Author: Unknown
I remember watching her as she lay on the stretcher in the open hospital ward, wheezing and looking through the window at the skies for what she supposed was the last time. Tears rolled down her face like they rolled down the phone interface of her bank apps and the faces of her loved ones. She was a bag of bones with hair like the sparse rootlets on a newly uprooted yam. Oh! If there be a mediator to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom…’
Vanessa, the life of the party, the beauty that had no beast, and the Snowwhite that never slept. Shaped like an hourglass with hair like the sun’s rays and a voice that called out to nature. If I am not mistaken, there was a morning she sang on the balcony of her house, and all the birds in the street couldn’t do their morning cry – one greater than they was in their midst. She laughed with such decency and dressed so modestly that young girls took notes when she passed.
She was involved in church activities and rose to vice president of the Youths Church. The only thing that stood between her and the position of president was her gender. Everyone sang her praises at church, school, on the streets, at the malls, and even in marketplaces. Her mode of evangelism was a scripture with a smile, and we’d see you in church on Sunday. She was a giver and well-known in church for pledging to fund church projects.
But who knew her plague?
“Sir, please don’t be angry, you will not sleep with all of this and pay me 700k. I am not that cheap. This was not our agreement. It is either you give me my complete 1 million or I will call your wife. I have a video of all that happened last night. Don’t even try me.”
Ah! Vanessa? Prostitution? Lord, what is this vision you are showing me? Is my mind playing tricks on me?
I asked everyone to give me some space, I needed to speak with her alone.
“Yes, it is true. But I didn’t think it was that bad. It did not affect my relationship with God. I was still serving well, I didn’t miss church meetings, building projects, charity outreaches, and even evangelism. My relationship with God is fine.
That’s just what I do so I can have what to use to serve Him.”
Oh, Vanessa! Who taught you this rubbish?
“Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
“You have sinned greatly against God because of this hypocrisy. Indeed you were created to do good works but first, you are to offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. You are not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then, you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Let no one deceive you, the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the very start.”
Tears flowed from her eyes even more as conviction set in. Then she managed to cough, “Will God ever forgive me?”
“Yes, Vanessa! It is not His will that any should perish.”
“If that be the case: ‘Lord Jesus, I am sorry. I acknowledge my wrong, forgive me.”
And that was it. I didn’t need to say anything again because the mighty rushing wind that blew us both was imprinted in my memory forever. I believe that it was the Angel of Healing that showed up himself and Vanessa who had been bedridden for 8 months, got up and walked on her two feet without any help.
A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones, so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food. His flesh wastes away from sight, and his hidden bones protrude. He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death. Yet if there is a messenger on his side, one mediator in a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him, and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’ then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth. Job 33:19-25
Sizzling Sunday: 9th February 2025
Sizzling Sunday 128
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