S.I.M.S Episode 32 – 33 by Opeyemi O. Akintunde

S.I.M.S Episode 32

( STEPPING INTO MAGGIE’S SHOE)
©️ Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

On Sunday after service, I walked up to Christabel’s Mum….

“Good afternoon ma” I said smiling.

“Pastor Happy, good afternoon. To what do I owe this special greeting?”

“I am sorry ma if I am disturbing, I just need sister Christabel’s number” I said.

“Why? My daughter is fine, you don’t need to call her” she said defiantly.
“Mum, I just have a little information for her, please ma…”

I pleaded for about 10 minutes before she finally agreed to give me.I went to my office and locked myself in.I dialed the number given to me and in just about 3 rings, she picked up…

“Hello, happy Sunday, who is speaking?” Christabel said with a very beautiful voice.

“Hi… Hi…” I suddenly lost my boldness, but I knew it was then or never…

“Hello… Hello” she said.

“Hi, Christabel, this is Sister Happy from Nigeria, Apostle Ray’s new wife” I introduced myself.

“Wow, Pastor Happy, good afternoon sis. I believe you should be in the afternoon over there in Nigeria…” she said laughing heartily.

“So good to hear your voice after so long and congratulations on being the new Mummy General Overseer, can you imagine Nneka and I fighting over what God had chosen you for?” she said laughing.

“It is well, thank you” I said as I realized Christabel was making this confession a hard one…

“So to what do I owe this call, Sis Happy? Sorry it ought to Pastor Happy now!” she asked with laughter.

I told her about my medical condition as regards bipolar and psychosis. I explained that it drove me to do crazy things, which pouring acid on her face was one of the things I did in the past.

Christabel was quiet but later regained her voice…

“You mean you are the one who did that and not Nneka?”

“Yes…! I am sorry, I did it out of ignorance and most importantly I let my bipolar and psychosis take control of me… I am really sorry… I know sorry doesn’t do justice to what I did, but I feel I should let you know so I can be free of the guilt I carry about… I don’t know if what I am doing is right but…”

There was a brief moment of silence as neither of us had nothing to say…, but Christabel broke the silence…

“It is ok, Pastor Happy, you were just faster than I was. This shows that we all are sinners and it’s only the knowledge of God that can help us and save us from evil. Do you know that I had paid to have Nneka assassinated before the acid incident? The hit man was supposed to eliminate her the day after the acid encounter, but they couldn’t find her because she was in police custody. So you see that we were the same back then. I hold nothing against you, because as we speak I am a better person. The months I spent in the hospital gave me time to dwell in the presence of God. All this while, I had been a fake Christian, going to church to show off my beautiful face, my designer shoe and bag, but now all that is in the past… I cannot even see all those things now… Do you know I am now blind…?” Christabel said.

I felt like something hit me on the chest.

“Blind…? What do you mean blind?” and right there my tears came pouring down.

“Yes!, the acid destroyed my eyesight.”

“Noooooooo” I screamed and the phone dropped from my hands, as I looked at what I had cost Christabel because of the desire to step into Pastor Maggie’s shoe that was not really worth it.

I cried and cried in my office, I didn’t know where to start, my phone kept ringing but I was too overwhelmed to pick up. It was Christabel’s number that was calling back. I deemed it fit to pick up.

“I am sorry, I didn’t know the extent of the damage I caused…”

“It’s ok, God has written a better story out of this disaster of mine, that’s why I called you back, I will be getting married next month. I met my husband at the hospital where I did my face reconstruction, he is a doctor. He helped me regain my confidence and love for God. God has dealt with me better than I deserve. Pastor Happy, nurture the ministry God has placed in your hands, you may have walked your way to that position but one thing I want you to know is God permitted it for His Glory, so don’t disappoint God.”

I spoke to Christabel’s fiancé who was seated beside her. He was a soft spoken person and obviously a child of God, because it was perceivable in his words.

I was free of my guilt. At this point, I didn’t care if Chaba wanted to tell the world about it. I knew the scandal would be too much to bear. People would call me names, but I was ready for it. I was ready to face the consequences of my actions, but I said a short prayer…

“Lord, I know you are the one who has the heart of the kings in your hands, you can turn it in whatever direction it pleases you, please touch Chaba’s heart not to make this public, not for my sake alone but for the sake of the body of Christ. If this goes out, people will say a lot of things against Christianity. People will judge other Christians by my past action and generalize this… Please ABBA Father, Ancient of days who can go in time to wipe out our errors, go back in time and erase this error from Chaba’s memory in Jesus’ name.”

The next morning, Apostle got a phone call from the church that he was urgently needed in the church, that Chaba was around and she was acting strange…

S.I.M.S Episode 33

( STEPPING INTO MAGGIE’S SHOE)
©️Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

“Strange? What do you mean?” I asked Apostle after he dropped the call.

“I don’t know, but I hope she is not talking about Christabel’s case.”

“Well, let me go with you, it’s my matter, let me face it.”

“The triplets?”

“I will take them with us, but drop them off at Kike’s place.”

Kike my friend was living close to the church. We went to the church after dropping the triplets off and just as we had been informed, Chaba was around but she was looking lost like she was trying hard to remember something…

“Apostle” she ran towards him.

“Chaba, what is wrong? What are you doing here? You didn’t inform us you were coming!” Apostle said.

“Apostle, I knew I left South Africa to come to Nigeria for a purpose, like I have something I came here to do, but the moment I got to Nigeria, I have been trying so hard to remember what it is, but I can’t… it‘s like someone just wiped it off my memory…” Chaba said.

From where I stood, I had tears flowing down my eyes, because I knew this was God at work. I became hysterical, laughing and crying at the same time, the Ancient of days had wiped my scandal from her memory. She couldn’t remember anything…

“Where is your wife? I don’t think I have met her before, I have just seen her on screen.”

Apostle was confused at this point, he felt Chaba was being dramatic…

“Chaba, stop this and tell me exactly why you came here.”

“I am serious, I cannot remember.”

“Are you saying you don’t remember meeting Happy before?”

“No…”

I moved close to Chaba and offered her a handshake…

“Good afternoon Sis Chaba, it’s a pleasure meeting you!”

“Oh my goodness, you are so beautiful in person, my goodness! Apostle you have a beautiful wife, you see I told you, I told you months back, you will find a good wife” Chaba said hugging me tightly.

Apostle was very speechless.

Chaba told us she was returning the next day as she couldn’t remember her purpose of coming to Nigeria. Apostle told one of the pastors to lodge her in a hotel for the night.

On our way back home after we picked up the triplets, Ray kept looking at me without saying a word, but when we got home, he came into my room and sat on my bed for the first time…

“What did you do?” He asked looking at me “Chaba doesn’t remember anything, she spoke like she only remembered my friendship with her before I even proposed marriage to her.”

“I prayed, and I never thought that God could answer in that way…, but that shows that God can wipe our errors no matter how many they are.”

“Do you think mine can be erased?” Ray asked innocently…

“He has done that already Ray, we have prayed for mercy and I believe God has forgiven you, because our God is a God of mercy, who, as long as we acknowledge our sins, is ever ready to forgive and erase our errors from His memory… Just like He did show us with Chaba, He forgives and forgets…”

“Hmmm… but we are yet to find out what I did that made God to be displeased with me, which gave the devil the legal ground to keep me in this prison of sexual immorality.”

“We can find out if we persist” I said.

“How?” Apostle asked innocently.

“By praying just this one prayer point!”

“Which is?”

“Oh lord show me the secret behind the problem of my life and the way out in Jesus Christ’s name”

Apostle and I prayed this single prayer for about two hours nonstop and the result was amazing…

When the Lord revealed the source of Apostle’s problem, we knew it was only God that could have revealed it and it kept us in awe of God….

What was the problem?

Drop your comment