So, This is Love? Final Episode 22 – Judith Onyoyibo
After Natasha was sent back home, things went south between myself and my husband’s family members.
My mother in-law rarely took my calls. All my husband’s sister’s ganged up against me.
I tried my best in avoiding them and to just focus solely on my marriage. I didn’t exchange words with them but rather, I treated them with respect.
So one morning, I had just walked my husband to the garage and bade him farewell for work. When I got into the house, my phone was ringing. The call was from an unknown number.
Reluctantly, I took the call. I didn’t say anything until the caller spoke.
“Janet, this is Mike”. The caller said.
My heart skipped for a moment. I readjusted myself on the couch.
“Why are you calling me after I’ve blocked your number for a year now”. I shouted.
“Please hear me out. I think I’m being hunted”. He blurted out unashamedly.
“How is that my business? Please go sort your life yourself and leave me alone”. I shouted.
“I know you are mad at me. I am even more mad at myself for losing you. Ever since you left me, nothing has ever made sense…”. He said and I quickly cut him short.
“What are you driving at with this silly talk of yours?”. I asked.
“I’m ready to make it up to you Janet. I’m willing to sacrifice my life inorder to make it up to you”. He pleaded.
I burst out into laughter. I wasn’t laughing because he was pleading. It was the sincerity in his voice that made everything funny to me.
“You know I am married to the best man in the whole world right?”. I asked.
“He can’t possibly be better than I was to you. We both loved each other. I can’t stop beating myself for messing everything up”. He said almost tearily.
“Mike, you’ve lost me for life and there’s nothing you can ever do to win me back. Please, don’t you ever call this line again”. I shouted and ended the call.
I was awe stricken the whole day. “This life is really funny”. I said to myself.
Later that evening, after dinner with my husband, I gisted him about Mike’s call. He couldn’t stop laughing.
“I knew he would come begging”. He said.
“How so?”. I asked.
“You are a good woman Janet. No man would ever lose you and not regret it”. My husband said.
“Awwww”. I blushed really hard.
“I’m not trying to flatter you. You carry so much grace that you extend it to the people you cherish. Ever since I met you, it has been from one blessing to the other. Thank God Mike left you if not, I wouldn’t have met you. I would have cried blóód”. He said and we both started laughing.
“I am glad he left me. I wouldn’t have known that marriage was meant to be enjoyed and not endured. I wouldn’t have met the most amazing man in the whole world”.
“Now, come to daddy”. He said stretching out his hands wide open.
I shyly crawled into his hands. Whenever I’m in my husband’s arms, I always feel like a baby 😁.
“Let’s listen to one of Joshua Selman’s messages”. My husband suggested.
“Something nice for this wonderful ambience” I giggled. “Which of his messages”.
“The title is, what is love?”. My husband said.
We sat quietly with my husband’s hands wrapped around my body and allowed the message of the anointed man of God penetrate into our souls and hearts.
“So many people mistake feelings for love. Feelings is only a mere temporary attachment to something. Little wonder the clothes you thought you “loved” years ago and bargained long and hard with the seller for, is now a rag in your home. Feelings can be deceptive and not an accurate measurement of love”. Apostle Selman said.
My husband and I nodded our heads in agreement.
The man of God went on and listed the four dimensions of love. That is, the length, breadth, depth and height of love.
“The first dimension of love is passion. Passion is the strong and extravagant fondness of someone or something. Your passion for a person is measured for your desire and enthusiasm for that person.
The second dimension is commitment. This is the state of being dedicated to someone. Commitment is an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action. When you love something or someone, you become extra committed to it.
The third dimension is pleasure. This is the delight and gratification derived from someone we love. If there’s no pleasure in what you are loving, you will feel cheated. If the person you love does not make you happy, then that’s not love. Pleasure can be sometimes seen as feelings. But when your whole definition of love is built around feelings and pleasure, you are doomed to get it wrong.
The fourth dimension is sacrifice. This is the act of giving up something you consider valuable for the sake or someone or something you love. Sacrifice talks of constraints, inconveniences and pains. You have to show what you are sacrificing for the person or thing you claim to love. If you are not sacrificing anything, then you don’t love that person.
If these four dimensions are not featured in what you call “love”, that means you are not getting it right”. The man of God said.
By the end of the message, I was already crying. I was crying because I didn’t really know what love was. What I thought was love was just a mere infatuation and lust. I also cried because even when I didn’t know what love was, God deemed it fit to bless me with a man who truly loved me.
We prayed and blessed God that night for blessing us with each other.
My husband and I continued to wax stronger in love.
The next year, fate smiled on Sandra and Lisa. They both gave birth the same month. Lisa gave birth to a boy while Sandra’s baby was a girl. I was so happy for my besties.
My husband and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary without a child.
I was scared and worried. My in-laws had already concluded that I had no womb. At a point, I became depressed but my husband was right beside me to cheer me up.
“God is the giver of children. He will give us one when the time is right. Even if he doesn’t give us one, he is still God and we can’t question him. We know he is faithful. We can’t rebel against him because he didn’t answer one of our prayers knowing fully well how merciful he has been towards us”. My husband encouraged.
I cheered up a bit but didn’t relent in prayers.
We celebrated our fourth anniversary and still, no child.
I was already 39yrs old then. At a point, I began to pity my husband. He was already 44yrs old. All his younger siblings are with kids. I was desperate to give my husband a child but my womb wasn’t cooperating.
I took it upon myself to visit the hospital at the beginning of every month and help clear the hospital bills of any woman who was finding it difficult to clear their bills after giving birth.
I did it for just two months and on the third month, I got pregnant.
My husband ran all over the whole house when I told him I was pregnant.
Few months later, we ran a scan and discovered I was pregnant with triplets. A whole 3 children. What God cannot do does not exist.
I was placed on bed rest almost the whole months of my pregnancy. It wasn’t easy.
I fell into labor one night. My husband and I already agreed on voluntary CS. Miraculously, immediately I was taken into the theater, my babies came down naturally, two boys and a girl. It wasn’t as painful as I thought.
It was jubilation upon jubilation.
They were dedicated on my 40th birthday. It was a total shutdown.
The biggest highlight of the day was my in-laws’ surprise visit to the celebration. My husband had cut them off because they wouldn’t stop hurling insults at me for not being pregnant. We were surprised to see them at the party.
They all apologized to my husband and I. I couldn’t stop crying. “Peace at last”.
I watched my children grow in the fear of the lord. Respectful and intelligent children. I look at them and wonder how I got lucky.
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was once lost but now I am found, was lost blind, but now I see”.
THE END!
What a ride! Thank y’all for reading my story 🎉🎉🎉
Written by Judith Onyoyibo
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