*”STRUCK DOWN”*
*_EPISODE TWO_*
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Debby was crying silently in her room. She didn’t understand why her mom was being too hard on her. All she wanted was to hustle hard enough to be able to get herself and her mom out of poverty and she isn’t being appreciated for it.
“What is mom even saying? Didn’t mom engage in this kind of thing when I was little before she stopped, claiming she had given her life to Christ and then we started suffering to even feed? So what is she saying?” Debby thought angrily as she recalled the late nights her mom would return only to find her daughter waiting patiently for her to return.
She kept with her late night attitude until two years ago when Debby noticed she no longer kept late nights and was having more time for her daughter.
“Mom, you’re not going to meet Chief and co. again?” Deborah who had been well exposed at that time asked. She could sense a slight expression of shame coming from her mother before replying her.
“I’m a new creature now Deborah. It would be a shame to Christ and to my salvation if I still engage in sinful activities.” Her mom said and Deborah was happy because she herself wasn’t proud of what her mom was doing even though her mom never told her what.
Few months later, things began to be hard for the both of them because the money had dropped, and was coming from nowhere.
The little profit from the buns and akara business her mom went into couldn’t feed them three square meals in a day. As the day passes by, things were getting hard for them to the extent that Debby started wishing her mom could have a change of heart soon and go back to what was bringing them enough money before they die of hunger.
“This Jesus thing doesn’t pay, it doesn’t pay at all.” She lamented within the moment she told her mom about her school fees that needed to be paid in a stipulated period of time but their was no money.
She was in her final year by then, time was going but nothing miraculous seemed to be happening anytime soon.
“Deborah let’s pray about your school fees, I believe God will intervene when we do so.” Mom suggested one day on noticing her daughter’s moody attitude.
“Prayer? Mama did you just say pray? You pray when you have a kinda connection somewhere that’ll help in providing answers to your prayers now. Mama nobody knows us, we don’t have any helper anywhere.”
“We have the greatest of all helpers which is God. Besides, I’ve always heard in church about how people’s needs are being met by people Yizef Stories who never knew them before, just because they took their case to God in prayers.”
“Mama forget that thing. Those people talking had connections in the past before they started praying. Their helpers might have just forgotten them for the time being and it required just little efforts of prayers to put remembrance in their heart or something.
Mama we are nobodys. Ever since dad died, we practically became forgotten souls walking upon the face of this Earth. I’m not even sure God still remembers we exist sef.”
“Hei! Deborah!!! Please don’t say that o, I strongly believe God will intervene and work things out for us when we trust him. Besides, is it not better to pray, believing something would happen than to just sit hear like we are with no hope at all? It’s your school fees we’re talking about here o, and remember you’re in your final year already.” Mom said as her last statement drove Debby to think for a while.
She was right. The deadline for her to pay her school fees was in two weeks time and there was no hope of a miracle coming from anywhere. Perhaps praying wouldn’t be a bad idea afterall.
“So, what do you say?” Her mom asked, driving her out of her thoughts.
“Well, perhaps we can give it a try. I really want to complete my tertiary education at all cost!”
“Good.” Her mom said joyfully.
“So how do we go about it?” Debby asked and her mom shared some ideas with her to the best of her knowledge.
Deborah recalled how they prayed for 15mins every three hours over the issue, woke up in the middle of the night to quote the scriptures over their situation till they slept off, and fasted for as long as their stomach could carry them, usually breaking with a short prayer and bringing their issue to God.
She recalled then repeating this cycle for a week and two days until she got fed up.
“Deborah I’ve been calling you for us to observe our prayers. Why weren’t you answering me?” Her mom asked on coming out to meet her. Mama it’s been 9days now, 9 solid days! Yet God hasn’t said anything about our case to either of us. I knew this was a bad idea in the first place.” Deborah said, silently wishing her mom would see reasons with her, change her mind about this Jesus stuff and go out their with one Chief as always, so she could pay up her school fees.
Disappointedly, her mom smiled like she saw this coming and grabbed her hand softly.
“God is not a wicked God, He has answered our prayers already. I strongly believe it within me.” Her mom said but Debby paid less attention.
“He truly showed up at the appointed time.” She whispered to herself as she recalled her mom calling her three days to the deadline, saying she had met someone at the market where she went to get foodstuffs from the little change her business had made the previous day, only to meet one of her late dad’s very good friends who had just returned from diaspora.
He was saddened to hear his friend was gone and asked how the family was faring.
Her mom who wasn’t the type that exposed family affairs to strangers suddenly broke down in tears, explaining the situation of things to him.
Out of sympathy, this friend promised to do something about it.
The very next day, she recieved a call from him and asked for her account number. In no time, she received an alert and it was the exact amount Debby needed to pay up her school fees, plus a little change.
It was then Debby believed there was a God that did answer prayers, and her mom developed great faith in prayers that she practiced praying each night.
Debby snapped out of her thoughts at the peep of her phone, indicating a message had just come in.
She read the message to see that her mom had kept to her word and returned the money.
She sighed and dropped her phone.
“I would’ve believed and followed your God wholeheartedly, if only He’d bring us out of this poverty-stricken path we’ve been on since you gave yourself to him.” Debby thought aloud like her mom was there to hear her.
πππππ
Mrs. Eunice stared at the debit alert message on her phone emotionless. She really needed the money but had to return it to prove to her daughter she could be fine without her ill-gotten money.
“I strongly believe you’d prove her wrong God, I strongly believe in you.” Mrs. Eunice said.
“You can cater for me, provide for my needs and bless us abundantly, because you’re the God of abundance, who takes delight in the prosperity of his people.” She said and kept confessing positively that one day her story would change and her daughter would finally believe that God is enough, more than enough and able to provide for their needs and she’d repent from her ways.
“Dear God, you promised to win the soul of my daughter this month. This is already 15th of October, the month is halfway gone. Please do something Lord please, I don’t want her to perish for nothing.” Mrs. Eunice said on her knees.
“I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” She heard a still voice responding from within her.
πππππ
Debby got up from bed to get herself something to eat as she was already getting hungry. She was already at the door about to head out of the room when a call came in.
She hesitated at first, thinking it was her mother. She wasn’t ready to listen to another round of gospel message even for few minutes.
When the call persisted, she went over to the where the phone was to see who was calling.
“Hello Fred.”
“Hi sugar. How is your day going?”
“Fine.”
“Hmmm….is something wrong? Why the one worded response.”
“Nothing really. I’m just tired and hungry.”
“Oh okay. So should I come pick you up at the usual junction?” He asked and Debby exhaled heavily.
“Yeah but not today please. I’m not in the mood to talk or discuss anything. Let’s me make tomorrow or next.”
“What? Why?” Fred asked, trying to maintain a cool voice but it was obvious it was angry.
“Listen there’s just change of plans okay. Something happened and I need to do certain things around the house and….see it’s not possible for us to see today please.” Debby said
“Okay. Till when then?”
“Probably tomorrow or next. I’d communicate when to you later.”
“Okay.”
Fred paced up and down in his room furiously as soon as Debby ended the call.
He had wanted them to meet so he could explain to her that there has been change of plans and he has to be the one holding the money to make processes easier and faster.
The truth was he doesn’t trust her with such huge amount of money and the ones she would be getting in the nearest future. For the two years they have been together, he has known her to be the extravagant type and one who has nothing to save after spending all; so he needed to be the one holding the money he’s indirectly helping her to get, to be sure it was safe.
“I hope she hasn’t spent anything yet. God please, I need that money to finalise my processes to go abroad and start a fresh life there. I don’t want her ruining my plans.”
Uhmm…. speechless.
Okay byeπ©βπ¦―π©βπ¦―π©βπ¦―
*_To be Continued…_*
