friends with all his flaws and imperfections. The Bible says I should submit to him as unto the Lord. Can I submit to this one? Can I honor him? Can he really be a head to me? Can he be a good role model to our children? Am I always excited to see his calls? Does he leave me better than he met me? Am I at peace or am I scared when I am with him?”

“Hmmmm”

“Give it time. Time tests everything. When you see that none of these is positive towards the supposed brother, be very careful!”

“Hmmm!”

“The era of men using coercion and spirituality to arrest sisters is over! Do not fall into that pit!”

“Hmmmm”

“Some people see you get married to someone from another tribe or someone who is not able to afford a square meal; or someone who shakes the whole pulpit when preaching and praying; or someone who has one health challenge or the other and they conclude that you are in the midst of God’s Will.”

“Hmmmm”

“I come here to tell you that yes, it can happen that way but it is not in all cases! You might be married to someone who is physically sound, eloquent, rich from your tribe and it would still be the Lord’s Will!”

“Wow! I didn’t know. I thought I must really struggle with God’s Will. It should make me sad for a while and after a while, I would shrug and surrender to God, asking Him to make both of us compatible!”

“You are wrong! And that is the problem we are having in the church today. You get married to someone because you want to tell a story of how you made a huge sacrifice to be with someone you didn’t love but that God gave to you and you end up creating a total marital chaos! This should not be!”

“Hmmmm”

“No matter who the person is, no matter what he has or doesn’t have, as long as you do not love him neither are you at peace with him, you must have a rethink! Except you are not a child of God! Except you do not have the Holy Spirit within you! Except you do not know your rights in Christ!”

“Hmmmm…I can feel peace all over me. I can feel joy! I can feel freedom! Thank You Jesus!” Jane said loudly, tears rolling down her face.

“There was a lady who told her pastor that she loved a particular brother. The pastor and so many leaders tried as much as possible to dissuade this lady from the ‘risky’ love she was talking about especially when ‘better’ men had lined up for her. No one could tell her what the risk was but she was not bothered. She insisted that she had heard God and that she loved and was at peace with the brother. Fine. The brother had earlier told the pastor about his interest in the lady but that he had a health challenge that might hinder their union- he was impotent!”

“Wow!”

“That was what the pastors were trying to save her from but she didn’t know. And since she insisted, the church approved their courtship reluctantly. This guy told the lady about it at the inception of their courtship but she said it was small issue. Sexuality and procreation are at stake madam but sister was in love! She had peace!”

“Hmmmm”

“It was at the reception ground that the manhood of the man came back to life. They now have two sets of twins and a wonderful, godly, loving marriage.”

“Oh my God! Hallelujah! Wow! That is wonderful! Oh my God!”

“Yeah! That is a person’s story. If someone hears it now and an impotent man goes to propose to her, she would also say yes so that her story can be touching but that is not how it is! She would find herself getting married to a frustrated man with both of them creating a lonely home if God is not in it!”

“Hmmmm”

“Wait on the Lord to write your love story for you! No matter how simple you think it is, take it from the Lord. His story for your life is sound and perfect and do not need an editing!”

“Wow!”

“So, my Jane, who are you going to say an emphatic yes to?”

“Roland! It’s Roland!” Jane said excitedly, covering her face.

“Go for it, girl! May the love and the joy and the peace never die!”

“Amen! Amen,sis! Ah, thank You so much. I am so grateful. You do not know what you have done to me today. God bless you ma.”

“I have to be on my way now before my ‘twinses’ scatter the whole house for my husband”

“Yes you have to go….” Jane said and paused suddenly, covering her mouth, with shock written all over her face. “Don’t tell me you are the lady in the story of the impotent man and the two sets of twins.”

Sandra started to laugh as she moved to the door.

“Unravel the secret, my dear!” She said still laughing loudly.

“Oh my God! Unbelievable! Unbelievable!”

As Jane saw Sandra out to her car, Sandra turned to look into her face.

“I must be sure that you have a grasp of what we have discussed this evening. Can you give me a recap?”

“Yes sis” Jane said and swallowed. “The Will of God is not necessarily hard, unpleasant and difficult. To some, it would be ‘Thank You Lord, I love Your choice for me’ and for some, it would be ‘Oh Lord, help me in this decision making. Please Lord I can’t seem to accept this’ but in the end, after time has tested the ‘Voice’ and the Word has had it’s full course, love, joy and peace must have prevailed before tying the nuptial knots.”

“Oh my! I wouldn’t have said it any better my darling! Any other lesson?”

“Some would choose to marry the less privileged, less beautiful, less rich, everything less even though they do not love or have peace about such, thinking that, that is how the Will of God should be. They might be so wrong. While some would marry the same less person and meet the Lord in it all.”

‘Hmmmmmmm”

“Also, some others might decide to go for the rich, handsome, spiritual, someone who supposedly has it all but who they do not deeply love nor do they have peace about. They would have a terrible home. While some would marry such and meet the Lord in it all!”

“Hmmmmm”

“In the end, I have learnt that to test if what we have received is truly of the Lord, love, joy and peace must score high.”

“The love, joy and peace might not come initially but if towards your wedding time, these three are still not there, it might not just be him! It might not just be her!”

“Hmmm…”

“The Lord will help all of us to really wait on the Lord for everything that pertains to life and godliness for only Him knows the way.”

“Thank you so much ma.”

“I’ve got to go now. Have a wonderful evening my dear sister” She said, pecked her, entered her car and sped off.

Jane smiled largely as she watched her leave her compound. She heaved a sigh of relief.

“I’ve got to pray. I’ve got to thank God! Glory!”

THE END!

4 thoughts on “LORD, IS IT HIM?

  1. Most times we have a misconception that God’s will is always be a difficult one.

    I remember when I was also constantly confused on an issue like this.

    Even when I clearly had my answers from God. I kept going to say to God ‘Are you sure’.

    It got to a time, I’m sure God was just looking at me like this 🤔.

    Because he gave me my answers and I chose to remain confused by myself.

    I enjoyed the story.

  2. I have come to learn that any life decisions must be made from having inner peace, joy in one’s heart and as a result of genuine love, marriage is not left out. Your story is a fresh reminder of this. The Lord continue to keep you ma.

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