THE DEVIL ON THE ALTAR
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Patricia stayed up all night, praying and ruminating over Paul’s proposal and she felt uneasiness building up in her just like she felt the night he raped her and she just could not place why she was feeling that way. Maybe it was God’s way of telling her that Paul was not who He wanted for her and when she was about to make the decision of turning down his proposal, she remembered the promise she made to God and just burst into tears.
When Patricia completed her secondary school education, most of her friends and colleagues then started having boyfriends and men friends and were messing up themselves all in the bid of gaining admission and sponsorship through the university and the pressure was so much on her then because her parents were not buoyant enough to train her through the university but she stood her ground not to defile herself.
On a particular night, she had a revelation and saw herself sitting and talking with a man who introduced himself to her as Jesus. He told her to hold on to herself and that he would see her through and give her the power to keep herself undefiled. Then she made a promise that she would never have anything to do with any man outside wedlock and that it was only her husband she would give herself to, then, she sealed the promise in the dream and she woke up.
Remembering it brought tears to her eyes. “I have failed God and myself. I have disappointed my maker.” She kept on saying as she cried. She prayed for mercy and decided to give Paul ‘a yes’ even though she didn’t hear anything from God but her promise to God was that she would only give her body to her husband so she would marry Paul in order to fulfill the promise she made to God.
She called Paul the following morning to give him her answer and he was so delighted to hear it. He told her to keep their relationship a secret to avoid gossips and jealousies and she obliged not knowing that that would be the greatest mistake of her life.
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Paul and Patricia had been seeing each other for close to three weeks and their relationship was heaven on earth. Everything Patricia could ever wish for in a man was embedded in Paul and he never ceased to amaze her daily with various things. He was empathetic, loving and kind to Patricia. He listened to her, they prayed together, studied the bible together and even went for evangelism outreaches together.
Patricia enjoyed every bit of the relationship just that she didn’t like the secrecy. They had to always meet in secret places that were far from the student’s environment where no one would recognize them and when they saw each other in public or in church they would just relate like normal brother and sister in Christ. Patricia was not comfortable with that arrangement she wanted everyone to know about them, she wanted to tell her roommate, her friends and even her parents and she also wanted their senior pastor to be aware of their relationship but Paul felt it was not the right time to make their relationship known to the public and wanted them to take things slowly.
Patricia and Paul were out together on a particular day and they were really having a nice time.
“I’m so happy to have met an angel like you,” Paul said, looking at Patricia straight in the eyes, which made her face turn pink and she had to look away.
“I’m also grateful to God that our paths crossed and even though the enemy wanted to hinder us, God’s plan still prevailed.”
“Alleluia, glory to God, tell me more about it, prophetess,” Paul said jokingly.
“You are not serious,” Patricia replied and they both laughed.
“But, seriously tell me what do you mean by the enemy wanted to hinder us?” Paul asked in a more serious tone.
“Have you forgotten how we started?”
“Please, don’t start, don’t go there again. We have prayed and asked God for mercy and He has sanctified our relationship already so I don’t know why you keep on digging up old things. Even the bible says old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. So, my dear, let Christ take away this old thing and stop bringing it before us.”
“I’m sorry, if you see it that way but actually I was driving at something else so you should just listen to me.”
“Alright, I’m sorry I went ahead of you. Tell me, ma’am, what exactly were you driving at?” Paul spoke with less tension that time around and they both laughed at his courteous gesture.
“Shortly after I finished secondary school, I had an encounter with Jesus and I made a promise to Him that I would not defile myself before marriage and that I would have something to do with just one man in my life and that man would be my husband. So after what happened, I prayed to God and renewed the covenant with God and I would have said no to your proposal out of anger from the devil but I remembered my vow and that is why we are what we are today.”
“Wow! This is incredible! God really brought His plan to fulfillment in our lives through the ugly incidence. May His holy name alone be praised forever!”
They chatted on and on until they both departed to their various hostels and Paul could not stop ruminating over what Patricia said.
To be continued…
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