THERE IS HOPE FOR THE LIVING (1)“A living dog is better than a dead lion” so says the wisdom book. A dead lion is useless despite its reputation of been a wild animal. A living dog may not be as powerful as a lion is, but it is still better because it’s alive.I have a story to narrate here, open up your heart and read with understanding and I know the Lord will speak to you. The message might just be for you!It was a sunny morning, Mrs. Bath had just finished going through some of the files on her desk. She looked at the remaining files and sighed. She paused for a moment and her thought flashed back to when the company was still young, things were not easy then. No contract to pursue, she virtually begged for contract from Parastatals. She has three staffs then, herself as the managing director, the Secretary and the Engineer. But now she can boast of a company with not less than Twenty (20) employees. Her husband Mr. Bath had raised objection at first when she first started, saying he doesn’t want her to start competing with men in her profession as an Engineer and also that there will be no time for her to look after their children, but Mrs. Bath pleaded and she succeeded in convincing him to allow her do it. She hired a house-help and a nurse for her children. She became a success after five years of hard work and now she can be said to be one of the most popular woman Engineer in the country. She was still thinking when she heard a knock on her door. The Post man entered with parcels of mail for the company and some staff. She collected the mail and started rummaging through it. Most of the parcels were for her secretary Miss. Ify, she had subscribed for Christian Ministry Magazines through the net. She called her and handed over the parcels to her. PART (2)Ify received her parcel with exuberance and surprise. Mrs. Bath is a very strict, disciplinarian woman. She doesn’t tolerate nonsense. Since she got the job of a secretary in Mrs. Bath’s company, it’s been one challenge or the other to her Christian faith. She used to be vibrant for the things of God, but now no time to even attend midweek service. She must stay in the office until Mrs. Bath closes. Which was usually late in the evening. Ify shares an apartment with her bosom friend, Anna whom she met in the University Christian fellowship. They served together in the same state but different organization and since then they had been staying together. As Ify opened her parcel one by one, her thought flashed back to when she came for interview for the position of a Company secretary. Mrs. Bath had poured a barrage of questions at her concerning her educational background, her family and her marital status. She had managed to type a sheet of paper given to her by Mrs. Bath when she came in to inspect it.“How far have you gone?” Are you through with it” Said Mrs. Bath“Yes ma, am trying to round it up” Ify replied“You better do because I don’t have time to wait, you must be very fast when working with me, I don’t tolerate sluggishness, is that alright?” said Mrs. Bath.“Yes ma”. Replied Ify“Good. “Ify had continued her work. Mrs. Bath made a lot of corrections on the script she typed. She is a kind of person that wants her “I’s” to be dotted and her “t’s” crossed. But she had endured because of lack of job. She desperately wished she could get another job where she can be free to serve God the way she wanted or better get married. Hmmm get married! She thought aloud! To whom? Hmmm. She has had about three different kinds of man in her life in the past 10yrs, none of them was committed to the relationship. Isaac was the first man she met back in the campus days. Isaac looked promising then, and the relationship was moving on well until suddenly when she discovered that he was really double dealing with her. She was on her way to the classroom in the night to read in preparation for her Examinations when she decided to pass by the Male hostel to see Isaac. On knocking at the door, there was no reply. But the door was not locked, she paused before going in. She stepped in and lo and behold what she saw!PART (3) Isaac was virtually on top of a lady. As soon as Isaac saw her, he jumped up and quickly rushed to dress up!“Hi, Ify”. Isaac said. Why did not you wait for my response before opening the door.Ify stood there transfixed, not knowing what to do, she ran out of the room back into her hostel room and she had wept her out. That was the end of the relationship. All efforts made by Isaac to pacify her was of no use because she had made up her mind to cut off from the relationship. The second was Paul whom her roommate snatched from her. Paul was from a rich family and he had been showering her with gifts to the amazement of her room mates. Unknowingly to her, one of them had been eyeing him. She made her plans and went ahead to tell Paul all about Ify, she lied and told different kinds of untrue stories about her. Paul believed without investigating and at the end of the day, the girl succeeded in cajoling him into a relationship.As Ify was thinking of all these, the intercom phone rang and jolted her back to reality. Mrs. Bath wanted her in the office.“Type this document for me, I want it now and I don’t have time to read through it, so you better make sure everything in there is typed correctly, ok!“It’s alright ma” replied Ify.Ify collected the paper and went back to her office. She started typing the document and her thought ran wild again. She continued to think about her marital issue, since the last man she dated, she had been very careful with men. She has also been praying that God would give her a good man to marry. Age is not on her side. She will be Thirty five come next month. God! What kind of thing is this! She said soberly. She finished the letter, prints it out on a sheet and handed it over to her boss. The boss parceled the letter without reading through it. She sent her messenger to deliver it to the company it was meant for, not knowing that Ify had made a mistake in the account number in the letter thereby altering the whole content. The letter was supposed to be information about the company’s change of Bank account Number. Ify typed the old bank account number. The man went on to pay the money into a wrong account number. Mrs. Bath was informed to go cash her money in the bank, on getting to the bank, the money was not there. She became furious and called the man to inquire.She was told to come and verify the account number which she died. She discovered that it was a wrong address Ify typed. Immediately she went back to the office to confront Ify.“What sort of nonsense is this, Ify” she retorted. You typed a wrong account number after I warned you to type the letter correctly”.“I am sorry ma”. Begged ify. “Be sorry for yourself”. Now I think I have had enough of you in this office, please pack your things and leave immediately.“Ah, am sorry ma, please forgive me”. It will not repeat itself again. All Ify’s pleadings fell on deaf ears. She was issued a sack letter that same day. She packed her things and left the office. She got home and fell on the bed. She wept her heart out. No where to go, no one to turn to. Her parents died some years back, her only surviving sibling Nath, is in the University. She had managed to sent him to the University when she started working. What will she do now, where will she turn to for help. O God help me! She sobbed. PART (4)As Ify sobbed her heart out. She was still crying when her roommate/friend came in. she was shocked at what she saw.Ify? She called, what’s wrong with you? Why are you crying?”Hmmm” Ify sighed. It’s my work. I was sacked today”.My God! What happened? Asked AnnaIfy then narrated the whole thing that led to her being sacked from the office. After she finished, Anna drew close to her and put her head on her shoulder. Oh! Poor girl! Is that all? No problem, calm down, calm down, don’t worry about that, its going to be alright! Hmmm!Ify stopped crying. Eh! Cheer up, that’s my friend. Said Anna. I will try and see how to help you. You don’t have a problem. Prepare your papers down, I will talk to my Director (Mr. Bash) for you. Am sure he will give you a job in the company. Is that ok?Oh! That’s kinds of you Anna, thank you.! Replied IfyOh no! What are we friends for? Don’t worry, everything will be alright. Now what are we going to eat, am famished. Been working all day!Ify hurriedly got up from her sitting position and hurried to the kitchen to prepare food for dinner. Hmm! Thank you God, Ify said to herself, so God you are this good, I will soon be working again, hmmm, maybe the pay will even be better than Mrs. Beth’s, hmmm, how wonderful it will be for me to start work by next week Monday, hmmm, maybe I will even meet a guy I love there and before you know I will get married too! Hmmm. Oh my!.my thought is running wild.
