The Potter’s Hands
Written by Sonia Okehie
Episode 9
Second-to-last episode
God is the same God yesterday, today and forever, he never changes and can’t be altered. The God that performed miracles in time past is still in the business today; If only we can trust in him and not doubt his abilities. Terry had experience a jaw dropping dimension of God’s favour and due to that, his faith decked. For the judge to reduce an expected jail term of over 5 years to 12 months, was a miracle indeed and needed no seer to tell that God had taken over the case. Despite the fact that Terry was still convicted, his jail sentence was a joke compared to what he initial would have gotten. That miracle called for a huge celebration of thanksgiving!
What most people fail to realise is that God isn’t a magician; he believes in due protocols, law and order. There was no way Terry would go entirely scot-free without paying for all the years he caused people pain by duping them of their hard earned money. Those people he stole from might have cursed him due to the heartbreak they felt when scammed. The 12 months sentence was fair enough on God’s part to him because he needed to fully understand that certain actions in life have consequences. Did God love Terry? Of course he did but he had to give what belonged to Cesar to Cesar!
Immediately the judge was done with his final judgment, the court session was dismissed. Maya ran from where she sat and gave Terry a big hug with a smile on her face. “It’s OK, don’t worry it’s OK. God is good and we thank him for stepping in, 12 months would be over before we know it and you will come out stronger, wiser and more spiritual than you are now. I love you so much and will come visit every week since your sentence is with fair labour. We are highly favoured, everything is going to be alright” she said as they hugged tightly.
It was such a relief for Terry to hear those comforting words from Maya. He wanted to peck her cheek but couldn’t because the officers took him out immediately she was done whispering those words in his ears. Everyone bid Terry ‘Goodbye’ as the officers took him away to their van and drove off. It was sad to watch him go but they were all thankful to God that it wasn’t a 5 or 10 years sentence.
After Terry was taken away, Maya spoke to his sisters and mum that were present. She revealed to them that Terry told her to provide their needs while he was gone. After interacting with them on how to make sure they get catered for every month, she collected his sisters account numbers and told them to expect an alert every month for their upkeep. They were so happy and thanked Maya continuously for being a good friend to their brother.
Before the court hearing, Terry put Maya in control of his businesses and informed her on what to do with the money that comes out from it. He warned her strictly not to tell anyone that she was in charged of his businesses, in order to avoid complicating things. Maya was a good business minded person and was up to the task of managing Terry’s businesses while he was gone. Everything was already planned before time and that was one wise thing they did.
All through the remaining hours of that day, Maya thanked God and never complained or murmured. She was extremely grateful to God for how the case went because it could have been worst. Despite the fact that life now felt a different way without Terry, it was just a little while and everything would go back to normal.
Just as promised, every week Maya went to the prison for visitation. When going, she would cook assorted dishes for both Terry and his cell mates and also brought lots of snacks. During those visitation, they would talk about numerous things starting from God, his business and family welfare. Terry was highly impressed with the manner at which Maya handled his business and selflessly took care of his family. Whenever he looked at her, he usually saw an angel in human form.
“I don’t know what my life would have been like without a God sent angel like you. You deserve the world and I will give it to you someday. I love you so much, thank you for everything” Terry said to Maya one day during visitation. She blushed as she looked into his eyes. There was no doubt that Terry meant every word he said because Maya could see the sincerity through his eyes. “I will be here when you get out because I’m not going anywhere. I love you too and thanks for showing me another dimension of God’s goodness” she calmly said and they talked about random stuffs afterwards.
Just 3 months in prison and Terry was already touching lives and causing havoc in the devil’s camp. Through constant evangelism and preaching of the word of God, he was able to win souls for God in the prison and strengthen people’s weak faith.
Before the prison officials knew what was happening, Terry started holding morning and midnight devotion with other converted inmates. Due to his outstanding faith and devotion to the things of God, the prison officers started respecting him and usually communicated with him in a polite manner; unlike they did with other inmates.
The new Terry was on fire and the devil was damned and put to shame. No one ever believed that the prison sentence would bring out the priest in Terry and make him more devoted. When I say God has a reason for everything, you better believe. It’s apparent that God already knew the end of Terry’s jail term from the beginning and was probably aware that the experience would change him the more and make his faith stronger. That 12 months wasn’t actually a jail sentence but was rather a wilderness period for Terry. God wanted to drill him and set him up for life; without having to bother about him backsliding in his faith ever again. God is mysterious, you better believe!
Whenever Maya came for visiting, her heart was always filled with joy when the officers told her about Terry’s exploits. They gist her all the time and she would smile till her cheek begins to hurt. Terry’s nick name became ‘The Messenger’ and everyone soon forgot his real name.
Life was good and everything felt like it was going to be alright. Maya counted the days and was so excited after the end of each day because she knew that Terry was one day away from being with her again. One good thing she also did was to go to his school and apply to defer the year with excuse that Terry wasn’t physically available due to some unavoidable circumstance. The school was able to defer the whole academic year, so that meant the jail term didn’t affect his academics.
Maya secretly cried most nights and wished Terry was there with her. She had developed great feelings for him and it drove her crazy sometimes when she recalled that he was going to be absent for a year. Despite being grateful to God, she was human and broke down once in a while. Everything continued to take it’s normal course until something highly unexpected happened.
Turns out that the news of Terry’s good behaviour in prison travelled far and eventually got to the ears of some higher authorities in the police force. The Judge that convicted him was happy to hear those good news and so with other high law enforcement officials.
One fateful day, a high ranked boss in the police department came to see how the inmates were doing. As he walked from cell to cell, the atmosphere changed when he got to Terry’s cell. The man felt a thick presence there and could tell that a high power was resident in that cell.
“Mr man, are you the one they call Messenger” the officer asked, “Yes sir, Good evening!” Terry hurriedly replied with a faint smile on his face. “So you are the one bringing down mountains in this cell, that’s good” the officer remarked and Terry thanked him. Still not satisfied, the officer continued; “this my leg is paining me, pray for me because I want healing” he said.
Terry didn’t say much nor pray intensely, he only stretched his hands from the bars and touched the officer’s leg. “Dear Lord, he asked for healing, please show yourself because you are the one with the power. Thank you for healing him” he gently said and went back into his cell. Everyone watched in amazement as the boss humbly walked away.
Deep down in Terry’s heart, he was convinced that God had already stepped into the officer’s matter and have healed him. That prayer came from a pure heart without any intention of getting anything back in return, but fortunately, God was up to something marvellous.
It happened that as the officer went home that evening, he felt a slight sensation on his knee and shook his leg to massage it but felt no pain. It all felt like a joke at first till things began to get convincing. “What! The pain is gone? This can’t be true” he wondered as he drove home. Unknown to the officer, God had touched and healed him from the affliction he was suffering from. It was when he got home that he walked around and stamped his feet on the ground to check for the pain but it was nowhere to be found.
What a miraculous encounter indeed and since that moment, the man carried Terry’s matter on his head. He talked about Terry to every other top officials in the law enforcement and was able to convince a lot of powerful men with authority that Terry’s sentence should be cut off. As at then, Terry was already 9 months gone and it was remaining just three more months to go.
Back at the prison cell, Terry had no idea that someone of great influence was trying all he could to get him out of the cell. The big boss talked about the young healer to his top friends that cared to listen and after over flogging the issue and choking them with Terry’s story, they finally considered to let him go. The beautiful thing was that neither Terry nor Maya had absolutely no idea of what was going on. The mesmerising news was communicated to him one fateful morning.
“You are free, go home!” an officer said to Terry one morning while they were tidying their cell. At first, it felt like a prank but his doubts suddenly cleared when the officer told him to put on his clothes and say his last ‘Goodbye’ to other inmates. “But I still have 3 mores months, what happened?” Terry confusingly asked, “Oga Fire that you prayed for pulled some legs and you are now free. Time to go!” The officer said and beckoned on him to put on his clothes.
At that moment, everything still felt like a dream and Terry was trying so hard to hide his excitement. All doubts cleared when he was finally escorted to the prison gate and was bid “Goodbye”.
Words would fail me to fully describe how overwhelmed, flabbergasted and shocked the young man was at that moment. He didn’t want to call Maya immediately but rather wanted to surprise her. He went to a nearby church and stayed till evening; when he knew that she would be at home. Terry still hadn’t gone to his house because he wanted to see Maya first before any other thing.
That evening, Maya was tiredly lying on her parlour couch when she heard a knock on the door. She wasn’t too happy that day because she had been thinking of Terry all through and was feeling really lonely. She tiredly went to open the door and instantly froze when she set her eyes on the person standing in front of her. It was as though she had seen a ghost and her body instantly grew cold.
“Terry… Terry is that truly you?” Maya soberly asked as she gently stretched her hand to touch his clothe; just to prove it wasn’t a ghost standing in front of her. With tears falling off Terry’s eyes, he smiled at her and said “Yes it’s me”.
Maya instantly broke down in tears as she couldn’t fathom how, when and why Terry was standing in front of her and not in prison. As she stood there sobbing, Terry grabbed her and held her tightly as they sobbed together.
Emotions filled the atmosphere as they hugged each other like their lives depended on it. Terry gently held Maya’s face and planted a soft k!ss on her lips. He k!ssed her forehead afterwards and whispered; “Wipe your tears, It’s Over!”
Written by Sonia Okehie
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@Sonia Okehie
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