When Did You Last Pray?

“When last did you pray?"

“I thought we just finished praying now?"

“Not our collective prayer, but your personal prayers."

Ngozi rubbed her temples and for the first time looked up from her phone since Tope left her busy with it some thirty minutes ago. 

“Err, yesterday morning I guess."

“For how many hours?" Tope demanded.

Ngozi let out a mild laugh. “I don't know... Ten, twenty minutes thereabout."

Tope walked away without a word and Ngozi continued with her phone. 

The next morning, Tope didn't join morning devotion with Ngozi. She had worked all night and slept late in the morning. 

She rubbed her sleepy eyes as she approached the living room where Ngozi was seated at the dinning table, sipping a hot sizzling tea from the teaspoon in her hand. 

“Good morning to you too." Tope greeted when she observed Ngozi didn't notice her presence.

“Look who finally decided to wake up?!" Ngozi blurted out as she looked up from her phone. 

“Have you prayed today?" Tope inquired yawning sleepily.

“I was waiting for you." Ngozi replied; picking up the mug and sipping more tea. “Whereas, the weather is cold so I thought you decided to sleep in." She added, taking yet another sip.

“Care for tea? There's hot water in the water heater." Ngozi said again while Tope stared blankly at her.

“Did you have your own personal prayer?" Tope asked, arms akimbo.

Ngozi looked away from her to her phone.

“Sorry, I didn't get that."

“Did you or did you not have your personal prayer time?" Tope asked, sightly raising her voice.

“Maybe I did... I'm not so sure." 

Tope sighed and walked away.

For the rest of the day, Tope stayed locked up in her room. When Ngozi went over to inquire what she'd want for breakfast, she waved her away. When Ngozi was to leave the house, she opened the door to let her sister know but Tope replied with a nod.

Again the next morning, when Tope saw her cousin, the first words that proceeded out of her mouth were the questions she's been asking Ngozi for the past two days.

“I don't know why you've been so adamant and persistent lately. Did God tell you something about me?" Ngozi asked, slightly irritated.

“God doesn't have to tell me something. Did you or did you not..."

“Babe, I never pray abeg (I've not prayed)." Ngozi interrupted, rudely. “Stop pestering me. I've been busy and God understands. It's not like I've not been praying before now. Let the ones I've prayed before stand for me at this time. I have so many things on my plate, and until I exhaust it, I'm not so sure I'd have ample time to pray. I can pray as I'm working..."

“Do you...?" Tope cut in, raising a brow. 

Ngozi fumed.

“God is not as difficult as you're making Him seem. He understands that I'm busy. It's not that I don't acknowledge Him. I say a word or two during the day immediately I remember that I haven't prayed. It's not like if I don't pray, he ceases to be God, or because I don't pray, He won't bless me."

“Hmmm." Yet again, Tope walked away. 

For the next two to three days, the moment both ladies set eyes on each other, Ngozi was already able to guess Tope's next statement. So she'd immediately give her a cold stare that spelt, “don't even dare."

On the fourth day, Tope said nothing at all to Ngozi. Both just went about their day in the house. They often looked at each other briefly but said no words. They bump into each other sometime, but they say nothing and then walk away. Some three days later, Ngozi didn't set eyes on Tope the whole day. She wanted to knock on the door to her room, but decided against it because she felt this restriction in their heart. She decided to wait in the living room, just to know when she'd come out of her room to be sure she was fine. She waited till she slept off. She woke up and moved to her room when she checked and noticed there was no sign of her cousin coming out of the room. 

The next morning, Ngozi was temped to barge into Tope's room, but after she brought herself to her door, she couldn't muster the courage to knock on the door so she left hoping she'd soon come out of her room and then she'd ascertain if she was okay or not. Ngozi didn't leave the house all day and there was no sign of Tope. When she couldn't sleep at the middle of the night. She marched to Tope's door and flung it open. The bed was neatly made, with no sign of her cousin. She checked the bathroom, nothing. She went ahead to check the wardrobe. Still, nothing. Sweat balls broke out on her forehead. She rushed to her room and picked up her cellphone. She dialed her number, it rang and rang, but there was no reply.

“Where could she have gone without informing me?" Ngozi soliloquized and sat on the edge of her bed. “And why is she not picking my calls...? Maybe she's asleep." She added as she navigated her way to Whatsapp to send her a message. She noticed Tope was online. She breathed a sigh of relief and sent her a “hi" text. The message got delivered, but Tope didn't read it. She sent more messages asking how she was doing, and why she left the house. Still, there was no sign that Tope opened the message, but it got delivered. She quickly went to check some people's statuses and discovered Tope had just posted a write-up on prayer and Bible study. Ngozi fumed and replied the status angrily, asking whey she was online but not replying her messages. 

Ngozi waited in vain till she slept off. The next morning, the first thing she did was grab her phone to check if her messages had been responded to. Still, Tope didn't respond. The double tick was still very much dark in colour instead of the blue signifying that the message had been read. She threw her phone on the bed in anger and went about her day. The whole day, no sign of Tope. No reply to the Whatsapp, text messages and call. Then, Ngozi became worried. She called everyone she could. No one responded positively. They'd all not set eyes on her. 

Ngozi woke up the next morning to a knock on her door. The sun was up and hot at this time, but her window blinds were down such that only thin rays of sunlight smuggled their way into the room. Ngozi started hearing the knocking sound from her dream till she woke up. She sat up sharply when she heard her name. She rushed at the door and standing there with open arms and a big broad smile was Tope, looking beautiful than ever. 

Ngozi smiled to her but her smile soon dissolved into a frown.

“How about you hug me first before you tear me apart?" Tope said and hugged her cousin tightly.

“You know I wouldn't let go until you hug me back, right?" Tope said still clung tightly to her sister.

“I am very mad at you!" Ngozi declared, not returning the hug.

“Hug me first and we'll talk about it."

Reluctantly, Ngozi hugged her back and even clung tightly than Tope did. 

“Okay, let go now. I'm running out of breathe." Tope managed to say in-between suffocating breath.

“I should choke the life out of you!" Ngozi joked and laughed out loud releasing Tope from her grip.

“If that'd make you happy..." Tope laughed. 

“But seriously, why did you leave without informing me?" Ngozi frowned slightly.

“Did you pray at all while I was away?" Tope asked with all seriousness.

“Tee..."

“NG, you cannot have God's Spirit inside of you and not be in constant communication with Him! He had tried getting through to you but you wouldn't budge. Imagine how miserable you felt when our communication went downhill. We were both in this house together and we can't boast of saying 20 sentences to each for about two weeks. Did you like that?"

Ngozi was quiet.

“I went for a three days program, but only yesterday did you realize that I was missing."

“I discovered two days ago."

“Little difference! I wanted to so talk to you, gist you, laugh with you, argue with you, do stuff with you, but if you're not in constant communication with God, what's the essence of your daily life? What word are you living on? Which of His Word spoken to you is a lamp for your feet and a light for your path? I didn't intend keeping malice with you. Matter of fact, I wasn't keeping malice. I was only acting on an instruction from the Holy Spirit. He asked me to do what I did to teach you how it feels not talking to God. Your talking to God helps you, not Him and it hurts Him to see you so close, yet so far away. Most times, I wanted to rush at you and shake sense into your head but I couldn't because I felt this strong restriction to let you be because you needed to learn something. I wanted to badly to hug you, and feed you, and watch you steal the plantain on top of my rice but Ngozi wasn't in communication with God!" Tope stopped to catch her breathe and sniffed back the tears welling up in her eyes. 

Ngozi couldn't resist hers. The tears were dropping but her countenance was expressionless. 

“I understand how God feels, at least a pinch of it, when those He loves refuses to communicate to Him. Just like the way you didn't know when I left the house; till you walk out on Him, you wouldn't know, because He's always there waiting for you. He doesn't walk out on you. He'd try speaking but your frequency is too low to catch it so you think God is not speaking with and to you. I left this house for three days and I know how deeply broken and hurt I felt when I got your messages and calls but the Holy Spirit asked me not to reply just yet. NG, I wept because I wanted to badly reach out to you but you were drawing away from your creator."

At this point, the tears gushed out but she didn't stop talking. Ngozi was crying loudly this time... She fell to her knees, crying.

Tope was standing over her, looking down, she continued. “You're not so busy. You just do not prioritize the things of God. If you want to pray and study the scriptures for 4 hours daily, depending on your other schedule, if you put your mind to it and you value your relationship with God, nothing will shift that time. In fact, you'd feel so bad if you cannot meet up on some days. God shouldn't be on speed dial only when we need Him. In plenty, in little, in lack, in opposition, in happiness, in good or bad health, your relationship with God should not waver. It's what you prioritize that you work towards. It's what you find important that you pay more attention to. Later, when God seems far away, He never left. It was you who put the barricade between you both. Prayer should be done everyday! Bible study should be done everyday! Whatever takes God's place in your life will become your god. Don't let it get to that stage before you retrace your steps today. Everyone is busy, but as busy as they are, they're not busy for all 24 hours in the day. Determine that you'd be consistent with God and you'd prioritize your relationship with Him."

“Lord, I'm sorry!!!" Ngozi cried. Tope cried as well, but she walked out. She understood Ngozi needed that alone time with God and she let her have it. Tope headed to her own room and fell on her knees asking for the grace and strength to stay in constant and consistent fellowship with God. 

Are you in a constant fellowship with God???

How's your daily Prayer and Bible Study life???

If God were to take you as serious as you took His fellowship with Him, would you be worthy of some gifts??? If God were to treat your business the way you treat His, would you be comfortable with it???