After the encounter, Stanley went home relieved and very happy. But Nnenna was seriously worried. She thought of who to pour out her heart to. She later decided to visit her pastor’s wife.

On her way, she saw Clara, pastor’s secretary and attempted greeting her but she looked away.

“Sister Clara, I’m greeting you,” she reached out again.

“Back to sender. I return your bad luck to you,” Clara said furiously.

Nnenna was shocked.

“Sister Clara. How did I offend you? Why are you cursing me?”

“Is it by force to greet someone? Must you force me to answer you? Retired prostitute. Your mates do theirs with wisdom but you sold your womb before retiring. You went and charmed a handsome young man that we are hoping for. Now you have used your bad luck to affect me.”

Nnenna stood and was shedding tears.

“Stop shedding wicked tears. You will never have peace until you leave Stanley for me. You collected Stanley from me, you also made me to lose my job. A handsome young man that just started smiling for me. I was sure that he will propose marriage to me in future. You came and scattered everything. You are in trouble,” Clara threatened.

Nnenna left her and continued with her journey. But the tears didn’t stop to flow until she entered parsonage.
Pastor’s wife was alarmed when she saw her crying.

“Sister, what is the matter? Why are you crying?”

“Mummy I’m fine” She answered and tried to wipe her tears.

“What is the problem?” Pastor’s wife asked again.

“I met Sister Clara and greeted her. Instead of answering the greetings, she hurled abuses on me,” Nnenna spluttered in tears.

“My dear, don’t mind her. She is a wicked soul. I pray that God will make her to repent.

She did something wrong and was sacked. That is her problem. Please try your best to avoid her,” She cautioned.

“I will ma.”

“What is the issue that you want to discuss with me?” Pastor’s wife asked.

“It’s about my relationship with Bro Stanley. I don’t have peace. I love him and I want to marry him. But I have fear in me. The challenge is that I don’t even know what I am afraid of. I have been reluctant to talk about it because no one will understand me,” Nnenna explained.

“Hmm! I understand you. I have once been in your shoes. Before I got married to Pastor, someone wanted to marry me. He was handsome and rich. Everything was moving on fine and I was the envy of my mates. Some were even fighting to gain his attention. I prayed, asking God to speak to me. He actually spoke but I was not listening. The challenge was that I had already fallen in love with him. He treats me like an egg and give nodes to whatever I said. We saw ourselves as perfect match. The only saving Grace was that I was praying. God kept speaking very loud and clear. But somehow, I chose not to listen. One day that I was standing with him, cigarettes fell out of his pocket. I was alarmed but he told me that he seized it from a teenager. When it happened the second time, I took caution. By that time I had already agreed to marry him. He was forcing me to take him to my parents, but I refused. I told him to give me 6 months. He became angry and told me that he cannot spend another 6 months in the church because he had already spend 1 year for me. My sister, that was when I realized that he joined the church just for the purpose of marrying me.”

“What!”

“Yes. I made more enquiry and discovered many hidden things about him. That was how I called off the relationship. He threatened me but I did not mind him. Marriage is a life time affair. One has to be careful in choosing a life partner. As for Stanley, I can say that he is a child of God. Though it is only God that knows our past, present and future. So, if you are having any negative sign, it means you should pause and pray. You can never tell what God is trying to point out to you.” Mama advised.

“Another challenge is her mother . She warned me to steer clear of his son” Nnenna explained.

“Is Stanley aware of this?”

“No ma”

“That’s better. please don’t tell him. It will cause problem between him and his mother. My mother in law did worst things because there was another girl she wanted his son to marry. The only crime that I committed against her was that my parents were poor. She wanted her son to marry from a rich home. I didn’t mind all that she was doing. The only thing I did was prayers. I kept praying for God to touch her heart. I told God that if he change her heart towards me, I will know that he has approved the marriage.”

“Hmm! What later happened?” Nnanna asked.

“My dear, the lady visited my mother in law and tied her precious ‘nkpuru oka’ wrapper to go and bathe. My mother-in-law became so angry and queried her. Instead of the lady to apologize, she told my mother in law that her problem was poverty mentality. She wondered why she was shouting because of ordinary wrapper.”

“You mean that she actually told you mother in law that poverty is disturbing her?” Nnenna wondered aloud.

“Yes oo . That was how my mother in law sent her packing. I was surprised when she came to meet me and apologized for maltreating me. She further begged me to accept to marry her son. I was wondering what was going on. It was later that my husband told me what happened,”

“This is really God at work. He made the girl to misbehave,” Nnenna said.

“You can say that again. My dear, You have heard my story. If God want you to marry into that family, he will do something that will make his mother to accept you. Just make it a prayer point. But if God doesn’t want you to go there, he can use that woman to stop you. Our problem most times is that we are stubborn. We want to do things our own way. At my own time, God talked to me in many ways, including dreams. I knew God was trying to point things out to me, but Ignored him. I was waiting for the day that a prophet will call me out and prophecy, but it God didn’t allow it to happen”

“Mummy, did you say that God also spoke to you through dreams?”

“Yes, many times. Most times in the dream, I would see people committing crime. If I try to caution them, my fiancé would be defending them. He would tell me not to judge so that I will not be judged. Or he will look for a way to justify what they did.
God was trying to tell me that those things were his lifestyle but I chose another interpretation that suits me. I took it that he was a merciful person,”

“Mummy please let me share this with you. I have been having dreams that looked similar. I always see Stanley with a little girl of about 5 to 6 years. The girl was taking his attention from me. When I complained, he became angry. I have had different versions of similar dream”

“My dear, go to God in prayers. Tell him to reveal everything concerning Stanley to you. Pray this prayer seriously. God will show you everything you need to know,” Mama told her.