Memoirs of a Church Girl

Gladys logged off her system and tidied her table. It was already 15 minutes past closing  time. She never wanted to give her manager the impression she was too eager to go home after work.  'After all its not like I have a baby to nurse at home'. She muttered to herself. She was the last to walk out of the company's gate and the security man bid her his usual Cheerful farewell full of expectancy of the monetary kind. 'Audu abeg nothing for you today, may be tomorrow' she waved him off ' Ah! madam baa wahala' he said cheerfully and waved back at her. As she sat on the bus on her way home she struggled between going straight to church for the sisters fellowship or just going home directly. She could do some laundry she didnt have energy for during the weekend and maybe even cook herself a nice pot of jellof rice instead of eating whatever  stale stuff that was still stored in her refrigerator. 'If I dont go now Mrs. Richards the general women le...

THE CIRCLE PART 3  THE COVEN It was time. The Sisterhood of darkness where all complete. Except for one tardy young initiate , all came extra early. The reason was obvious, no one would dare cross her by arriving late for any of her meetings. The penalty was almost more than any of them could handle. As for the late comer she would think of a very appropriate punishment so she would wake up to the reality of her new life. In her young days lateness was unheard of. Especially knowing the exceptional cruelty of the then High witch. After the high witch's demise, she had taken her place amidst clamors from the older witches who felt they where more qualified . But she had been specially hand picked to replace her because of her exceptional ability and  success rate at  delivering even the most difficult of tasks . No one would dare challenge the choice of the High witch. Her resume was very impressive. She was eager to learn, very daring and very strategic in her onsl...

The smell of assorted dead things and stale portions  hung heavily in the air. The witch made her way slowly and deliberately down the earthy tunnel that led into her lair which also doubled as a coven for all the other witches that where under her jurisdiction . The location was the middle  of the forest , in a cave underneath the tallest , the most thunder struck and most deformed tree . It was always extremely dark in there even when the sun shun at its fullest strength outside. It never mattered though, her eyes where in oneness with the darkness. Her steps remained slow but purposeful, she had a job to do and it had to be done fast but first of all she had to locate THE BOOK. The last time she had left it on a low table covered with the waxy residue of the special red candles with the special scent. Years of studying the book for hours on end with this peculiar candle had the table almost entirely covered with melted red wax giving it the apperance of congealed bloo...

The day I saw myself in the mirror while I was crying I realised why my tears has never moved God...I looked plain ugly. Some girls can cry and still pull off a pretty face and an adorable look but such is not my case. As in eh serious Ihu ekpo...Lol. So for me the only victories I have won are the ones I fought in Faith. Faith in God's word, in His promises and hanging on to the New covenant. When you deal with men our tears hardly count, like that time I was driving with an expired licence and landed in the police station. That day I turned on the faucet to the highest only to realise that men and women of the NPF use tears  as soft drink. It was only when I pulled on the supernatural through faith that I left that place with my car keys and document  without having to pay a dime. Tears don't move the demons. Rather it whips them into frenzied excitement as they explore new ways to torment and harass you. Demon of frustration : hmmm what does this button do? Demon of a...

I changed my position from sitting on the floor to lying face down. It had to be the position. I waited for minutes that seemed like hours. This thing doesn't seem to be working for me. Massive book shelves loomed over me silently , their contents penned by God's generals and spiritual giants like John G Lake , Kenneth Hagin, Smith Wigglesworth, A W Tozer, Derek Prince , Andrew Murray, Charles Finney, Kathryn Kulhman , Maria woodworth Etter and many more seemed to be mocking my failure. I was holed up in a Christian library where I worked  as a temporary librarian. It was 6 pm on a week day in 2003 or maybe 2004 after all the free readers had left. I locked myself up. I had my notebook and my pen and I believed I was desperate enough, so why wasn't God talking to me. A hundred emotions ran through me chief among them was disappointment. I sighed . I was getting tired and impatient and of course the devil wouldn't pass up this kind of  opportunity for anything. He came...

One tailor insulted my mom because she was upset he didn't finish her cloth as at when agreed. Mom came home that day livid and almost breathing fire. She was so upset she didn't talk to anyone so we all knew whatever transpired between her and the tailor must have been really ugly. 'Essy!' (Pet form for Esther) ishi n'ogini mere?' (What did you say happened?) My dad called her into the 'other room' and the discussion of the event didn't last long. Next thing we knew dad was dressed up in trousers , shirt and a mighty frown of fury. Some tailor nearby was in for it. To cut the gist my dad didn't engage the guy in a fight of words or fists, he just got the police to do the job for him . It wasn't long before the tailor started tendering unreserved apologies to my mom. Never insult a man's wife, you would be forcing him to display the rough side of  his masculinity. I want to believe it's a universal principle that if  you insult a m...

As I walked down a street yesterday, an Airtel vendor tried to force me to collect a SIM card. 'Aunty we no dey sell am' 'I no want' was my prompt response as I passed her without even giving her a glance. Then the Holy Spirit began to speak in my heart 'Men have no value for salvation because it is offered to them free ' I began to imagine a world where there was a price tag to get into heaven, I'm talking in terms of an actual price in either dollars,Euro,pounds,rand,yen,naira. What do you think salvation would cost? What does it cost to live in the most expensive part of your city ? How many people can afford to live there? I know for sure I wouldn't be able to afford it just like most of you. Only the stupendously and tremendously wealthy can afford to . It might cost a Bill Gates and others in his class a huge chunk of their wealth to afford to live in that Crystal city where the streets are paved with gold. Maybe they too might not be able...

'Why can't YOU PEOPLE just talk normally' he yelled at me. By 'you people' he meant born gain Christians who interject their statements with 'by God's grace ' 'and it is well' . He proceeded to rant about all the things wrong with Christians of nowadays. I was stunned to silence because I thought he was one of 'us people'. I didn't bother to argue with him because I was listening to all the things he wasn't saying with his mouth. It dawned on me that every time our conversation tilted towards the bible or church tinz in the past he would skilfully navigate himself out out of it. I was always made to feel like there was something wrong with my spirituality. I didn't understand it initially. But I realised that our major interests differed. I probably wasn't the kind of friend he needed so I skilfully made my self scarce. Back then I was highly suspicious and wary of female friendships. I don't like plenty drama and w...

What I felt for her came as close to being in love as anyone could get without the sexual feelings that often ruin wonderful, God ordained relationships. We had been roommates in law school and out of five mismatched ladies tightly fitted in an upstairs room in a Nigerian Law school  hostel she was the only one that noticed I was suffering in silence. I was loosing weight without planning to because I was as hungry as hell. Prior  to that I had been branded a family rebel for daring to leave the family's traditional church and I was paying the price for my obstinacy. In Law school, full of my school grown UNN alumnus ego, and Christian martyrdom. I wasn't going to ask anyone for anything. Dupsy noticed. She watched me for a while and noticed I wasn't eating, and I barely had the recommended law books. So one day when we where alone she asked me, 'Ijay what's wrong... are you ok ?' ' I'm fine ' I replied ' No you are not... you look depres...

I have too many apps on my phone. Some came with the phone, some I installed by myself. My need for apps is constantly evolving so I keep installing and uninstalling as the need or lack of it arises. Like the time I installed Talking Angela to distract the kids only to realise it would distract me every now and then by meowing for attention(bad kitty)...uninstall! Another time I installed Shazam  because I was searching for a particular song, instead I unwittingly downloaded a satanic heavy metal song that instantly fouled up the atmosphere in my house . I had to plead the blood of Jesus and sanctify the place...uninstall! Next time I installed Candy crush Saga just to know what the noise was all about. As soon as I got the hang of it I became addicted...uninstall! Abeg I'm redeeming my time because the days are evil. I'm not discrediting  any of these apps, I'm just trying to say something (before they'll say I gave them bad market). There are a lot of things that n...

There's a kind of people I keep away from if I can help it and nothing you do will ever make me stand and gist with them for a minute. Call it what ever you want, being snobbish, being on my high horse, not loving enough...whatever... na you Sabi. I will love them but I'm sorry it will have to be from a distance. I love to stay clean, healthy, cheerful and joyful in Christ so over time I've had to trust God for the ability to discern when the devil at work in someone is trying to strip me of my joy and peace. It was a lesson I learnt in an excruciatingly painful way. I still have the scars and they don't look pretty. So my decision is based on godly fear ( which begets wisdom...Lol) and inbred self-preservation. STAY AWAY FROM BITTER PEOPLE. I don't care how spiritual they sound or look but bitterness is a poison deadlier than cyanide and spreads faster than Ebola. You should even be more careful when a bitter person comes to complain to you about the subject ...