I got back from school really exhausted that day. All I wanted to do as I left the cafeteria with my food in my hand was to eat, climb my bed and sleep. As I was about to ascend the steps that led to my room which was on the second floor, the cleaner who also doubled as my laundry lady approached me. I initially couldn’t interpret the look on her face. I had given her some clothes to wash for me some days prior to that day. She usually didn’t delay in returning my clothes but this time around, one of my dresses was still with her. A peach colored flowing gown which I wore to a dinner the previous week. The dress was new and the last thing I wanted to hear was that something had happened to it. She had told me the day before, that the reason she hadn’t returned it together with the others was because it wasn’t dry. That made perfect sense because the fabric used to make the dress was thick and the sun didn’t really show much of it’s face that period.

So back to the present, I assumed she wanted to return my dress to me and give me my bill. Well I wasn’t far from the truth except that, there was more. The woman who I’m sure is in her late thirties or early forties went down on her knees and started begging me and before I could say Jack Robinson the other cleaners joined her to beg. Then I knew something was wrong. She brought out my dress and said someone spread a cloth beside the gown and got it stained and that despite all they tried to do the stain didn’t come off.

The news made me weak and unhappy but I immediately told her to stand up and when she refused, I threatened to join her on the floor…lol (I couldn’t stand the sight of a woman much older than me kneeling down to beg me in public). She stood up and told me not to worry about the bill, I insisted and after I paid, I collected my dress and went to my room.

I wondered why of all the clothes that were washed, that dress was the one that got stained. I’m sure if the dress could speak, it would ask the question that most of us ask when unfortunate things happen to us ‘why me?’. A times, it appears as though we’ve been singled out for disaster. But the truth is that we should learn to hold on tight to God in the midst of the storms. Thankfully I had the phone number of the tailor who sowed the dress and she agreed to get the fabric and fix it. She called me two months after the incident to inform me that my dress is ready. She was able to get the fabric and replace the stained area with an identical brand new one.

God is the ‘tailor’ of our lives. When you don’t understand why things are happening the way they are, go back to Him. He is able to fix that damage that seems unrepairable. It may seem like He is taking forever but trust Him. No one ever said the furnace is a pleasant place but wait till you see the glittering gold then you’ll know it was worth it. Things don’t happen to God’s children by chance. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He knows the number of hair strands on your head and will not allow one to fall without His permission (Matt 10: 30, Luke 12: 7). You are that special to Him. And if you are yet to open your heart to Him, He is at the door patiently knocking (Rev 3; 20). Let Him in and He’ll fix those damages. Better than any tailor can, a dress, He’ll fix you at zero cost and make you brand new.

Therefore if and man is in Christ, He is a new creature: old things are past away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5; 17).

God bless you richly.

(2016)

Emmanuela Mike-Bamiloye