Finding Rest

The cleric met her at the bus stop. 
He approached her cautiously. 
She was lost in thought, she didn’t notice 
him closing in on her space.
He spoke softly, cautiously, as if he was 
expecting her to snap at him or scream at 
him for his intrusion!
She still didn’t notice his antics.
He tapped her on the elbow, 
she turned her head towards him.
He said, “Sister, somebody has used you 
for ritual purposes, I saw it as soon as I got 
to this bus stop. So that you can confirm if 
I am telling you the truth or not, I will like 
to tell you some things about you and 
your family."
She just looked at him, too stunned to respond!
She was a hustler.
For her, there were no rules.
She follows the money!
The kind of money she follows comes with 
its own risk factors!
Young people who do normal jobs do not 
have the kind of money she followed!
For her, there was no point loving broke 
or struggling guys!
Her beauty has a clock on it and as her 
mother would say, “Beauty is a currency of 
the moment, you must cash it now.”
That was how she lived her life. 
She lived in a world of fraudsters, armed robbers, 
drug dealers, ritualists, and unexplained sudden 
wealth beneficiaries. 
Her job was to follow the scent of the money 
until she got her cut of it!
She offered her body most of the time, but she 
also played definite roles in internet marriage or 
dating scams in which she would play the bait 
until the mark bit it.
The cleric guy could be right.
The last guy she was with was always with a 
white handkerchief which he tied to his left wrist 
whenever they had sex. When she asked him 
why he was always with the handkerchief, 
he told her it was to ward off sex demons 
from accessing him! 
She felt it was ridiculous at the time but 
somehow, that was the season strange things 
started happening to her.
She started having crazy nightmares in which 
she would either see monkeys having sex 
with her, or babies being pulled out of her 
womb alive!
She saw herself suffering from all sorts of 
maladies in the dream including sexual assaults 
and rape. 
She also had miscarriages and was always 
chasing something or being chased!
She stopped sleeping with the strange guy, 
but the problem persisted!
She had gone to church because of it, 
especially after she started hearing voices 
and noticing faceless spirits coming to sleep 
with her when she was half awake!
She had been sexually active since she 
was fourteen and had been through all sorts 
in her thirty years on the earth.
Of all the scary realities she had walked in, 
the present reality was the worst!
It was what she was pondering on when 
the cleric approached her!
The cleric spoke on and on about helping her 
to get out of the spiritual cage she had 
been tied in. After about thirty minutes of 
free diagnosis and self-marketing, the cleric 
gave her his business card and left.
She had been to three churches on the 
issue at hand!
They were offering her Jesus but that was 
not what she wanted. Jesus would ask her 
to stop her lifestyle and repent!
She didn’t want to do that! The time for that 
will come later in life!
She was in a hurry to establish herself and 
secure her future!
She already had a bakery and a hair saloon! 
She needed to buy a house and put some 
money in the bank! She had to hustle!
The other prophet she met took her to a 
river and made her take a spiritual bath by 
herself six times!
Then he said since the affliction came to her
through the body it must go through the body, 
but not through the same orifice. 
He had anal sex with her until she bled!
Then he told her she had been cleansed. 
It was all a lie!
Things only got worse and she started losing 
her mind!
She had never been to a cleric of another 
religion before!
In her line of work, she had met spiritualists, 
diviners, mediums, prophets, and sorcerers!
She needed a solution to the challenge she 
was facing!
She called the cleric!
He told her to come to his house and bring 
some money.
She went! 
She got to his house at 10 am the next morning.
He told her to go down the street and buy a 
bottle of water.
The woman she bought the water from said, 
“Sister, that house you came out from, hmmm, 
please be careful o! No, be an ordinary house.”
(Meaning: It is not an ordinary house)
She thanked the woman but she couldn’t leave. 
Her bag was in the cleric’s house!
When she got the water to him, he took her 
into another room!
Suddenly, she remembered some stories 
she had heard of clerics doing something to 
ladies in which the ladies will become 
hypnotized and remain in their bondage for 
many years!
Wow! 
She began to get agitated!
The cleric noticed and told her to relax.
He told her to lift the water she bought and 
shake the bottle!
She did!
The water turned black!
What!
He said “some of the ritual deposits in her had 
been transferred to the water."
She believed immediately!
He told her to take off her clothes!
She did.
He took another bottle of water and poured 
it all over her!
Then he started caressing her. She knew 
what was coming but she would rather 
surrender that once and feign “good customer” 
than protest and get hypnotized!
She surrendered! 

The cleric bent her over and rammed her while she held on to the wall!
When he was done, he told her he had solved her problem!
He charged her twenty thousand Naira
She paid.
She thanked him and left gratefully!
She knew her problem was not solved.

Her problem had only made her vulnerable to vultures like the prophet and the cleric to feast on her dead flesh.
When she got home that day, she noticed that the problem had somehow increased
She started hearing voices speaking strange languages in her ears!
It was extremely strange and she felt she was going crazy!

She told a friend!
The friend gave her the phone number of the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
She met with him at his office.
She told him her story!
He told her he could not help her as long as what she wanted was a quick fix so that she could get back to her sinful life!
She got it!

She said she was ready to be set free and come out of the hell she was living in.
He led her to Christ!
He laid his hands on her and she got filled with the Holy Ghost.
She spoke in the tongues for several minutes!
Suddenly she saw herself stepping out of thick darkness into the light!

Wow!
It lasted for just a brief moment!
She felt the most awesome sensation ever all over her body!
She knew she had been set free.
When they finished praying, he told her to keep away from the lifestyle that had kept her in the valley of the shadow of death.
She said that lifestyle was over for her!
The nightmares stopped.
The feelings of frustration stopped.
The unexplainable tiredness from within her 
also stopped.
She faced her baking and tailoring business.
Three months later, she met a young man.
He was also a fashion designer.
They fell in love!
They dated for eight months.
She told him everything she had been 
through.
He was a believer.
He told her he would love her and treat 
old things as past!
They met with the Brother in Jeans and 
T-shirt.
He counseled then and blessed them
He proposed!
She said Yes!
They got married! 

Ps: There is always a chance to start 
all over!
The damage of yesterday would be totally 
wiped off and a new course would be set 
for you in Christ.
If you decide to delay it, it might be too late 
because death is part of the inheritance 
of mankind!
In Christ, there is no death! Only life!

In Christ, there is no past, only the future 
and the eternal.
In Christ, there is no oppression, only liberty!
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There is power in the blood of the lamb!
Hallelujah!

Events happened in Warri and Lagos!
2019 and 2020