Doubt

Her scream tore through the quiet night and resounded through the walls as neighbours ran in from every corner to know the source and finding it they saw Ivy bent over her mother, shaking her roughly and crying,her tears almost formed a small pool in the small room.They pulled her away from her mother who laid still unaware of the event unfolding before her and checked her pulse and saw she was long gone,her body was a bit cold despite the hot temperature in the room as people trooped in.NEPA has refused to give electricity to the area due to the clash they had with NEPA officials and their area boys.It happened one sunny afternoon as Isegun street were preparing for their carnival,four other streets joined and they planned it big then in the midst of the preparation,a black pick up vehicle drove into the street raising so much dust.They jumped down from the vehicle bringing out their ladder and leaning it against a pole.One of them climbed the ladder and began removing wires and cutting some when Isegun alaye marched furiously to where they were with broken bottles, cutlass,axe, hard wood and machete.The NEPA officials sighting them took to their heels and left the one on the ladder to the mercy of the alaye boys.The officials began begging as they threatened to remove the ladder and leave him hanging on the pole unless he fixed the wires back and which he did with haste.Unknown to the alaye boys that one of the officials called some boys from another area to deal with them and in less than 30 minutes they arrived and seeing them Isegun boys didn't flinch instead they went ahead and the clash was bloody as so many sustained serious injury.The police were called upon and the climax of the battle reduced as some of them ran for fear of being caught by the police,some were captured and detained.Through the assistance of the police and security personnel their light were cut off and they were in total blackout for weeks.Flashlight from phones of different brands flooded the room as they pulled Ivy aside and covered her mother, seeing this she cried all the more screaming at the top of her lungs ,she ran to her mother but she was pulled back and held still.Some of the men in the neighborhood volunteered and carried her late mother to a mortuary.Iya Aishat and Iya Visit helped her to clean and scrub the floor especially where her mother layed dead.Ivy prayed that it was a dream that she would wake up very soon but it was far from that . She couldn't comprehend what just happened before her.Her mother was fine when she left for prayer meeting, though her face was a little pale but that wasn't a sign that she was going to die.She cried to God to wake her from this nighmare but each second made everything look so real and she didn't hear anything from God.It was as if God was silent or probably shocked at the turn out of events.For the first time in her life Ivy felt the walls around her tumbling down,she has just lost her mother despite the joy of seeing her in Lagos,it was only momentary. The faith she preached to people in prayer meetings in church, sometimes in school became strange to her and it began slipping away. Two hours later her father arrived and seeing Ivy with the neighbours as they comforted her broke his heart.He rushed to her and embraced her as they cried not minding the people around them.Father and daughter couldn't sleep that night,they were wide awake but Ivy eventually slept off when it was almost day break and when she woke up her father was longer by her side.He has gone to work and left her with 5000 naira under the mat.Ivy sat up from the mat thinking of yesterday's event and she started crying again.A knock on the door made her stop crying as she raised her head to the door,she stood up slowly and went to open the door and the members of the Deliverance Team of the Charismatic of St.Mary stood at her door and she stepped aside so that they can come in."My sister I want you to be strong in the Lord, I'm sorry you had to lose your mother in such manner but I want to you to be strong in faith and it's not the end of the world,God who kept you alive to this moment has something he still wants to use you to accomplish in the future,He has something great in store for you , something beyond your imagination because I can feel it in my spirit that God wants to use you to accomplish something greater than what you think,and the death of your mother though painful was the challenge you must face,the trial you must conquer.So you must brace yourself and take heart and pray that her soul will rest in peace and you must not lose faith,this is a time when so many strong believers begin to doubt God and their faith wearing thin but Sister Ivy your faith must be strong even though it seems as if you've lost everything ,you must have this at the back of your mind that you've not lost God,you still have God and He has you and you must never stop praying and asking God for strength in everything you do because Phillipians 4:13 say that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" so my sister Ivy make that verse your memory verse and you'll see what God will do in your life.We are also your family and we love you,you still have us and we are blessed to have you.So please let us pray"And with what the leader of the Deliverance Team said Ivy's spirit was lifted as she joined them in prayer.