EPISODE SEVEN
“Wow! He did not even waste time at all.”
“Are you serious right now? Don’t lose focus Desire, what will I say to him if he comes with a proposal”
“Hmmn, you will tell him that you will pray about it and then, get to work talking with your heavenly father but if you ask me, I have peace about the whole thing.”
“What are you saying? We are talking about a matchmaking union here, how am I sure it will work out? What if he is a pretender? Then, the issue of his name is still pending”
“Oh my! I thought we are done with this matchmaking and name issue. You and I know that Pastor Bolaji will not call you up if the committee has not done their spiritual and physical assessment of him. Moreover, you don’t have to say yes except God gives the go-ahead. Abi you have fallen for him already?”
“Fountain ni, someone that we just met three months ago. My emotions are just here and there right now. Pray for me, will you?”
“Surely, I will. Let’s have a vigil this Friday too. Also, calm down and seek the Lord’s will about the issue. Don’t pray from a place of fear or anxiety, so you can hear God clearly”
“All right, I have heard you. Thank you so much”
“You are welcome, I need to get off the phone now. Mr Alexandra will soon get home from his meetings in church and I have not started Lunch. Talk to you soon.”
“Yeah. Bye”
Rose knelt by her bedside for a while and words failed her. Her relationship with Tony has taught her that a proposal is easy, and a breakup is hard. She had great plans with Tony. They were meant to drive ‘Home for all’ and take the message of the kingdom to the underprivileged. Tony who believed that he has been raised as a kingdom financier, was ready to take on the world until he turned and said God said No.
It took over a year and several counselling from Pastor Mrs; for Rose to settle it in her heart that God is not a liar and if His ‘yes’ turned to a ‘No’, Men should be checked and not the unchangeable God.
“Lord, help me. All I want to do is your will and nothing else. Let Your will be done for my life. I receive all that you have prepared for me even before the foundation of the world. I look up to you the author and finisher of my faith”
********************************************
While Rose knelt and prayed in her room, Olabanji sat with a late-night coffee while checking his time.
He never envisaged being in love with a match made by his Mum but the past three months has been blissful for him. The series of prayers and checks he put the relationship through has proven that Rose is the Woman for him.
He would have gone ahead and proposed to her since the second month of being close to her but His mentor asked him to be patient and also asked His Mum for the procedure of getting married to a lady in her church.
The fact that He had to reach out to the pastorate, supply his details and jump on video calls with the marriage committee seems daunting at first but when Mama Adamson said that the process was to filter out fraudulent suitors and protect the parties involved, he decided to follow due process.
The last mail from the marriage committee stated that Rose would be informed about the issue and he would be sent a go-ahead email after they meet with Rose. Time zones have not been helpful as they are still on Saturday in his resident country.
He stood up to refill his coffee cup. He was halfway to the kitchen when he heard his laptop beep. He quickly turned back and hit his leg against the chair as he clicked on the new email. He skipped the Calvary greetings and opening update to the last paragraph
“On this note, I am glad to inform you that you may proceed to make your intention known to Miss Rose Olayemi, having…”
Olabanji knelt beside the laptop and said; “Thank you, Jesus.”
EPISODE EIGHT
“It has been three good years, and I have given up on relationships. Now, you are telling me that we are meant to be, how am I supposed to handle that?”
Olabanji looked at the lady on his phone and smiled. He never planned to ask her out virtually but his travelling was delayed by his workplace refusal to approve his leave. The plan was to go home, ask her out physically and meet her parents immediately after he got the mail from her church.
He was forced to make his intention known when it was obvious that his application for leave will not be approved until the workload at his workplace was reduced in the next few months. He sought counsel and he was told not to delay unnecessarily since the lady already got wind of his intention through her Pastor.
“Do you remember the time I told you that I would not be reaching out regularly due to my busy schedule?”
“Yes, I do. You went MIA for a few weeks”
“Yes. I was busy but not with secular work. I needed to take a break from our friendship to seek God’s face concerning us. I don’t want us to go deeper without knowing the purpose of the relationship and defining it. It would be wrong for me to lead you on when I am not sure of what I wanted”
“Okay. I get you”
“That three weeks was what led me here and as I have apologised for doing this virtually, I don’t want to leave things to chance. I have grown very fond of you and your love is growing in my heart daily as the Lord reveals his plans for us and our being together.”
“Okay, what do you want from me?”
Olabanji looked at the lady on the other end of the video aghast and wondered if she is intentionally being difficult. On a closer look, He noticed, that the outspoken woman has suddenly grown silent and shy, evading his eyes and focusing on her fingernails
“I would like to court you in view of marriage if you will accept me. I am convinced that you are the woman made for me to take the journey of purpose together, restoring men and shining our light wherever He leads us”
“Even though I was introduced to you by your Mum?”
“Yes. I am persuaded that she was an instrument in the hands of God to bring me my perfect match”
“All right. I must say that I am very fond of you too but I will appreciate it, if you can give me some time, to pray about this and get back to you”
“That’s fine by me. Now, that I have made my intention known, can you look at me now, you have been evading my gaze since we started this call”
“That’s because I am shy and this virtual and long-distance thing is new to me”
“I know, right? I hope my application gets approved soon, so I can come home and see your beautiful face physically. You need to go to bed, so you won’t be late for work in the morning”
“Yeah”
“Let us pray…”
To be continued
