Sometimes, life can turn around so beautifully for people who once thought everything was over.
I’ve had this story in my drafts for a while now…
When I first arrived in the UK, I was working with Indeed Flex. Indeed Flex is an app where International students pick their 20-hour shift from.. There were different kinds of jobs on there such as customer service, retail assistant, bartender, healthcare and so on…
During that period, I was mainly doing customer service and retail assistant jobs. I switched between both roles depending on the shifts available. One of the places I worked as a retail assistant was Tesco, and that was where I met Mr Peter.
Mr Peter should be in his late 40s. He came to the UK with his wife as a student. Every time we worked together, he was always complaining about life in the UK. After work, we usually walked to the bus station together, and we would stand there gist for a few minutes before our buses arrived.
That was when he started opening up to me so back in Nigeria, Mr Peter was a manager at a well-known company. He had built a duplex in Sangotedo and was living comfortably, life was really good for him. His wife should be in her early 30s, this man would complain every time. Sometimes he would even cry. He said he was tired of life here. They were living inside one tiny student accommodation and he couldn't even sleep properly. They sorted their bills with naira because he was limited to 20 hours..
Mind you, the wife was the dependent oh but hardly work cos she was too picky.. You could literally hear the frustration in his voice. He had tried several times to convince his wife that they should return to Nigeria, but she refused. According to him, he never officially resigned from his job before leaving Nigeria, so there was still a possibility they might take him back if he returned.
From my own side, I was also new in the country then barely two months in and life was not easy for me either. But somehow, going back never crossed my mind because before I came, I had already prepared my mind for any struggle. “I plaster here” mindset..
Anyways, I kept encouraging him anytime we saw, I just had that belief that things would work out for them and honestly, I was always looking forward to seeing him at work because our conversations became deeper with time.
After graduation, things started getting better financially for them. They moved into a bigger apartment, and he sounded happier. Meanwhile, back in Nigeria, they were TTC couple but the country made it more difficult cos of the stress.. For every Hallelujah Challenge, they would carry twins as a point of contact while praying . They tried everything possible medically but nothing happened and that became another battle entirely.
Then another problem came. Their visa was about to expire. They kept applying for sponsorship jobs opportunities tirelessly while also preparing themselves mentally in case they had to return to Nigeria.
Me: I’m good at encouraging ppl because I believe that God will never leave them stranded..
Imagine your visa expiring on Monday with no hope of COS insight but guess what? They got a job that comes with COS on Thursday..
3 weeks later, his wife found out she was pregnant after a checkup, and they were told they were expecting TWINS.
Not one baby but TWINS.
They welcomed their two beautiful bouncing babies last month.. I was one of the first set of ppl they usually share their good news with..
My joy knew no bounds when I heard the news, I became a godmother with zero akant ..
The same man who once stood with me at a bus stop, crying because life felt too heavy, now has an NHS job with 5 years' sponsorship, and God blessed them with twins, too.
Life can change so quickly.
Sometimes when people are in the middle of their struggles, it genuinely feels like the whole world is sitting on their shoulders but with patience, prayers, consistency, and refusing to give up… things eventually fall into place