THE DEVIL ON THE ALTAR
CHAPTER NINETEEN & TWENTY
“If you can’t marry a lady without a womb, then don’t do it. I have a womb and we are engaged. You want a break from this relationship because of that flimsy excuse. You are not making any sense at all. Are you sure you are ok?” Patricia asked, totally confused about what Paul was talking about.
Paul gave Patricia the greatest shock of her life when he told her that the doctor removed her womb as a result of complications from the abortion to save her life. She felt her feet going numb and her eyes becoming dim before totally blacking out.
Patricia recovered from the shock after many hours. Paul had told Cordelia to leave because she needed help and he had gone away with her while he left Patricia alone in the room to mourn the eventual destruction of her life. She wished she could turn back the hand of the clock and she wouldn’t have even attempted university education. She was fine and vibrant for the Lord when she was seeking admission and would have met a nice young man who would have loved her and married her without destroying her life.
“After losing my womb to him, he wants to leave me for someone else. I’m such a fool.” Patricia thought to herself and continued to wail nonstop.
She took her bag and walked out of Paul’s room without waiting for him to return or locking the door. A lot of thoughts kept coming through her mind and the prevailing one was for her to confess and receive pardon from God and move on with her life but another thought wanted her to pay Paul back in his own coin by blackmailing him and destroying him along with herself. She thought of her parents and what would become of them when they learnt that she had no womb. She wished she had kept the pregnancy, at least they would have a grandchild.
Patricia got to the hostel in her tattered state and continued her wailing, making Celestina paranoid and anxious. Celestina tried to calm her down and get her to speak but she was not bulging. She cried until there was no tear to shed again and then she began to sigh. She felt there was nothing to hide from her friend again and then she opened up.
“Jesus! What! When! How! Oh my God!”
Those were the expressions popping out of Celestina’s mouth as she listened to Patricia’s story. Prior to that, she was more than certain that something was wrong with Patricia and she had tried to get her to speak but Patricia was stubborn.
“You went through all these and could not even *say anything to me. Who am I to you, Pat? I thought you were my friend. Friends help each other, they trust each other and confide in each other,” Celestina said as she could not just help but be disappoint* ed by Patricia’s secrecy. She wished she had let her in on what was happening long before then and maybe things wouldn’t have turned out that way.
“I’m so sorry. He asked me not to tell anyone and I trusted him.”
“You have learnt your lessons the hard way. The first red flag in any relationship is when he tells you to keep it a secret from others and the second is when he starts demanding for sexual intimacy. And you know all this,” Celestina said and burst into tears. “Jesus, please have mercy,” she said amidst tears.
“I wouldn’t advise you to go and beg Paul to take you back because he is an excuse for a fiancé. I would advise you to go back to God in penitence and repentance because you have sinned against him. Pray for forgiveness, forgive Paul and move on with your life while serving God and hoping that he would change your story. I know God can do it!” Celestina said in a rush and went mute.
“It’s not that easy. I have been praying but I don’t feel better.”
“That’s because you have not completed your repentance. You need to confess to your pastor all you have done and have him pray for you to have complete restoration.”
“What! That would be hard. How do I face him?”
“The same way you faced the doctor when you went for the abortion. Pat, this is a matter of your soul that shouldn’t be taken with levity. You need to do all that is necessary to get back on track with God, which is the most important thing.”
“But I would have to inform Paul before going to the pastor.”
“You don’t have to do that. Unless you want to have an excuse for not doing it. Paul would discourage you for sure and you don’t need that now.”
“Ok, I’ll do that. Thanks,” Patricia said and sighed.
“Let us pray.” Celestina led her into a passionate consecratory prayer to God and she felt her heart ripping out at Calvary. She prayed for mercy for her past sins and wisdom to do all she needed to do and for grace to bear the inevitable shame that would come from her confession. She felt better than she had felt in a long time after the prayer and was grateful to Celestina for being a God-sent to her. She wished she had spoken to her before then and knew she wouldn’t have been where she was.
To be continued…
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
