Frankie woke up with a dull ache. She turned and opened her eyes slightly, surprised to find herself in a strange unfamiliar room. Then she started to remember and sighing worriedly, she turned in bed and tried to go to sleep again. But sleep wouldn’t come. She felt so cold, so helpless, so defenseless and so lonely. Again, the doubts, the worries and the anxieties came. Where will she go from here? How will she manage? And how will she survive with her child? The pastor had said he will put her in a home for the unwed mothers until she is back on her feet again. He said while there, she could learn any craft of her choice.
“Even if you want to go higher, the center offers scholarship to deserving students,” he told her, his eyes gleaming with excitement. 
Her heart began to beat with excitement at that piece of information. She could see a flicker of hope and a ray of light in the dark, foggy tunnel. She was confident in the pastor. She knew he will keep his words and that money or material resources were not a problem. She got up from the bed, muttered a short prayer of thanks giving and just as she stood up from her prayers, she heard a knock at the door. “Yes, come in.” she called out. 
The door opened gently. “Hi Frankie, good morning, hope you had a nice sleep?” Barbara, the pastor’s 19 year old daughter asked, coming into the room.
“Yes, I did. I had the most peaceful sleep I can ever think of in days and you?”
“Fine. Daddy said you should come down for morning prayers.”
“Give me just a minute,” she said, jumping out of the bed. “Do you always pray together in the morning?” she asked as she followed her to the sitting room.
“Yes, and every evening too. You know they say a family that prays together, stay together.”
“Really?” Frankie asked surprised.
“Don’t sound as if you don’t pray together in the morning in your house.” 
“Em… we do but not always,” she attempted a defense knowing the best they ever got to was meal time prayers. 
As they walked down the short flight of stairs to the sitting room, Frankie noticed a couple of excited voices talking outside. “What’s the noise for?”
“The night watch men caught 4 thieves last night,” Barbara explained.
“Thieves? Why? What do they want here?”
“Search me. Actually, it beats my imagination too, but come, after the prayer, we will find out.”
Morning devotion in the pastor’s house is usually a very short affair. After a couple of choruses, the pastor’s wife had read the bible text for the day, which was taken from the book of Mark chapter 3 vs 1-2 while Barbara read the bible commentary and pastor Okechukwu summed it up. The pastor in his summing urged them to continually put their trust in God as He never fails.
“From our passage today, it is crystal clear that the reason they watched Him (Jesus) was to accuse Him and likewise, since a servant is not greater than His master, the Pharisees of this world shall also watch you to accuse you. It was like a trap set to nail Him. It was like a pit that was dug for Him; they were eyeing Him to pull Him down; they were watching Him, to carry rumor about Him. Unfortunately, that is also the story of your life and ministry. There are some men and women around who are destined from Hell to pull you down. Acts 28: 6 says ‘Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly; but after they had looked a great while and saw no harm came to him, they changed their minds, and said he was a god.’ May your life disappoint your enemies! Proverbs 10:28 declares: ‘the hope of the righteous shall be gladness but the expectations of the wicked shall perish.’ Those who are expecting you to cry because you believe in God shall see you laugh. You just have to hold on till the end.” The pastor encouraged them to pray and ask God to disappoint the expectations of the wicked concerning their destinies. 
As soon as the morning devotion was over, they all went outside to see what the commotion was all about. Already, a small crowd has gathered and they were all talking excitedly in hushed tunes. The pastor was surprised but not perturbed. 
“What are you doing here, young men?” The pastor asked the thieves. 
“We are so sorry, pastor, please forgive us,” one of the armed robbers pleaded. “It was the devils handiwork. It wouldn’t happen again.”
“You have not answered my question,” the pastor said quietly. “I said who are you and what are you doing here?” the pastor asked again.
Frankie recognized one of the men. “Danny,” Frankie cried, unable to control her outburst. “What are you doing here?” 
All eyes turned on Frankie, including the pastor.
“Do you know him?” The pastor asked her.
“Yes, yes, pastor, he is…he is… one of my father’s bodyguards,” Frankie explained. 
“O ooh,” the crowd booed.
“I see,” was all the pastor could say his mind flashed back to the red sports car that followed them home yesterday. Turning to the thieves, he asked them again. “What are you doing in my compound?”
“We are truly sorry, pastor, it won’t happen again,” one of the suspects pleaded.
“Wait a minute, I don’t understand what you are talking about and if you don’t talk fast, I’ll invite the police,” the pastor threatened as he eyed their guns and daggers.
“Pastor, we are sorry. It was their fault. I told them not to come here. I told them you are not that type of person but they wouldn’t listen,” Stan confessed, sobbing like a baby. 
“Shut up and stop shriveling, will you?” Danny barked. 
“Oh please, don’t shut me up,” the man retorted. “You see what you caused. It’s your fault.”
“Are you blaming me? Of course, you are not serious.” Turning to the pastor, he said, “Pastor, please help me and restore my sight. I am blind. I can’t see anything.”
“You can’t see anything, what do you mean by that?” the pastor asked. “How did you get in here then?”
“We got blind the moment we stepped into your compound,” another proffered an answer.
“Not only going blind but we also lost our senses until we were arrested and tied up by your watch men,” another concluded.
“What are you doing in my house and who sent you to my house?”
“We…we did not come for you, pastor,” one of them said.
“Then who did you come for?”
“Frankie, Pastor. We have express orders to bring her home.”
“Order from who?”
“From her father, Senator Nnamani. He paid us to bring her back, dead or alive.”
“My God!” the crowd booed. 
The pastor could hardly take it all. Just then, he realized how badly Chief must be feeling. 
“Pastor, please forgive us,” they begged.
The pastor looked at them and shook his head sadly. 
“You want to receive your sight?” he asked them.
“Yes,” they all chorused. 
“You believe Jesus Christ can heal you?”
“Yes,” they chorused again. 
“You believe he died for your sin?”
“Yes pastor, we believe.”
“Well, if you believe then I am going to pray for you and by the special grace of God, you are going to receive your sight, okay?” he paused, “The bible made us to understand in the book of Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But it also made us know in Romans 10:9 that if you confess Jesus with your mouth and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead, that you shall be saved.”
“Yes,” they concurred. 
“Are you ready to receive Jesus Christ into your life?”
“Yes,” they answered.
The pastor led them through the sinner’s prayer and afterwards, he prayed for them and they received their sight immediately. 
The crowd shouted in wonder and amazement. Just then, a police siren was heard blaring in the distance, a moment or two later, a team of police patrol cars pulled up and armed policemen jumped out of the cars and whisked the men away in handcuffs.