ARROW OF WORDS
‘Look at you…,’ He said with clenched teeth. ‘Can you see all of your worth and value here?’
He dangled the stained briefs in my face. The smell stung my nose, making my stomach rumble.
I looked up from where I sat on the floor, cross-legged and soaked in a puddle of my wee and sweat. Though the room was cold, my clothes got soaked with sweat.
I recognised him. Andidiok. The tall figure before me wore a fedora hat, skin-coloured latex gloves and dark glasses. My mother told me that he appeared the morning I was born, gnashing his teeth and throwing a fist to see me cradled in mama’s arms. She called him the defeated foe.
I remember the many times Andidiok appeared again. At my christening. My first day in kindergarten. And at my graduation, he shot an arrow into the hall, but the Archangel Michael intercepted it.
On several other occasions, Andidiok shows up, spitting fire and hell at me. Each time I’m about to take the baton and ascend the ladder, he’ll come. If I dared to listen to his jeers and rants, I’d fall back and writhe with pain. It would take me a few days to get back to my feet.
Thrice I went through surgery, he came by. His appearance was as a faux lion. He fought hard to roar. But the Great One, Lion Esen Judah, revealed Himself out of the thick clouds, and with one thunderous roar from the Great Lion, Andidiok froze and cracked to pieces.
***
‘Don’t listen to his lies,’ I heard a whisper. ‘He is a robber and a murderer.’
I peeked at the briefs in Anididiok’s hand. He wore a dubious smile. ‘See your life here?’
Say to him: ‘I am the apple of God’s eyes.’
I opened my mouth to speak and swallowed hard.
‘Resist Andidiok,’ the voice said again, ‘And he will run off from you.’
Andidiok smirked as he bent over, lowered the briefs to my nose and jiggled it.
Daughter of Zion, you have a quiver filled with arrows. Use it. Speak the word: Tell Andidiok the truth. That you are a new creature in Christ. The old has passed away.’
I looked at the briefs with derision and scrunched my nose.
‘Yes, it stinks, right? It’s the smell of your heart and soul,’ Andidiok said as he raised my chin and kept the briefs at my eye level. ‘It reeks of your rotten mind and body.’
I wept when Andidiok compared my brain to a goat’s. ‘Numbskull, no wonder you reek like ebod useme.’ He wore them on my head. ‘Unfortunately, you’d never smell better than this…’
Each time he taunted and gave a wicked laugh, he’d throw the smelly briefs on me, pick it up again and repeat the cycle. And I’d break a sweat, moan and lower my head in shame. After a while, I cried until I saw myself in my mother’s womb. I saw her pushing and wailing the night she gave birth to me.
‘Go away from me,’ I yelled.
But my yelling only earned me more taunts.
Then I saw flames escaping from his mouth. They flashed in the air making dark blue and red sparks. His voice became a cacophony of sounds. It echoed through my head, down through my spine, into my right ventricle and to my feet. I trembled and wailed in fright.
***
Daughter of Zion, speak up. Stand and declare your freedom in Christ.
In obedience, I arose, and let out a sigh as I wiped my face. Then I sang a song, Arrow of words.
‘Even the lawful captive has a deliverer,’ I sang, striking my chest.
Andidiok gave a contemptuous laugh.
‘I am acceptable in the beloved,’ I said. ‘Jesus paid the price for me to live free of your lies and accusations.’
Andidiok scowled and stepped back.
‘Listen to me, you, foe. Through Christ, I live an abundant life. In Him, I am free to live a victorious life. So do not trouble me anymore. I am precious to Yahweh. I am a woman of valour. Yeshua took me out of the miry, dark clay and set in on the Rock, above reproach and shame. Leave now, you, foe. ’
At that moment, I heard a roar like the One in my hospital room. The Great One had come and a bright light overshadowed me. Andidiok disappeared.
© 2023 Eno O’wunmi.
We will win the battle with and in obedience to THE WORD!
Meaning of words:
Andidiok – the evil one or the devil
Lion Esen Judah – Lion of the tribe of Judah
ebod useme – A foolish goat
ABC days of being a penwoman 