Introduction
Told through the eyes of her son, Roy Okonkwo, "Mercy's Favor" is the story of a poor widow who was falsely accused. Her late husband's relatives fraudulently sold her house without her consent or knowledge. She fought the court case with no money, a house full of children, and only God to defend her. But God was the only defense attorney she needed. For 12 years the battle dragged on, but eventually God granted victory in Mercy's favor.Roy's true story is one of many uniquely featured testimonies from you, the members and visitors of this site. Each story reveals a life transformed by Christian faith. If your relationship with God has made a significant difference in your life, we would like to hear about it. Submit your testimony by filling out this Submission Form. To receive weekly messages of hope and encouragement from real-life stories of changed lives, sign up for eTestimonies.
Mercy's Favor - A Poor Widow's Experience
Be encouraged by this very short form of a long true story. It will help you appreciate how God goes all out to fight on behalf of his children.
Here in Africa, precisely in Nigeria, there was a poor widow whose husband left a house for her and her children. After the man's death, his brothers and some other male relatives fraudulently sold the house to a man who came from a neighboring country called Cameroon. The man was a Nigerian, but lived in Cameroon. This incident happened just after Nigeria’s civil war in 1970.
The widow was still living in her late husband’s house when her husband’s relations illegally and dishonestly sold it to the man without her consent or knowledge. The new “landlord” asked her to leave the house. But she refused, saying that the house belonged to her late husband, and she would stay there to look after her kids.
At The Legal Courts
Well, the matter became a court case. The man from Cameroon took the widow to court.The evil and dishonest relatives (there were some who were good and truthful, though) of the widow's husband, were witnesses in favor of the Cameroon man. Why? Because they sold the property to him and had collected his money and spent it.
The Cameroon man bribed virtually everyone, including the son of the man that originally sold the land to the widow's late husband.
The widow was very poor. As the case dragged on in the court, she could no longer afford the cost of legal services.
Where is Your Lawyer?
During one of the hearings, the presiding judge asked her, "Madam, where is your lawyer? Who is defending you against all these accusations?"
She said that she had no lawyer, and that Jesus Christ would stand for her. He would defend her and give her victory over those who wanted to rob her of what her late husband left for her and her children.
Jesus stood for the widow and actually defended her.
In Matthew 10:19 and 20, Jesus said to his disciples when they were arrested and brought before the authorities, that they shouldn't worry about what to say or how to say it, because, at that very time, God would give them what to say. They wouldn't be speaking, but the Holy Spirit would be the one speaking through them.
The widow narrated to the court about the history of the house. She told the court how her husband purchased the land and who he purchased it from. She spoke about how her husband and she had built the house, and how they moved into it in 1953 with their children.
She told the court that her husband’s brothers couldn't even afford to look after themselves. It was her husband who cared for their welfare, put their children in schools, and paid their school fees. She spoke many other things which space won’t allow me to state here.
The case dragged on. It lasted for about 12 years. It went from magistrate to high court levels.
