Love, Tangibly: Testimony

Oh my goodness food! 

And greens!

My best friends. 

Especially now that I’ve found out I’ve been taking food too lightly and I need to pay a lot more attention to feeding myself (nutrition wise) so my system can stay healthy.

I recently found out I had failed my system, so it had a breakdown last Saturday as I was going about my business in Limbe. I had just arrived and was standing outside some shops waiting for my customer and I began to feel tired, get light headed and see white. I was very aware that something was going wrong and I recognized what was happening as it had happened to me before. I tried to control it by taking deep breaths but the situation didn’t change. Next thing I knew I was down on the floor. 

It was a decent place, not crowded, and the floor was concrete. I can say I was out for about 2 minutes. As I lay there in confusion I saw a kind older gentleman helping me to stay in a lying down position and he told me I needed to stay there a while to recover. I obeyed. He gathered my belongings and set them right by me so I could keep them close and safe. Nothing of mine was stolen from me. 

I laid my head on my bended elbow and noticed it felt wet. I checked and saw red- I was bleeding. Why was I bleeding? Then I touched that side of my face that was feeling painful and realized I had hurt myself- how much I had no idea. I later used the selfie camera on my phone to survey the damage and noticed there was a little slit on my eyebrow. A vein might have been cut open in the process so it bled for some time. 

When I could finally sit up I started thinking of what to do. I thought of handling it all by myself and narrating the whole thing to my people after the whole mess was cleaned up and I was safe at home but then I thought it was a better idea to just let them know what had happened and that I was not Ok. I texted my friend Maness to please pray for me. She didn’t see the message. I waited a few minutes and carefully texted Mum to please pray for me now. Then I deleted the now and just left it at “please pray for me”.  I didn’t want to worry her because she was far away. 

A few short minutes later I called Mum. The phone went unanswered. I tried again and she still didn’t pick up. I was feeling in control of my emotions at this point so it didn’t make me feel desperate. The other person I had thought of reaching out to was Maness, so I called her. She picked up and I started with a greeting then quickly filled her in on the major details: I went to Limbe and I felt dizzy and fell. 

Then I broke. 

Oh I cried. 

Maness was puzzled and she was asking me questions. I went silent because I had too many tears choked up in my throat I couldn’t talk. After a few hellos from her end I responded and explained a bit more. She asked me if she should come. Again I thought I should be strong and just handle this and I protested a little but then I thought it would be nice to have her around to help so I agreed.  Is Maness sweet or is she SWEET!

She came with a taxi, picked me up and went home with me. As I was going to meet up with Maness (because I could finally walk again) Mum called and I told her what had happened and broke again. She talked to me nicely and encouraged me, gave me advice on what I need to start doing (i.e. eat and drink lots of water) and we left off testifying of how defeated the devil is. That emotional support was everything.

I was so grateful for Maness’ presence because my emotions could have felt too much to handle without the presence of a tangible human being (you know, feeling sorry for myself and all that...). I came out of the whole thing with a cut on my left eyebrow which bled for longer than I expected, a bruise on my left shoulder, scrapes on the back of my left hand, a sprained left hand and a scrape on my elbow.

I had band practice to attend sometime in the afternoon after running my errands but had to cancel. So the band came to know what had happened to me (especially that I “fell in Limbe”) and they prayed for me. 

Later in the evening my friend Naomi’s Daddy, our Head Deacon, gave me a call and prayed for me over the phone.

Such overwhelming LOVE! 

The next day I went to the hospital with Naomi for a full blood count and the results came back ok. I was only a little low on hemoglobin.  

Since then I’ve been eating my vegetables and eating more regularly than before. A precious sister at Church even told me she would be inviting me over for food everyday if I lived near her and I found that very sweet. All that kindness for me?

Thankful

So the bottom line is: Vegetables are good for you. Food is very very very important, especially a balanced meal for a balanced diet. 

And my advice to my fellow young ladies is let’s eat adequately to avoid this kind of situation. It is very avoidable. Several people have told me of other girls who have had the same kind of experience. All we need to do is be consistent with those vegetables, eating nutritious food (quality over quantity) and drinking water- especially with this heat.

This experience made me realize that life is sooo fragile and that it is God Who is safely holding it in His arms. You cannot die if it’s not time. No harm can come to you unless He permits it. I am a believer and so I believe I am at God’s mercy and not the devil’s. I left home feeling very normal and fine I would never have thought I’d get into an emergency, but God was there to keep me alive and very safe along with my belongings. He had everyone in the right positions just to help me out.

When I call on Jesus All things are possible

I can mount on wings like eagles and soar

When I call on Jesus Mountains are gonna fall

“He’ll assemble Heaven and earth 

To come rescue me when I call”

I am very grateful for the precious gift of life and good health.