I am an unusual and unconventional man in the literary sense. I am weird, super weird. People find me queer and see me as mysterious, and as such people judge me for it. It saddens me when this happens, I never asked to be born this way, neither did I choose the family to be born into. This is my story and how God has spoilt me with excess love and Grace and blessings sometime it defies my ability to comprehemd. How can God, the creater of hundreds of billions of galaxies would care to know my name, care to be my friend, care to be my father and my every thing.

THE BEGINNING.

I was two or three years old ( yes I remember). I was sleeping on a mat on the floor in our family home in the village in Ibadan. I opened my eyes, and regretted open in instantly. There on the floor was the head of a human being moving around. I repeat. The head of a man moving around on th floor. My brain must havebeen to small to comprehend what I was seeing but I remember I felt raw fear. I closed my eyes and did not open it until the next morning.

I was just six. My interpretation of life and reality was that of always getting beaten up, laughed at, made jest off. I was born with a mild form of Tourette Syndrom. I noticed I was some sort of an entertainer. People came around when they feel like laughing, I made everyone laugh. I did not grow up with my mother, never knew what a mother meant growing up, grew up alone with my father. At the age of 9 I was still getting beaten up. You have to realise I did not feel sad or pain, this was my reality. This was how I interpreted reality, though I did wonder why others received less treatment. After getting beaten up outside when I go home I will be beaten up and laughed at by the house help employed to look after me. When my father comes back from work I'll get a routine round of slapping on "konking" on my small head.

But despite all this I was unusually brilliant. At Primary 4 I had already started reading news papers. I read my first novel at primary 5. The Guilty are Afraid by James Hardly Chase. But that didn't count for shit. The beaten got worse. School, home, church. .anywhere I go I either get mocked nd forced to tease, failure to do so would elicit a big slap or konk on my forehead, in pain I will open my mouth and start talking then the laughter will begin. I realise then I was a stammerer.

POVERTY.

I was 13 when my father lost his job, I was about to understand what raw poverty is. Feeding became tough, I looked emaciated and hideous. In school I gave my life to Christ genuinely, because I felt a connection somehow. The "high" you experience upon giving your life to Christ cannot be described with mere words. Born again ChristianChristians will understand what I mean. It's a feeling of utter blips, I felt light and always happy for the very first time in my life. As I gradually backsided into sin that euphoric feeling slowly ebbed away, the the beaten took on a new dimension. As a child I remember being taken to several native doctors where we are given black soap to bath with. The battle between good and evil began. Feeding became near impossible. Beans and garri was the stable food for 11 months until christmas where we feasted our selves to rice donated my neighbours. As it got worse we were forced to start gathering fire wood to cook downstairs in the full glare of people. Something's it got so bad we ate semi boiled rice and raw tin tomatoes because we could not get enough charcoal. We went into subsitent farming where we spend 11 hours every day toiling like we living in the days of Noah. Of the 5 schoo, days I went to school twice, the rest 11 hours of hard labour in conditions akin to North Korean gulags. Imagine going to farm with a matchet right in front of your school. We would steal vegetable in the bush, and okra, put it on my head and told to walk round Lagos barefoot looking for who to buy. I remember seeing a classmate, my feeble attempt to flee saw me lose balance and right there in the middle of the road in the full glare of classmates picking up the vegetables bare footed. I went to schoo. Wearing two legs of different bathroom slippers. My school uniform can best be described as rays. Dirty, smelly it was an embarrassment because we could not afford 5 Naira soap to wash. I remmeber always picking up boiled groundouts on the road and eating them. It was that bad. My school resumes 8 but I get up as early as 5 a am to run to school just to avoid people seeing me. My uniform was so dirty and torn the school principal had to personally give me a new set of uniform. The next day I worse it to school. The ovation and cheer and kindness people showed bought me to tears.

BENEVOLENCE

Growing up I was convinced I had mental problems. I was generous to a fault and didn't know how to stop. I never said no to any demand, notnbecausekf I was scare but because I genuinely felt very happy seeing the smile on people's faces when I help them. My new pair of shoes i gave it out to someone in need and resumed wearing bathroom slippers to school. I got beaten up by my father several times for being STUPID. The normal form of beating I get from my father is to have me strip naked, lie on the table and flung the Hell out of me with rubber pipes that have sharp serated edges. The agony of the pain is hard to desdribe in words. Here I was at 25 I still have never known love, happiness. The small high I got from being born again was taken away from me when I backslided.

SHAME AND EMBARASSMENT.

I looked so hideous and ugly that my family was quite frankly getting embarrassed. I have had people ask my brother when walking on the streets "is that your brother?" The reply?
" No o, how can this one be my brother" talk true n.a. , n.a. your brother " lai lai, no be my brother be this o"

On this day I was sick and tired of this suffering. I have bee sent out of school for my inability to pay N50 PTA fee.FIFTY NAIRA. Rather than face the shame and humiliation again I went to my room and cried all night long. I wished for death. Then VOILA !! It occured to me I could actually end this. Without further ado I picked up my school bag and ran away from home, vowing never to come back. I will rather die than be treated like a goat i said to my self. This was when I personally understood the term WALKING IN CIRCLES, I trekked 16 hours, unable to find my way back home, kept seeing the same landmarks...confused..by 12 midnight I was a lost soul, tried, hungry, weak, crying I collapsed.One gentleman (God bless me) saw me on the floor.. took pity on me and took me to his place to pass the night, I lied I got lost.....I'll leave this out now and focus of the theme on my story.

DISCOVERY

In my teens I made some discoveries that will forever change my life. For the first time I realise I had developed a mental illness due largely in part to my childhood. The trauma of all I went through as a child had bleeped up my brain. At the sight of my father I start trembling uncontrollably in absolute gear and terror. I can have a normal conversation with somebody....easy. When int he presence of my gather it can take me 15 minutes to utter the word " Good morning sir, shiu,d I bring your food?" I was a stammerer on steroids. At several occasions I've had my father call me to his room and ask me to commit suicide bevause I was an eyesore..I was bringing shame to the family. People cal me "born throway", n.a. human being be this. He said if I don't that someday He will do it himself so I can stop bringing shame to the family. My younger siblings spit on my face, beat me up (YES), make fun of me.......I've had people say between me and my brother's they had good prospect to make it in life, I am a hopeless case. Living was so hard my brain went numb to compensate or absorb the shock of my trauma......but then. GOD HAPPENED.

GOD.

Please keep an open mind. What I am about to say is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH. no super coating. On this day I was looking for one leg of my school shoes (my brothers do that to get at me and make me myserable), I searchedand searched for hours. .I mean HOURS, like 3 HOHRS. Exhausted and near tears I felt this indiscribable urge to get down on my knees and pray. So I got on my knees and in my naivety ask God to help me look for my school shoe if not I am DEAD. Told God my father will cut my head with a machete, which he had threatened to do o several occasions. So I prayed. Guys, as I opened my ears I nearly fell against he wooden edge kfmy bed with fright.

RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME WAS MY SCHOOL SHOES. I WAS ALONE, NO KIDDING, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME WAS MY SHOE. I didnt understand what was going on,.


Part 2. GODS INTERVENTION in my life and my road to a net worth of N115 million and N67 million in cash as of this writing.

The concluding part of my story and how you can learn from my experience. Coming up in the next two hours.

This is a personal anecdote. This is simply your mind making uncritical correlations between unrelated events.

This is as far from "100% proof" as you can possibly get. You have not given any repeatable, demonstrable proof of a god existing. You've just claimed miracles like every other deluded fundy out there.

There is not even "100% proof" that some of the elementary waveparticles, the building blocks of the universe, exist, even after decades and decades of complex theoretical mathematics and the construction of some of the largest machines on earth, like the Large Hadron Collider, which have been operated thousands of times by teams of thousands of scientists around the world in order to observe them.

How then is the existence of a purported abrahamic creator god who is supposedly the originator of all things "100% proven" because you... found your shoes in the morning!?!?

Lay off the weed bro.

What part of "Part 2" coming up shortly don't you understand?

intrepidJ:
What part of "Part 2" coming up shortly don't you understand?

What part of 'anecdotal evidence' don't you understand?

There is simply no evidence to suggest that a god exists. I can already predict your part 2 as having no basis in rational discourse. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Shoe!!

The kind of things God does for people. Meanwhile millions of kids are dying in abject poverty. You suffer almost all your childish life and the best God can use to prove himself to u is shoe.

booked, make I read first.

Booked

another booking, just in case

Nawa o, I thought it was something real. Change the heading abeg.

100% proof indeed

CyrusTheGreat:


What part of 'anecdotal evidence' don't you understand?

There is simply no evidence to suggest that a god exists. I can already predict your part 2 as having no basis in rational discourse. Feel free to prove me wrong.

wow... i didn't know you were an atheist

Shoe? Really? did i just read SHOE?...mehn...

Our God is ever faithful and mighty. I tap from your testimony, in Jesus Name, Amen!!!

Patience people! , Patience!!

op seems lik ur brain z painin u

Seriously?
God never gave you a blissful childhood by providing you with all the goodies that every kid wished for... He only 'magically' made your missing shoe reappear? Smh.

It never occurred to you that your mischievous siblings must have heard you muttering helpless words with your eyes closed and quietly returned your shoe which they hid?

God is Real

I'm here to read comments.

Reading

God is very Good

Another potential Pastorpreneur victim.

It seems ur heart is worrying ur brain and ur brain is worrying ur heart

intrepidJ:
What part of "Part 2" coming up shortly don't you understand?

bro, drop the PART TWO. I am loving the story and testimony you get. I have faith and I also tap into that testimony and blessings God has in His mercy granted you

is this story real?

Shoe?! The things I see on Nairaland.

God help me.