Ayomi

She was the bank cashier that was supposed 
to attend to him 
He couldn't take his eyes off her 
She was fair 
Her eyes were shaped like the almond fruit 
She had the kind of smile that dulls the sun 
She was also pleasant 
Her body language was welcoming and warm 
She was seated behind
the counter He took her in from her head
 to the waist 
Then something happened 
He caught himself starring at her and 
looked away 
He was embarrassed by his own reaction 
to her beauty 
As soon as he turned away, she looked at him 
She was also checking him out 
He could see her eyes doing what he 
had done earlier 
He caught her starring at him 
Immediately their eyes met, she averted 
her gaze 
It encouraged him 
He got bolder 
That was the moment he noticed her ears 
She was wearing six earrings, SIX!! 
It was the only flaw in her beauty for him 
His mother would have a fit 
His elder brother's life was in a mess 
because of his entanglement with a 
chronic body piercer in America 
He was happily married with two children 
before he met the lady somewhere in Atlanta 
He went to get a tattoo for his 30th birthday 
The lady was running a tattoo parlour 
That was how his brother deserted his family 
and Christian upbringing 
He moved in with "Charley girl" (His mother's 
name for the lady) and refused to listen to 
reason or any form of plea from his own wife 
and family 
His mother insisted it was a diabolical attack 
by the kingdom of darkness 
A prophet told his mother that demons love 
to mutilate the human body because Humans 
are made in the image of God 
Body piercings and tattoos are tantamount to a 
deliberate desecration of the human body by 
demonic forces and therefore most of those
 who mutilate the body are demon-possessed 
He had also read a lot of materials on it and 
believes the prophet to be accurate 
It was a red flag 
He kept sizing her up while she processed 
the teller and the cash he was lodging into 
his account 
When she was done, she looked at him 
and smiled 
Oh, God!!
His heart was racing 
He trapped his hands by holding on firmly 
to the marble top standing in between them 
Her eyes were dancing 
His heart was racing 
His mouth was dry all of a sudden 
He shouldn't... 
He shouldn't... 
He Shouldn't... 
He said, "Please can i have your phone 
number?"
She smiled and said "I already wrote it 
at the back of your teller, do have a 
nice day sir" 
Wow! 
Since he gave his life to Christ and got 
filled with the Holy Spirit, he had never 
had the sort of reaction he was having 
with her with anyone or anything 
And was she reading his mind?
He didn't know if that was a good thing 
or a bad thing 
Was she too forward? 
Was he too carnal? 
He had to talk to her 
He wanted to He sat in his car at the car park 
He just couldn't drive off 
He checked the time, it was almost 4pm 
sent her a WhatsApp message 
He said "Hi, what time do you close? 
I'd really like to have a sit down with you. 
My name is So and So, you gave me your 
number a few minutes ago" 
He saw her notification change to typing 
immediately "I'll be in the car park by 8pm, 
Thank you" 
He felt himself exhale, he didn't know he 
had been holding his breath 
She was calm and playful on the outside 
None of her colleagues suspected she had 
butterflies in her belly 
The only sign of nervousness she showed 
was her shaky hands and a racing heart 
when he was standing right in front of her 
She had seen him eight times in the past 
six months while she was praying 
She was 29 years old & had to break up 
with her wild boyfriend after she became 
a believer eighteen months before 
Her former boyfriend grew up in America 
and had this thing for bikers 
When they met, she was an innocent 
22-year-old virgin
He was 36 years old and made such an 
impression on her young mind that she 
practically left her life to become his sidekick 
She was in 200 Level at the time 
He was born of rich parents and had all the
money he desired to burn on anything he 
desired
 He gave her the treat of her life
He knew so much about life, power, 
oppression and philosophies 
He was an underground activist 
She learned so much 
He also introduced her to certain realities 
she wasn't so proud of 
He was a social drug user, (he did cocaine 
and cannabis) s
She also experimented with these substances
Her parents tried so hard to separate them 
Her mother prayed and fasted 
Her father threatened to unleash hell 
But she was too happy being lost to be found 
She left the school hostel and moved in with 
him as soon as she met him 
He was her world and the chord that bound 
them was very strong 
Funny enough, he helped her out with her 
academics 
She improved after she met him 
He was not so much of a "friend" person 
He was a lone ranger and she was the 
missing piece of his life 
When she graduated from the University, 
she assumed they would be getting married
He told her he would think about it 
She went off for NYSC 
While she was away, he got another babe 
The lady was a 22 years old student of 
the school 
Just as she was when he met her 
He was building a harem 
He told her she could move in and be a 
part of the threesome or move on with
her life 
They had watched documentaries of 
Bikers gangs together 
She knew what he was doing 
He was molding himself after a biker's 
gang alpha 
She understood it in principle but she 
found her skin crawling at the thought 
of sharing him with another lady 
She just couldn't do it 
One evening, while he was having sex 
with her second, she packed her bags 
and like a dog with the tails tucked in 
between its leg in shame, she returned 
home 
Her mother danced all night but she 
couldn't share her mother's joy 
Her heart was shattered 
She had been with him for four years 
She had no friends 
She gave him the exclusive right to her core 
She didn't know how to cope without him 
He was her partner, her only friend 
The breakup affected her badly 
She fell into depression barely a week 
after leaving him 
She just lost the zest to live or to
participate in anything with anybody 
Within two weeks, the depression took 
a dangerous turn 
She lost her appetite completely 
She went seven days without food and water 
Her mother got alarmed 
A family meeting was called 
An intervention was proposed 
Her older brother, a married man who she 
had a lot of respect for because he didn't 
judge or condemn her while she was living 
"in sin" was asked to lead the intervention 
The following Saturday, her brother arrived 
at their house with the Brother in Jeans and 
T-shirt 
He was convinced her dilemma was 
demonic and came equipped to solve the 
problem 
When they walked into her room, she began 
to scream 
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt was a 
stranger and she didn't want any stranger 
to see her as she was 
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt didn't say 
a word 
He just stared at her and smiled like an old 
friend 
Her eyes became a little bit focussed 
She stopped screaming 
He said "Your heart is broken and you don't 
feel like living. You see no reason to.
 Please hold my hand" She did and suddenly 
she felt a welling up inside her tummy 
Like hot air rising 
She started crying...
She started laughing too...
But unlike the previous day when she cried
all night out of pain and frustration
This time the tears were relieving
It was as if something hard in her
heart was dissolving
He held her hand and kept praying in
tongues silently
Then something remarkable happened
She started praying in tongues too
Silently at first and then aloud until
she felt air flushing through her
ears 
It was a day of transformation
When he released her hands, she
fell on her knees crying "Jesus, Jesus"
It was too much for her soul,
the surge of power and the presence
of the Holy Spirit
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt led
her to Christ afterward
He told her the Holy Spirit has taken
over her reality from that day and
the only emotion she would feel was
joy, gladness, and satisfaction
The intervention lasted an hour
She ate pounded yam with the family
after the prayers
She just felt like leaping and screaming
throughout that day
The following week she got a job with
the bank
She was offered probationary employment
as a marketer but somehow found herself 
staffed as a Teller
A week after she resumed the job,
she saw him for the first time
Dressed in a hooded blue sweater
and an army green beach shorts
She didn't quite see his legs
It was so clear and so real
She called the Brother in jeans and 
T-shirt
She told him what she saw
He asked her to talk to the Holy Spirit
about it
She did
The next day, the Holy Spirit led her to
Songs of Solomon 4
She read the scripture over and over
She called the Brother in jeans and 
T-shirt again
Why has the Holy Spirit directed me
to this passage of the Scripture
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt said
"I hear wedding bells" and started
teasing her by calling her "Iyawo" (Bride)
She saw him seven other times before
that day
Always in the same attire, always
so vividly
Then he arrived in person
He paid in the exact amount she saw
He acted just as she saw
It was him
He was her husband
When she closed that night, she found
him waiting in his car at the car park
He drove her home
He drove slowly
The first thing she asked her was
about the earrings
She told him about her past life and
the indelible marks it left on her
He was surprised at her candor
She was talking to him as if she had
known him for a long time
He told her his mother would protest
if he took her home with all the 
tattoos and piercings
She smiled and said "If you take me
home, your mother would take a look
at me and see a daughter she birthed!
I am comely and lovable to all
I am the seed of Abraham, I am full of
the Holy Spirit"
He had never seen anybody so confident
in the Holy Spirit like her before
That was how they started
He took her home three weeks later
While discussing with his mother, his
mother spoke about her other son, the
one Charley girl had in "bondage"
She laughed and asked if she could 
talk to him
His mother said "Why not?"
His mother called his brother, they talked
for a while
His mother handed the phone over to her
She greeted his brother
They talked for a few minutes and
suddenly his brother started crying
She didn't know what to do
She didn't want to alarm the family
She started praying in tongues silently
The call lasted twenty minutes
By the time she handed the phone
over to his mother
His brother was already on his way
back to his family
His mother started looking at her
somehow
Within an hour, his mother's phone
ran again
This time it was his brother's wife
crying at the other end
God had answered her prayer
Her husband returned home begging
for forgiveness
God has set him free
Wow!
His mother looked at her and said 
"You have brought good news to my
family, you have restored my joy,
I will call you "Ayomi" (My joy) from
today!
They were married in September 2019
The reception was held at Government
Secondary School, Ikorodu
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt was
there to bless the couple

PS: I was brought up to judge holiness
by sight
It was the way of religion
Sister Ebere asked me what she should
do about the piercings and tattoos the 
day she gave her life to Christ
The tattoos were many but they were 
not in obvious places
Only one was obvious, it was on her
left breast and compelled her to wear
deep cut clothes so that she can
show it off on her cleavage
I told her to leave them but always
dress decently
They were scars of battle, a reminder
of a place, one should never return to
As for the piercings, she had options
and i told her to use her discretion
The Holy Spirit will use anybody as
long as such is willing to walk with him

GSW's notes: The words of a Christian 
matter a lot
Call yourself a blessing often
Call yourself the blessed of the Lord
Call yourself a joy giver
Dont allow anyone "frame" you by sight
You are a Faith practitioner
You live the Word
Always remember this
Always practice this