Unwavering Faith
WRITTEN BY SOPHIA OKEHIE
Episode 4
There’s a reason for everything that happens in life; both good and bad. When you face certain challenges in your life, never think that God hates you and wants to punish you by letting those awful things happen to you, rather, trust God and believe in your heart that everything is working for your good. That divorce, sack letter, barrenness, broken relationship etc, could be God’s way of putting them aside and preparing you for something better.
When Susan saw those divorce papers, it felt as though her whole world was coming to an instant end. So many thoughts were running through her mind at that moment and one of those thoughts were ‘What will people say?’. Susan couldn’t bring her mind to believe that her marriage of over 5 years was over. It was truly a shocker!
“What in God’s name is this? I’m finished! What did I ever do wrong to deserve this? Oh lord what have I done wrong please tell me! I have faithfully served you all my life and this is what I get in return? Being a divorcee and a barren woman too? Why did you let Raymond slip away from my hands? Please Lord answer me” Susan said as tears fell of her eyes. It was a heartbreaking moment for her because she never expected things to go that far.
Immediately after shedding a few tears, Susan hurriedly picked up her phone and dialed Raymond’s number. It rang continuously but he wasn’t picking up. She wasn’t ready to back down with the calls, as she needed him to pick up so as to find out what was going on.
After calling for the 10th time, Raymond finally picked up. “Don’t you know it’s late, why not call tomorrow” he coldly said, “You amaze me! How can a human being be so cruel and heartless. What’s the meaning of these divorce papers I came home to?” Susan asked with a shaky voice. Raymond chuckled and replied; “I told you earlier that this marriage was dead but you felt I was joking. I’m so sorry if I hurt you by cheating on you but the truth is, my heart is now with someone else. Susan, I still love you but that’s not enough. I waited for a child with you for 5 good years but non was forth coming. What exactly did you expect me to do? Stay with you and never get the chance to be called ‘Father’? If you can tell yourself the simple truth, then you can attest to the fact that I fought for our marriage. I fought my parents and loved ones because of you, I put up with all their insults when they called me an incomplete man just because I couldn’t give them a grandchild. I stood by you through thick and thin in this marriage but sadly I can’t do that anymore. My heart belongs to someone else and that’s the mother of my child. Please sign the divorce papers so we can finalise everything in court and go our separate ways. I’m willing to leave the house for you and also any property bought in your name. I wish you all the best and pray you find love again” He said.
Immediately Raymond was done talking, he told her ‘Goodnight’ and ended the call, without waiting to hear Susan’s reply. When the call ended, she held her stomach and gently lowered herself to the floor. At that moment, life meant absolutely nothing to Susan; she just wished she could be wiped off the surface of this earth and disappear forever. Everything just seemed to be happening at once and it made things entirely hard for her to digest gradually. Poor Susan!
The next thing that followed immediately afterwards was an outburst of tears. Susan cried bitterly as one that just lost a loved one. She rolled on the floor and hit parts of her body on hard objects while at it.
At that moment, no physical pain was more than the one Susan was feeling within. Life seemed so unfair to her and she wished death could come and take her away so she wouldn’t feel the pain anymore.
While Susan was in her house crying her eyes out, Raymond was lying on the bosom of Venita. He thought of how Susan was handling the whole situation and knew deep down that he really hurt her. Too sad that his decision to leave her(Susan) was already finalised, so therefore, there was no going back.
Just so you know, Venita played a big role in Raymond and Susan’s separation, but that isn’t an excuse for him to have gone ahead with the divorce. If Venita told him to put his hand in boiling water, would he? Exactly what I thought, the answer will definitely be a ‘No’. For Raymond to have gone ahead with the divorce, it means a part of him wanted it too.
Anyways, I’m thankful and relieved that God is not Man and knows the end from the beginning. All we can do is keep our fingers crossed as we watch to see what God has in stock for the devastated woman.
It was such a terrible night for Susan but she had to come in terms with the reality in front of her. The next day, she informed her parents about everything and they promised to support her through any decision she made. Her parents didn’t bother to call Raymond’s parents to confront them about the matter, because they could already tell that his parents were in support of their son’s misconduct. Plus, Susan’s parents hadn’t forgotten the way his parents handled things the previous time they heard about Raymond’s extra marital affairs and his child. Due to that, Susan’s parents made up their minds that they weren’t going to confront anyone as regards the divorce matter, but will rather stand by their daughter and give her all the attention she needed.
One evening after several weeks since Raymond presented the divorce papers to Susan, she was seated in the living room crying the life out of herself. Up until that moment, Susan was still wearing her wedding ring and hadn’t pulled it off yet. She soberly sat on the couch and kept staring at the divorce papers which were on the centre table; right in front of her.
As Susan looked at the papers with a pen in her hand, tears kept dropping off her eyes. While she sobbed bitterly, her phone rang and it was her mum calling. “Hello mum” she greeted with a shaky voice. By the sound of her voice, her mum could already tell that she had been crying. “My daughter why are you still crying? I can tell you are crying now. Please clean your eyes and be strong” her mum said.
Susan tried to be strong at that moment but didn’t know when she broke down in tears. “Mummy I’m tired, what did I do wrong that has made God forsake me? Why didn’t God give me a child to keep my home? I’m so tired mum and feel like dying” She said as she cried. “Clean your eyes my daughter and never question God. I know that there’s a message in this mess because God can never fall me. Though the sorrow may last for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. As far as there’s life, there’s hope that you will carry your own child someday. Clean your eyes my child and sign those divorce papers. One thing I will never allow is for my daughter to stay in a place she isn’t wanted anymore. You are our highly prized jewel and if Raymond and his family can’t see that, then it’s their loss. You’ll be fine my child, give the battle to God and set aside for him to fight for you. It’s well” Her mum soberly said.
Somehow, those words from Susan’s mum gave her strength that she had been lacking for a while. When the call ended, Susan summoned the courage to finally sign the papers and remove her wedding ring. Immediately she was done doing that, a heavy burden lifted from her heart and she felt a bit alive.
Raymond was notified after the papers had been signed. They finalised everything in court and officially became free birds. Life move on gradually and Susan started getting used to the gossips, weird stare and mockery from people that shamed her for being barren and divorced. She usually consoled herself with the hope that God never fails his own. Everything was the same until one fateful day.
On that day, Susan’s friend was running late for an appointment. She begged Susan to help pick her child up from school of which she agreed to help. It was a 20 minutes drive from the office so she headed straight to the school. When she arrived, she waited at the school waiting room for the teacher to bring her friend’s son out. The boy’s ID card was presented to a staff there and she went into his class to get him.
As Susan waited, a dark tall man in his late thirties waked in to pick his son too. As the man interacted with the secretary, Susan stole glances at him and kept wondering why he looked familiar. After staring at him for a long while she immediately removed her eyes when the man looked towards her direction.
The atmosphere was beginning to get awkward as the both of them kept looking at each other and trying to remember where they met. The puzzle was solved when the man’s son came out with his teacher. “Daddy Good afternoon” the little boy greeted, “Afternoon Jojo, where you a good boy in school today?” The man asked and the boy nodded ‘Yes’.
It was when the man called the little boy ‘Jojo’ that Susan recalled where she met them. Coincidentally, the man had also recalled where he met her from.
Both of them looked at each other strangely and before they could utter any word to themselves, the little boy screamed ‘Hospital Aunty!” and ran towards Susan. She smiled, squat down and spread her arms to embrace the boy that was running towards her.
When the little boy got to Susan, they hugged each other and before she could say anything to him, he innocently said “I miss you aunty and my daddy too!”.
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