The Presence
He never knew his parents
He grew up in an orphanage
Always feeling rather unloved and unwanted
The feeling was by no means a fault of the orphanage
He was loved and cared for as much as they could
But he was in a herd
Not in a home
Not with his parents!
There was nothing he wouldn’t give to live with his own parents
Or even with an adopted parent
But he was never favoured for adoption
He was very short, fat and totally undesirable
If he was a prospective adopter, he wouldn’t adopt himself!
Yet he dreamt and prayed
That his parents would come looking for him or he would get adopted
There are so many things a parent does in one’s life that those blessed with parents take for granted
One of such is a sense of identity
And a sense of belonging
You know you have a right to be in that family
You trace your own family tree
You know who your parents, grandparents and great grandparents are
You hear stories and tell stories
You get entrenched into the family nous
You have cousins, second cousins, distant cousins, uncles, aunties
You are a strong part of a chain
Without you the chain is incomplete
But not so for an orphan
You are a single leaf at the mercy of the wind
You are not even sure your own name is your name
Sometimes you wonder whether someone came to drop you off at the orphanage with an imaginary name
Or like Nelson Mandela, you were brought in on a day when all the children were named after a particular alphabet
You cannot tell if the circumstances surrounding your birth was healthy or unhealthy
You were just here
Unloved, unwanted, alone and on your own
You cannot look forward to a future of normalcy
When you marry, your parents won’t be there
You have to tell whosoever you were marrying that you have nobody
Your in-laws would be skeptical
Why was it you don’t have a family history?
Your spouse wouldn’t have anybody to talk to when you misbehave
Nobody will have your back when push comes to shove
Forget it, you cannot have a normal life
You are only better than the dead and the homeless
At least you have a roof over your head and you are safe
Also your parents don’t need to worry about your feeding and school fees
You are the property of a societal conscience scheme
What a life!
His disdain for his circumstances ran really deep
But nobody knew
He kept a smiley face and a cheerful disposition
He had learnt to mask his inadequacies
Pretend all was well with the world
Smile at the right people, laugh at the right jokes
But alone in the night or with his thoughts
The sinking sand would return
The façade would melt
He would drown in a cesspool of fear and uncertainty!
It affected his social skills
Why would anybody want him?
He was either over loving somebody and becoming a pest
Or under-loving somebody and becoming a jerk
He was prone to jealousy
He sought attention like his life depended on it
He had deep psychological issues
All he could do was cope like anybody else
He got into the university
Some campus fellowship representatives approached him
Helped him with his registration
Helped him settle in
They invited him for their programme
He attended
He was no alien to the Jesus thing
His orphanage was an offshoot of a church
He could preach better sermons than their preacher
The preacher finished his sermon
Invited a brother to lead prayers for fifteen minutes
The brother got on the altar
Everything changed
There was something alluring about him
He didn’t dress like their fellowship leaders
He wore a pair of jeans and a T-shirt
He lifted up his arms
Asked them all to do the same
He raised a song
“Your presence is heaven to me”
The presence yielded
He had never experienced anything like it
With his arms raised and his eyes wide open
The tears started streaming from his soul
Slowly at first and then it gushed!
The man in Jeans and T-Shirt started worshipping the Lord
Calling him by intimate names
It was not the words, he had heard them before a million times
It was the words from his lips
The way he addressed God!
He knew God!
Whoa!
The Holy Spirit tore the room into pieces
Fire ignited in their bones
It was not just him
It was everybody
He gave his life to Jesus right there
No altar call, no fanfare
He started speaking in tongues too
Right there and then
The atmosphere within his soul changed totally
He was set free within himself
He felt the love and the touch of God
He was no longer an orphan
He didn’t know how
Something fundamental had happened
His core was replaced
He went into that service within himself
He left that service without himself
He went into that meeting a timid bat
He left that meeting an eagle
It was such a joyous transformation
He was loved!
He was special!
Jesus changed his life forever
Hallelujah!!!
PS: There is nothing like knowing the Lord Jesus
Ask Jesus to come into your heart right now as you read this
He is there with you, waiting for your invitation, let him in
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