SARÉ by Olowojesiku Deborah Iyanu
Episode 10
It was later I got to know that Kike had been coming to our house for a long period. She would prepare Gbenga’s meal and also satisfy his sexual desires before leaving. At that moment, I felt numb, I didn’t know whether to fight Kike or act like she doesn’t exist. I suddenly began to wish I didn’t get married to him but my wishes could no longer do anything.
I went back into the room to cry, of a truth, I was exhausted, I was tired of making foolish mistakes. While on my bed, I cried to God asking Him to take over the ship of my life and for the first time in my life, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. I have been hearing people talk about how the Holy Spirit had been speaking to them and directing their path but I believed it to be a fallacy.
Holy Spirit: Why do you decide to carry a burden that is more than you when your Heavenly Father is ready to carry it for you?
Me: What??
Holy Spirit: He has been calling out to you but you keep running away, your Heavenly Father is very much interested in you, He wants to give you beauty for ashes but you keep standing in the way.
Me: How have I been running?
Holy Spirit: Surrender your heart to Him, Give Him your life. Going to church isn’t the same as surrendering all to God. The truth is that you can’t do life on your own, you will keep making costly mistakes. Turn to Him today and experience all round peace.
Right on my bed, I began to call on to God with tears falling from my eyes, I told Him to take my heart, I confessed my sins, and dedicated my life to Him. That night was the beginning of something beautiful in my life, I had a peace that superseded all understanding. I slept like a baby. The following morning, a gentle whisper from the Holy Spirit woke me up and directed me to read my Bible and pray. After reading the Bible, this gentle voice which happens to be the voice of the Holy Spirit told me I would get all round settlement if I began to work for God.
For almost one hour that morning, the Holy Spirit kept on talking to me. It was that day I realized that I had a ministry and when I asked how I would go about it, He made me realize that there is a place of preparation. I was to fast and pray every day till I get a further lead from God. Fasting wasn’t funny as I hadly engaged in it but God’s grace saw me through.
To further taunt me, Kike moved fully into our house, she behaved like the wife of the house. It sometimes gets to me but the Holy Spirit was always consoling me and another thing I discovered was that, the more I fasted, the softer I became. Despite all Gbenga and Kike were doing to me, I was able to overlook it. I focused on my business and within three months, I established another branch. Managing the two offices was stressful and demanding so, I had little or no time for Gbenga and his mistress nonsense.
I lost my temper one evening when I returned home only to meet my things in the guest room. If my things were well arranged, maybe I wouldn’t have lost my temper. My expensive clothes were thrown on the ground in the guest room and trampled upon. In anger, I went into the masters bedroom where I met Kike trying to tie her hair. I pulled her by her and threw her to the ground then sat on her. I could hear the Holy Spirit trying to calm me down but I was deaf. I beat the hell out of Kike before leaving her alone.
Gbenga came back some minutes later and met her unconscious, he rushed her to the hospital and came back to tell me that she lost their baby. He tried to beat me but stopped when he saw me with a knife. God knows I was ready to stab him. After Kike recovered, she broke up with Gbenga and relocated, I guess the senior Pastor got wind of their ungodly relationship and ask Kike to leave to protect the image of the church.
I thought Kike’s absence will bring Gbenga to his senses but he became worst. It was obvious he wasn’t pleased with the decision of the senior Pastor but there was nothing he could do about it. Gbenage left single ladies and began to sleep with married women in the church. In truth, a bad marriage will destroy those in it except for God’s intervention. Gbenga would bring those women into the house not caring about me. Well, I had started to get used to his wayward lifestyle but what baffled me was Gbenga’s claim of being a virgin before he got married.
I was at work one afternoon when a young lady ran into my office. She was breathless by the time she got to me, after catching her breath, she explained to me that Gbenga was stuck to a married woman. She went on to tell me that he came to her house in the name of counseling and praying for her but in the end, laid with her without knowing that the woman’s husband had placed a charm on his wife after suspecting that she wasn’t faithful.
I went numb at that moment, I was afraid of what would happen next. I gathered the remaining courage in me and went with the lady only to discover the woman to be Deaconess Solape, the head of Bible study in our church. By the time I got there, people were already there, some took pictures, made videos, and sending to social media. It was a heartbreaking situation.
Some people suggest we take Gbenga and the Deaconess to an herbalist who can release them but the Deaconess’s husband came out with a cutlass threatening to cut off the right hand of anyone who tries to take them anywhere. Where I sat on the ground weeping, I called Gbenga’s family informing them of what had happened. The first thing his sister said to me shocked me.
Sister Joke: Hmmm, so becoming a pastor didn’t stop Gbenga from sleeping with people’s wives. I thought he had been changed by God.
Me: Haaa but he told me he was a virgin.
Sister Joke: Virgin ke? Gbenga impregnated three ladies at once, two of the ladies later aborted it, and the child of the one that refused to abort is living with my mother.
Me: Jesus! What kind of man did I get myself entangled with?
Sister Joke: Our wife, I can’t come there, the shame would be too much and I don’t want to be part of it. Let him face the consequences of his actions.
Me: Hmmmm.
I ended the call and went back to the scene only to meet Deaconess lifeless. I went to her husband kneeling and pleading to let my husband go but he threatened to cut me into pieces. Two hours later, Gbenga died after asking God for forgiveness just as I advised.
To be continued.
