Anamnesis

He remembered exactly where he 
was standing when he got the phone call 
The call was from his mentor 
The voice at the other end said 
"See me now" 
He was standing at the faculty office 
Waiting to see the Dean 
It was a very trying period 
His poor judgment was about to cost him 
his certificate
He couldn't just sit and watch his life go 
to waste 
He needed to fight and prove his case 
He left the faculty immediately 
As he walked towards his mentor's office 
He saw her, sitting under the tree by 
the school gate 
He had a premonition that she came to 
jump ship 
It was ending..
He had called her the previous day and 
told her about the scandal 
He told her how a man approached him 
to help sell a particular bank's shares on 
campus 
He told her how the Holy Spirit warned 
him not to touch the shares business and 
how he disobeyed because the man 
promised him 5% of all the sales he made 
All he saw was the money and how he 
could pay his school fees with it 
Ultimately the man disappeared with the 
money 
About 225,000 Naira (He spent some of 
the money too, thinking he was taking out 
of his 5%) 
When he didn't deliver the shares certificate
The students he sold to reported the case 
and he found himself in a deep mess 
He had already finished his final examinations 
and completed his project 
He was going to be the best graduating student 
in his department 
He had been on the dean's honour's list 
since 100 Level, he was lost 
She berated him sternly "Did i not tell you to 
trust the Holy Spirit? Had the Holy Spirit failed 
you before? 
You are His tabernacle and he had been 
building you and your future carefully 
for many years. 
See how you have ruined everything"
 She cried bitterly... 
They had plans
He met her in 2006 
She was praying towards a joint fellowship 
programme which would be holding on 
His campus 
The executives of each fellowship from other 
campuses were to meet in his school to plan 
towards the programme 
The Holy Spirit showed her a vision 
She saw him ministering
The Holy Spirit said "Stand by him, raise 
his hands, He is your crown! 
Stand by him, raise his hands, he is your 
head! 
Stand by Him, raise his hands, He is my 
choice!" 
She was not praying for a husband 
She was already involved with a guy 
He had gone to serve but they had plans
She had asked God to bless her union 
with the guy several times just as 
Abraham presented Ishmael and said 
"Let Ishmael live before you" 
God had been silent about it 
She wasn't getting any younger 
She was already in 400L and had only 
a year more before she graduated 
She decided to go with the flow 
The guy was not a bad choice and God 
will not do for a man what a man must 
do for himself 
When the guy left for Youth Service, 
she felt relieved 
She neither called him nor picked his call 
She couldn't say why 
Then she saw that revelation in the 
afternoon
It was her first open vision 
She got to his campus a week after 
she saw the vision 
The meeting started in her Uncle's office 
(Her Uncle was the Joint Fellowship 
Coordinator) 
As soon as she walked into the office 
she heard his voice 
He was on his knees, praying as were 
the others who were present at the 
meeting 
She didn't know why his voice sounded 
so familiar 
They finished praying 
He turned around and their eyes met 
She remembered the vision immediately 
Throughout the meeting, he kept darting 
glances at her 
She knew he liked her, he was practically 
asking to get to know her with his big 
eyeballs 
The meeting ended around 1AM 
They shared the grace 
He approached her "Hello, you are So and So, 
a student of So and So school, your Father is 
So and So, He is involved somehow in the 
transportation business. 
I saw you while i was praying a few days ago"
She didn't say a word 
They both waited until the others left 
Her uncle saw them and said 
"Let me introduce you two. 
Mentee, meet my niece! 
Niece meet my mentee" 
She laughed 
When she got to her uncle's house she 
told him about the vision she had about 
his mentee
The following morning, he called her 
uncle and told him about the vision he 
had about her 
She didn't rush into it 
She prayed and made sure she called off 
her trial by error relationship 
She was determined to obey the Holy Spirit 
The relationship took wings 
Six months after they met, she introduced 
him to her parents 
She was that sure 
Until he messed everything up by his 
disobedience 
He was one of those spiritually cocky 
guys who believed they alone had 
the full revelation of the reality of the 
Holy Spirit and wouldn't listen to the 
voice of caution 
She didn't sleep a wink since he told 
her about the scandal 
She just kept wondering whether she 
truly heard from God or if it had all been 
a hallucination or delusion 
That was why she came to see her uncle 
that morning 
She couldn't see a future for them anymore 
He would be facing his school's Disciplinary 
committee and might not be allowed to 
graduate if found guilty 
She didn't want to be shackled to a sinking 
ship 
Her uncle told her it was her decision 
She felt it was best if they parted ways 
before things got messy and he dragged 
her good name in the mud
That was why she asked her uncle to send 
for him 
When they got to her uncle's office 
She tried to be as sensitive as possible 
He got the message 
He told her it was fine 
He was fighting the battle for his destiny 
and a relationship was the last thing on 
his mind 
He took the words right out of her mouth 
He didn't make it awkward or embarrassing 
The meeting at her uncle's office took less 
than twenty minutes 
He saw her off afterward 
She was just about starting her examinations 
He made sure she boarded a good bus and 
paid her fare 
As soon as the bus took off he started crying 
One step in the wrong direction could be 
so costly 
He had begged and cried for mercy 
but if her departure was a sign of things 
to come, he knew things might get quite 
ugly before they become better 
He braced himself for the storm to come 
And what a storm it was!
It was more terrible than he imagined 
Judgment was swift, absolute and 
absent of mercy 
The only thing the SDC couldn't do was 
throw in a jail term 
He was stripped of everything 
She tried to keep in touch with him after 
he left the campus 
Just to encourage him to be strong and 
not do anything foolish 
To her surprise, he didn't seem to mope 
about it 
Like David, the dead child was gone and 
he had to move on He had gotten a job 
He even told her he would be getting 
married at 30 just as he planned all along 
He had learned his lesson, why should he 
roll over or play dead?
She admired his mental strength 
One year after she graduated, she had a 
vision 
She saw herself walking by his side 
They were inspecting some properties and 
exchanging views like a couple 
She swallowed her pride and called him 
She said "Are you sure we cannot come 
back together?"
Of course, she knew how she sounded 
but it seemed as if God hadn't seen all the 
things that happened between them in 
the past two years 
She felt she had made a terrible mistake 
He said "NO!" He didn't give much of a 
reason and refused to be convinced she 
cared about him that way
She went to a visit a Christian brother
she believed he would listen to and
convinced the brother to speak with
him on enrolling with National Open
University of Nigeria or another
school in order to get a degree
She didn't see how he could get married
at 30 and make it in life
How would he feed his family?
What would he do to earn a living?
She felt he was bumbling through
life in error
He should take a pause and think
He told the Christian brother he
second-guessed the Holy Spirit
once and he landed in a pit
The Holy Spirit had told him there
was no setback
He had taken the Holy Spirit at his
word
She gave up at that point
It felt as if he was determined to
live as if the past didn't happen
To her surprise, he got married at
30, just as he promised
She saw the Facebook pictures
and cried her eyes out
There was no coming back for him
As for her, she went back to her
Trial by error guy 
She ate the humble pie and he took
her back
They got married and relocated to
Abuja
There was a silent period of six
years
Then a friend invited her to a church
programme in Abuja
A special guest had been invited to
minister from Lagos
He was the special guest
It was as if she was living in her vision
It was the exact church she saw
The exact crowd
He was wearing the exact cloth
The only thing missing was her
She was not in the seat beside him
She was not raising his hand as she
was instructed
She left the meeting before it was
his turn to minister
She just couldn't stand the atmosphere
Two years later, her first child developed
a strange illness
The doctors diagnosed it as cancer
of the eyes
They did everything they could both
at home and abroad
They were told it couldn't be operated
because of the proximity of the 
cancer to the brain
She reached out to him
He found his way to Abuja at his own
expense
He ministered healing to her baby
Within three days, the cancer was
and all its symptoms were gone
She cried as she thanked him
Her husband also cried as he saw
their sick child restored to health
He blessed them and left
God has blessed her with a family
of her own and other material
blessings
But she wished she saw beyond 
her eyes and trusted the Holy
Spirit fully
She wished she obeyed the heavenly
vision like Apostle Paul
She told him so, in a long WhatsApp
chat
He told her he wasn't sure he would
stand by her if he was in her shoes
too
Everything was messed up and he
despaired for his life but he trusted
the Holy Spirit to bring sense out
of the chaos like He did in the 
beginning and he never second-
guessed the Holy Spirit again.

PS: They remained friends
She prays for him, his family and 
ministry
He does the same for her
May the power of the Holy Spirit
continue to uphold both families
This testimony as shared is to
help believers from stumbling 
over the same proverbial stone

GSW's notes: There are many of
us who enjoy second-guessing the
Holy Spirit
He is only useful to us as long as
we can see his plans unfold in a
very obvious manner
The moment we couldn't see what
lies ahead with our physical eyes
we grow weary and jettison his
instructions
Living by our senses is a tough deal
because the things we do outside
His will do not count for much
When we disobey his instructions
willfully, his voice will faint and like 
Esau, we might seek it with tears and
never find it again