[STORY] Blinded by his grace

 

“Ashanti!! You can’t possibly be leaving! Young lady what has gotten into you? For goodness’ sake!”

“I can, Thelma, and I will. Get that into your head. Would you keep quiet and help me pack my box?”

“What would Father say? Would he let you? You’re just a young lady, Ashanti! You can’t possibly be thinking of leaving it all behind for nothing! Who do you expect to take care of all you’re leaving behind? The family wealth? Your mother? Your siblings? I, your best friend? Ashanti!! Don’t be stupid, please!”

“Thelma, let me be! I want out, of this family and their insults! I’m not the first young lady to get raped and lose her child! I am tired of everyone using me as an example, a bad one! Please, Thelma. I’m off. I’d rather be like the prodigal son eating the pig's meal than stay here and be insulted. Thelma, please let it be. For me. I want to do this for me. I’ll be okay. Distance won't be a barrier darling, we'll find a way to communicate.” She said, touching her friends cheek.

“What about your fiancé, Justus? How do you expect him to cope? He’s a man and you don’t expect him to wait for no particular reason and time. Ashanti, think this through!”

Ashanti sat beside Thelma on the bed. She touched her box and felt hurt. This wasn’t the plan she had for her life as a child. She didn’t bargain for any of these. The pity, the insult and the constant reproach. She had bargained for more. She had craved for more. Still, she had gotten what she had been given.
She looked at Thelma and realized how badly she wanted to be like her. The confidence, the beauty, the acceptance, everything she easily radiated. Ashanti was hurt. Life wasn’t fair after all.

“Thelma, Justus is free. After all, he never loved me. He was just fulfilling his obligations to the family, and his father.” The tears dropped. She hadn’t bargained for them, still she let them be, She let them drop and  she let them fall. It’d end one day. She just didn’t know when. Still, she’d have faith.

“Ashanti, no. I won’t bless you. You’ve insulted me enough, Ashanti, and I regret not terminating you when the stars spoke about the great misfortune you’d bring. Leave! Go away please. You are a bad omen. You are a rotten apple. I can’t even brace myself to look up at you, Ashanti. So please, be far from us. And as you leave, Ashanti, just know you failed me. You failed us, your family, and I’m sure God isn’t pleased with you. You’ve failed him also You failed us all! Please be gone from here!”

She can’t fathom how on earth she’d managed to come this far, not just from home but in life.
She wouldn't have felt so bad if it came from someone else, but the voices wouldn't die. They were her mother's.

Her flesh and blood had wounded her beyond words. She was lost. What could she have done to please them? She couldn’t stay anymore. The atmosphere was becoming hostile. Unbearable. She looked ahead and decided to hope. She decided to have faith. Even if Christ didn’t want her, death should. Even hell would do. She just can’t go home! Where’s the home to begin with? What’s the definition of home?

She had strive to come this far, she shouldn’t give up. She didn’t have a single idea of where she is or where she would be. She had no idea of where to go or to whom. Still, an inner voice told her to keep moving, and she did.

“Salmon, hurry! We are late. I need to be at the market in time for the festival. What are you still doing up there?”

“Ephraim hold on please. Dad wants me to pick up somethings at the market, so he is giving me his list.”

“Well, do hurry. What list?”

“I don’t know. I remember we got food items last week. Well, the old priest says the Lord is asking him to stock the house.”

“Salmon, is there going to be a siege? Is the Lord angry at us?” Ephraim was worried. The Lord had been merciful to them, but he knew that their village didn’t deserve it, not even an iota of his mercy.

“Ephraim! Man of little faith. I don’t think so. He says the Lord is asking him to, not the community. Besides, he would say if it was different.” Salmon wasn’t worried. He knew why Ephraim was, he believed the Lord had a plan for that town and destruction wasn’t anywhere near his list.

“Salmon! Salmon!!” a voice from inside the house called.

“It is he. I’ll see you at the festival. Goodbye my good friend.”

“Goodbye Salmon. I’ll see you soon. Do hurry. You do not want to miss the maidens dance. Probably you would pick a wife.” They laughed about it as Salmon went inside.

The Lord will provide in due time, he told himself.

The old man stood outside with his hands raised high. He heard the voice of God tell him to look south.

“She is coming,” he was told. “Wait for her. You’d be the one to receive my lost one.”

“Yes Lord” He had replied.

He couldn’t understand why the Lord had chosen him to welcome his lost sheep after what had happened. Still, the Lord is God, great and mighty in splendor, using the foolish, weak, and mundane things to confound the wise. He sets up one in his merciful grace and dethrones the other full of pride, may His name be praised forever.

Welcome to Aforfu village, was the sign written so bold that she felt it was for her.

Alas! She thought. She was out of the wilderness, close to a place she could stay in for a while. Looking so tired and dusty she struggled to keep her legs moving.

These long legs of hers were too weak to move. She had journeyed for days, something she never thought in her lifetime possible. Her curly hair was dusty and scattered. Her dress worn apart, had she even had a bathe? She was reeking! She felt unclean. She felt dirty. She felt worthless.

As always! Still, she was propelled by an unseen force to keep moving. She had been blind to several hotels and luxurious houses, she had been pushed beyond her limit. Here she was, ready to die. She had enough of life. She wanted out. She was tired of fighting. It made no sense. She was exactly what her mother had called, a worthless piece of misfortune. If that sentence was even correct.

A voice she had come to rely upon told her to look up. She did.

Standing not too far from her was a man with his arms raised to the air and his lips moving. He walked towards her. She was scared. She had heard of angels, but she never thought herself fit enough to meet one.

Oh, he probably was the angel of death ready to take her to her hell.

Then the Lord had answered her prayer finally. He had brought her through a training session for the real hell.

She couldn’t look up at him. Tears welled up in her eyes. Who had fooled her there was hope for her? She had been blinded by her folly and dreams.

“No, my daughter, you were blinded by His grace. Welcome home lost one. The rejected stone now the master's piece. The lost sheep is home.” The old man said and smiled. He raised her up from the ground and hugged her. She knew she smelt bad, still he hugged her and kissed her forehead. Was this real?

She could not stop the tears and she wept. It was his mercies that had kept her and his grace that’d brought her thus far.

“Your hope pulled you through.” He said, releasing her from the hug.

She remembered a song Tamar, a young lady that had tried preaching Christ to her, loved to sing. She let it flow. It was an expression of how she felt at that moment.

“I'm blinded by your grace. I’m blinded by your grace. Lord I’ve been broken. Although I’m not worthy. You fixed me and now I’m blinded by your grace. You came and saved me.

To be continued...

Writer: Abiayi Nmesoomachim