IN HER SHOES (A Christian Story)

YOU DIDN'T CHANGE, DID YOU?

Miraculously, within a week, Sultana had totally recovered from her sicknesses. All her sicknesses.

At school.....

"I'm so happy for you Sultana but now, I want to be like you even more." Joanne said jealously.

"You didn't change, did you?"Sultana said.

"You saved my life and the life of John. You frustrated the devil. You are ALIVE after all those sicknesses. After asthma, ulcer, measles, sickle cell anaemia, lung cancer and before the surgery, one of the doctors even suspected osteoporosis and...... "

"It's okay Joanne. Please can you stop reminding me of my past. I'm alright now and nothing changes that. You should be grateful to God to be who you are. You should stop wishing to be others."

"Argh! You're always the right one and you can't tell me what to do. You're just fourteen years old and I'll be sixteen very soon. You have to stop commanding me. I'm sick of taking advice from you. Just don't talk to me anymore." Joanne said angrily and she walked out of Sultana's classroom to her class.

She was angry. She normally stayed with Sultana until her next teacher would enter the classroom. This time, she went to her classroom to sulk.

Sultana was about to go to meet Joanne to apologize but her biology teacher had already entered her class. During the break time, Sultana went to Joanne's class. She entered the class to overhear Joanne gossiping about her. Sultana didn't feel hurt until she heard these statements from Joanne's mouth:

"Sultana's weakness is orange juice. I read it from her diary. I know many of her secrets now. There was a time when she was ten, her brother mistakenly gave her orange juice and she practically fainted. It was so funny when I read the diary. "

Sultana's diary (four years ago, when she was ten)

Date: 26th May 2019
Dear diary,
Help me! I need to learn how to deal with my weakness. Today, Joe gave me a bottle of orange juice by mistake and I drank it thinking it was pineapple juice or mango juice or maybe my orange coloured vitamin and calcium supplement dissolved in water. I drank it and when I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital. 😭☹️

Sultana walked back to her class with a heavy heart but it didn't last long. She was back to her normal cheerful self within minutes. After school, Joanne walked home with her new friend Amara. Sultana didn't mind that Joanne didn't walk with her like they had been doing since third grade. She walked with one of her classmates and his twin sister. The boy's name was Desmond while the girl's name was Destiny. They were identical in almost every area of their lives but they had a striking difference between them.

Destiny was quiet and calm while Desmond was a chatterbox and was really impatient. Sultana liked Desmond because he was brave and self-confident but disliked him a bit because he kept making fun of people in the bible. Unlike him, Destiny was shy and respectful and she never made fun of anyone whether dead or alive. She was the kind of friend you would have had but her quiet and calm attitude was kinda annoying. She would only nod in affirmation or shake her head if negative. You would get tired of talking to her and because of this, she didn't have many friends.

So, Sultana was telling them about how cool God is.

"God is so cool that when Moses asked him for his name, he just said: "I AM". When Moses was confused, he asked again and he got this answer: "I AM THAT I AM" He doesn't stress. When people started to give him names because of his wondrous works, he accepted the names like Jehovah Rapha the healer, Jehovah Jireh the provider and many others. He would just say: "Yes, you can call me that. I do heal and I provide too." He's so cool and merciful."Sultana said.

"Umm, Sultana, you are getting white."Desmond said looking at Sultana's face that suddenly went white.

"Yeah" Destiny said quietly.
"Oh, really?" Sultana said touching her face.

"Yeah. Really!"Destiny said.

Then, her face went back to it's normal colour before long leaving the twins to stare at her in awe.

She kept on walking but they all remained silent until she got to her house.

"Bye bye" Desmond said waving.
"Bye" Sultana said as waving to the twins as she got to her house. Joe opened the smaller gate for her and welcomed her.

"Hey."Sultana said.

"Hey, how was school today?"

"It was fine. Thanks."

"The doctor said you should come weekly for check ups. Sorry it came late but you're meant to have a check up right now. Dad will drive you there. Just change from your uniform to some casual clothes and wait for Dad and Mother to get back. There's bad news too."

"What is it?"

"Dad is having heart problems."

"No." I said sadly.

"And, you know that Mother can't drive."

"Please don't remind me Joe. I'm going to change my clothes." I said as I walked into my bathroom. I had a quick shower and dressed up. I wore a purple shirt, black jeans and some slippers. My fashion sense was low but I tried my best. I rushed to the living room to meet Joe.

"Mum called. They'll soon get here. Just relax."

"How do you expect me to relax? "

Then, I heard the automatic gate open and Dad drove in. Joe and I went to greet our parents.

Mum came down from the car and went inside while I entered the car and waved to Joe.

"Bye Joe" I said.

"Good bye son." Dad said.

Once we left the premises, I asked Dad about his health.

"I'm good."

"Are you sure Dad?"

"Yeah."

"God will heal you."

"Shut up."he said harshly.

"No. I can't."

"I'll park this car now."

"Yeah. I think you should."

He parked next to a supermarket. He came down from the car. I came down too.

"Talk to me Dad."

"Sultana shut your mouth."

"Dad please talk to me. Why are you.....?"

He gave me a hard slap.

"Dad, why are you doing this?"

"Get in the car."

I got in. The rest of the drive was silent.

At the Hospital

"Sultana, you may see the doctor now."

"Oh, okay. Dad will you come with me?"

"Okay."he said.

We went into the doctor's office.

"Sultana, how are you feeling now?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Just here for a check up."

..........