” THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401″

PART 1

“I was at that point in my music career when my voice was the hit… I was a Gospel Musician but with a very unique voice and style of music…. Larry was my keyboardist, He was divinely anointed to play the Keyboard . He was married and I was too…. He just knew how to play the right tune…. He gave my music it’s style… Our families knew each other well, my husband never saw him as a threat, and neither did his wife have a problem with us travelling around for sold out shows…. He was the instrument, I was the voice… A match ordained by God to bless lives…. Emotions started getting into the way, I started seeing ways in which he was better than my husband. He started seeing how we fit each other perfectly… We couldn’t help each other as sometimes we would shed tears of wishing we were married to each other… If we were married, we would be a couple doing great exploits for the LORD… Sometimes I felt like hugging him so tight and it took strong will not to touch his soft lips… He sometimes would give me a big hug after our show, onlookers thought it was just a professional hug, but he would whisper ” I love you more than anything In this world, I wish you were mine” It was genuine, I loved him and He loved me… But we were married to other people ! Before I go on in my tale, what do you think I should have done?… if you were in my shoes, What would you have done???? I need your genuine answers….

PART 2

“I read through all the comments people dropped yesterday after reading a part of my story, and I thought to myself ” It is Easier said and advised than done”… I wish all the spiritual folks who read my story knew what I was faced with, it was a situation of being caught between Pharaoh and the “red sea”… I was in a marriage where circumstances beyond my control was the basis for the marriage. I married my husband at the age of 19 as a way out of poverty to take care of my Single Diabetic mother and my three younger sisters…So to be honest, I had never being in Love in my life till I met Larry, my keyboardist… Even God knew this was the first time I had ever felt the thing called ” LOVE”….Point of correction, it wasn’t lust, I felt LOVE…the love that tore at my heart….Love that made me happy but yet couldn’t be expressed. This made me lose weight. I tried to back off, look for another keyboardist But…. Unfortunately for me, Larry was the kind of man I wanted, He was spiritual( He was full of the Word of God,we prayed for hours together), He was musically inclined, He knew how to make me laugh till I had tears in my eyes, something my husband never achieved for years of being married. I faked my happiness, and the only thing that ever made me smile was my MUSIC… And Larry was in my Music… My in-laws did not make matters easy, as Daniel and I were not from the same tribe, my husband was Igbo, and the fact I was Yoruba was not acceptable…, I always felt misplaced, But Larry, my keyboardist was from my tribe, and this made us jell well.. Then, there is something I haven’t mentioned, My husband Daniel had been declared Medically infertile, he had what was called ” NO SPERM count”….but Larry, my keyboardist was so fertile he had 4 girls and 2 boys with his wife… Now do you see why, I wept on nights when I wished I was married to Larry…. Before I go on in my tale, Was I wrong to have had this thoughts, and wish?….I need your sincere answers….

PART 3

Funny Enough… That day started as a normal day. I had been invited to minister in Kenya. Larry, my Keyboardist went with me as usual. The ministration was powerful.. I retired to my room, Room 401 to have my rest, when Larry called me .. ” Grace, I am bored… Can I come over”..Those were the words that landed my back on the bed… Larry came and from emotional talks, we graduated to appreciating each other’s body… “Grace, do you know you have the cutest lips ever, they are so small but beautiful no wonder , it produces sweet Melody… ” That gave way to kisses… In thirty something minutes, the predicted had happened, Larry had done what he wanted to do and seriously speaking, it wasn’t exceptional. In fact, my husband was better…. Right from that moment, regret set in, self condemnation set in.. Instantly, I had a feeling something left me… With tears in my eyes for disappointing God, I asked Larry to please excuse me…. Words failed me, as I couldn’t pray to ask God for forgiveness… The words were too heavy, all I did that night was shed tears. My husband kept calling like he suspected something… ” Honey, are you OK? I am having that feeling when something is wrong with you …You know that sharp pain in my heart… ” All I did was cry… “My Grace”…He never called me Grace, but “My Grace” ” My Grace, was your ministration bad, You didn’t do well?… Answer me please”…I heard real love speaking to me, and for the first time, I felt LOVE for my husband, but I knew this love had been injured… He promised he was coming to Kenya the next morning to give me moral support for the second day of the ministration… I slept off in tears but woke up panting…. I had a Dream… I saw myself with a heavy mass of hair on my head, my hair in the dream was so long, it drew attention to me … Suddenly, I saw Larry with a big gardener’s scissor. He chopped off my hair till I became bald.. I did not understand the meaning of this dream, but I kept it a secret…. Two months later, I discovered I was pregnant for Larry…. Did my dream have anything to do with this pregnancy? Should I have been happy or sad about this pregnancy, since I had been barren for 12 years? These were the questions that haunted me… Please can you answer them before I continue my tale…

PART 4

My Husband grabbed his chest in surprise and shock, but with a smile, when the doctor told him I was two months gone… Obviously, He thought the baby was his, it could never have crossed his mind that I had sexual intercourse with Larry… My husband was on cloud nine, praising God as he drove from the hospital. My conscience told me I was doing something wrong… Just at that moment, the last person I expected to hear from called my line…. I refused to pick up. Daniel noticed, he picked it up instead and said in excitement… ” Hey, Brother Larry, my wife can not pick up right now, she is in shock ooo, me sef…., where are you, there is good news…” I gave Daniel a surprising look and I shook my head in the negative but Daniel kept ranting… ” We are coming over to the Church as well, for me personally to roll in front of the altar, we will see there… ” Daniel had tears of Joy rolling down his face as he kept saying ” Thank you Jesus, Thank you for producing a baby out of NO Sperm count… Thank you Lord… Please make the baby a girl, I want her to be just like her mother… Just like Grace… a woman who loves God….” ” Do we have to tell Larry, let’s keep it between us” I said ” Not Larry, he has been a good friend to us, encouraging and praying for you… You know we also need to inform him so as to help me keep watch over you, when you go for your ministrations…. “Daniel kept ranting on.. I felt I was going to explode, my tears kept flowing and at the same time anxiety of seeing Larry was driving me crazy. I didn’t even realise we were in church, but Daniel jumped down from the vehicle and ran towards Larry. He gave him a big Embrace, and whispered something in his ears, I saw instant shock on Larry’s face as his body stiffened In Daniel’s embrace. Larry gave a big smile to cover up, and congratulated Daniel, In fact he knelt on the floor praising God when he said ” Thank you for doing this for me, you know how much I have longed for this”… He stood up and walked towards me, while Daniel kept rolling in front of the altar, Larry gave me a sisterly hug and whispered… ” I am thanking God for doing this for me, because you and I know This baby is mine.. I gave you the baby, you and your husband have been looking for… For me to keep quiet, you need to repay me…. I love you” Daniel came to join the hug… If I didn’t know any better I would have said we looked like a happy bunch… I couldn’t sleep as the thought of aborting the pregnancy was all I could think of.. When Daniel finally fell asleep, I literally crawled into the kitchen and I squeezed 5 Big lime and gulped it down…. I walked back into the room, waiting for the blood to flow out, but I found Daniel on the floor with his hand on his right chest and my phone on the floor beside him… He had tears flowing down his face….. As I rushed to help him, I noticed my phone screen was bright… I checked to see why… Larry had sent a text ” On a second thought I want my baby, don’t you think it is high time, we killed your husband and make you mine…” I couldn’t read the text to the end…. As I summed it up… Daniel because of his hypertensive nature must have read the text and went into shock…. Different thoughts flooded my heart…. First, I thought of leaving him to die, to cover my sin… I was crying so hard, I couldn’t breathe… If he died, I would just tell the lie he died in his sleep. I will abort the pregnancy and start my life all over…. Secondly, I thought of helping him, but if he survived, there would be an automatic divorce… Please tell me, Dear readers , At this point, what do you think would have been my best option? Please tell me before I continue my tale…

PART 5

I sat in that position for over 7 mins analyzing what my best option was. With hands like Jelly, I picked up my phone and I found myself dialing Larry’s number. That was the only person I could think of calling. It rang just twice… ” So?” What is your conclusion…. ?”. He said with the most emotionless voice I have ever heard from his mouth… ” Daniel is dying” I summoned all the strength to say it… ” You did it?… what did you use? Rat poison?… I knew you could do it, I will be on my way right now, to help you finish it up… We will make His death clean without implicating you…. ” I couldn’t believe the words pouring out of his mouth and for the first time it seem like I saw who Larry was… He was the devil sent to finish me… The love I felt for him suddenly became hatred and fear… Larry’s place was just 10 minutes drive from my place. It suddenly hit me, Larry was on his way to kill Daniel… Was that what I wanted?… I think I must have heard the Holy Spirit, because ever since that night in Room 401, the voice of the Holy Spirit was far… I heard ” Get Daniel out of here fast”…How was I going to get my big sized husband out of this house… ? At this point… I was not sure I could drive…. My legs felt like Iron… I decided to call our doctor to send the ambulance, which I did, but he told me it would take about 25 mins because of the distance… As I rounded up the call with my doctor, I heard the banging of the gate… I froze… Larry was around already? … I curled up beside Daniel saying the only prayer that I could utter… ” God, please don’t let Daniel die…please send Larry away ” My phone started ringing, I didn’t have to check the screen to know who it was… Suddenly, the banging stopped, I heaved a sigh of relief. Larry was gone…. Or so I thought until I heard a loud thud, Larry had jumped the fence into the compound… Oh my, there was no stopping him.. As a close family friend, he knew our emergency entrance into the house through the roof… Larry was going to kill Daniel… I sat down defeated on the floor, as I heard his footsteps on the roof, …The door… Yes!… The door to the room. I jumped up and locked the bedroom door. Larry got into the house and was calling my name in the most loving way I have ever heard… ” Grace… Bae….Where are you?…I know You are scared…We can handle this together… Sometimes bad things have to happen to others, for us to be happy” By this time, he was at the door of the bedroom… ” Open Grace…Let’s do this before the day breaks.. You know I love you baby, this is for us, When we are done with this, I will divorce my wife, so we can be together… ” I didn’t move an inch… I sat beside Daniel who was already in a coma, as I kept checking if he was breathing… ” Larry, please leave me, I don’t love you any more” I said with the little strength in me… My eyes were gushing out tears on its own accord… ” No you do, You love me and I love you… you are just stressed up”… He said trying to convince me… ” Larry you are destroying me, Is that what you came for?…I thought you came to help my music, but my music does not mean anything to me any more… , If you want to finish me, please do, not my husband, he is a Good man… ” I cried bitterly ” I love you, is that a crime, we are soul mates, if you had not married early, may we would be married ” Larry was saying using his sweet cajoling voice, but I noticed Larry was moving around as he spoke… I didn’t understand why until I saw the door knob moving… He was obviously trying to break in with a knife or something… Larry was going to kill Daniel …. Just then a Miracle happened… We heard the siren of the ambulance… ” You called the police on me, Grace? ” Larry asked with disbelief ” NO…I mean it is… ” I tried explaining it was an ambulance, but them it hit me… This was the way out… Larry thought the ambulance was the police, this was the best opportunity … I didn’t utter any more word… Larry got furious… ” Grace you are going to pay for this, You called the police on me? ” He left the door, opened the Back door of the kitchen and jumped out through the fence… With shaky hands and feet, I went out to open the gate for the ambulance. We got to the hospital in time… But it was too late… Daniel was already a vegetable….Alive but no more active… My one night of adultery was giving way to more than I bargained for… I had two problems now… First, What do I tell my Igbo in-laws….? Secondly, I have to face Larry ‘s wrath…, Larry, the handsome devil I thought I knew before, at that moment I didn’t know what he was capable of doing next… Before I continue my tale, which actually just started, do you have any comments for me?

PART 6

” What exactly prompted this attack, could it have been the news of the pregnancy..Maybe the excitement was too much for his fragile heart? ” Doctor Jack asked me… ” Exactly.. He doesn’t want the pregnancy ” I summoned all confidence to say ” What?, You both have been looking for the fruit of the womb for 12 years, what do you mean your husband doesn’t want the pregnancy, is he not the father of the child?….You of all people can never sleep with another man… ” Doctor Jack said with so much trust in me… I wouldn’t blame him, no one would have Imagined that the Anointed Singer Grace committed Adultery and has a child out of marriage…. I had to cook up something…. ” Doctor Jack, it’s beyond the ordinary… This is a secret between my husband and I, I shouldn’t be telling you this but I believe you can be of help” I said convincingly “Okay? How? “…He asked with a look of uncertainty ” My Mother In law is in a secret society, which she forced my husband into. The secret society gave my husband the wealth he has, but with a condition. He must never have children… It was said that the day I give birth, he will die. I have always thought it was just superstition ,but seeing the reality, I know it is not joke… ” What?. What are you saying? . Bro Daniel is in a secret cult? ” I nodded, as I began to fear who I was turning into, a Big time liar but I had a plan… “So doctor, we need to act fast, get rid of the pregnancy I am carrying so that my husband can live? ” Jesus! God forbid… I don’t believe you are the one saying this…You are a woman of God… and besides, my faith does not permit me to abort, I can’t… “Doctor Jack looks in disbelief ” But we need to save my husband’s life… Get rid of this baby or else I will do it elsewhere… My husband is dying and you are talking about a child I don’t know will survive or not..” I walked out of his office angrily, I never knew I could act my plan something well… My plan was going to work, the doctor was going to get rid of the pregnancy for me… I entered Daniel’s room, and I saw a lifeless good man… I sat beside him and held his hands… Tears not bargained for dropped down my face on it’s will ” Daniel, You will be fine, I promise, I am sorry for everything I did, I got carried away… I know it was the text you read from Larry that made you go into shock, because you find out that the baby is not yours…. Hmmm…. I am willing to kill this baby for you… Please stay alive… Stay alive… Stay alive for your good self, not for worthless ME… And when you get better, if you never want to see me again… I will go far away from you… Just don’t add your death to the list of the wrong things I have done in such a short time.. I never knew I will ever mean this words, but I do… “.I love you Daniel and I hope you survive this… ” ” Where is she, where is the useless Yoruba girl”…That was the authoritative voice of my mother in law… I had sent her a text earlier, that Daniel was sick… She burst into the room with eyes like fire, I was on my feet already… ” If my son dies you will know what it feels like to be a widow In Igbo land…I told Tochukwu( Daniel) not to marry you, but he refused…” Doctor Jack walked in… ” Good Afternoon ma, we can’t accept this noise in here, and besides the woman you are shouting at is pregnant, she doesn’t need this stress ” Doctor said Oh My Goodness, why did Doctor Jack open his big mouth.., but what happened next was a good one because it corroborated my fake story about the secret society… ” Hey… I said it ooo, this Yoruba girl has an evil mission, she has gotten herself pregnant, so as to kill my son… God forbid… Grace Abi Disgrace… If my son dies I will personally kill you and the baby.. You know Tochukwu is the only son I have… Mama went to her son, wailing all over him, Doctor Jack looked at me and shook his head… My plan was going to work, I would have aborted the pregnancy before Daniel regains himself. Larry will have no say over me anymore …because I have my own plans for him… I will call Maami ( My Mother) on his matter and if you knew who Maami was, You will be afraid for Larry… Am I pushing this thing too far? Let me hear your views before I continue my tale…. .

PART 7

” Mercy Killing? You want me to kill your husband, Sis Grace…? This is definitely not you Speaking.. Please, this is stress speaking… ” Doctor Jack looked ME perplexed “And it’s absolutely normal because you have been through a lot in the past two months, you have been sitting by your husband for the past 2 months…, Spending so much, and not to mention your in-laws attitude towards you… I quite understand, but what you need is a break especially for the sake of the baby” Doctor Jack said while looking at me with the most perplexed look I have ever seen in my life… I barked out at him with tears flowing… ” That is not my point, all you have mentioned doesn’t bother me… I am thinking about Daniel… He has been lying on that bed for two months not responding one bit, Daniel is no longer in that body, I can’t keep watching him lie there lifeless with his skin peeling… He has suddenly turned dark skinned… Let him die and go to rest… This is not about me… Have you checked his weight of late..? I broke down in tears as I managed to convince Doctor Jack… “He looks like a shadow of himself… So skinny…… He hasn’t moved an inch since we brought him here… And it doesn’t look like he will…,Daniel lived his life in pains on medications. Why do this to him again? I am sure in his subconscious he wants to wake up but he can’t, so why this continuous torture…. .Doctor Jack please… ” ” Sis Grace where is your faith? ” ” Do you know how many prophets I have brought here… Doctor, My faith is dead and it looks like I will be dead soon, because the thought of seeing Daniel in this state is driving me nuts knowing I am the cause of …” I stopped talking before I said too much There was silence like that of graveyard IN that office, which must have lasted 2 mins… ” I will do it… ” Doctor said after giving it a long thought… ” You will?” I asked “Yes… but for a good reason which is to preserve your life and that of the baby… because I won’t want to lose the three of you… ” ” Thank you Doctor Jack, Thank you” At this point, I felt I was running insane, I was literally at the hospital for two months on a daily basis with the hope that Daniel would wake up… and with the refusal of Doctor Jack to abort my pregnancy, the baby was growing daily… Within those two months, I had tried different hospitals but I couldn’t do the abortion there because my popularity was an hindrance. The moment I entered any hospital I would be received by the nurses with prayers and praises of how my music has helped them… So how was it possible to tell them I came for an abortion…? On the side, I had been using home remedies for the abortion, but this baby was bent on coming to planet earth… For those two months, I never heard from Larry, like he never existed before… Doctor Tapped me and said ” I also need you to do me a favour, before I do the Mercy killing I need you to travel to somewhere nobody will find you, so that you will escape all the Igbo rituals for widows, so as not to jeopardize the life of the baby…. This baby means so much to me…” Indeed, if only he knew the true identity of the father of the child… I thought… ” So when will you be doing it?” I asked eagerly ” Let’s give him a few more days to see if he wakes up, but if not.. I will do it on Sunday, that means you should take your trip between tomorrow or next… ” ” Thank you Doctor… ” Where was I going to go was the next question on my mind as I walked towards the door.. Then he said his last words… ” Sis Grace, I have a feeling you are not telling me the whole story, but please when this whole episode is over, Go and seek the face of God”:… Exactly… the prayer mountain I went when I was just 14 years old, where the Lord told me “I will use you as a light to many nations”…That was the best place to go, to see if God can repair me, thereafter live a life serving God. Possibly start a foundation in Daniel’s name… No… I have an unfinished business before going back to God…before my repentance… Larry must pay for what he has done to me… and the only person who can help me is my mother… Mama Supepper of Igbonla village…. I am about to open another chapter of my life to you, a life I had left in my past, I never thought I would return there… I left that life when I was 13 years old, I am going back to the life before Christ…. It’s time for Larry to know where I come from… I am going to Igbonla for revenge….or shouldn’t I? Before I continue my story, what do you feel right now about me??? Hatred?, Disgust?Pity?…What would you have done in my shoes….

PART 8

I Could hear the distant beating of the popular Bata drum “Iya ilu” ( Mother Drum) being beaten and the Shallow sound of the Omele Ako ( a smaller drum) as I drove my Jeep towards Igbonla… Igbonla was a village known for festivities…. There was always one party or the other….We had no worries, in fact there was a popular saying that ” Why don’t you have any worries like people from Igbonla”. As I drew nearer, Something gripped my heart, what it was, I couldn’t tell… Was it Fear? Or Anxiety of not knowing what to expect, or was it the Holy Spirit telling me not to go back to Igbonla… I suddenly stepped on my brakes and my mind flashed back to hours earlier… The day had been an eventful day for me, as Doctor Jack had called me very early to inform me he had done the Mercy Killing. He gave me instructions to get out of town immediately and switch off my phone for now as my angry mum in law was on her way to the house. No wonder Doctor Jack had sent me home last night insisting I should go home and rest, while my mother in law stayed with Daniel. I suspected he was going to carry out our plan… So waking up to his phone call this morning with the news that my husband Daniel was dead didn’t come as a surprise. I had my minutes of weeping as the realization that Daniel was gone hit me… I rose up quickly after few minutes when the thought of being whisked off to my husband’s hometown for the widow’s dehumanizing ritual hit me. I parked a few things, took my documents, Papers concerning properties I had secured myself. To be fair to Daniel I left all his properties for his family. The only thing I took that wasn’t mine was the Jeep he got me for my last birthday. I dropped a note for his mother… “Mama, I am sorry for the loss, I know You never loved me from the start and staying behind will be an unwise thing to do, You will take me to your village for the widow’s ritual which will not be healthy for the baby. I have gone into hiding in other to deliver the baby in peace…all your son’s documents for his properties are in the Locker beside the bed in the master bedroom. I am sorry for your loss… ” Your Daughter, Grace… I dashed to the bank and withdrew 1 million Naira in cash in other to start a new life in Igbonla, but here I was few metres to Igbonla and I was having the strong feeling this was a strong move… Tears,Tears,Tears. …. and I began to scream to heaven on the lonely road to Igbonla…. ” God!, You told me you will keep watch over me lest I dash my foot against a stone… Larry was a big stone, why didn’t your angels send him away from me????, Why? Why?… God why did you let me have feelings for him, Why! Why did I get married when it wasn’t the right time, I got married when I was just 19…Why was Maami diabetic?… I had to rush into marriage to take care of her and my sisters, God you promised me a good Life with you when I was just 13, when I gave my life to you, but you have not been fair…. ” Just always trying to Justify their bad deeds”…I turned around to see who spoke, It was “Saawawi”….The popular mad man of Igbonla, It was surprising to still see him mad after all these years… He kept ranting in my local dialect… ” You fell on the ground in shame, instead of getting to yours knees to try and rise again, You tried to use the mud to cover yourself in shame so no one will see you”…Saawawi said looking ME straight in the eye… He asked me for money, which after I gave him, he said, ” You have no place here again” But who was Saawawi( A person who speaks nonsense) to give me an advice, God had failed me, It was time I started taking care of my life… This was the end to Grace the Gospel Musician, I am returning back to who I was before, Orishamuyiwa (the gods brought this one) … I removed my sim card from my phone and threw it into the bush…. My mother was going to help me Kill Larry and the traditional healers would give me Local herbs to flush out the baby…. There was no peace until I had accomplished these two important things first, before taking my own life….God had failed me, because I committed just one sin, he let all these disaster befall ME…. Before I continue my tale, please answer this, Is it right for God to punish me this much for just one night of adultery, or is it the devil?, or am I the one punishing myself… Let me read your comments….

PART 9

As I drove close to my mother’s house, I realized the drum beating was from my mother’s house. There was a feast going on, the moment I parked, the drum ceased… My mother was shocked to See Me. I am sure she was torn between running towards me in excitement or showing her anger towards me. Maami and I had not spoken in the past two years, because of my disobedience to her as regards coming to do a ritual, precisely to carry a sacrifice to appease one of the Orishas to aid my fruitfulness…. We stopped speaking two years ago after a very hot argument, but I never stopped sending her money through her bank account… My sisters ran towards me in excitement, the drummers moved towards me as I began to spray them money… They were singing… ” Orishamuyiwa tii wale” ( Orishamuyiwa has come home)… I walked towards my mother and knelt before her, asking for her forgiveness, my mother turned her face to the other side… ” You have to give birth to the child, the gods forbid I tamper with their works, Do you know how many sacrifices I carried on your behalf… This is the doings of the gods”… My mother said at night when we sat down to discuss my ordeal. What was my mother saying, No wonder we were never on the same page… “Maami, how did adultery become a way of your gods answering prayers? ” I said in disbelief at my mum’s mindset… ” Orishamuyiwa, the truth is, in what has been written about your destiny, You and your dead husband were not destined to have children together, ….that man Larry , your keyboardist or what do you call his name is the one your destiny matches with…. So that useless talk about killing him is totally nonsense… What is wrong with being a second wife? It is destiny…. Accept it… ” It dawned on me why I shouldn’t have come to Igbonla, my mother was going to complicate matters, this was exactly why I left Igbonla years ago… I didn’t want to turn out like my mother, She was married Four times, my three sisters are my stepsisters…. One daughter, one husband…. This was not the advice I needed, Maami was only going to complicate matters…. I slept off that night with a bigger plan in mind…. Early the next morning, I set out to boy’s corner in Igbonla, that was where all the rogues, touts, robbers, cultists sit , smoke and drink all day…. Stepping down from my car, I tried to see if there was anyone I could recognize, when I heard my name…. ” Oosamuyiwa…. A. K. A Grace the Singer, wetin you dey find? ” I could not recognize the face instantly, but looking intently, it was Ifakolade, my first crush as the age of 10..We were always called husband and wife when we were younger. His teeth had turned brown from smoking… We exchanged pleasantries and we had time to talk. I narrated my ordeal and told him I needed someone to kill Larry for me… Kolade told me he was up-to the task and we bargained Four hundred thousand Naira. I paid him half of the money instantly.. How desperate I was!!! Two days later, Ifakolade brought me BAD news, they had gone to Larry’s house in the city and shot at him, only for the gun to have no effect…. Larry took the gun and shot one of the boys that went with Ifakolade ( Ifakolade ‘s only brother). He then asked Kolade to deliver a message to Grace…. It was a written note… “Grace, You think you are dealing with a boy?…What I felt you before has become full blown enmity.. Be ready for war, I know where you are, by the time you will be reading this note, you will be putting on a red top and white trouser….that is to let you know.. I am ahead of you…I am coming for you soon to take something precious ” My hands were like Jelly, I was really putting on red top and white trouser… I realized I was in soup, Larry was no ordinary human being, now I knew I needed supernatural powers, that was more than Larry’s…. This was not going as planned…. Ifakolade was lamenting over the loss of his brother, telling me why didn’t I tell him, Larry was diabolically empowered….. I was blank…. Larry was a Christian or so I thought…. Hot tears dropped from my eyes, the baby inside me kicked and that moment I felt like stabbing the seed of the monster inside me…. Suddenly, I heard a loud cry from inside the room, I dashed In…. What I saw made me pee on my body… My youngest sister was dead…. I knew Larry did this…. It gets deadlier after this, all because of one night of adultery….Continue reading my tale, and be ready to cry for me…. To be continued…. Did you ever suspect Larry was this evil…..

PART 10

I was told someone was outside asking to See Me. I thought it was one of the villagers coming to ask for money, because ever since I got to the village, it had been one villager after another coming to ask me for money… I told my immediate younger sister to discharge him, but she insisted I see him as he was a stranger and he asked of me by the name ” Sis Grace”…That caught my attention, immediate fear gripped my heart as I hoped it was not Larry. I ran out of the house through the back door to escape, and hideously stole a peek at who it was…. It was a strange man with a Bible under his arm. I looked around and there was no sight of danger. I walked towards him and as he saw me coming, he had the best and most innocent smile I had seen in a long time… ” Sis Grace!… I knew my eyes could not deceive ME, I said it, I knew it was you I saw yesterday, when I drove past here, ” then he looked down at my bulgy stomach ” Hallelujah!… God has done it… Okay .. No wonder you came here to hide from the public eye… That is wisdom MA… The thing is I have been one of your secret intercessors, praying that the Lord will bless you with the fruit of the womb… Sis Grace, you don’t know who you are to me, you are my personal bishop, Your songs are the messages I listen to day and night and the way you sing with our native Yoruba Language makes it drive home your message into my soul “… He said This man must have spoken excitedly for over 5 mins without me uttering a word…. I just kept giving fake smiles as the conversation warranted…. “Sis Grace, the best time of my life was after I Lost my beloved wife, I thought I was going to die, but your song was my daily capsule of hope…. Now, I think this is the best time to pay you back, you know ma, now I know why God brought me here…. You see I was just newly posted here as the branch pastor of our church in Igbonla…. I was a bit angry, but now I know God brought me here to keep interceding for your safe delivery…. You shall deliver this baby with ease, this baby shall be a great baby, this baby shall grow up to do great works for the Lord, this baby shall…..” ” Enough pastor, please with all due respect I don’t need all these prayers. I am fine… the GOD of the Christians have failed me, I am no longer Sis Grace, I am now Orishamuyiwa, I am back to the gods of our fathers.. Thank you for stopping by…” I walked back into the house and from what my younger sister told me, the man stood in that position for over 45 mins like someone who saw a ghost…He left much later really downcast. Later, that evening Ifakolade paid me a visit, and I saw him and my mother having a secret discussion. After the discussion kolade walked up to me… ” Oosamuyiwa, the loss of my brother can not be in vain, and the death of your sister and husband can not be in vain either…. Who does this Larry think he is? , wherever he thinks he got his charm from, I know somewhere deadlier to go to… I just came to inform you I am going on a revenge mission and your mother is in support… All I need from you is financial support, I am going to spiritually reinforce against Larry, so whatever money I am told to bring, you will have to bear it… So are you in OR….? ” ” I am in…. I don’t have any choice anymore… He is after my life too…. Just tell me what it cost and I will pay….” My mother took Ifakolade to the most terrible herbalist in all of the 6 towns that makes our local government… Baba Jawegbona. I was told Jawegbona said Larry was the son of a herbalist and had been fortified heavily, and could not be easily destroyed. He said no bullet could ever penetrate his body except if a man and woman who are married, hold a gun together to shoot at him in unity…. Only then could a gun penetrate into his body as the blood of a couple was used in the preparation of the charm used in fortifying him. In essence, my mother and Ifakolade came back with the news that if I wanted revenge, I needed to marry Ifakolade and together pay Larry a visit… So with hands in unity, we will shoot Larry dead…. Did this make sense in anyway…. Me? Marry Ifakolade….. Ifakolade was ready, he didn’t mind I was pregnant, the fire of revenge was burning in HIm…He said he didn’t mind sleeping with me while pregnant to consummate the marriage, and thereafter, we go to the city to finish Larry… He went further to promise that after the killing, we could go out separate ways… It looked simple but the part I didn’t like was that I will have to sleep with Ifakolade too, making it 3 men…. Was I not gradually becoming like my mother and was the search for revenge not going to give birth to something else??? To be continued …

PART 11

“I can’t marry Ifakolade, God forbid… Ifakolade of all people, because of revenge… Maami, don’t force me into another error, this was exactly how you forced me into marrying Daniel the Igbo man because of money. Maami because you want to kill Larry out of revenge, you want me to marry Ifakolade… a drug addict, an assassin , a tout…. Maami…. Please let me be… You know what, I am no more interested in killing Larry again, Let God fight…” I said ” What did I hear you say?, God will fight?… How come God has not been fighting, why did God not stop him from killing my daughter…. Muyiwa, why did you come back, you have brought us back luck…. Get out.. Get out…. “Maami said ” Maami, what? ” I asked in disbelief ” I said get out..” My Sisters were pleading on my behalf, My mother was definitely high on something, I took my slippers and left the house, it was around 12:30am… My immediate sister was calling me to come back…. But I was not listening… I wanted out.. I kept walking with no destination in mind as a lot crossed my mind, from suicide, to insanity or going back to Larry’s place in the city and asking him to Kill ME…. but in the midst of this, it seem like someone was pushing me from behind towards a particular direction. I must have walked for 20 mins when I became conscious of myself,… ” Where was I going at this hour of the night? ” I asked myself. I decided to turn back, but suddenly I felt this painful leg cramps that didn’t let my leg move one inch from where I was, I didn’t want to scream so as not to attract unnecessary attention, so I sat on the floor giving my leg time to rest… Everywhere was silent, but in that silence, I could hear a familiar tone, it was one of my old songs titled ” NINU IRORA” ( IN TIMES OF PAINS). I stood up and followed the sound…Hoping I would be given shelter for the night… I kept singing along as I drew near to the house where the music was coming from… ” Ninu Irora, Mo ba Eleda mi soro ( In times of pain, I speak to my creator) Ninu Isoro, mo ba Eleda mi soro ( In times of Problems, I speak to my creator) Tori Eleda lo Da Eda ( Because, it was the creator that created the created) I kept singing this song as it’s meaning hit me… I wrote and sang this song over 7 years ago, and now I suddenly understood the song… In all of my problems and challenges, I had not been speaking ( Praying) to my creator… I started singing the song with so much passion, I didn’t care if any one heard me…. I sat on a closed well beside the house… ” Sis Grace…. ” I heard my name. It was the Newly posted pastor who had visited me few weeks back, the music was coming from his house… ” It’s late out here, what are you doing out here… Are you OK? ” No words came out of my Mouth but the song and tears from my eyes. I saw him stretch forth His hand to me, the hand looked to me like a chance of a new life…. I was torn between accepting or declining, but I am grateful that I accepted that hand because it shaped the next two weeks after that night… I got to know his name was pastor James, he had lost his wife Two years earlier, and he didn’t have a child. He took me in and for two weeks, I was pampered, he never asked me any question, he never preached to me, but every morning he would come to me in the room and pray for me and the baby…. His prayer was simple… ” Lord, show my Sis Grace how much you love her, Please encourage her and make her happy in Jesus name”…He always ended with a smile, a smile so genuine I wondered if he was human. Every day before he left for church which was just close by, he would play one of my Audio CD’s he had and put it on Automatic replay… I had time to heal, I had time to think…away from the harsh world. I spoke to him for the first time after 8 days… ” I need to tell you something, pastor James and I hope you still like me when I am done” I said very gently He showed no expression as I narrated EVERYTHING… but when I was done, He looked at me with that golden smile and said ” Is that all?”….The way he asked so simply further broke ME IN tears… as he held my hands and said his simple Prayer again. He wiped my tears and said this to me… ” The fact that a Lion is wonded and injured does not make it less of a Lion, it just needs time to heal and rise up to return back to the position of being called the “KING OF THE JUNGLE”… I believe my own Sister Grace will rise again, Larry was just a distraction…You will rise again… ” I had not felt love and care like this before, Pastor James started making me see the pregnancy as something I should be joyful about. His smiles …. I was always looking forward to it… Was this redemption?, Was this God’s second chance? Could God be Merciful enough to make Pastor James write a new chapter in the story of my life Or was this another deceiver like Larry…. To be continued…

PART 12

Every night after the 8th day I opened up to him, We would play a game, which Pastor James Invented … ” Who sings it better?”. It was a game of all my songs from my 10 albums, he would pick a song and we both will try to sing it individually. Funny enough we were the judges as well…. I was surprised that he knew ALL my songs… There were some I even forgot the lyrics, he would be the one to remind me…. Pastor James, was too true to be real. I felt like I had known him for years. I felt I had seen my solution and that’s why one night I walked up to the living room where he was sleeping. I woke him up telling him I could not sleep, he asked if there was anything he could do to help me… I simply answered ” Marry ME, please”… Pastor James was shocked to say the least as sleep immediately cleared from His eyes… and his answer shocked me… ” NO.. I mean Yes… I would love to marry you. But not like this… I don’t mean the pregnancy, but I mean your state of mind, Grace… Marrying you would be the greatest privilege, but right now, you don’t need me, You need God… You know since the last time you told me you are Orishamuyiwa, you haven’t rededicated your life back to Christ and the truth is after I lost my wife, I have been praying for a new wife…. So if God gives me the privilege of making you my wife, I would be the happiest, but I can’t marry an Orishamuyiwa, I can’t marry outside of Christ… ” He said in all honesty “I am not yet sure I want to rededicate my life yet…I don’t know…I Am still in a confused state… ” I replied “Then you don’t want me then… Grace I can’t love you outside God… The truth is I don’t know if this is God’s doing, but the truth is I really love and care about you, and I don’t care about the past, I care about the future… So what do you say?…are you ready to come back to God…? ” He asked looking straight into my eyes I didn’t say a word, rather I laid my head on his shoulder, there was silence for close to 10 minutes without each of us saying anything. I guess God gave me that time to make up my mind because of what was about to happen…. What? We heard a loud bang on the door, it was 1:30am , ” Open this door….” Ifakolade… Ifakolade was around… That was Ifakolade’s voice… I started shivering… ” Pastor, that woman in your room is my wife to be, we have an unfinished business together… Ask her, I was on my own… She came looking for me… She brought me trouble, and I can’t have peace of mind until the trouble is over ” Ifakolade said while his boys were trying to forcefully open the door… Pastor James faced me and asked me to run out through the back door, but I couldn’t leave him to their mercy.. They would Kill him…. While we were arguing, the door broke and I hugged Pastor James in fear. Ifakolade didn’t like that sight… You could tell from his eyes…. ” OK… so it has been the pastor doing what I am suppose to be doing? …Good, then the matter has been solved, Baba Jawegbona said Two lovers must shoot Larry, then you and your pastor boyfriend must get my revenge for me… ” Ifakolade said with a sneer ” God Forbid… I can never shed Human blood” Pastor James said with all audacity… ” But you can be sleeping with a pregnant woman? ” Ifakolade said trying to ridicule pastor James ” I have not been …. “Pastor James was saying but stopped suddenly and said ” I am going to marry her and as my wife to be I would never let her shed blood…., she might have made a bargain with you in the past, but that was in the past.. ” ” Really?, ” Ifakolade moves close to Pastor James and pointed his gun at His head…, while directing the “REALLY” to me… ” Nooo…don’t shoot him please… Ifakolade… I will marry you… Don’t touch him please, he is innocent, I don’t want to be guilty of his own blood too. I am ready to do whatever you want” I said with tears and fear all over me… ” Stop it Grace… This has been the problem… You don’t know how to say No… Please Say no to this devilish bargain… He can’t kill me… It is just an empty threat” Pastor James said As if to answer Pastor James, Ifakolade shot the pillow beside Grace to confirm that his gun was loaded… ” So Grace OR Oosamuyiwa… Which one are you sef? What is your final answer… It is either I kill your pastor boyfriend and I know I have gotten my revenge or you marry me and we get rid of that useless man together? ” ” Grace.. Let him kill me, I am not afraid of death… I know where I am going after death, but if you let him push you, you will kill Larry and be guilty of murder… Let him kill me… The world is waiting for you to rise again…. Please…” ” 1..2…3…” Ifakolade was counting…. ” Stop it… ” I walked closed to James, and with tears I couldn’t help, I held his hand… “James …You have been an angel to me, I can’t bear to see you die, just let me do this, after Larry’s death, my marital contract with him will be over… I believe God Will still open his arms to receive me when I am done.. But will you still want to marry me….by then…??? For the first time, I saw James in tears, he had no answer for me… he was always hopeful and full of smiles…, but that day…I didn’t see any of those…. Ifakolade pulled me out of the house, Pastor James was not ready to let go of my hands, but I had to let go of his…. A new and interesting chapter in my life was concluded so soon, but now Ifakolade was writing a new one…. If you were in my shoes, what would you have done…. Would I have let poor James die because of me….? To be continued…

PART 13

Ifakolade took me to his house, or what he called a house.. His place was an uncompleted one bedroom apartment with an attached toilet and bathroom.. His kitchen was an open place in the compound. What made the scenario worse, was the number of touts that were living with him. When we got to his house that midnight, the moment we stepped into the compound, I practically went into shock as I saw the uncountable number of bodies sleeping on the floor in the compound, we had to cross over sleeping bodies. As a special guest and wife to be, Ifakolade took me inside the bedroom, only to find a couple making out on the bed. The sight was highly irritating, they were sweating in this stuffy and smelly room. Ifakolade was mad at them, as he tried to pick up a bottle to hit it on the man… ” Shepe, how many times have I told you to stop bringing a woman to my room, You dey craze”. The young man started apologizing… I had to step out for some fresh air, so it came to me as a shock, when Ifakolade told me, that was the room I would be sleeping…. Suddenly the urge to throw up took over… I was going to throw up, if I stayed one more minute in that dirty hole, he called a room. I told him, I was going to sleep outside. ” How will you sleep outside Oosamuyiwa,.. You know what? I will clean up the room myself” Ifakolade suddenly started using a soft voice as he spoke to me… “Oosamuyiwa, I am sorry for how all these is turning out, I am not as bad as I appear, I am a very nice person, it’s just destiny. If I had the opportunity of going to school like you, I would have turned out better than this…” He kept on ranting as he was clearing the room… But all that was on my mind was how I was going to escape all these without losing any one close to me… Jawegbona!!!….” Yes!.” I was going to see the herbalist who said I had to marry Ifakolade in order to have my revenge on Larry. Maybe, this story was false and it probably was my mother and Ifakolade’s way of making me get married to him… I remembered they had secret talks before telling me about Baba Jawegbona. ” Oosamuyiwa, do you know Destiny can not be changed, it may just be delayed… You know when we were younger, we used to play husband and wife… See how God is playing everything out…” Ifakolade kept on talking, but my mind was somewhere else… My mind was with Pastor James, I was wondering what he was doing… I knew he would be listening to one of my tracks… ” God, please just this last time, let me clear up this mess with Ifakolade and Larry, then give me a chance with pastor James… I promise not to mess up again, I promise to pick up the pieces of my life back in Jesus name I pray” I prayed silently as I looked absentmindedly at Ifakolade. I was not sure if God heard me, but I had done my part. The next morning, I told Ifakolade I wanted to take a walk around .. ” You want to run away? ” he said as he was cleaning his gun… His group of touts were hailing ME as the Don’s wife.. ” NO..”…I replied as I was not planning to tell him where I was going… ” If you try to run away, have it at the back of your mind, that I have your family and pastor boyfriend “… He said… The gate rustled and as we turned to see who it was… My heart jumped… Pastor James. Ifakolade was angry… I rushed towards him before Ifakolade kills him, especially with the gun in his hand, but Ifakolade blocked my way… ” Yes Pastor, what are you doing here?” ” I came here to see Grace”…he said looking at me and not Ifakolade. ” I don’t have Grace here, I have Oosamuyiwa..and I don’t think you have a business with Oosamuyiwa… ” ” She is not Oosamuyiwa, she is Grace… ” Pastor James said with anger in His eyes… I had never seen him angry before.. ” Oosamuyiwa… Tell this man your name before I do something you won’t like, he is asking for someone who doesn’t live here.. Oosamuyiwa, what is your name… ” I swallowed hard, as It took everything for me to say it… ” OrishaMUYIWA “…..I said… Pastor James shook his head… ” So Pastor , out of my house… ” Pastor James walked out but I didn’t care what was going to happen, I ran after pastor James and held him so tight, holding his face and looking intently into his eyes… ” Pastor James, I have a plan… I promise you… I am coming back, I just need to clear up my mess” I said with tears ” Grace, You don’t need to clear up your mess, you don’t have the strength, Let Jesus clear it…I Am ready to stand by you.. We can make a report at the police station,…” ” Nooo, the scandal will be too much for me, and besides If I let Jesus clear it, I may lose you or another member of my family, Ifakolade is determined to shed blood and so is my mother…. Let me just do this.. I don’t want another blood on my hands, 3 people have died because of me… Please understand Let ME just do what Ifakolade wants and I promise.. after Larry’s death I am done… ” ” I hope I don’t lose you, I have a feeling if you go with Ifakolade, I will lose you… Please Grace… Please…” He said holding me firmly ” Time up.. ” Ifakolade said from behind… ” Pastor James, she has given you her word, once she is through with me, she will come back to you.. Why can’t you be patient?” Ifakolade said mockingly Ifakolade pulled me back into the compound…. I saw Pastor James going away, and that was the last time I saw him before it was too late… Too late for what? Wait till you read the next part… But before I drop my pen… Later that day, I went to visit Jawegbona’s shrine under a disguise and this was what he had to say… ” I never said you both should get married, all I said was that there had to be sexual intercourse between you both, before going to kill the man… You may or may not get married”…Jawegbona had said… Now, I got the whole picture, I didn’t have to marry Ifakolade, all we needed to do was have sexual intercourse… I was ready, I didn’t care if I was pregnant.. My body didn’t mean much to me anymore… Let Ifakolade do what he had to do that night and the next morning we would set out to the city to kill Larry… I confronted Ifakolade and told him I had seen Jawegbona, he wasn’t Happy but he agreed we didn’t have to get married. I had the most painful and most regrettable intercourse of my life that night… I was shedding tears as Ifakolade was tearing me apart… The more he was having fun, the more hatred I had for Larry… It felt like rape and he constantly used his massive dirty hands to cover my mouth from screaming in pain… I couldn’t wait for the day to break as I couldn’t sleep anymore. .. By 4am Ifakolade and I set out for the revenge mission after eating the concoction Jawegbona had prepared for our FORTIFICATION… BUT,… The day didn’t turn out as I expected, It was a BLACK DAY for me…. To be continued….

PART 14

Ifakolade looked very happy as we journeyed to the city. We took the first bus out of Igbonla. I wanted to take my jeep, but he said my Jeep could leave tracks for the police to trace the death of Larry to me… That made sense. In the public bus we took, I had people who recognized me in the bus and I tried to give my fake smile. We got to the city by 6:30am. The plan was to stay at a motel till later that day. I went into the motel with my head covered with a scarf and I wore black shades to hide my identity… Getting into the room, it was a torture room. The room was definitely a daily hang out for loose men and prostitutes. The room had that sexual stench even though it was clean.. Ifakolade settled in quickly on the bed, and he asked me to join him… ” You need to rest your back and your feet” Ifakolade said He was right… My back was aching… I sat on the bed with my back against the wall. Ifakolade looked at me with eyes that were different from the ones I had been seeing… The look was soft and innocent… ” Oosamuyiwa… Pregnancy does look good on you… I wish the circumstances were right and you were my wife… I wish I was one of those guys who put on suits, You know the corporate guys… and having you as my wife… I would have been the happiest man on earth, but…. Destiny!!!… I didn’t choose my background, my background choose me…” He said as he laid on the bed turning his back to me… “Oosamuyiwa, imagine if I am the son of a rich man, or a pastor, maybe I would have turned out like your Pastor James…. and maybe you would have found me attractive enough to be your husband… but I guess Pastor James is the winner… ” He said with a dry laughter ” Ifakolade, we shouldn’t let our backgrounds nail us to the ground”…I found myself preaching to Ifakolade… and I guess I was preaching to myself too… ” Ifakolade, you can decide to rewrite your story, because no matter where we find ourselves or even if by our making, we are where we shouldn’t be, we can decide to get out of that life, to take the right path into becoming who God Will be proud of… ” I must have spoken for 5 mins before turning to look at Ifakolade to see if he understood what I said, I was shocked to see him asleep… All my motivational words had fallen on deaf ears… Ifakolade woke up much later to get us some food, but I wasn’t in the mood for the food. I was literally counting down the hours left till 11pm. At exactly 10:30pm, Ifakolade told me it was time to leave, a taxi was waiting for us, as we were driving towards Larry’s house, my heart was pumping hard, I was having second thoughts, but it seem like Ifakolade was reading my mind, he laid his hand on my hand and whispered in my ear.. ” If we don’t do this, we will have more evil doers on the surface of the earth… We need less of the Larrys In this world”…I nodded in agreement. ” And I meant everything I said this morning… You look beautifully pregnant and if you ever have a rethink, I can try to be like Pastor James.. ” That made me smile… All day I had seen a different Ifakolade, soft and warm. Truly, if he had been raised differently, he might have turned out a better man…and if the circumstances were right this would have been a great opportunity to win a soul for God, but unfortunately I also needed to be saved… ” We are there” Ifakolade jolted Me back to the harsh reality of life. We were already few blocks away from Larry’s house. Then it dawned on me, I never asked Ifakolade how we were going to get into the house… ” How do we go In? I asked ” Trust me” He said simply… We paid the taxi fare and walked towards Larry’s gate. Suddenly, Ifakolade held me by the hands and said some incantations, Something about becoming like the wind… To my utmost surprise, Musa, Larry’s security man did not see us. Ifakolade had knocked, but as Musa opened the gate, he kept asking who was there… It seem like he didn’t see us. Ifakolade held my hand and we walked in unnoticed. Larry’s dogs started barking at us, but they couldn’t come close… ” They can see us? ” I asked him ” Yes… the animals can see us… ” Ifakolade replied ” Not just the animals, I can see you”…We heard Larry’s voice and just like in the movies, he surfaced before us….He started laughing at us… ” Really, Sis Grace…My Sister in the Lord, so you can go this diabolical… Wow… Change really is the most constant thing in the world. You never know a true Christian, until he or she is faced with serious challenges” Larry said mockingly ” I hate you”..I said meaning every word… ” But that was not what you said months back..Have you forgotten how you used to cry and you will tell me ” Larry I wish I had met you before my husband, I love you so much I can’t help myself..” He said mimicking my voice… Tears dropped from my eyes…. Larry looked at my pregnancy and said… ” I can also see my baby is growing” He moved closer to touch me… ” If you dare.. ” Ifakolade said… ” Hey, so you are the new catch, Well for your information, if it is what I came to get from her life you are also looking for, Sorry! you came too late… I have taken everything…” Larry said proudly ” I don’t need her money.. I am not a gold digger like you… So this is why you were after her, Oosamuyiwa can you hear this, he did this all for your money” Ifakolade said with Irritation in his voice.. I was speechless because Larry never took money from me… Except for his professional charges as my keyboardist… ‘” Who is talking about money…? Well, Let me hint You a bit, Sis Grace..I never had any business with you, it was my father who brought your Audio CD home 10years ago and he sat me down telling me you were a goldmine… My Father who was an herbalist was able to count your stars through your image on the Audio CD… numbering 70,000 stars…. He told me if I could only have one sexual intimacy with you, I could take those stars and use it for myself…” What was Larry Saying? I stood transfixed to the spot… “I was never a Keyboardist, I had to learn the keyboard for 3 years in order to get access to you… For five years, I became your keyboardist just to have that one night of Star capturing and I did… So don’t worry, in no time, I will be a household name, thanks for lending me your stars.. And I am sorry, I don’t intend returning them… ” Larry was saying so much and my small head couldn’t understand it… It felt like the ground was shaking, I staggered a little, but I felt Ifakolade’s strong hands holding me from falling. Ifakolade was speechless as well, but out of the blues, Ifakolade brought out his gun and aimed it at Larry…. Larry laughed at him with so much mockery IN His laughter. He turned to return back to his house. ” I am in a very good mood today and besides I don’t want to kill my baby, you both should go back the same way you came.. ” Ifakolade took my very numb hand and placed it on his own, and he fired the gun at Larry…. To be continued….

PART 15

I knew I heard the gunshot and I heard a scream, No! Two People were screaming, No! Three people were screaming, No! Four people were screaming, No Five people were screaming…, Simultaneously, I also felt a sharp pain in my stomach…. Jawegbona, the herbalist was right, the gunshot did have effect on Larry. The moment, we shot at him, he stopped in his tracks, the bullet had gone straight into him, he looked down at his chest and was surprised at the blood. At that same time, he looked towards his house when he heard the screaming of his six children… “What have you done Grace?” Larry said looking at me in pain as he fell to the ground… “Who told you my secret? Grace! You have wiped out my entire family…Every of my seed is going to die”….He said while gasping for breath…. Ifakolade was pleased, he took me by the hand, and pulled me, but I couldn’t move, as I looked down, I saw blood dripping down my leg… “The baby!” “Grace… You… Shouldn’t have done this, by killing me. You have killed my innocent children … “Larry said “When a Father sins, it is sure his seeds will reap from it” Ifakolade said, but he became shocked as he saw the blood dripping from my thighs… “Oosamuyiwa, You are also affected…?” Ifakolade said with so much alarm in his voice “Of course you fool, she is carrying my seed…” Larry said in pain as he started chanting some incantations while he was coughing blood… I was beginning to feel dizzy. Ifakolade noticed I was losing blood, so he carried me in his hands, and made a turn to leave when we heard… “Stop right there, if you make any move, I will kill you both” Ifakolade turned and right there I saw Gbenga, Larry’s younger brother… Gbenga was shocked when he saw my face… “Sis Grace! Sis Grace?”… By this time Larry’s wife was outside, she was shaking… “The children are coughing blood” She was shocked to see her husband groaning in pain with blood gushing out of his mouth… “Gbenga, what is happening here? Why is Larry and the children coughing blood? “Then she notices the gun in Gbenga’s hand… She immediately thinks otherwise… “Gbenga, what did you do to my husband? Why did you shoot him? “It’s not me, it’s Sister Grace,” he said pointing towards my direction… Larry’s wife looked towards my direction but apparently she did not see me… It made sense, Gbenga was like his brother, he had been fortified like Larry, no wonder he could see us, but Larry’s wife couldn’t see us… “Sis Grace… Which Sister Grace? I can’t see anyone, and whose blood stain is that on the floor”. Larry’s wife said in confusion as she couldn’t see Ifakolade and I, but she saw blood dripping from me… “Can’t you see her Bridget with an assassin?” Gbenga said in frustration “Gbenga, I can’t see anyone, what is happening here, Larry is no more talking…. Larry, LARRY… Larry… Say something, the children are coughing blood too…What is happening? “… WAS LARRY DEAD? “Sis Grace, what did my brother do to you?, He worked with you with his life!” Gbenga said as he tried to resuscitate his brother Definitely Gbenga did not know the truth about what really transpired between Larry and I. It must have been between Larry and His father… Gbenga pointed his gun at me, while I was still being carried by Ifakolade. Very Swiftly Ifakolade fired a shot at Gbenga In order to defend me, but the unexpected happened, the gunshot had effect on Ifakolade instead… Ifakolade did not realize that Gbenga must have been fortified like his brother. Larry’s wife knew something was up, when she heard a gunshot so close and nobody was around.. “Who fired that gunshot? Gbenga what Is happening? Larry is not breathing again” Larry’s wife was crying…. She ran inside to meet her children Gbenga was walking towards me in tears and anger, Ifakolade was groaning in pain from the gunshot… I was crying bitterly, was I going to lose Ifakolade, Was Ifakolade going to die on me… If Ifakolade died now, he was going to miss heaven… Larry was going to miss heaven too… I didn’t plan so many deaths like this… And the children coughing blood, what was that about? I was also bleeding, does it mean the baby was dead as well…? My head was pounding, my tears were flowing, I could hear the screams and hard cough of Larry’s kids, I could see Larry’s wife running back to Larry and crying over her husband… LARRY HAD DIED! How the mightily fortified had fallen…Even charms had their limits Gbenga on seeing that Larry was dead started walking towards me, he pointed the gun at my head about to shoot…. All I remember is that in the hit of that moment, Ifakolade took my hand and placed it over his hand and shot Gbenga. It worked! The gun also had effect on Gbenga with the joining of my hand with Ifakolade. .. Gbenga fell… Larry’s wife on seeing Gbenga on the floor with blood and the sound of a gunshot from no one, she knew something was not right, she started screaming.. . I was still in shock of how the day was turning out, Larry was dead, that was expected, but his six children, were they going to die as well?, Gbenga was dead as well, now Ifakolade was lying and groaning in pain about to die too…. I needed to save Ifakolade, I couldn’t let death take him away too, but there was a problem, I was having serious abdominal pain like cramps and I was dizzy… To be continued…

PART 16

I could see Ifakolade was losing so much blood… I was also losing blood, I needed to get Ifakolade and I out of there, but “HOW?” was the question…. “Ifakolade, please let us get out…Of… Here” I managed to say with my shaky voice… ” ooo.. samu.. Yiwa.. I can’t make it… The bullet is a poisonous one, Jawegbona had soaked it in a deadly concoction for days… Just take this…” Ifakolade placed a charm in my hand… “This will get you out of here, just hold on tight to it, and think of where you want to be… It will transport you there… Go on…. “Ifakolade said, though it was obvious he was using his last strength… “I can’t leave you here” I told him… My heart was tearing apart, the pain I was feeling in my heart was more than the pain in my stomach… It dawned on me that a lot of people were dying and were probably on their way to hell because of me… I needed to do something right, i needed to lead Ifakolade to Christ before he died… “Hmmm”… I thought to myself, ” I wasn’t saved either, yet i wanted to show someone else the way to Heaven. Of a truth, a lot of people will be like this on the last day, they will go to hell, while their converts will go to heaven… like a signpost who showing the way , but never gets there…” But right now was not the right time to reconcile with God, I still had more time than Ifakolade….IFAKOLADE COULD DIE ANY SECOND FROM NOW! I held Ifakolade and with the little strength I had I said… “Ifakolade please… If there is anything you will do for me right now is for you to please give your life to Christ…. Please just say this… ” “Oosa.mu..yiwa I have .. Killed…. three… People today… Can God forgive and accept me?” He said with regret in his voice… “I never knew death will come this early for me” “Yes… God can forgive and accept you, one of the criminals at the side of Jesus on the Cross, made heaven at the last minute… Please Ifakolade… Catch the last bus to heaven… Please…” Prior to that day, I had never been that passionate about evangelism like that… I was crying and begging Ifakolade…. “OK…pray for me.”…He also broke into tears, while groaning in pain… “Just say this after ME, Lord Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and personal savior… Forgive me of my sins…” That was all Ifakolade could say before he dropped dead… I wept like a baby… Suddenly, heaven and hell became real, I rushed to Larry, to see if he still had breath in him, I wanted to lead him to Christ too, but he was gone… “Who have I become?” was a big question that dropped in my heart, I was doing exactly the opposite of my destiny… I was meant to be a life giver, but here I was taking life through my actions… People were already trooping into the compound as a result of the scream from Larry’s wife, but no one could see Ifakolade and I. Fear suddenly gripped me… How was I going to come out of this “Invisible state?”…It was Ifakolade that knew the incantations and unfortunately he was dead. I bowed my head on Ifakolade, sobbing and all I wanted to do at that moment was to see Pastor James… I had gotten to my wit’s end… I wanted to go back to God… I didn’t realize the disappearing charm was still in my hand, so as I thought of how I could see Pastor James at that moment, to lead me back to Christ… Something happened at exactly the same time I was hearing the approaching siren of the police van….. I found IFAKOLADE’s dead body AND MYSELF in Igbonla just in front of Pastor James’s house…We had reappeared in Igbonla. I heaved a sigh of relief, as I knew Pastor James was going to help me…MAYBE, just maybe, IFAKOLADE could be resurrected back to life … BUT! Unfortunately for me, Pastor James was gone too! Gone? Gone to where? Find out in the next part…. To be continued

PART 17

Ifakolade’s dead body and my dying body touched Igbonla in the split of a second. The disappearing charm had brought us to where I wanted to be, in front of Pastor James’ house. True be told, some of these diabolical things are real, but of NO profit. A journey that should have taken us 2 hours 30 minutes, took us less than a minute, but VANITY upon VANITY… The diabolic charm had failed Larry, Gbenga and Ifakolade today. They were all dead, despite their diabolical fortification, they still dropped dead. Another truth is, the devil has powers, but the ONE power he does NOT have which JESUS has over him is the Power to SAVE and DELIVER…the devil never saves, rather he enslaves people. It dawned on me more that Jesus was only the savior…. It was with this mindset and a weak staggering body, I literally crawled towards Pastor James’ house, but as I moved closer I was hearing two familiar voices speaking to Pastor James in my local dialect… “Pastor, so you didn’t see anyone to compete with as regards wife matters, you are dragging Oosamuyiwa with our boss Ifakolade… Well, Ifakolade sent you a message through us, he said he didn’t want to meet you alive by the time he and Oosamuyiwa comes back to Igbonla” The second familiar voice said “ Pastor, you were told to come and feed the hungry flock here in Igbonla, rather you started falling in love, so since, your ministerial assignment is not very important to you here in Igbonla, we want to transfer you to another duty post….” My dizziness was increasing by the moment, so I didn’t know if I was imagining things, but when I heard Pastor James’ voice, pleading… “Please! Please! Don’t do this” I knew this was real and it was going to become deadly, if I do not move fast…The door was wide open, I crawled in as I tried calling the names of the two guys, SHEPE and SLY (Ifakolade’s boys),but it seem like they couldn’t hear me, I stood up to tried to stop them as Sly was pointing the gun at Pastor James, but It seem like I was Invisible….oh Yes!, I was still in my invisible state and these boys couldn’t see me… I heard the gun shots, two times… I had to do something, I remembered Ifakolade banged Larry’s gate when we were invisible and it made a sound, I ran to the door, and started hitting it, Sly and Shepe were shocked, they exchanged curious looks and ran away, escaping through the back door… Pastor James too had fallen to the ground in his own blood, all because of me again… Why?, Ifakolade!, why did Ifakolade do this to me?, No wonder he said he had killed three people today, Larry , Gbenga, and Pastor JAMES Pastor James was groaning, and I was surprised when he said… “Grace! Where are you? I know you are here… I smell you”… Pastor James knew I was here, but he could not see me or hear me… I moved very close to him… “Grace why you are so close and yet I can’t see you…ah….Ah…” he said groaning in pains from the gun shot… “Are you dead? Is it your spirit that is around…I told you…I knew I was going to lose you…” he broke into tears, I moved closer to wipe his tears, I couldn’t help my tears either, but as I cried, my tears fell on his arm… “Grace…you are crying….I know you are here….God! Why are you invisible? Did Larry do this to you? Did he use a charm on you? God! If she is alive, open my eyes, you opened the eyes of the servant of Elisha to see the invisible, open my eyes, Lord…. Pastor James in his pain, started speaking in tongues… “I..I…. neu…tralize the eff…ect of any ……e…vil invisible charm…. In Jesus name”…he said while grunting in pain….He continued speaking in tongues, but his voice was going lower as he was losing a lot of blood, I was also wearing out…were we both going to die? I wish I could shout for help, but no one would hear me… the sound of the gunshots would have sent the people of Igbonla into their rooms, they would not come out until they hear the cry of help, but here was I weak ,invisible and unheard. To be continued

PART 18

Pastor James opened his eyes after speaking in tongues for some minutes in tears and pain…He had tied a cloth around the gunshot on his shoulder. “Jesus Christ!” he screamed at some point, he finally could see me, but he saw blood on me…There was power in Speaking in tongues! I was happy Pastor James finally saw me and even though he was in pain, I saw a spark of light in his eyes… I forgot my pains as I moved closer to his side and placed my hand on the gunshot wound to try to stop the blood that was gushing out… “Grace! You came back alive? Thank you Jesus!” I could see happiness in Pastor James’ eyes when he saw me, even though he had been badly shot… “Yes…I am, but…we need to get you out of here… I ..am..sor..ry for causing you this, I also need to see the doctor, because I think something has gone wrong with the baby..” I said with urgency in my voice. I believed at that point, if I shouted, people would hear me. The power of the Holy Ghost had overpowered the invisible charm, but Pastor James stopped me from calling from help… “Grace! You need to give your life to Christ first, before I move out of here, I may not make it…” he said in pains while holding my hands so firmly “please…let my death be worth it, Don’t let the Lion in you die” Pastor James said locking his eyes with my eyes… “Stop saying that, you can’t die and besides If you die, I will kill myself”.. I said sobbing so loud, how would Pastor James die too? By this time Pastor James was sobbing… “Grace…if I die now, I know where I am going, but if you die now, where will you go, I am not afraid of death, rather I am afraid of life after death…where will you go after death?” I had no answer for Pastor James… “God cannot forgive me again, I have gone too far, in just six months, over 5 people are dead because of me, even Ifakolade is dead, his body is out there”… I said as I had no motivation to rededicate my life at that time, I just wanted Pastor James to be treated and besides I felt I was not worthy… “Apostle Paul was also a murderer, but he became a great…ves..sel for God…” he was struggling to talk… “Grace… I love you…and If I don’t make it tonight, I want to die knowing I will see you in heaven…” By this time, his voice was sounding like an echo to me, I was passing out, I had lost a lot of blood…I could hear pastor James saying… “God has invested so much in you, don’t let his investment in your life be a waste” I wanted to reply him, I wanted to tell him, all that investment was gone, I wanted to tell him that Larry had taken my 70,000 stars with him into the grave, but I couldn’t, my spirit was drifting away, it felt like I was losing my grip on his hands… Finally, all I remember seeing was BLACK…. I remember waking up in an hospital with my immediate younger sister beside me, I tried to remember what happened, but I couldn’t, I remembered trying to save Pastor James, before blanking out… Yes! Pastor James! Where was he? Did he survive? “Morountodun…” I beckoned on my sis. “Sis, finally, you are awake… thank God!” Morountodun said in excitement as she knelt to thank God… “What of Pastor James?…” I asked searching her eyes for the right answers… “He was taken to the city by his church…“ She said “Alive or dead?” I asked “I don’t know, it was his assistant pastor who came early in the morning that met you both on the floor bleeding…They immediately took him to city while they brought your body to us, so no one knows if he is still alive or not…but rumor has it that…that…” I noticed she was hiding the truth… “That what? That what?”…..I asked “That he died in the bus on their way to the city” “Oh my God!” I shouted “… Although I don’t believe it because it was Ajani the drunkard that said it” my Sister quickly added… So Pastor James too was gone?…Gone to the Grave because of me?, No I wasn’t going to swallow this pill, he must be alive… “I don’t believe the rumor” I said to myself, I was going to look for him the moment I was discharged. “What of Ifakolade?” I asked “He has been buried, His body was found in front of Pastor James’s house too, but the village elders are waiting for you to get better, so you can give a full explanation of what happened.” That means, the prayer of pastor James also worked for Ifakolade. His body also got out of the invisible state. I knew Ifakolade death was going to bring more trouble… “How long have I been here?” I asked her “3 days” “What?” as I shouted I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdomen. I tried to look at where exactly the pain was coming from… Then I saw it, my stomach was relatively flat… “The baby?” I asked my sister… “You lost the baby so they had to do an emergency C.S for you..” she said I was torn between tears, joy, sadness about losing a child, but I knew I was far from been free… The last question I dreaded to ask popped out of my mouth… “Have you heard anything about Larry’s death on the news” I asked “Yes! But I wanted to ask you, were you the one who killed his wife, his brother and children too?, I thought it was only Larry you went for.” I couldn’t say a word, Larry’s wife and the children died too…? Larry’s wife was not dead as at the time I left there, but I just assumed the pain of losing six children must have been too much for her, maybe she committed suicide or died out of shock… Hmmm… what I needed now was mercy… “Although, I don’t think they can trace it to you, because news has it that it was a case of armed robbery gone wrong” I heard my sister saying At this point, I knew God would never want to hear my voice… I had wrecked an entire family, because of one night of adultery…but I was ready to come back to God… I was tired of trying to fix things myself, I was tired of trying to cover my tracks… It had made bad to become worse… Was God going to accept me, despite all these blood shed? Follow me as you read the next few parts of how I found my way out of the mess I had put myself…but let me give a warning, I got out of the mess in the most unconventional way… To be continued…

PART 19

I was discharged 6 days later, my mother never came visiting. As I left the hospital, I went straight to the village elders, explained in simple terms to them, that it was a case of Ifakolade not fully fortified for the job I gave him… The elders told me, I had to step in to start taking care of Ifakolade’s aged mother, which I agreed to… That was the least of my troubles. I promised to send her money on a monthly basis…Money was not a problem for me… Early, the next morning, I packed my stuffs, with my vehicle I left Igbonla for good… If only I had listened to Saawawi just two months earlier, I won’t have been in all that mess… Where was I going? I was going back to my “Bethel”. The First place, I encountered God… The place where God spoke to me when I was just 13 Years old. I set out on a journey of redemption, but my redemption story was not the usual. My redemption story is another great chapter of my life… I arrived at the prayer mountain, with my baggage… I went in search of a man who used to pray for me back then as a teenager. The prayer mountain was a place you had to tread carefully, because there were a lot of fake prophets hanging around the mountain, looking for who to swindle, so I was looking for someone I knew and trusted. His name was “Baba Prayer”. I was silently hoping he was not dead. As I walked around on the prayer mountain searching for him, I noticed people were not waving at me… Was it that people didn’t recognize me anymore?… This was still baffling me, when I heard… “He told me you were coming!” I turned back and I saw Baba Prayer, I ran towards him and hugged him like a daughter would hug her father… Women and men were not allowed to hug themselves on the prayer mountain, but Baba Prayer knew, I needed a fatherly hug, I was broken, shattered and seeking repair… “Your glory has been taken away, that is why people don’t see the need to celebrate you like before” Baba Prayer told me, when I mentioned people not warming up to me as before… “Daughter, what you are going through is as a result of a conspiracy against you, it is not ordinary, you are going to stay with me on this mountain for 2 months without going anywhere… Right now you are in the Spiritual Intensive Care unit… I agreed to stay, as I wanted God back… It wasn’t easy, because right from the first week, I was told to just keep asking God for Mercy for committing adultery and Murder… I was on a water fast for the whole week… On the seventh day, Baba Prayer called me, and prayed for me for an hour. Thereafter, he asked me to go to sleep as the Lord was going to show me a great secret… I went to rest in a corner on the mountain and I had this great revelation…It was a great revelation indeed… I saw myself in a large conference hall, with over a thousand delegates. There was a meeting going on, I saw Different people coming in; beautiful and stylish women, well dressed Men, of different colors, white, blacks, Indians, Japanese…etc., I seemed invisible as people were passing through me, the people there didn’t know I was present… The chairman of the board meeting was speaking, he was a White man “We have a serious matter arising, there is A Star rising in Africa, In particular Nigeria in West Africa. Our Star detectives brought the shining of this particular star to our knowledge…Detective Bird, can you fill us in…” A lady who obviously was Detective bird, walked to a projected Screen “We discovered this star about two months ago, it was shining so bright it attracted a lot of people to its light. Her name is Grace…” My Jaw literally dropped when I saw my face on the projected screen… Who were these people and what business did they have with me? “She is a gospel musician, she is changing a lot of lives through her music, her light is showing people the right way to go, so if we are not careful, this star May become a full blown Sun that will shine all over the world…” she said as videos and pictures of where I had ministered was projected on the screen. “Thank you Detective Bird, so from your findings, what can be used to stop this star from shining?” “The research was highly intensive as she is a righteous person, but we were able to get a loophole, a way of getting her…” “Which is?… the chairman asked “She doesn’t love her husband, Adultery will be a good way of trapping her down” Detective Bird said “But you said she is righteous, she can’t fall for adultery” someone said from the crowd “I went through her thought pattern and realized, she fantasizes a lot about wishing she was married to someone else. So, she is yearning for love”… “Hmm… So we just need to plant a male agent in her life…” the chairman said while reasoning it out “With due respect I would love to suggest that we do not use an agent, because she is spiritually sensitive, she will figure the agent out in no time”…Detective Bird said “So what exactly is your way out? The chairman asked “I want us to look for an ordinary person, a neutral individual who is not a Christian but matches the type of man she would love to marry. We will work things around to make that person close to her… That person will also fall in love with her, and the moment they commit immorality, we will ensure she becomes pregnant, that further traps her, because she may want to commit abortion…. From there, the chain continues… I stood transfixed on a Spot as they were deliberating my issue, they couldn’t see me… “That means Larry was just a victim like me, he was a tool in the hands of the devil…”I thought to myself Just as I was looking around in that conference room, I saw the countries where the delegates came from… I saw Principality of countries, District Officers of villages… Suddenly, a man stood up, he was a district officer of a village “All protocols duly observed, I am Delegate Ajadi from District 1005, in Nigeria where this star is shining from, I know a man who can do it” “Who?” the chairman asked “My son! I will engineer him to do it and in exchange, my son will take her stars and use it for our kingdom”… “Is your son an agent?”…The chairman asked “No, but he is handsome and women naturally fall for him… He has a way with women” The chairman had a long thought about it, then said “What is the name of your son?” “Lanre Banjoko popularly known as Larry” “Bird, check him up and let’s know if he matches what we are looking for… ” So Larry’s father was the one who engineered the whole thing… that was exactly what Larry had said. He said it was his father that brought back my audio CD… “Absolutely “…I heard Detective Bird say.. . “He is perfect for it, and the fact that he is married with children will not make Grace see him as a threat”. The chairman turned to Larry’s father… “You have won the assignment… No losing out, you know the repercussions attached. You also know the promotion involved if you do a good job”… “Exactly, my son has wasted his stars as a young man sleeping around with girls, also I have donated his stars here on several occasions. This has made him unproductive, so I will appreciate if he collects the stars from this lady for his own use…” “Sister Grace, Sister Grace” I heard a distant voice calling me, the delegates continued their discussion… The chairman was asking Detective Bird… “Do we have other stars rising in other nations?” “None that should bother us for now, the earth is gradually becoming void of stars these days, Most of the potential stars are neck deep in sin, so they are not shining at their brightest, thereby making the planet earth become darker as each day passes by, just as we want…, but we will keep searching for new ones…“Detective Bird said with all authority on the matter… “Sister Grace, Sister Grace”…That same voice was still calling, as I turned to answer, I woke up from that deep revelation… “Yes! I answered her. It was one of the female prayer warriors on the mountain that was trying to wake me up… “Baba Prayer calls for you, some men are asking to see you… “Some men?” Fear immediately gripped my heart, as I didn’t inform anyone I was coming here… It had to be the police… “Policemen?” I asked “Yes… How did you know? She asked very surprised… I was right, this was the end for me… My dream was real, the kingdom of darkness conspired against me and I felt flat. To be continued…

PART 20

I walked towards Baba Prayer and the policemen, but very swiftly to my surprise I saw someone who looked like Daniel my DEAD husband with a Fair-skinned woman walk past me towards the prayer Altar…. was I hallucinating? Right ahead of me were the policemen waiting, but I think I just saw Daniel OR was it not Him…? I needed to see that person again… “That was Daniel” I thought to myself As I turned to have a second or third look, one of the police men shouted from faraway.. “If you try to run, I will shoot you down”… “Who cares?” I thought to myself… At that point, I was no longer afraid of death, I turned and was walking towards the man I saw, suddenly, it seem like he had disappeared… Was I hallucinating? I started running, Looking for the man that looked like Daniel, the policemen started pursuing ME, they thought I was running away… I didn’t see Daniel or the man that looked like him anymore… Maybe I was hallucinating… I stopped running and turned back towards the policemen. I stretched my hands towards them for their handcuff… The policemen were startled… They pointed their guns at me and looked at me intently…, then back at a photograph in their hand “What are you waiting for? You can take me with you…” Just then, Baba Prayer got to us… “Is she the one?” He asked the policemen, as the police men shook their heads in the negative… “This is not the Grace we are looking for?” said the first policeman What? I thought…, “Oh My God, these people made me lose sight of the man that looked like Daniel”… I thought angrily as I was still looking around for the sight of the man… “I told you we don’t have a fraudster here, she is a minister of the gospel, a music Minister, the fraudster you are looking for is not here. I just wanted to clear your doubts that was why I sent for her…” Baba Prayer said “Yes, we know her, she is Sis Grace that sings, we are sorry for the embarrassment …” The police officers turned to leave. Suddenly, my knees buckled, I had been fasting for the past seven days, so that running was an energy sapper. After the police men left, I told Baba Prayer I saw a man who looked like my husband, but he dismissed it saying it was just a mere resemblance. I narrated my dream to him, and he told me I needed to pray Star/Glory recovery prayers… He gave me 2 prayer point, I was constantly praying… “Oh Lord, my God, You are a Story Changer, Revive my Glory in Jesus Name” “Congregation of darkness, gathering against my star and Glory, scatter by fire.. For the next two months of staying on the prayer mountain, I had no resting periods, it was seeking the face of the Lord, all round the clock. There was no night and no day, it was the same for me… I was not ready to leave the Lord until he blessed me, just like Jacob, I was constantly asking for mercy. The two months was a time of separation that gave birth to Spiritual revival for me…. I Fasted till I lost my appetite for food…. I Prayed till I lost my voice…, I sang till I became the praise leader on the mountain… I was always calling my sister to find out if she heard anything about Pastor James. She told me nothing, but that a new pastor has been posted to the church. She further said, the pastor refused to disclose what had happened to Pastor James… I concluded, he was probably dead… For those two months, I was always on the lookout for the man who looked like Daniel. My heart was always asking this question “Was Daniel still alive? Or was it just a case of mere resemblance? To be continued

PART 21

I decided to give my all to God on that mountain, there were times I wept thinking about all my errors… There were days, I was not fasting but I just went hungry, as I refused to stand up from my prayer position… All I needed from God was MERCY… Exactly, two months from the day I got to the prayer mountain, I had another dream. It was more like a trance. I saw myself, with my bald head, but little by little, my hair was growing… I saw a stylist pulling the hair out to make it grow…. Oh my God! You should have seen me when I woke up, I started screaming that “My hair has grown back” I started running , looking for Baba Prayer to tell him, God had restored ME, I kept shouting ” My hair has grown back”…I was telling anyone who cared to listen, when I bumped into that man again.. ” I am.. Sor…ry” I said, before realizing it was Daniel’s lookalike… “No problem ma”…He said, I looked at the woman beside him, I didn’t know her…His voice was slightly different from My Daniel’s voice, but I was sure this was Daniel… “Daniel… It’s you…I knew it was you I saw… Daniel you are alive? “I said with a bit of excitement and gratitude to God… I felt God was Merciful, two miracles in one day, My Glory had been restored and two, I was seeing Daniel alive. “Sorry?” He asked looking at me in a shocked way “Daniel, you didn’t die “I asked again… “No!”…He smiled, “Because I am not Daniel. Guess there is a mix up, my name is Tochukwu, and this is my wife Ada… ” “Tochukwu, Yes… I know that is your name, I mean that is what Mama calls you…” I said still beaming in smiles, as the wife part did not register with me The man and woman exchanged looks… “Madam, I guess you are mixing my husband up with someone else” said the woman I was confused, Daniel had a wife… Maybe he just married her… So fast under 6 months… “Oh… Daniel…she is your wife? OK… I am happy you survived, and you have found yourself a new wife…I am sorry for everything I did to you, please find a place in your heart to forgive me…I wish you and your new wife a happy life together”.. I said “Sorry, excuse me… I am not a new wife, my husband and I have been married for 12 years, and we have two kids… So please Stop mixing us up with someone else…” the woman pulled her husband away Is it possible to be married to a man for 12 years and not recognize him again…? I asked myself as the couple walked away from me… Suddenly, my excitement about my restored glory (Hair) waned… “I heard, you were jumping around and shouting that your hair has grown, what was that about?” Baba Prayer asked much later… I was not in the mood to talk, because I was still baffled about the man who looked Just like Daniel.., but I had too much respect for Baba Prayer not to answer him… I narrated the dream to him… “Congratulations…. God has restored you, Our God has been good and merciful to you, now I can release you to go back home.” “Home?”…Where was home? I thought… Two days later, I packed my stuffs and left for the city, I never saw Daniel’s Lookalike again, but to be at peace with myself as I was about to start a new life, I needed to know if Daniel was dead or alive. I went to see Doctor Jack, who told me, the man I saw must have been a Lookalike. He told me Daniel was dead… I also went to our old home, where Daniel and I had stayed together as Husband and wife, I saw that it had been bought by a new family, probably, Daniel’s family sold the property. It was high time I started living my life all over again… With the money I had in my account, I rented a new apartment, a 3 bedroom flat. I opened a boutique where I sold baby clothes. I drew closer to God, I started writing new songs…. but guilt of the people I had killed never left me… The case of Larry’s family death had not been closed by the police as they were still on the search for the killer I had the urge that there was something I needed to do, I needed to confess my wrong deeds…I couldn’t just move on with life, living a cool life without owning up for my wrong deeds….I needed restitution Just like my good Friend Pastor James said, we should not be afraid of death, but life after death. I needed to own up for the murder of Larry and Gbenga… I shot them. However, some part of me was scared, if I owned up for the crime, I would be sentenced to death as well. I won’t fulfil destiny anymore… Well, I told myself, it was better to be right, and die and at the end go to heaven…what I planned on doing was to write the story of my life as a book, so that after my death, generations unborn will learn from my story… I made up my mind… I was going to the police to surrender for the crime of Larry and Gbenga Banjoko… Was this wise of me? The penalty for killing someone was death by hanging, now I was going to confess and own up for the death of two people and not just One… Was this a right move? To be continued in the

PART 22

I walked into the police station, I could literally hear my heartbeat sounding loud and clear. I stopped in my tracks as I heard a voice telling me to turn back. No! I was going to own up. I had done all the necessary things, I had given my properties and money to Churches, Charity Organizations, my Family, Friends who needed money, because I was sure I was going to be sentenced to death. As I stepped before the police counter, the front desk officer was listening to one of my ever green tracks on his tiny phone. The moment he recognized me, he was over the moon. I didn’t want to spoil his mood, so I asked to see the D.P.O. The scenario was almost the same inside the D.P.O’s office, but after we exchanged the pleasantries, I owned up to the death of Larry and Gbenga. He was shocked to say the least. He stood up for over five times, visiting the rest room three times, before saying anything to me… “Sis Grace, honestly I am short of words, my love for you wants me to tell you to go home and sin no more, but my heart tells me you have done the right thing, because someday, the truth will eventually come out, and if it is the police that begins to look for you, it will become messy for you and the body of Christ… hmm… I will pray for you that Mercy and Grace will speak for you. Oh my God” I could see tears in his eyes. He called some officers and asked them to take me to the commissioner of police without handcuffs. As I was leaving his office, he couldn’t control his tears as he burst out loud in tears….and he knelt on the floor with heads bowed in prayer…

PART 23

A particular boy of about 10 years, rushed towards me and hugged me so tightly, I didn’t recognize him, but I saw love in his eyes for me, the police left him for a while, he said to me while crying and hugging me tightly… “You have been my mother since I lost my mother, your music has been your way of teaching me… now, you are also leaving me…” Those words broke my heart, I wanted to tell him I was sorry for disappointing him, but the officers pulled him back from me … I was crying, but yet I tried to give a smile to my fans to let them know that I had received mercy…I was receiving the punishment of my wrong deeds here on earth, even with a great show of Mercy. I was happy somewhere in my heart…but suddenly I saw him again…Among the Large crowd, I saw the man who looked like Daniel. There was no expression on his face, the moment our eyes met, he was looking at me intently, like he was searching for something, but suddenly, he shook his head in the negative and turned back. I wanted to call his name, but the officers told me to enter into the van… I looked through the hole in the van trying to follow him, I saw him faintly hitting the tire of the vehicle angrily, just then I saw Doctor Jack patting him by the shoulder… I knew it… that was Daniel, so Doctor Jack did not kill him? So what was the story about Daniel having a wife and two kids…? The van moved away from them… As I walked into the prison gate, I received different looks, some were welcoming, and others were criticizing. Some were singing some of my songs and I waved at them. I was taken to a VIP prison room, where I had two other roommates. One of them was the wife of a former governor and the other a wealthy businesswoman who poured acid on one of her staff, who was sleeping with her husband. The wife of the former governor was welcoming, but the businesswoman was not. As I got in, I fell on my knees and I thanked God for what he had done for me, the Mercy he had shown me and the new phase of my life. I thanked God for not letting Daniel die, and I prayed hopefully that Pastor James was not dead too. I was happy. I got a special gift from the Judge’s daughter…it was a parcel. On opening it, I saw a Bible, and a jotter with a pack of high quality pens. There was an attached note… “Aunty Grace, Your ministry changed my life, from SS to AA. I am a testimony of your ministry. So, I need you ma to keep writing your songs, I will be sending you this jotters every month. The world is yet to hear all you have within you… love you ma. You are a champion.´ Joyce George. For me it was a special gift, I sat down to write my first song, the one I received when I was given the Judgement of Mercy I received… I had spent three months in prison, and I was having the best time of my life, fellowship time was always great. I was the praise team leader. I had written over 200 songs in just 3 months. The oil of inspiration was overflowing in my life. I was going to the studio the next day to record 3 songs. I was so full of joy in anticipation of going to the studio. We were having our fellowship, when I heard my name over the public address system. Who was here to see me? Was my thought. Ever since I got into prison, I have only had three visitors, only three people were on my visiting list…my sister, Morountodun, Baba Prayer and Joyce George. One of the warders came to pick me to the waiting room, where the inmates met with their visitors. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Doctor Jack and Daniel’s Mum, I looked around if Daniel was around, but he wasn’t. “Doctor Jack, thank you for keeping Daniel alive!, Mama I am sorry for what I asked Doctor Jack to do” “I am sorry for lying to you… I just couldn’t kill him, but I was scared you could kill him instead…” “It’s ok, you were more righteous than me… please tell Daniel to please forgive me, because he doesn’t want to speak to me… “That’s because he doesn’t recognize you” Mama said, talking for the first time “What do you mean by that?” I asked “After coming out of his coma, he lost his memory… To be continued…

PART 24

I never saw Doctor Jack, Mama and Daniel again after that day, I had spent 2 years in prison before I had an encounter with someone else I had been longing to see. Pastor James had sent me a letter, asking me to add him to my visiting list, which I did. By that time, the government had released 12 of my songs, and from what the warders told me, they were hit songs as people were singing it in churches, concerts and it was also popular on the street. I was fulfilling destiny while in prison…this was enough for me…I walked into the waiting room, but on seeing Pastor James, I broke into tears, tears of Joy, I gave him a big hug, a very big hug and I kept crying…“It’s ok, Grace…” he said with his wonderful peaceful smile“You are alive and handsome” I said smiling while crying…I kept hugging him not wanting to leave himBut surprisingly I noticed a wedding band on his finger “You are married?” He nodded in the affirmative… ‘I am happy for you…” I said not totally meaning “I am happy for you too, your new songs are everywhere” he said, the air had become suddenly cold when he told me was married… “And may I add, the songs are divinely inspired” “Yes! Thanks to God and you… you told me I could still be the king of the Jungle”
“Yes! And you did it” he said with excitement. “You made me do it… you were my angel!” I said looking into his eyes “And you have always been my angel” he said holding my hands, but that made me see his finger well, there was a brief moment of silence, then I broke the silence by saying “I wish I am in her shoes” I said referring to the wedding band… “I wish I could have married you too, but God’s ways are not our ways. God gave her to me, she is just like you and she is your biggest fan” he said “Really? Do I know her?” I asked him “Yes! But I never told her that I knew you, because your secret is safe with me…unless you want me to do otherwise” Pastor James said “Who is she?” I was curious“Joyce George… the lady whose genotype changed from SS to AA through your song…” “What?” When Joyce visited me the last time about two months ago, she told me she was getting married, and she mentioned that her husband was a big fan of mine…“Do you know it was your music that connected us, I was in a public bus and I was playing one of your songs on my phone, she was so excited hearing it, she kept talking about how anointed you were, we got talking and the rest is history”… he said excitedly I saw Pastor James was excited, I had to tell myself that James and I were not ordained to marry, he was just a friend God brought my way for that temporal purpose of redirecting me back to God. God definitely planted Pastor James in Igbonla, exactly the same time I was going there. God never left me all the while…I summoned courage to congratulate him, even though I couldn’t help the flow of tears. I managed to say “Congratulations, Joyce is a good woman, may your home be blessed. Feel free to tell her about us, because someday I am going to release a book about all that happened, and definitely, your name can never be left out…” I gave him a warm smile and asked for a hug…“Thank you for being my best friend, when I needed it” “Thank you for rising up again…”he said We said our emotional goodbyes and I went back into my room and wept embracing the full knowledge that not everyone we are attracted to can be our husbands or wives. They could have crossed our path for different purposes.

To be continued

PART 25

I spent another three years in prison before completing my book. Pastor James and Joyce were my best buddies, they always came visiting, they followed me for my studio sessions. They became my P.R.O, they took letters for me from fans, sorted out important ones and brought them for me. They brought homemade food anytime they came, we played cards within the 10 minutes visiting time.The Prison was also home for me, as I had become friends with the warders and most of the inmates. I led a lot inmates to Christ. The prison was another ministerial assignment for me.Exactly, five years of staying in prison, I released my book through the help of Pastor James and his wife Joyce… It was an autobiography of all that happened, and how I was saved by Grace despite being in prison.The book started topping the charts, it was selling in millions. People were buying the copies like water. Pastor James was in charge of my marketing. Practically everyone was talking about the book, so it didn’t come as a surprise when I had a visitor and it turned out to Daniel, my husband…The moment I entered the visiting room, I wanted to hug him out of excitement of him being alive, I restrained myself, but before I knew what was happening he had hugged me so tight…“My Grace…” Daniel said…
He just called me “My Grace” just the way he used to call me, “Has he regained his memory” I thought silently as I patiently waited for his next reaction. “My Grace. I knew I had met you somewhere, I thought it was a former life, but as I read the book, it seem like you were bringing back my memories” he said with tears flowing down his face “I am sorry for everything I did!” I said“No, I forgive you…Anyone could have done what you did, under those circumstances, we all have different ways we commit sin and try to cover our tracks. I forgive you wholeheartedly…” Daniel said as he was touching my face…: “How have you been coping?’ he asked with tears still flowing down his face..“Thank you so much, thank you Daniel… how are you doing now? Your wife and kids…?”
“My kids are fine, but as regards my wife, I should be asking you that question, how are you doing? You are my wife…so how are you doing Grace?”
I was shocked beyond words as I didn’t understand where Daniel was heading with this conversation…“I mean the woman your mother married for you…”
“She is not my wife, the marriage was based on falsehood, and besides I can’t be married to two women at the same time, you are my wife whom I never divorced… the kids are adopted so, they are mine…, but if she insists on taking them, Let her take them, then we can adopt ours…Was Daniel in his right frame of Mind, did he know what he was talking about? I was a prisoner…“Daniel, I am in prison, I can’t be your wife anymore” “On our wedding day, we made a vow, and that vow was to stay for better, for worse. We promised to stay together through the best times and worse times… we had our 12 years of “for Better” so I won’t leave you now, when it has become “for worse”… you will always be my wife…” Daniel said…“Daniel, I have committed adultery against you, murder and yet you want to still stay with me?” “As disastrous as the sin Eve committed by making her husband and mankind sin against God, God never replaced hher. God didn’t change her, Even God knew it is “For Better, For Worse I couldn’t wrap my head around this, I sat down looking at Daniel thinking to myself “God, why this so much love and Mercy ”, but as beautiful as this looked, I wasn’t sure this could work out…but Daniel had it all figured out…

PART 26

I formally introduced Pastor James and Joyce to Daniel my husband, and they became really close. Daniel was always visiting me three times a week. He settled the woman his mother had married for him, the woman insisted on taking the children.
Daniel was not disturbed, rather Daniel relocated to few blocks away from the prison where I was serving term. He became friends with the Chief Warder and asked to always see me every day after the close of work. I was growing in love every day. He always told me about his day, and what he planned to do the next day… I begged Daniel to adopt a son, who could continue bearing his name after we are gone, but he declined saying he had a plan he was working on. He refused to disclose this plan to me… God really showed me Grace with the officers at the prison, there were days Daniel would not leave me till 11pm at night, but always with a kiss. I was hoping for a day when I could lie down beside Daniel and be his wife in the real sense of the word…my wish came through in the seventh year of being in Prison…Daniel had come into the Prison very excited, he was seated in the Chief Warder’s office, the moment he saw me, he carried me up and started screaming…“I did it, I did it.., My Grace, I told you…” he said kissing my face, I noticed the chief warder was happy and smiling
“What?”“I had been writing to the president to use his good office to please grant you a presidential pardon to make you have three free weekends in a year, to spend with me as I was not planning to remarry. For the past two years , he never answered, so just last night I received a phone call from him, saying that he just had time to read your book that I sent with the letter, and he was really moved by your boldness to restitute your ways. He asked for my email address and here is the letter he sent from his office. “We have also received our copy, from the office of the president…Congratulations Sis Grace… Your name really speaks for you” the Chief Warder said… I sank into the chair in the Chief Warder’s office, was I dreaming? I suddenly remembered the Scripture that states that “when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, they were like them that dreamed… I was in shock as I heard Daniel saying to the Warder…“Our first three days starts today, I am taking my wife out of here now…” He said while laughing in excitedly… “Congrats Mr. Daniel, and thank you for being a good husband, you are one of a kind…” Daniel had brought me a change of clothes, he brought a turquoise blue dress. He had not forgotten that turquoise was my best color.I changed my dress and as I was going out of the prison door for the first time in a dress unlike my prison uniform I wore for studio sessions…. I took off the shoes he brought for me, as I wanted my legs to feel the sand of the outside world, I kept jumping and screaming, I started running, Daniel and the police officer (that had been attached to us to keep watch over me) started running after me to catch up with me…I was over the moon…
To be continued

PART 27

The flat was beautifully decorated, Daniel had done a good job with the house. The police officer stayed outside the door of the house as we walked in, I went into the kitchen, it was beautiful, the bedroom… was dimly lit, Aww… there were beautiful petals on the bed, a beautiful night dress was on the bed. Daniel had prepared in such a short time… He held me from the back… “Do you know how long, I have waited for this day to come”…he was kissing my neck, I knew I was stinking, I needed a real shower or bath, but before that I needed to ask an important question…“Daniel, how is it so easy for you to forgive me and go this extra length for me…”

“We are all sinners, and God has been forgiving us all over and over… have you forgotten the Lord’s Prayer… Forgive us as we forgive all those who trespass against us… I am grateful, I got another opportunity with you, my love…” he turned me to face him and said “I miss your small lips”… I smiled as I remembered this was how Daniel was always having his way with me… “Daniel, I know what usually follows this line, Let me freshen up…” I ran away from his grip, but he took hold of me before I could go far… “You are always fresh! He pulled me and carried me to the bed….

The next day, was a picnic with Pastor James, Joyce and their son. The free 3 days was the best time of my life in years, I had fun….
To be continued…

PART 28

I had been feeling weak all week, I complained to Daniel, when he came around the day before and he had promised to get me very good malaria drugs. He came to the prison, unusually early, in order to give me my drugs. He had brought some homemade food, but I felt like throwing up on seeing the food. I suddenly heard in my spirit, “Mercy has found you, you are carrying a baby, and her name shall be called “MERCY”.
The drugs fell from my hand and I faced Daniel with a blank look. I stood up and moved away from Daniel… Daniel was scared…
‘My Grace, what is it? Are you ok?”
“I heard something..” Daniel, I want you to take me out right now, I still have four free days in this year right?
Daniel nodded…but he was confused… “Why?“ he asked
“I will Explain later, just take me out”…
I was cleared and I went out with Daniel. When I saw a signpost of a Lab, I told him to park right in front of it…Daniel still did not get the gist…
“You want to do a malaria test?” he asked… I refused to say a word. On getting to the Lab attendant, I told him I wanted to do a blood pregnancy test, Daniel was shocked, but he suddenly became speechless as we both anxiously waited for the result… The Result came out and it turned out “POSITIVE”…Our Joy knew no bounds, I told him what I heard, and we kept the name “MERCY” Seven months later, I gave birth to Mercy at the Prison hospital. Daniel took over the child from me, he and MAMA were nursing her. Daniel always brought her for breastfeeding every morning and Evening….I always spent my three free weekends with Daniel and Mercy. We travelled to different parts of the country. Daniel made it a duty that Mercy saw me at least three times every week in the evening… My music was soaring, as the government kept sponsoring my music. God was ever faithful, releasing fresh songs for me.
Pastor James and his wife were covenant family friends, they also relocated close to the prison, as Joyce volunteered to assist in training Mercy in areas ,Daniel could not…
I never missed any important celebration in Mercy and Daniel’s Life, it was always arranged to be on one of my free days… God still molded something great out of my life despite the limitation of the Prison doors…
To Be Continued…. .. .

PART 29

The best day of my life came, the day Mercy turned 25. It also turned out to be her wedding day. And guess who she got married to, Pastor James and Joyce’s only Son… It was my free day, Daniel had come to pick me up from the prison, and he took me home, Joyce had picked our cloth, as we were going to be putting on the same attire as the parents of the couple… Daniel went on his knees and proposed to me again…
“My Grace, my life has been joyful with you in it, even as our daughter is leaving us today, I will like to remarry you again. I don’t regret all we have been through… I know some day, a miracle will happen, but even if the miracle doesn’t happen your being alive is enough miracle for me.”
I couldn’t find words but I knew I had to say something…
“The devil tricked me into believing that I could not find love with you, I started looking for love elsewhere, meanwhile you are the definition of love, I thank God for giving me a second chance with you, thank you for forgiveness, thank you for endurance and thank you for Love”…

……………………………………………..
“My Daughter Mercy, Don’t repeat my mistakes
Avoid sin especially adultery like a plague, When you fall into sin, And you refuse to repent of it,Your life could end up as a song of lamentation
Which was my case… “How lonely lies Jerusalem, once so full of people,
Once honored by the world, she is now like a widow, The noblest of cities have fallen into slavery, All night long, she cries, Tears run down her cheeks, Of all her former friends, not one is left to comfort her
Her allies have betrayed her and are all against her now… (LAMENTATIONS 1:1-2) Never take the Grace of God for Granted,
Because though Mercy may speak, There is always a repercussion for our actions, Mercy only makes it less grievous.
I love you and I pray you turn out better than I did…
Your mother, Grace…
This was the wedding frame I gave to Mercy on her wedding day, and I
begged her to put it in her living room as a daily reminder of the story of
her mother’s sin, shame and redemption. I never wanted her to repeat my mistake. As I danced at the wedding reception , tears flowed from my eyes, I am sure some onlookers would have thought it was because of the fact that I was still to return to my prison room after the wedding that made me cry, but no, I was weeping in gratitude to God for his big show of mercy.
Yes! I received Mercy, I deserved death as my punishment, but rather
mercy gave me all these:
The best day of my life came, the day Mercy turned 25. It also turned out to be her wedding day. And guess who she got married to, Pastor James and Joyce’s only Son…
It was my free day, Daniel had come to pick me up from the prison, and he took me home, Joyce had picked our cloth, as we were going to be putting on the same attire as the parents of the couple…
Daniel went on his knees and proposed to me again…
“My Grace, my life has been joyful with you in it, even as our daughter is leaving us today, I will like to remarry you again. I don’t regret all we have been through… I know some day, a miracle will happen, but even if the miracle doesn’t happen your being alive is enough miracle for me.”.
I couldn’t find words but I knew I had to say something…
“The devil tricked me into believing that I could not find love with you, I started looking for love elsewhere, meanwhile you are the definition of love, I thank God for giving me a second chance with you, thank you for forgiveness, thank you for endurance and thank you for Love”…

……………………………………………..

“My Daughter Mercy, Don’t repeat my mistakes, Avoid sin especially adultery like a plague, When you fall into sin,vAnd you refuse to repent of it,Your life could end up as a song of lamentation Which was my case…
“How lonely lies Jerusalem, once so full of people, Once honored by the world, she is now like a widow, The noblest of cities have fallen into slavery, All night long, she cries, Tears run down her cheeks, Of all her former friends, not one is left to comfort her
Her allies have betrayed her and are all against her now…
(LAMENTATIONS 1:1-2)
Never take the Grace of God for Granted, Because though Mercy may speak, There is always a repercussion for our actions, Mercy only makes it less grievous. I love you and I pray you turn out better than I did…Your mother, Grace…
This was the wedding frame I gave to Mercy on her wedding day, and I
begged her to put it in her living room as a daily reminder of the story of
her mother’s sin, shame and redemption. I never wanted her to repeat my mistake. As I danced at the wedding reception , tears flowed from my eyes, I am sure some onlookers would have thought it was because of the fact that Iwas still to return to my prison room after the wedding that made me cry, but no, I was weeping in gratitude to God for his big show of mercy. Yes! I received Mercy, I deserved death as my punishment, but rather mercy gave me all these:
MERCY made it possible for me to still be alive till that time despite·
having so much bloodshed on my hands, I was only receiving
punishment for my bloodshed, just like David who couldn’t build
God’s temple because there was a lot of blood on his hands
Mercy also restored my marriage,·
Mercy made it possible for me to still be blessing the world with my· Mercy made my Glory and stars to be restored,· music despite being in prison. There are a lot of talented singers in prison like me, but they have been silenced.
I was still fulfilling destiny, as at the day of my daughter’s wedding,· I had released 2500 songs and I had written 10 books. Proceeds from my book is used to help the less privilege Mercy further made it possible for me to give birth to my own child, and today I am witnessing her wedding…
Mercy made it possible for me to be surrounded by good and· covenant friends, Pastor James and Joyce, his wife.
Was the Lord not good to me? The prison doors could not stop God from showing me Mercy, I just had to pay a little for the 12 souls that died through me…. I was a product of Mercy….
Did I believe that someday, I might receive a bigger level of Mercy and be given a presidential pardon to be out of Prison, I believed, because the Love of my Life, the Gift God gave to me in form of a human named Daniel had promised to keep writing to the presidential office begging for my release…. So Yes I believed, that My Miracle was going to happen….

PART 30

My Miracle happened! Yes it happened.
The day started like every other day in prison, I had woken everyone up with my loud voice of praise. We did our devotion. By that time I had spent 35 years in Jail. I was 66 years of age. We had just gotten a new president elected into power just a week earlier. We were told the president was coming to our Prison to visit us. We had to sweep, clean, cut the grasses and looked neat.
After the President had a general meeting with us all, encouraging us, he specifically asked to see me. The moment I entered the Chief Warder’s office, I was surprised to see the President rise up to his feet to greet me. I was humbled, so I bent to greet him too…
“Ma, it’s a great privilege meeting you after so many years, I am one of the products of your ministry, I gave my life to Christ under your song ministration, about 40 years ago, when I was just 8 years old. As an orphan, your music were instructions that shaped my life, making me avoid evil at a young age. Your song was like a motherly voice to me. I was there the day you received your jail sentence, I was the young boy who rushed to hug you as you were taken to the van…. That day I heard someone say by my side that the only way you could ever be free was if you received a presidential pardon…I made up my mind that day I was going to be President someday, in other to have you released. That dream has come to pass… I have become the president of our country. For this reason ma, I came here personally to give you a presidential Pardon to have you released from Jail…”It felt like it was a dream, and I needed someone to wake me up… the president was weeping as he hugged me so tight just like he did 35 years ago as a little boy…Dreams if pursued do come to pass…
At 66 years of age, I got out of prison. Mercy got me out of Prison, Grace brought me out of prison, and guess what the Bible verse that states that “Eyes have not seen ,nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath Prepared for them that Love Him” in ! Corinthians 2:9 was exactly how my life turned out…
The Lord started a new chapter out of my life after my years in prison… one of the great things God did for me was that I thought Mercy was going to be my only child, but getting out of Prison, God gave Daniel and I a set of twin boys at the age of 68. My story got better and full of Grace, just like my name from that time. I was able to reach more lives , as I started travelling around the globe, sharing my story of how one night in room 401 almost ruined my life…This new Chapter of my life is also a story-filled phase of my life…
Favour, Mercy and GRACE found me.

THE END (For Now) “THAT NIGHT IN ROOM 401”

INSPIRED BY THE LIVING WORD

©Opeyemi Akintunde