Anna was really troubled, she had a lot on her mind and she did not know what to do. She had so much work to do and so little time to do them, to put in simpler terms, she was at her wits end.
You may be wondering, why does Anna have so little time to accomplish so much, why did she not start early, was she lazy? Did she forget she had work to do? Or what really happened that she had so little a time to accomplish much? To answer that question we would have to go back in time about two weeks ago.
“Anna, you are about to be twenty and what have you done with your life” said the little taunting voice in Anna’s head. She had not even thought about the age she was turning and suddenly here comes this taunting voice in her head mocking her.
“Anna, see Janet, she is just eighteen years old and she already is known as a good graphics designer, see her works, see how people are praising her works” said the taunting voice in Anna’s head while she lay on her bed while scrolling through her phone and viewing Whatsapp statuses of her contacts. Anna began to cry and think about her failed attempts at establishing businesses. She thought about when she tried baking and how that failed due to the establishment of a popular bakery on campus that had lower prices due to them purchasing their goods in bulk. Customers always compared the prices of her pastries to that of the Bakery’s pastries that were cheaper and she eventually began running at a loss trying to keep her customers. She then went further to think of how she tried her hand at fashion designing but failed due to the theft of her sewing machine which in turn crippled her business because she had no funds to purchase another and finally at her last attempt at business when she tried investing the last of her savings in crypto but that took a wrong turn when the chart crashed last week and she lost all of her savings.
Anna kept crying and she eventually fell asleep. She woke and tried to silence the voice but it kept taunting her.
She started dreading her birthday and wanted the day to never come. The voice lived rent free in her head. She couldn’t focus and she started hating herself and seeing herself as a failure.
“Anna see all the opportunities others are getting at their young age and you are there watching them, your parents are still sending you allowance at your age, are you not meant to be ashamed. Big girl with no source of income, SHAME ON YOU!!!” screamed the voice in Anna’s head.
So now we are back in the present, it’s a day to Anna’s birthday and the birthday girl is panicking, she can’t think or breathe properly, she is under pressure, there is so much to be done before she is twenty so that she can meet up.
“Can’t the day be postponed? Do I have to clock twenty tomorrow? Can I rewind to when I was eighteen so I could done better and become accomplished by now? Should I take loan and start a business, should I sign up for design classes? I don’t have the money? Should I ask my parents? No, that is not right, I am too big to be collecting money from them, what then should I do???” these were the major thoughts in Anna’s head as she lay on the bed.
Anna started crying and she eventually slept and dreamt. In her dream, she saw a large field which had a small stream in the middle. The stream had a bridge over it for those that wanted to cross to the other side of the field. She then saw a small girl trying to cross the stream without using the bridge
The girl kept trying to jump over it but she kept failing, she then became tired and she sat down in defeat with her cloth soaked and shivering due to her failed attempts that made her fall into the stream.
“Why can’t she just use the bridge, it will be faster and easier for her” thought Anna,
”That’s because she wants to use her power to cross without the help of the bridge” said a voice behind Anna,
Anna turned back and saw a man whose face seemed to shine, she then replied him “But why, why not use the help that is already there, why stress when a solution has been proffered? I just don’t understand”
“That is the same way Your Heavenly Father doesn’t understand why you refuse to take His help and insist on making it on your own” replied the Man
“I don’t understand what you mean, I haven’t refused any help. Why would I do that when I am seriously in need of help? In fact, I have prayed so many times for help” replied Anna
“You were not asking for help the times you prayed instead you were complaining just like that girl that couldn’t cross the bridge. Every business you ventured into, you did not seek God’s direction instead you went in on your own and when it failed you went to God complaining thinking you were asking for help. You have hung your head so much in defeat that you did not even see The Lord trying to help you and guide you. You are that little girl praying to cross the stream and ignoring God’s advice that you should use the bridge. Anna, seek God’s will for your life and only then will you be truly satisfied!!!” Said the Man and after saying that, he disappeared and Anna woke up from her sleep with one purpose in mind.
She knelt by her bedside and said “Dear God……” and with that, her problems were solved in an instant.
By Onimole W. B.
De Vine 