BROKEN GLASS PT. 1
BROKEN GLASS PT. 2
“NOT” BROKEN
It bothered Sofia that Bola did not pick up her calls. Sofia had been told there was no point in calling someone more than twice at a particular time. But she tried her luck and called two extra times. She was tempted to call again but decided it would be better to call again in the evening or the next day. She just hoped that Bola would return her calls when she saw them.
With that, she stood up to start her day but started feeling burdened. It was a familiar feeling, and she knew she had to pray for someone at that particular moment. She began to pray in tongues. This continued for 15 minutes, and then she found herself praying for strength for Bola. It then clicked to her that God wanted her to pray for Bola. She figured that Bola could be in danger, so she intensified her prayers.
BROKEN
Bola tried to lift herself from the bed. She could almost see stars in the room as she also felt a heavy weight on her head. This was the hardest that Ben had ever hit her. She looked around and realized that Ben had left the room. Surprisingly, he left her phone behind. She picked it up to see what the time was. She then realized that two hours had passed since Ben hit her. She had blacked out, and Ben did not even think to raise an alarm to help her. It was at that moment it clicked to her that Ben truly did not love her. She could have died, and he would have done nothing. Bola found herself crying profusely. Something within her had held on to the former image of Ben she had and hoped that someday, Ben would heal and be sane.
Her phone started to ring again. Bola picked up the call and raised the phone to her ear. It was an unknown number. Bola wondered if it was the same number that had caused her to go on a compulsory two hours of ‘sleep.’
“Hello,” Bola said softly, praying with everything in her to hear Sofia’s voice.
“Bola, is this you?” Sofia said on the other line.
Excitement and fear rumbled through Bola’s body. “Sofia, you have called at the perfect time. Can you please come to my room?” She immediately wondered if it was a wise idea considering the fact that Ben could come back anytime. “No! Wait, I will come to yours. Give me a few minutes.”
“Alright then, I am waiting,” Sofia replied.
Bola did not realize how weak she was until she tried to stand up again. The room felt like it was rotating as she stood up. Ben really hurt her this time. The thought of Ben made her realize that she had to rush out faster before he came back.
THE BROKEN FIXED
Sofia could see so much pain and longing for true love in the eyes of Bola. She wished that she could take away her pain and give her love but she knew wasn’t as easy as that. She quickly said a quick prayer in her heart for God to help her and open the heart of Sofia to accept the word He would be saying to Bola through her.
“Bola, I am so sorry you have to go through all these,” Sofia said to break the silence.
“I should have listened to you the last time. Sofia, he gets worse every day, but the truth is that I do not think that I deserve any better,” Bola said.
“Can you tell me what happened? From the beginning. Even before Ben – if you do not mind,” Sofia asked. She saw Bola sigh deeply. She knew that it was difficult for her.
“I do not know from where to begin. Truthfully, I have never had a good loving life,” Bola started, “My father left when I was seven, and during all the time I knew him, he was a very bad man. He used to beat my mum and me every day. He started hitting me the day I found him hitting my mum. He was so mad at me for walking into the room that he hit my head angrily with the remote. I was five.” Bola began to cry now. Sofia moved closer to Bola now to comfort her.
“It is okay if you do not want to continue. We can talk about it later,” Sofia said. It was hard to see Bola cry like that.
“No, I need to talk about it. It has been so long,” Bola said. “So for two years, this continued. He stopped me from going to school. He said I was going to blab and tell the whole world. So he had to make sure that I never saw anyone. For two years, I never went out, and I did not see anything but my father beating my mother. They were the most horrible years of my life. But one day, my father left the house and never came back. It was like a dream. My father was so predictable, so when he did not come home that day, it was so strange. For the first time in years, I slept so sweetly. Father did not come back for a week, a month and even until today.”
“That must have been good news,” Sofia interjected.
“Yes. It should have. I thought so too. I thought my mother and I would get closer, but I think the abuse broke her so much that even after it all, she was not okay. She could not maintain a relationship with me. She could hardly look me in the face. Thinking about it now, I think she was embarrassed or ashamed. She was so withdrawn that she did not empathize with me. It was so hard. Even though I started going to school, I had no friends. I was not this beautiful. I had a lot of pimples. I was fat also. Sofia, it was really hard,” Bola looked at Sofia. She saw that Sofia was also crying.
“Well, not to make the story longer. I met Ben when I was processing my admission. He was so nice to me. He was the opposite of everyone that I knew. He loved me. But six months ago, he lost his father and things started to go bad. He was never usually abusive. I have been waiting for him to change. I think he just needs more time. Sofia, can you see how my life has turned out? How can you then tell me God loves me? That is why I got so angry the last time and I left. You were lying to me,” Bola said in conclusion.
Sofia knew that she had to say something but she was scared to start unless she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to. So she just rocked Bola, who was still sobbing on her shoulders as she prayed in her heart. Finally, Sofia felt a release in her Spirit so she started to talk.
“My life tragedy is nothing compared to yours, and I cannot say that I understand your pain, but I have also had a fair share of lack of love. In fact, I was so desperate to leave my house to come here in a bid to find a better life. At home, I detested my father and my brother. The life my mother lived irritated me so much it was turning to hate. I was miserable.”
“One day, I went to a particular church program, and the message was so strong and there I gave my life to Jesus. There was something different about the new Life. I was introduced to the Holy Spirit as a comforter. He became the friend I never had. He was always there to help me navigate through life. But in all, He made me see something. Do you know what that is?”
Bola looked at Sofia and replied, “No, what is that?”
“The pain that I went through all my life was not caused by God…,” Sofia started.
“But He saw it happen. Why did He not do something about it?” Bola interjected. “I am not saying that He made it happen, but if He is really God why did He not do something to make it stop?”
“You know that the earth has been given to man to rule. God can only interfere in the affairs of men when He has been called to do so. God does not do ‘amebo.’ And God did intervene in your case,” Sofia said.
“How?” Bola asked, now looking directly into Sofia’s eyes in defiance.
“The fact that you are here now shows that God intervened. The fact that your father mysteriously disappeared shows that He intervened. The fact that all those beatings did not kill you shows that He intervened. The fact that you are still sane shows that God intervened,” Sofia said trying to pull up Bola’s chin because she had looked down.
“Look at me,” Sofia started again, “We live in a broken world filled with a lot of broken people. And there is almost no way that the edges of the broken glasses – who are people – will not touch us. It is just that some people are more affected by these broken glasses – may be due to proximity or other factors – so they experience more pain than others. You were in closer contact with your father who was a broken glass, so you suffered so much pain. That is not God’s fault but a consequence of the broken world that we live in.”
“God is on a mission to fix broken people, that is His speciality. But the main question is if they would allow Him. God does not force man. If your father had allowed God to fix him, then your father would have been a wonderful father and would not have caused you so much pain. If Ben and your mother had allowed God to fix them, then you would have had the best life with them. Bola, broken people break people, contact with broken glass would always hurt. It is their nature. The only thing that can fix them is God and His love. Right now, you are a broken glass, and you will also hurt other people if you do not allow God to fix you..”
“But I do not want to hurt others,” Bola said as the words of Sofia hit a spot in her heart. The last thing she would ever want to do was to cause pain to anyone. But now, she was beginning to realize that it was not possible unless she allowed God to fix her. Could she really forgive God? But was it really God’s fault this all happened?
As if reading Bola’s mind, Sofia said, “It is not God’s fault that anything happened but the consequence of man not letting God rule. Bola, if you do not allow God into you and his love to reign in you, you will do exactly what you do not want to do. You will hurt others, cause them to blame God and the cycle continues..” Sofia said feeling that she has said all the Holy Spirit wanted her to say.
“Hmmm… This is one hard pill to swallow. I get that it is not God’s fault now in my head, but I want it to get to my heart, what can I do?” Bola asked.
“It is going to be a journey, but it just starts with just one step, and that step is accepting God into your life. That is the beginning and the turning point. It is when you accept God that you will be able to receive His love, forgive and give true love to others also. You have a choice to make,” Sofia said.
“It is so funny that you are this nice to me even though you do not know me. I do not know what I would have done if Ben had not threatened to kill me and made me run here. I think that was God’s intervention,” Bola said as she smiled.
“Yes, I think so too,” Sofia said, smiling back wondering if Bola had gotten what she was driving at.
“Well… I think I am going to accept God and His love since that is the only way I can stop being a broken glass,” Bola said finally.
Smiling widely, Sofia said, “You have made a good decision. Let us pray!” Sofia got to finish the prayer she started the first time they met.
“Father God, we thank you for your daughter, Bola, and for even all your children in the world. I thank you because I know that you have loved them from the beginning and have a perfect plan for their lives. We thank you for the pain they have passed through their lives, those experiences that made them doubt your love. We thank you that even though they have passed through those experiences, you have brought them to this place where they can accept You and Your love. Father God, I pray that you heal their heart and cause them to see and truly experience your love. Help them to be confident in Your love and use them as a tool to fix other broken glasses. Amen”
The girls looked at themselves as they smiled as the prayers ended. It was going to be the beginning of a wonderful relationship.