FROM THE MORTUARY TO MERCY: A TESTIMONY OF GRACE

By Dr jarlat Uche opara

The above is my testimony, my story and the unfathomable mercy of God, shown to me in the mortuary years ago.

My life was darkened with a lot of obscene acts. I lived it with my full chest, flaunted it and made a pride of talk of it to anyone that cared to listen.

A troupy it was and was ready to show how rascally I could be, the tale of one night without a woman to sleep with, living in youthful exuberance with the tickles and illusion of human pleasure.

I smoked, drank all manner of exotic wines. Champagne, as expensive as it was, was my regular, the last thing to take at dusk and the first thing at dawn.

I felt I had the world rotating around my finger, a golfer with men that mattered in the society at a time.

At my instance anything was provided, at my beck and call, ladies in their shapes and sizes truckled before me. The boy was “Odogwu” with doings. For me at that time, the definition of life was just that—- drink, smoke, get down with ladies and engage in all manner of frivolous lifestyle, even when my wife and children groaned in pains, shame and embrassment, the obsession had a rein hold on me and couldn’t allow me see with sympathy and empathy their gory experiences. Looking back, it was a moment I wouldn’t wish my enemies.

It took the death of my friend for God to save me from the shadow of eternal death of hell.

Nothing could have stopped my addiction, my life of debauchery, the orgies of immorality. It took his death for me to come back to my senses like the prodigal son.

That day, the mortuary became a sanctuary of my derailed soul.
A moment of loss became a moment of eternal gain.

In that mortuary, God did not speak to me through a sermon.
He spoke through silence.
He spoke through the question every soul must answer: “What if this were me?” laying on the floor of the mortuary was his body. The accident was fatal, none survived it but one. It could have been me.

That moment stripped away pleasure, excuses, and delay. Eternity stepped forward and demanded a response from me.

I didnt say yes out of fear.
Fear faded. It wasn’t an emotional thing. Emotion faded. It was an encounter that transformed my mind.

“ I was dead in trespasses and sins… but God, who is rich in mercy, made me alive together with Christ.”(Ephesians 2:1,4–5)

I saw myself in my friend’ lifeless body. When God beckoned , I had no strength anymore to say no. In an instant the bubbling desires of life burst, the irresistible orgies that made me slave to sin disappeared. Tears rolled down my cheeks, my mouth stuttered, my hands shook, my eyes red, strength left me, I couldn’t cry, groaning and sobering, all I could do.

It was a life full of void and ephemerals I was living. The dirty life I once flaunted became repulsive. My past stank with horrible smell, it oozed but the fragrance from the life of Christ made me whole.

This is my story, my journey and how God saved me. Since then never looked back and the grace of God has been sufficient.

God is still in the bussiness of saving souls worse than mine. My situation seemed irredeemable, the hold of sin on my life very irresistible, the orgies of wine and sex very overwhelming, but Christ beckoned, I heeded and I have nothing to regret.

This is the story of a friend, a brother and a father. It could be someone’s testimony, a light that would by God’s grace dispell darkness from someone’s life.

Nothing endures. Only a life in Christ endures, everything else is a shadow.

Jarlathuche@gmail.com