GOD REALLY ANSWERS PRAYERS!!!

Blessing : my dear friend God really answers prayers oh! hmmmmm.

Sarah :     Are you just finding out, I have told you several times but because you never take me seriously, you always think I'm joking.

Blessing: My dear, will you blame me? you know how long I stayed without a Job, and all the disappointments from people  I really relied on, including you sometimes. What else could i do but  feel bad and behave the way I did during those terrible times.

Sarah: My dear Sister, I am so glad you feel differently now, but I am happier that God is not man because he did something you've always wanted, and that's why you can now say God really     answers prayers. lol!

Blessing: Shuuuuu see beef, Sarah, are you jealous that God answered my prayers?

Sarah: Not at all o! I am happy oh! I just passed a comment, thats all.

Blessing: Well my Joy is complete and that is all that matters now; whether it took a miracle or anything to                    make me say God really answers prayers, I just needed proof because year in, year out for                               almost 5 years, I kept asking him for a good Job. Life looked gray, at the thought of any good job                        coming my way . So I thought I could even use what I had as a woman to get

                 what I wanted and survive in this country, but things became worse; all the men I met,both young                  and old, took advantage of me and made me feel worthless. I turned to God and kept asking. I                          asked, and I asked, and guess what Blessing, I have never been happier; the way things turned                        around for me, if I tell you, you would become more jealous the way I am looking at your eyes :                      ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! But anyway you have come to my office now, and have seen how things are                  and how Andrew is killing himself over our  wedding; like he can't wait for me to get into his                            house and many other things. Anyway, I don't want to waste your time and I even need to get                          ready for bible study. Take good care of yourself, and don’t forget to tell someone else like you                      told me that God really answers prayers. He really does. Bye dear.

Listening to those ladies at the ice cream place felt funny; maybe it had something to do with the way Blessing carried on about how good God has been to her or maybe it was the way I saw them discuss that was interesting I am not sure which, but their conversation reminded me about the many times I have felt happier than Blessing because the requests I prayed about were answered wholly. I tried to imagine those beautiful times, to appreciate how Blessing felt. But what dawned more on me was the look on many faces of people who had met me or someone I knew and said, 'I am giving up!' it does not look like this tough phase of my life will ever end.  Chuka, maybe I need to accept that this is what God has brought my way and just keep moving with the tide.  I remembered that during such moments, because I could not feel exactly what those friends or persons felt, I had not much to say until the day I listened to the conversation between Blessing and Sarah but especially the instruction Blessing left for Sarah 'Don’t Forget to tell someone else like you told me that GOD REALLY ANSWERS PRAYERS'.

I knew immediately where I had failed in my responsibility to those individuals. I should have told them even in those times that God really answers prayers.  I feel better now because, I have learned through Blessing and Sarah. I just would like to let you know that you are next in line for a miracle and GOD REALLY ANSWERS PRAYERS!

Dumelo

My name is Dumelo,  I am 48 years old, and I have a wonderful son. Now when I think about him, my heart is filled with sheer pain, regret, and utter agony, and if I just had one wish, it would be to turn back the hands of time, to make things right, to do things correctly, to be a good and loving father, to be part of his life, to hold him, teach him to ride a bicycle, how to play football, and to put a smile on his face every blessed day. I’d give anything to have that wish come true but Sometimes, you never know what you have until its too late.

I had love, but I threw it away. I didn’t know its value, I didn’t know its worth. Right now I sit here with sorrow, great depression, anger, dejection, frustration, lonliness, heartache, and regret as my only companions, fear is my master, and torture is the whip he uses to flog me.

Since I cannot have my wish, and turn back the hands of time, I can only sound a warning to other fathers who are threading the same path I did.

Life is too short to waste it on the things that don’t count, while destroying the things that do. Let me tell you my story, maybe I can save a little child, or another father from destruction.

Twelve years ago, I met a beautiful lady, her name was Joy. She was so full of joy and love, nothing you could ever do would make her sad. I watched her everyday as she came to the restaurant I always ate during my lunch break. Joy was gracious, she radiated from the inside, she shone with a beauty I couldn’t describe. She was well mannered, and beautifully built, she was a work of art, a rare gem.  I knew because, I had met all kinds of women, and by God, this one was heavenly. She wasn’t just beautiful on the outside, she was beautiful on the inside too. Apart from her beauty, I think it was her innocence that really endeared me to her.  One day I summoned courage, walked up to her table, I smiled, she smiled, I talked, she talked and 6Months later, we were married.

A year after our wedding, Joy took in, and gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. He was my spitting image, and I was very proud of myself. But slowly things began to change, the love Joy and I shared, began to die. I couldn’t stand her anymore, Joy did everything she could to try and salvage the remains of a shattered marriage, but my mind was made up, one morning I moved out. I knew it killed Joy because she became a shadow of herself, I had sucked out all the joy and beauty that was in her. She struggled to survive because she didn’t have a job, I had ordered her to stop working when we found out she was pregnant. She moved into a much smaller apartment and became a pure water producer, and she had a tiny kiosk where she managed to sell small stuff.

Friends would chide me for not accepting responsibility for my son, but I couldn’t, well, the truth is, I didn’t want to. I felt if I provided for my son, then I would be indirectly providing for Joy. So like the fool that I was, I turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the disapproval of my friends.

Years passed and I didn’t give a hoot, I didn’t care less if my son lived or died. I lived my life on the fast lane, showering money to all kinds of women, keeping late nights, and getting drunk almost all the time. Until that faithful night, when the accident occurred. My car was bashed beyond recognition, I saw people gathering around, some shouting with their hands on their heads, and some crying, I kept shouting, im over here! Unscathed!, nothing happened to me!, im fine! Why wont they just hear me? I kept asking myself, until a little girl ran through me. I screamed! And at that point, I realized I was dead. Fear took over me,  I felt a great chill down my spine as a great angel came to take me. Suddenly, my whole life flashed in front of me. This huge angel showed me different areas of my life, people I had hurt, things I had done, right and wrong. Then he showed me something I would live with for the rest of my undead life; this angel opened my eyes and I saw my son and his mother on their knees praying for me, asking God to forgive me and protect me.  Hot tears began to drop from my eyes, and just then I realized that I had treated them very unfairly.  Regardless of my wickedness towards them, they still were able to pray for me with a heart full of love. The angel told me that for 12years they had done that, and God reached me so many times but I refused to change and do right by them. We walked until we reached a dark smelly ally, that was when a big ugly thing came to get me. I screamed and begged the angel to save me, but he could do nothing and suddenly vanished.

To say its been sheer horror ever since, is an understatement.  I take comfort in one thing the angel said; “God is a father to the fateherless, and He will take care of your son”.  Fathers who still have a chance  to do right, please make amends, find time and spend it with your kids, love them, protect them and most especially take care of them.

By Angaye Bibi - Jewel Publishers 

Celebrating Fathers!!!

He was recruited to join a team that would carry out interviews for a Father's day Magazine. During the course of the interviews, he met a lady with a quiet countenance sitting by the pool side in Chelsea Hotel with ear phones tucked into her ears and an ipad in hand. Waving his hand to get her attention he said; hi! I'm Charles from AY's magazine, I would like to ask a few questions if you don’t mind my interrupting anything that you are presently doing 'please go ahead Charles' she responded. I have just one question ma'am; If you could have one wish from your Father on Fathers day, what would it be?We are trying to compile a wish list for Dads to fulfill so they know exactly what their children want from them. Smiling wryly she lifted her face and said to Charles;I will give you more answers than you have asked for. My name is Michelle a very rich and beautiful young lady from Adamawa state, capable of doing things so good they will transform your life for the better. I will do anything you ask of me materially, if you can get my dad to grant me this one wish;Tell daddy to come back to life so I can have him forever, so i can tell him everyday how much I love him. Grave silence immediately fell at the pool side,  Michelle  began to cry and the tears just wouldnt stop because, the question Charles had asked her brought back memories of a father who loved her so much and spared nothing to make her life worthwhile but in return got nothing he deserved.

She said;Charles I did not treat my Father well, I did the opposite of everything he asked me to because I knew he loved me and would not lift a finger to hurt me. I always knew he was blessed because many others called him father and you know what they say; 'Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father.” One day I hurt him so bad and that day I lost him but guess his final words to me? He said; "To be the father of a growing daughter like you is to understand something I could call 'terrible beauty'. Nothing I have done has ever made me so happy or so frightened but I learned a solid lesson which is the limitations of self and I realized that your heart is running around inside someone else's body. This is what makes me astonishingly calm even at the thought of death: I know whom I would die to protect and I also understand that nobody but a sad serf can possibly wish for a father who never goes away. I love you always Michelle, my heart beats in you".

Please Charles she said, tell my story and tell everyone that Fathers are special and are worth celebrating. Wish everyone who has got a father a happy father's day for me.

17th June, the world celebrates Fathers, individuals called by many names; Papa, Kuku, Daddy, Grandpa, Baba, Nnaanyi and many more. So many fathers live, and some have passed on to another life but, they are worth celebrating for the contributions they have made in our lives. Umberto Eco, Foucaults's Pendulum once said "I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us, we become formed by little scraps of their wisdom.”

Happy Father's day to every Father, You are worth celebrating and are greatly appreciated. 

Chuka Chiezie