The Edge of the Rainbow

He made a mistake at 30. A very costly, life changing error

He met a lady, they got talking

Within minutes, he knew she had a strong spiritual issue, the issue of "spirit husband"

He sensed a strange domineering spirit holding her bound

He asked her if she was aware of it, she said she was, that she had been to many places trying to get rid of it. She had been to prophets, spiritualists, and herbalists

She said she was given baths in rivers, she had done six spiritual divorces

She had travelled with her mother to places far and near in search of a solution

She said no matter where they went or what was done, this spirit would come back plunging her depths unrepentantly in the middle of the night

She said she started sleeping wearing tights and crossing her legs but it still didn't help

She said she was tired and had given up on living a normal life

He said she shouldn't worry; he was a minister of the gospel and he was anointed to make exploits

He invited her to his church, they had a three-day fasting and prayers

He declared her free and they parted ways

A month later, she called him out of the blue, "Hey, long time, I want to thank you for praying for me and helping me solve this issue once and for all.

Since we prayed, I have had no nocturnal visitations and I am able to sleep soundly without any strange dreams or signs now. God bless you. However, I still have an issue, no man has come around to ask me out or offer any form of friendship, do I have to do another special prayer for that? I am 28 and I am really trusting God to get married this year"

She lamented

When he read her message, his ego also read the message and interpreted it as, "You prayed for me and I only got a partial answer. Your God is not powerful enough to settle me completely."

He called her the following morning, they met and talked

He felt that since he was single and unattached and she was single and unattached they should then date each other

He would be solving the problem she was lamenting about and at the same time sealing the testimony once and for all

She agreed

When he broke the news to his relatives, they kicked against it

His older sister said it was a ridiculous way to start a relationship

His mother said, "Did you pray? What is the Holy Spirit saying?"

His father said, "Did you do any Investigations? Do you want me to do this at least so that we will know their antecedents?

He knew what his father would find, marriages were alien to her family

The last person who attempted to get married in her family was unsuccessful as the whole affair scattered right at the altar

It is either the husbands die early, or the marriages end up in tatters

But he was a born again Christian and so was she

He believed such a reality was alien to them

They began to date

He saw she was unaccommodating of anyone apart from her family members

She didn't like any of the neighbors, didn't have a good relationship with her co-workers in the office, didn't want anyone around him including his own people (Relatives and friends, etcetera)

She told him herself that she was extremely jealous and would do anything to protect her space from every form of invasion (Friendly or otherwise)

He should have bolted! He observed that her father was surrounded only by her mother's people

Her father's only younger sister who comes to their house had been labelled a witch and was always viewed with suspicion whenever she came around

Her father's other relatives were called all sorts of names from "Glory stealers", "Voodoo worshippers", "Fake Pastors", "Juju priests", to "Afflicters" etcetera

But her mother's people were good people, even though it was her mother's mother that took her mother to an herbalist when she couldn't conceive which led to the birth of her younger sister and a strange tree being planted in the compound that nobody dared to talk about or touch

Yet the demonized ones were her father's people?

He noticed how her mother had taken over the family affairs and turned the children against their father

She would report him to them and they would come at him unrepentantly in defense of their mother

He saw these things... Oh how he should have bolted! He kept saying, "Two born again Christians should be able to work things out according to the standards of Zion and not according to culture, tradition, whims of men and weaknesses of nature" etcetera

He talked himself into staying

Talked himself into staying daily

She started marriage class, he refused to start

Her father asked him why she was not pregnant yet, he said he was not that kind of Christian

Her father said he was not a man! He should have bolted!

The signs were obvious and the flags were bright red, but he stayed

He almost didn't go for his own wedding

His spirit was reluctant but he had given her his word

He didn't attend the engagement party at all

His wife to be cried and cried

He felt no remorse, only relief

Finally, they got married

Then she took over

It was like a joke

She shut down the ministry he had

She said it wasn't bringing in as much money as needed and he must get a job

Funny thing was, the job didn't bring in much money too but she was more comfortable with him having a secular job than being a Pastor

Then her father died and all his relatives that had been painted black showed up for the pre-burial plans

He met them and they were humane, warm, real and kind

They were not what had been depicted

He realised he had goofed

She was running on a template laid down by her mother

Soon, all his own relatives would be labelled witches, and jujumen and he would be as her father was to her mother, a side thing while she runs her matriarchal empire

He decided he wouldn't let that happen

He was not willing to die so young like her father so that she could establish a pattern set by the females before her

He wouldn't be a victim, so he resisted strongly

He began praying again, he resumed ministry against her will and he began to thrive

He started a church, she shut it down claiming a member of the choir was looking at him seductively

He started another, she shut it down because he dared greet a sister on a Sunday morning by saying, "Good morning ma, you look good."

She would taunt him with his call, "And you call yourself a pastor, a man of God, and yet you cannot provide for your family! You are worse than an infidel!"

She would insist he must not have or hold money, "When a man has money, he will begin to womanize. You don't need to be rich for us to be happy or for you to make a good husband."

It was too late to run by then, they already had a child

It was a mistake that had become a complication

The more she tried to establish her dominance over him, the more he resisted

He refused to be broken

The marriage was a battle ground

Wills and might clashing for fun

Many a wise man waded into the issue trying to settle them

A lot of water under the bridge but he was determined not to be muscled out of relevance in his own life

She banned his relatives from coming over to visit

He banned her relatives too

She viewed everything with suspicion

He simply prospered until there were too many things to suspect without going crazy

She didn't understand his prosperity

She would say, "How did you become rich? I don’t want anything to do with your money? How did you make it?"

He would say, "I have served you and diminished, now I am serving God and flourishing."

It was a mistake that could not be corrected

The level of strife and contention was outrageous

They had to consider the children and raising them in a good environment

Toxicity is a learned conditioning

It took years but at last the mistake was brought back to the city gate and addressed

She went her way, he went his way

It was a parting that warranted a thanksgiving service

She had attacked him physically on several occasions and he could have lost his life or sanity on at least one of those occasions

He survived

There were blessings to count and a future to count on

Glory be to God

PS: As I read, listened and pondered upon the story written above I came to one conclusion

Mistakes can be costly but they must be addressed and corrected

Don't leave them to fester or ignore them

As a leopard will never shed its spots, so will a wrong never make a right

If you find yourself wallowing in the consequences of a mistake, don’t give up

Fight, fight your way out of the miry clay

Pay the price, whatever it is apart from your life

Be free to fulfil your destiny

Grace is abounding towards you Hallelujah.

Ps of PS:

Thank you for the kind birthday messages and calls

I am helping out single parents and survivors of domestic violence in my own little way today

If you would like to join me, please send a DM

I have quite a number of them on my list and their stories are all special to me

-GSW-