I pull up my hair in a bun and smoothen out my dress. It's a long sleeved knee length army green dress with some flower shaped embroidery along the front and all the way down the sleeves.
It has a high neckline and a little keyhole detail at the back and I love it.
I strap on some nude heels I just stumbled on and I must say, they're really cute.
I apply some sparkly green eye-shadow to my eyelids and line my eyes, choosing to go only with lip gloss on my lips.
This is going to be my first appearance in church since I entered college. That's a really long while ago and I'm really trying to look my best.
I grab my brown leather handbag and push open the door to my room and make my way down the large winding stairs.

"Honey you look great." My mom exclaims once I walk into the sitting room. She isn't looking so bad herself because she's also dressed for church.
She'll be going with Stella because she's still a little bit handicapped considering the wheelchair.
Since the stroke, she has had to miss church a few times but now she's recovering and most of the effect from the stroke is worn off, she insisted on attending church this Sunday.
Stella who was previously eating some cereal in the kitchen is now in the sitting room staring at me with a bowl of unfinished cereal in her hand.

"What?" I cock my eyebrow at her.

"Nothing, it's just you look really nice." She
smiles suggestively wiggling her eyebrows and I groan.

"Why is there so much fuss about what I'm wearing when we're all dressed for church?" I hiss.

"Oh yes we are, you just look extra nice." She lays emphasis on the nice and shares a look with mom then laughs her way back to the kitchen obviously to finish up her bowl of cereal.
Once she's gone, I sigh and knead my forehead in frustration.

"You two are some very disturbing people." I slit my eyes at mom who is smiling at me like a Cheshire cat.

"You're just a real fuss pot honey." She chuckles and beckons for me to hug her and I sigh, lowering my torso to her sitting height as she wraps her arms around me.

"I'm so proud of you baby."

"Thanks mom." I smile and pat her back soothingly as she pulls away.

"You need to invite him over some time for a proper dinner. I need to thank him personally."

"What do you need to thank him for?"

"He got my daughter to attend church! I was beginning to think I wouldn't be around to witness God answer that prayer of mine." She laughed and I smiled.

Yesterday, when I told them that I would be going to church with Brian this Sunday, mom dropped the cup of ice tea she was sipping and just stared speechless at me.
Stella, who was preparing dinner at the time almost burnt herself the moment those words left my mouth.
After a few minutes of the uncomfortable silence, Stella strode over to me and hugged me tightly till I was gasping for air. When she pulled away, she beckoned to my mom who now had tears streaming down her face.
She just sat there shaking her head still not uttering a word before she gestured for me to bend down so she could hug me.
I willed myself not to cry and thankfully, my will prevailed and I didn't cry.

Tomi, on the other hand was a whole different case altogether. Before I called her to break the news, I made sure to remember to keep the phone off my ear in case of screaming and I was right because like I anticipated, she screamed.
It was so loud that I still had to cup my ear with my free hand even though the phone was at arm's length. I don't know if I would still be hearing properly if that phone was on my ear.

"Tomi, I can't start using hearing aids because of you! Don't scream like that!" I yell.

"I'm so sorry about that, but what did you say?"

"I said I'm going to church with Brian tomorrow." I sighed not very pleased that I had to repeat this line once.

"Oh my God, did Maya just say she's going to church? Oh dear, you need to introduce this guy to me. I love him, I love him, I love him!!!!"

"Don't love too much, remember you're already engaged." I teased and she laughed.

"I would never steal him from you. You two are so cute together and I haven't even seen you two together, can you imagine?" She laughed.

"Look I've told you Tomi, he'll never be interested in me." I shook my head.

"Don't act noble, it doesn't suit you."

"Wha......." I start but Tomi obviously doesn't want to hear my whining.

"I'm just so happy right now." She chirped excitedly like she didn't just shut me up. "I'm so happy for you." I sigh, not wanting to begin arguing with Tomi right now.

"Thanks b. I've got to go now, it's late and I have to get up early for church." I noted.

"Yeah that's true, I love you bye. Oh and one more thing. On Wednesday, after work, I'll come over to talk about a few more adjustments Max and I have decided upon concerning the wedding and then I'll bring your dress over for you to try it on then we'll decide the day of the bridal shower and things like that. Will you be free?"

"I think so, I'll clear my schedule and try to finish work early then I'll call to tell you when I'm home."

"Okay bye."

"Bye."

Immediately, my phone buzzes and I press the power button to see who the message is from and I'm relieved to see Brian's name at the head of the thread.

Brian- i'm outside, are you ready?

Maya- yeah i'll be right out.

I look up and the sitting room is empty but I can hear voices from the kitchen so I just call over my shoulder.

"Mom, Stella, I'm leaving now!" I walk over briskly to the doors in order not to keep Brian waiting and make to unlock them when I hear Stella yell back from the kitchen.

"Okay, have fun. We'll also be leaving in a few minutes!"

"No problem, call me when you're home though!!"

"Yeah we will!!"

With that, I step out and push the door close behind me then I make my way outside.

Immediately I step out, I spot Brian's black Mercedes parked less than half a mile away and I begin making my way to it. Once I'm about a few steps away, he looks up from whatever he was doing and our eyes meet.

He gets out of the car and approaches me his frame towering over me; as usual. I really need to wear higher heels if I want to be seen around him more in the future.

"Hi." I blurt breathlessly. How on earth does he always happen to look so good? I mean, even with a simple button up T-shirt which he rolled up at the sleeves and a pair of dress pants, he still looks like hot cake.

Get yourself together Maya. Can't you just stand this close to him without drooling?

Oh dear!

"Hey, you look beautiful." He smiled and I followed him to the car smiling like a silly goose.

"Thanks."

I got into the passenger seat and sighed in relief that he didn't notice my flushed look.

That song from the day before yesterday when he took me to the party was playing again.
I didn't think he would get the song again so quickly because, true to his word, he did give me the album and I don't remember giving it back.

"Hey, you already got the song again." I pointed out giggling.

"Yeah, I told you I really liked it." He smirks and flashes me a brief smile.

"I didn't think you liked it this much though." I chuckle and he nodds.

"Well, now you know." He laughs softly.

Just then, he follows a bend and drives a little bit farther down before entering the gates of a tall building with a cross at the very top and finding a nice parking spot amongst the other cars.
I'm guessing this is his church and where we are worshipping today because he puts off the car and gets out, making his way over to my side to most likely let me out.
Once again, I sit and wait for him in the car and you know why.

"Thanks." I say as I latch my hand unto his arm as we enter through the wide open double doors.
From what I can make out, the church service hasn't yet begun because only a few are seated while the others are busy hugging, shaking hands or chatting with each other.

"Brian!!" I hear someone shout from the crowd and I see none other than Danielle charges toward us looking as beautiful as ever in her cream colored blazer above black skinny jeans and cute heels.

Gosh, she's pretty.

"Hi Maya." She chirps once she meets up with us and our eyes meet.

"Hey Danielle, it's nice to see you again." I stretch out my hand and she takes it.

"Likewise. Come, let me show you to where dad and Travis are so we can all sit together." She excitedly skips away most likely assuming we were actually following her. I just cleared my throat and looked up at Brian who was laughing softly.

"That's Danielle for you." He chuckles like he knew what I was thinking.
"Come on let's not lose track of where she is because she can be really fast when she's excited." He smiled and took my hand, leading us through the crowd of people in the direction Danielle went.

Finally, towards the edge of the auditorium sat Mr. Wayne and Travis with Danielle bent over them most likely telling them that we had arrived.

"Maya!" Mr. Wayne stands up and strides over to me with his arms spread wide.
"How are you dear?"

"I'm fine, Mr. Wayne. I just decided to join you all for church today." I smile and hug him before pulling away and taking Travis's hand who is now standing beside Mr. Wayne.

"Hello Travis."

"Nice of you to join us." He comes closer and gives me a side hug.

"Yeah, but all thanks to Brian. It was his idea." I turn and smile at Brian.

"Yeah that's our Brian. Now let's settle down, the service is about to start." Mr. Wayne pats Brian on his back and we all laugh excitedly as we fill in some of the empty seats on the row on which Mr. Wayne and Travis were sitting.

In a few minutes, the service begin and a group of people, some males, some females ascend the stage all dressed in the same attire.
I assume they're the choir and I'm right because one of them, a lady, steps forward and begins to sing.
A few minutes into the singing, I find myself trying to hold back tears.
The lady singing is now on her knees and basically everyone in the auditorium is singing with thier hands lifted up. A few of them are crying while some others are muttering in some strange language, I think speaking in tongues because I sometimes hear mom doing that at home.
Beside me, Brian is singing along with his hands in the air, Danielle is with her knees on the ground singing too, Travis is muttering in that language and so is Mr. Wayne.
As for me, I can't understand why I'm suddenly just feeling so emotional. To add to that, it's like there is this current surrounding me and I'm feeling shivers run up my arms and spine repeatedly.
I distinctly remember having something similar to this feeling before.

Yes!! It was that day I met Mrs. Blake and her husband in the hospital room the day Sophia was born. The force that I felt was coming from the two of them as they spoke.

Oh my!

Fortunately, I was able to control myself and not let the tears spill until the singing stopped and a man dressed in a neat black suit climbed unto the stage with a tablet in his hand.
I take a deep breath, thankful that I didn't need to bother about crying in front of Brian because that would have been totally embarrassing.

The man begins to speak and he reads from the book of John, the first chapter and first verse.
Before coming, I made sure to download a Bible app so I don't feel lost when the scripture is being read. So I scroll through the books of the Bible until I reach the book of John. I still remember that it's one of the fist books in the new testament so I don't have a hard time finding it. I tap my way to the first verse in the first chapter and begin to read.

"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God."

Once he's done, he looks back up at us from his tablet.

"The title of my message today is Jesus." He pauses and looks around before continuing. "Who is this Jesus we keep talking about? Why do we talk about him? What makes him so special?
Well, here, John tells us who Jesus is. He calls Jesus the word. When I talk about the book of John, I like to call it the story of the word. A man is defined by his words and so if Jesus is the word of God, he is God.
Until you see Jesus as the word, you don't really know who he is. In John chapter one verse fourteen, the Bible says that, "the word was made flesh and dwelt among us...". Jesus was himself God!" I force myself to look around and observe the spell bound congregation. Nobody moved, it's like what you see in fairytales where the evil witch casts a hypnotic spell on everyone only there's nothing evil about this one.

"The word of God himself took on the form of a man and walked this earth." The pastor continued.
"Why would God so glorious choose to live on this filthy earth that is so filled with sin?
Long ago, God gave man all authority over the earth but man committed high treason against God and he lost all his authority to the devil.
God saw this and arranged a plan to save man. Many years later, he came in the form of Jesus and died a gruesome death on the cross with the sins of the world on him. He went down to hades, defeated the devil and gave us the victory. All this he did when man did not care, when man despised him, but in unfailing love he endured the cross, having in mind the future glory.
Now, when we accept the finished work of Christ, we are given the opportunity to become sons of God. We are no longer subject to the devil, ".... he took our place so that we might take his place...". When we became born again, we became just like Jesus in his glorified state. This we know because the Bible says in first John four verse seventeen, "... as he is, so are we in this world." Not as he was but as he is." The pastor laughed and all through the congregation, there were shouts of joy. Danielle and Brian beside me were shouting too and I just felt so excited even though I couldn't really understand what the pastor was saying.

"Now you know why we cannot be defeated, sick, depressed, or oppressed of the devil because if Jesus cannot be defeated, or sick, neither can we!" At those words, almost everyone including Brian, Danielle, Travis and Mr. Wayne got up and began shouting and clapping happily.

The whole auditorium was in an uproar and I joined in, clapping and hooting.

Suddenly, in the midst of our shouting, the pastor requested that we calm down a little and we did. Then he spoke up.

"All these truths that we see in the Bible can only be possible if you have Jesus as your Lord and savior. Without him, sadly, your life is still controlled by the evil one and the word Jesus cannot be real to you. If you're that person, I invite you to make Jesus the Lord of your life today. Don't put it off because you may not get another chance."

His words hit me like reality and I knew I had to be free.

All the walls of defense I had built up for years came crashing down.

I had to let go and surrender my life.

I had to.

I just had to.

With that conviction in my heart, I looked at Brian and it was like he immediately understood because he stepped back to let me move out. I gave him a grateful smile and stepped out from between the row of chairs and towards the altar just like a few other people who had decided to take the same decision as me.

My heart pounded against my chest as I approached the altar. The pastor climbed down and stood before all of us lined up in front of the altar.

"Today, you have made the best decision ever in your life and there is rejoicing in heaven right now." He smiled.

"Now say these words after me. I believe in Jesus Christ, the son of God. I believe he died to save me and I believe that he rose again on the third day for my justification and that he is alive today. I accept his sacrifice for me on the cross and I surrender my life to him. From today henceforth, I have eternal life. I am born again; I am a child of God now, in Jesus name. Glory be to God, hallelujah, Amen."

Once I had said those words, tears flowed down my cheeks and I felt new.

I felt like a whole new man.

I was born again.

Hello, my wonderful readers! I did fulfill my goal and here is another chapter on Tuesday! This means we should be expecting another this week right?
You are right and this brings us to the end of this author's note because I really don't want to go on 😂.

Remember to vote, comment and share if you love this book.
Here again is my Instagram page if you want to check me out @owanta_chinwe

Oh and above is a picture of Danielle. Just thought I should say so.

That's it for now, so bye.

Chinwe_epistle ❤