MaiMuna..

Her biological father died when she was nine

Her mother had died giving birth to her

She found herself at the mercy of relatives from such a tender age

She would be shipped off to live with this aunty this year and then to live with that aunty the next year

Her living conditions got worse as she grew older

As a young girl, she was made to do a lot of house chores in exchange for her feeding and boarding

She wouldn’t have known she was being maltreated if the relative she was living with at the time had been giving their own children the same treatment they were giving her

She was always dressed in rags

Made to sleep on mats in the corridor or sitting room after others had gone to sleep

Talked and looked down on

And she dared not cry or look sorrowful

They would remind her that she was the one who was unfortunate enough to lose both her parents due to her bad destiny

She reminded them of their losses and their pains

She knew she was a burden nobody wanted, a pain nobody loved

At twelve another chapter of her misery opened

The men around her took notice of her budding womanhood

Her cousins began experimenting sexually and she was the perfect specimen

Helpless, hopeless with nobody to report to

She would suddenly feel cold hands feeling her up in the pitch darkness of the night

This was what she told the pastor of their church

She was tired of fighting off all sorts of hands groping her at night and she knew it was only a matter of time before the person grew confident enough to rape her or for her to give in and have sex with whoever pushed furthest

After that, she would become open season for everybody and her life would be ruined

The pastor listened carefully and made a decision she didn’t expect

He invited her guardians to his office and informed them that the church would be taking over her care and she would be placed in the church-owned school which has a boarding facility with immediate effect

She didn’t go home with them that day

They were ordered to bring her personal effects to the mission house with immediate effect

The Pastor handled it so well

He did not mention any of her complaints to her relatives

He just thanked them for their efforts in raising her and told them that because she was an orphan the church had decided to take on the burden of raising her

Her aunt and uncle were grateful

She was a burden they were glad to be rid of

The boarding school was a breath of fresh air for her

She was 12 when she got into JSS 1 but it didn’t matter

She was free to study and make new friends

She found herself feeling loved for the first time

Her holidays were spent with the pastor’s family

He had four children of his own and five adopted children who like her were wards of the church

They all lived in the mission house and we’re treated as equals

His wife was a matron with one of the big hospitals and would assign chores to every one of them on a chores board behind the kitchen door every morning before going out

She was respected and treated with dignity

In return she was always on her best behaviour, she did not want to be returned to the jackals waiting to tear her to pieces

She did her chores, faced her studies, and shone brightly

Time flew with her on its wings and within a short time she was in the university studying law

She was one of the brightest stars the faculty of law had ever seen

She was determined to make something great of her life

She studied all the time, and pushed herself relentlessly

She was preparing for her year three examination when lecturers downed tools for issues relating to their bonuses and remunerations

The Pastor told all those affected by the Strike action to use the time lag to acquire a skill

She chose to learn computer appreciation at one of the computer training centers close to the University

That was where she met them

Three other girls and a guy who changed the course of her life

They were from a very rich background

A driver brought them to the center and picked them up after

Sometimes they drove themselves

They talked rich, smelled rich, packed rich people’s lunches, and had a lot of money to spend

She was eager to be their friend, to please

They invited her to their house and sometimes they would all skip their computer studies altogether to go watch movies or lounge in their father’s house

Within a month, she was sleeping with the guy

She thought it was a relationship until other friends of theirs started joining them and the parties became wild

From sex to orgies to alcohol

Sometimes she wouldn’t even know who slept with her among the lot or how many she slept with in the course of the day

Whenever she got home, she would spend hours in the showers trying to wash the dirt she felt all over her away

She just didn’t have the will to say no

She knew she was not dating any of the guys, it was just sex and fun

She knew she should stop but the alternative was to return to her boring and drab life of black and white

She liked the colours, not the role she was playing in them but the company and all the things she was seeing that she knew she would have never seen without the guys

She got pregnant

She caught it on time and got rid of it

It gave her perspective

She knew she had gone way too far off course

She was thinking of how to sever ties with the guys when ASUU called off the strike

She returned to school after the wild 10-month break

She put her head down and faced her studies

She cut off all ties with the guys as if they never existed

She graduated with a first-class

She was given automatic employment

She had her NYSC with the company that employed her

Her first suitor popped up out of nowhere

She didn’t like him

He was followed by several others

She found a way to dismiss all of them

She was scared of getting married or having a long-term relationship

She was afraid of the skeletons in her closet

She was afraid of the impact of the abortion

She was afraid her perfect cover would be blown if she allowed anyone to get close enough to be intimate with her

She loved weddings, and attended many but never saw herself having one

Every time she told herself, “I will give it a go” especially if she liked the guy asking her out

As soon as she agrees to go into the relationship she would lose her peace and start having this sinking feeling under her feet

It was a battle she didn’t win for twenty years

Then she went to France to an International Lawyer’s conference and met this guy at the registration desk

He was 37, and to her (She was rarely ever wrong as she is a proud judge of people’s character) he was cavalier, offish, snobbish, self-absorbed, rude, proud, and arrogant

The kind of guy you would break his heart and not feel sorry one bit for or feel sorry for yourself for letting him go

He was addressing one of the ushers in a condescending manner she knew and loathed so much

She would have ignored him altogether but he was the only other Nigerian at the meeting that she knew of

She had missed a session due to flight issues

She approached him to ask if he had the material

He told her he would give her if she would have a drink with him at the end of the day’s business

She agreed

They went for the drink and it was as if he had a finger in her brain somewhere tinkering with all the wrong hormones

Just looking at him, she felt flushed

His hand touched hers and her knees were caving

It was pure animal magnetism, chemistry in it’s purest form

She did not attend any other session of the conference and neither did he

They spent the whole week together

When the conference was over, they both refused to sign out of the hotel for eleven days

Neither wanted to say goodbye

He proposed on the 12th day

She said yes and they got married that same day

They both returned to Nigeria on the same flight

He was based in Abuja and she relocated to Abuja with him

She had her first child in 2020

They named her MaryAnn, she was born blind

In 2021, GSWMI went to Abuja for the Gathering

She came with her husband, and they brought MaryAnn

Brother Gbenga prayed with them

She and her husband gave their lives to Christ and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit

MaryAnn began to see two weeks later as prophesied while they were praying

Early this morning, she delivered her second baby at the age of 44

A bouncing baby boy in Manhattan, New York

Her husband and MaryAnn are with her

She sings and shouts about the faithfulness of God

PS: Sister Memunah’s story is one of many

None of us could boast of having a productive life outside of Christ

Good behavior is fine but it is not evidence of Christ in a man or a woman

Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good

He came to make dead people live

He said he came that we may have life, the abundant life

We were once dead in our trespasses but today in Christ we are life-giving spirits

It is not too late to make right the course of your life

And turn from certain destruction to eternal joy

Jesus is the key to the fulfillment you are looking for

Turn to Jesus today.

We will be in Abuja from the 17th till the 20th of November 2023

We are naming miracle babies on Friday, breaking bread at The Gathering (9:00am) and solemnizing a marriage on Saturday, and Having a Worship session at The Flight on Sunday!

It will be a weekend of the miraculous on every side, please plan and join us

-GSW-