Finding Christ

His mother's favorite line was 
"Life is war and living is warfare 
If you wait until you see what the 
enemy is doing against you, it 
will be too late. 
The devil is a roaring lion seeking 
whom to devour, it is our duty to 
keep a step ahead of the enemy, 
Yesterday's prayer is never
enough! When I was a child, even 
though i was born into a pagan family, 
i know how hard my parents tried to 
fortify us. 
We are concoctions in the middle 
of the night and in the afternoon 
We ate concoctions on refuse dumps 
Just so that they can keep us safe 
from the arrows of the arrows of the 
enemy 
Despite all the incisions and concoctions 
and sacrifices and divinations that they 
did 
Only four of my parent's eight children 
survived 
There was one of my late siblings that i 
remember vividly 
He died the very day my mother went 
to enroll him in school
She didn't know the enemy was waiting 
They were walking back home after 
his registration 
She was facing oncoming vehicles and 
somehow held my brother by the right 
She didn't know when a truck came 
out of nowhere and picked my brother 
from her grasp right by the road
He died 
That is the work of the enemy 
When you are thinking peace and safety 
Calamity will come upon you suddenly 
My mother cried for many months 
She was always so careful 
She had four girls, that was her only son 
and her carelessness robbed the young 
man of his life 
They told her it was an attack of the enemy 
You must fear the enemy 
He is resilient and patient, always looking 
for a weak spot to strike from 
This is why you must pray always 
The Bible says to pray without ceasing 
An anointed composer penned the
words:
"Christian seek not yet repose 
Hear ye what thy angel say 
Thou art in the midst of foes 
Watch and pray!" 
That was the doctrine he grew up 
knowing as the gospel 
The gospel of fear and affliction 
His mother dragged them from prophet 
to prophet 
From church to church 
Prayer meeting to prayer meeting 
Anointed man of God to anointed 
man of God 
She was determined to immerse all 
her children deep in the rock that
is higher than her 
She was born into a non-Christian home 
She got converted to Christianity when 
she was thirty years old 
She was already ten years gone in her 
marriage 
Her husband was an academician who 
saw her religious activities as a way of 
keeping his wife busy 
Idle hands are the devil's workshop 
It is better she chased after God than 
keep evil friends or start cheating on him 
He left her to her devices 
She fasted for almost half a calendar 
year in the name of being watchful of 
the devices of the enemy 
She sowed seed and gave huge gifts 
to many men of God 
A man of God once told her she had 
to buy three lanterns for every member 
of her family and sow it to his church 
so that every time the lanterns were lit, 
God will remember her family with 
kindness 
All she had on her was the school fees 
of her children 
She bought the  lanterns 
Her husband almost fainted when he 
heard what she did 
They had a nasty fight 
Her husband called her "gullible" 
She called her husband "ignorant" 
Eventually, they made up but her 
husband didn't allow her to go to that 
church again 
He insisted they must attend an orthodox
church as a family 
The agreement lasted for three months
 Her husband got tired of going to the 
orthodox church and she went back to 
her former church
 She was a prayer warrior, a chorister, and 
the leader of the intercessory group 
She was really devoted to the God by 
serving the church 
One evening, she was at Choir rehearsals 
when the pastor declared that none of 
those in church that evening will be 
going home that night 
She was a married woman 
She approached the pastor 
He said they had some decorations to do 
in church and what he said was law 
She waited
Her husband had a minor accident that 
same day while alighting from the 
public bus he took home 
When he got home, he didn't meet his 
wife 
His children were young teenagers 
The oldest was seventeen
 He went to a clinic for treatment and 
wished his wife was by his side to care for
him 
By the time she got home the next morning, 
her husband was already mad with fury 
He didn't understand why a pastor should 
be so insensitive and rule over his own wife 
He forbade his wife from going to the 
church again 
The wife told the pastor 
The pastor said she should choose
between heaven and her marriage 
She chose heaven and refused to leave 
the church 
Her husband left home out of anger 
Her marriage was over! 
She had chosen the eternal over the 
temporal 
It didn't make any sense but she was 
not going to be like Peter and deny 
the Lord 
It was a trial of her faith. 
On May 3, 1993 her first daughter 
bought five NIV Bibles for cheap at 
her school 
She bought one for herself and three 
for her friends 
When she got home from school, she 
decided to visit one of her friends to 
drop one of the Bibles for her 
As soon as she got on the
highway, a taxi came out of nowhere 
and hit her into the deep gully beside 
the road 
They rushed her daughter to the hospital 
and the driver quickly left the hospital 
to contact friends and family members 
When the taxi driver got to their house, 
he was told to go and check her in
church She was sweeping the church 
compound when she heard the news 
She couldn't believe it 
After everything she had given to God 
How could God permit that to happen 
How did God allow the enemy to touch 
one of her children? 
The child didn't die but they spent three 
months in the hospital and she had to 
beg her husband to assist financially 
It was too much for her faith 
Her husband forgave her and moved back 
into their home 
She stopped going to the church 
She stopped going from one pastor or 
prophet to another 
When she did the post mortem in her 
mind, she realized there was nothing 
else she could have done but stand 
The pastor came with excuses... 
God wanted to see how committed you are 
God wanted to test your dedication etc 
But she couldn't hear him again 
Her mother lost a child to a motor 
accident as a pagan and the same fate
almost befell her after 10 years of 
being a Christian 
It didn't add up for her 
She decided she would be praying from 
home and attending any random church 
she desired until her heart could process 
what had happened 
The incident really shook her! 
They became a family that watches
TV on Sunday morning 
They would do family prayer and go 
about their daily activities 
She attended churches close to her 
house 
She didn't join any church officially 
She just floated 
In June 1995, she was sleeping when 
the Holy Spirit came to her 
She said the experience was like
being drenched in a rain of love and 
mercy 
She said she cried and laughed and 
spoke in tongues and felt all the hurt 
and bitterness leave her soul 
From that day she started reading the 
Bible again by herself and rekindled 
her fellowship with the Holy Spirit 
Even her husband saw
and gave his life to Jesus 
Her children also came to understand 
the  gospel 
Like Mary, she chose the one thing 
that mattered 
Today she is still standing forth in the 
faith through the grace of the 
Lord Jesus Christ 

PS: There is a big gulf between 
Religion and knowing Jesus
She understood the gospel and walked
in knowledge as her children up
No evil ever came near her dwelling
again
All her children grew up to become
outstanding success stories and so
did her marriage
There was no mediator, no man of God
standing between her and her God
anymore
The gospel taught and groomed her
to walk in the reality of Christ