* God loves you so much that he sent his only son to die on the cross of Calvary for you. *
****
“ Ella? ” The young girl raised her head, and Mira felt her heart squeeze.  She could see her younger self in her, lost, broken and alone. 
Then all she felt was pain, one whom she thought will never end. 
Many times, she questioned when it would all end. “ Will there ever be a morning? ” Was her usual question. 
  Then, it seemed like her suffering would never end. But it did. 
It took longer than she expected, but her morning came at last. 
Though hers came through a person, who was none other than her Husband, Joseph Winfrey. 
   “ Do you know that God loves you more than anyone ever could? ” Ella's eyes widened before they dimmed a bit.  “ I know. But he loves others the same way, doesn't he? ” 
Mira wasn't so surprised hearing that from her. She had asked herself that too many times. 
God loves us all the same way, so why is it so special? 
Besides, it's obvious that he loves us more than us, if not, why would he allow some to be miserable, while he makes others happy? 
Why? 
“ I know. But do you know that God would still have sent his only begotten son to die, even if you were the only one on Earth? ” 
“ Really? ” 
“ Um… ” Mira nodded her head. 
“ You know, my most favorite chapter of the Bible is, Psalms 139. You know why? Because it reminds me of the very important fact that I was created by God and he knows everything about me and nothing about me is hidden from him as he sees everything. ”
“ Psalms 139? I've never read that before. ” 
“ Then you should. When you get home. The verses that struck me most are; verse one which says, “  O  lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. ”  And verse thirteen, which says, “  You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. ” 
“ Um… ” 
“ God created you, Ella and he loves you a lot too. ” Mira watched, Ella wiped out her tears with the tissue.
“ If that's true, then why? Why did he let me go through this? Why? Didn't he love me enough to have prevented me from getting this hurt? ” Her question reminded Mira of her past self yet again. Whenever she was told about the love of Christ, she never ceased to question why? Why had she suffered so much if she was indeed loved by God? Why? 
“ Ella, God allows us to go through pain to grow us in faith and stature. ”
“ Really? ”
“ Have you heard of the quote which says, there's no growth without pain? ”
“ I have. But how does that relate to this? I never searched for a boyfriend, all I did was want a Best friend, so why? Why did this have to happen, why?  ” 
“ Steve Jobs said something that resonated with me for a while. He said,  “ You don't connect the dots looking forward, you only do so looking backwards. ”  The dots will connect, Ella. Soon, you'll be thankful it all happened the way it did. ” 
“ I honestly doubt that. ” She spaced out. Her first love just told her he didn't love her. What pain could be greater than that? 
If she had a headache, she could use pain killers. 
But what medicine could she use to cure heartbreak? How can she stop the aching in her heart? How? 
“ I read a book recently. It was about a young lady who had loved God since her early childhood. She served him with all her heart and might. Even after she got engaged, she still kept herself. Her determination was to get married pure, she dreamed of putting on a white wedding gown, just like every girl would. But… ” Mira took an intentional pause to scrutinize her expression, and it was exactly as she expected. 
“ She got raped by an unknown man, just months to her wedding. ” 
“ Um… ” Mira could already guess what the young girl was thinking and she couldn't blame her. 
Why would God claim to love us, yet permit bad things to happen to us? What's the point of serving a big God, when he can't even save you from getting hurt? 
“ What happened at the time didn't make sense. Especially when she became pregnant, and she not only had to quit school, she also lost her fiancè in the process. ” 
   “ Um… ” Ella found herself wondering what good could come out of a situation like that, like really! What good? 
  But then, didn't Nathaniel wonder the same thing when he questioned what good could come out of Nazareth? A cursed city? 
    “ She lost her fiancè but she ended up with someone better, who didn't mind the fact that she was an unmarried lady with a child. Besides that, she was able to break the circle of abortion in her family and was able to repair the relationship between her parents. ” 
“ Those could have happened without her going through so much, couldn't it? ” 
“ We both know the answer to that, Ella. ” The room fell silent for a while. 
“ Ella, I'm very sorry that happened to you. All you did was fall in love, yet you got this hurt. ” The latter nodded. 
“ I wish I hadn't. ” That was her only regret, because if she hadn't, she wouldn't be going through so much pain. 
“ I know. But there's no use crying over spilled milk, is it? ” 
“ Yeah. ” She bowed her head for a while, before raising up her head, and asked the question that had been on her mind all along.  “ What should I do? ” 
“ First, I want you to spend more time in the word and prayer. ” She continued when the latter nodded in affirmation. 
“ Second, I want you to spend time building yourself. Invest more time in doing things you love and work on becoming a better person. ” 
“ Finally, I want you to pray for God's will to be done in your life. ” 
“ What do you mean by that? ” 
“ Well, the issue is in two ways, You might later have to learn to forgive him and accept him back into your life. The second one is, you might have to let go of him. ”
“ Um… ” 
“ If I may ask, Ella. Which would you prefer? ” 
“ I don't know. ” Mira nodded, expecting her answer. 
“ You'll figure it all out, soon. Just give it time, okay? ”
“ Okay. ” 
“ And most importantly, don't forget the God factor. ”
“ I won't. ” Her face bloomed into a soft smile. “ Thank you, Mrs Winfrey. ” 
“ You are welcome, you can call me Mira. Mrs Winfrey makes me feel old. ”
“ Oh, you are not used to it yet? ”
“ Yeah. I'm newly married, so… ” Ella covered her mouth in shock hearing that.  “ Really? ” 
“ Yeah. I got married to my Best friend of twelve years. ” 
“ Wow! ” Ella was still in shock. “ Congratulations, Mira! ” she stood up and hugged her. 
Mira chuckled watching the little girl's reaction, she couldn't blame her though. It's almost every girl's dream to get married to they're guy best friend. Though it doesn't work that way in most cases. 
“ I had always thought the same too, but I guess. ” Mira felt the solemnity in her tone.
“ It's okay. Don't give up yet! God has a plan. ” 
“ Yeah, thanks for the reminder. ” she broke the smile and gave a smile.
“ My pleasure always. ” 
“ Be good, Kay? ”
“ Sure. ” She stared at Mira's flat stomach through her outfit.
“ I can't wait to attend your baby shower. ”
“ I'm not, yet. ” Mira chuckled.
“ But soon you will. ” She didn't argue with that, as it's inevitable anyways.
“ I'll be praying for you, Ella. ” Mira tucked a loose tendril of her hair, behind her hair. She didn't know why but she felt an unexplainable connection with the young girl in front of her. 
“ I will too. Thank you. ”
“ You are welcome. Take care. ”
“ I will. Thank you. ” 
Mira found herself saying a prayer as she watched Ella step out of her office.  “ Lord, grant her the courage to accept your will for her. ” 
“ Amen. ” Mira looked in front of her, shocked to find her Hubby.
“ What are you? ” She couldn't finish her statement, given how shocked she was. 
“ Surprising my Wife. ” He sat on her consultation chair like it was the most normal thing in the world. “ Don't I have a right to? ” 
“ You can. ” Mira stood up and walked towards him, Joseph sat up and allowed her to sit on his legs. 
Mira wrapped her arms around him, drinking in his unique scent. “ I miss you very much, Hubby. ” She kissed him on his lips, catching him off guard.  “ Someone misses me so much, uh? ” He said, teasing her. 
“ Much more than you can imagine. ” She kissed him again, this time with so much passion and desire. 
    Joseph sensing her desire sighed. Funny how they went from being platonic best friends to desiring themselves so much. 
    He extended the kiss for a while, before breaking free from her. Sensing her longing he sighed.  “ We can't do this here, Mira. ” he cupped her face. 
“ Let's leave that till we get home, Kay? ” 
“ Um… ” She pinched his cheeks with a pout, like a young child who was denied candy. 
   “ Kay? ” 
“ Um… ” She laid in his arms motionlessly, with no sign of getting up. 
Understanding the signal, He stood up with her in his arms and picked up her hand bag, before walking out of the office. 
  He nodded at her assistant on their way out. Mira closed her eyes, enjoying the pampering. 
By the time they got to the car, she was asleep. 
He placed her carefully on the backseat before tucking her in with a warm blanket. 
She let out a moan when he left a peck on her head. “ Sleep tight, Hon. ”
He closed the door, before walking to the other side to start the car. 
   He went straight home and tucked her in after helping her undress. 
“ Sweet dreams, Babe. ” He called up the restaurant where he had made a reservation to adjust it. 
Though, that required him spending more.
But he'll do anything just to make his wife happy.
As long as she was happy and comfortable.
That's what mattered. 
….
A/N : Awn… I'm swooning! I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did! See you in the next one. 
PS : Why do you think Mira is so tired? Do you think it's just stress or is there a bun in the oven already? I'll leave that for you guys to guess! See ya!