Those who hunger & thirst for righteousness shall be filled

1 John 2:27.

That scripture resounded in my head now that my aunt was wrapping a huge, silk scarf on my head, fastening it tightly behind as if she didn't want me to ever take it off even if I wanted to.

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“There,” she smiled satisfactorily, I thought I looked at least 5 years older than my actual age.

“I don't think all of this is necessary,” I said to her daughter who had her lips upturned in displeasure.

“She's overdoing this religion thing. It just makes me feel like sitting her down and explaining some things we've been taught at fellowship to her” her voice was reduced to a whisper. I placed my hand on her shoulder.

“Your mother is a very zealous woman. She too, just like us, seeks the right thing to do for God.”

“My mother thinks she has the template for serving God. She wouldn't listen even if you brought a bishop to speak with her….”

“That's enough. The bible says to honor our parents. If you go in this direction, you cannot help dishonoring her.”

She tugged at the knot of her scarf, trying to loosen it a bit so she could be comfortable.

“I'm going to be stuck here for a full month, Treasure. It means I'm not going to enjoy church for an entire month. It means I'll struggle to concentrate and try not to compare her pastor with our own Reverend back at school. It's going to be a spirit dampener.”

I pulled her close to myself, stroking her back gently

“We'll get through this, Vicky….”

She wrapped her arms around me tightly, but not for long. We soon heard her mother's footsteps dragging through the living room towards us. She had gone to find a cab so we could leave for the evening service her church organized every Thursday by 5 pm. It was just past 3.

We were born into that kind of family, and religious system, where heads were covered up to the brows and jewelry was forbidden. As a girl child, you were not allowed to wear anything that belonged to a boy, not even your brother's t-shirt and vice versa.

Somehow, I knew that wasn't the belief system I wanted to hold on to. I was a young, expressive person. I wanted to be allowed to explore, try new outfits outside the plaid gowns we were asked to wear every Sunday, I also wanted to have braids with attachment but I couldn't, until I gained admission into the university.

There were a lot of avenues for me to do what I always wanted, and I did, but after some weeks, it was like I was empty. Wearing trousers and heels to church didn't guarantee you were close to God.

So I stayed back at home on Sundays, praying to God to help me meet with people who had the same intimacy with Him that I craved. I didn't know what I was searching for, I just knew that I would know if I found it.

An entire semester had passed before I met Glory-Praise. She was a petite young girl just like I was, with a pair of big frames perched atop her nose.

I was reading in one of the student gardens when she walked up to me with a flier. She didn't hand it over to me first and say, “Come to my church this Sunday” like many others on evangelism did, she simply requested a few minutes of my time and I gave her audience.

She spoke to me about Jesus, Not a church program or a fundraiser for a project. I was captivated and had listened to her for almost 40 minutes without knowing. When she asked if I wanted to give my life to Christ, I knew my answer was yes. It was like she found me just after I stopped praying for God to show me the right people I could connect with.

When my cousin gained admission the following year, I didn't impose my new found faith on her, but just like I did, she too wanted a deeper relationship with God, not a judgment sentence each time we went to church.

We had both known, and confirmed, that we just knew what we wanted, and could identify it when we saw it. It was like a magnetic force, drawing us over.

That scripture came to mind again as I bent my head to enter the cab.
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“…But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him….” 1 John 2:27

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Ps: I was invited to the community yesterday by @mcgi.cares and I decided to submit a post to honor the invitation. Thank you for having me.