I went to Lagos for the dedication ceremony of my sister-in-law’s baby. After the ceremony, we all went to bed. At about 1 a.m. the following morning, my sister-in-law came into the room fidgeting and whispering if I had any police officer’s phone number. I told her that I did not have. However, I asked her to know what she needed it for and she informed me about that an armed robbery operation was going on in the neighbourhood. This explained her state of panic.

I calmly said to her, “Go and call your husband and your mother-in-law.” Quietly, they all crept into the room and we held hands to pray a prayer of agreement. As we prayed, the voices of the robbers grew louder and we knew they had come closer to our apartment. They had broken down wooden doors and destroyed the walls in houses that had security doors. It seemed as though nothing could stop them; they were fifteen in number.

When they got to the house next door, my brother-in-law gave up. He said, “Madam, there’s no point, please bring everything you have.” Turning to the rest of his family, he said, “Everybody, bring out any money you have.” As at that time, the only thing precious to me was my wedding ring, and I was not ready to give it away, so I threw it under the bed and his wife did the same. Well, I was still praying with the family, when my brother-in-law took his family out of the room to put together the all money they had at home in case the robbers came in. At this point, like David, I encouraged myself in the Lord.

Just then, I remembered a message that Pastor Nkechi preached before I travelled. She had said that God’s Word is as simple as He says it is and that if He said, “By His stripes you are healed,” that means by His stripes, you were healed. This gave me some boldness and I said “Lord, just as you saved Paul, and everybody that was with him in that ship, you will save this home because of my presence.” I also remembered what my husband had said to me on the day that I traveled. He had said that my presence would save lives. On remembering those words, I started speaking them. All of a sudden, we realized that we were no longer hearing the robbers’ voices. They had left. They did not enter our house!

Neighbours had their robbery stories to tell but our story was that of divine protection.

Praise God.