24/10/2023
IJUOLACHIM
This new neighbour of mine that recently moved into our compound has a daughter whose name sounds so deep and unique.
The first time I heard her call her daughter's name, I stopped and watched as the little girl happily hopped into the car. There was something special about that name, even though I did not know the meaning. The name, IJUOLACHIM.
I initially thought it was a twisted form of Ojuolape, but no, it is an Igbo name. Most times, she calls the name, putting stress on the fourth syllables which makes it sound more like a music- IJUOLACHIIIIIM.
One day, I saw her outside with her daughter, and I asked her the meaning of such unique name. She paused, then smilled. This kind of smile that spreads on your face when you remember something. She brought out her phone and showed me a picture of a critically sick female patient lying on a hospital bed.
"Do you know this person?" I stared at the picture for some minutes. The person looked so sick and thin that her ribs were showing. She looked exactly like a kwashiorkor patient.
I lack words to describe how miserable that patient looked.
"You mean you can't recognize her?" I nodded.
"I've never met her before."
She took the phone from me, stared at the picture for a few seconds, before she spoke.
"The person in that picture is me."
I grabbed the phone from her, and began to look for the faintest similarity, but there was none. My neighbor is a woman that I can describe as chubby. How come? What happened? Why?…
A lot of questions filled my mind, but then she began to talk.
"This picture was taken ten years ago, that is in the year 2013. I was critically ill with a disease that had defied all medical attention. My parents were late, and my older siblings were not in a good financial standing to fly me out of the country for a better treatment. I could barely eat, walk or talk. But my spirit man was alive and on fire. I kept praying to God for divine healing. One day, one of my brother's friend who is a medical personnel, but works in another hospital came to visit me in the hospital. As usual, I was lying there with my eyes closed. I guess he thought I was asleep when he suggested euthanasia (mercy killîng) to my brother. He said that my chances of survival was very slim, and instead of my siblings wasting their money on me without any positive outcome, they should ask the doctor to do the needful. That is to inject me so I can dîè slowly. I was shocked. I had not given up on myself, so why should a total stranger decide my fate? In my weak state, I opened my eyes and asked him IJUOLACHIM which means HAVE YOU ASKED MY GOD? God is the giver and sustainer of my life, and untill He says so, no one has the right to take my life.
To cut the long story short, I slowly began to recover that in six weeks time, I could walk on my feet. The doctors discharged me, and slowly, I recovered fully. Ten years down the line, that sickly woman that a mortal man had judged her case, and concluded that dèàth is her best option, is still alive and living her best life. So, when I got married and had my daughter, I named her “IJUOLACHIM.”
Goosebumps spread all over my body as I listened to her. Such a miraculous testimony.
Now hear me,
You may be at a point in your life where men have given up on you, but who is He that saith it and it comes to pass when the Lord God has not commanded it?
When there is a casting down, say that there is a lifting up.
Even when life has beäten life out of you, just keep holding on because the dry bone shall live again.
He will give you beauty for your ashes, double restoration for all your loses.
God has the final say over the affairs of men.
So when men give up on you, and ridicule you because of your present situation, ask them IJUOLACHIM?
Because when God arises and turns away your reproach, your Shame, your captivity, your enemies will be dismayed.
Let my enemy not rejoice over me yet because He that is behind the rising and setting of the sun, is right behind me, working out my miracle.
So when in doubt of God's supremacy, remember to ask your enemies,
IJUOLACHIM.
🍂🍂🍂
22nd October 2023
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