Twist of Faith

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It was a Sunday morning, one of those when the sun rose lazily and the air carried a strange mix of calm and restlessness. Genesis had woken up late, something she rarely did. Normally, she was in church before the first hymn, but that morning she almost convinced herself to stay home. Something in her heart kept whispering to her, “Go.”

She hurried through her routine, tying her scarf and putting on her shoes as though running to catch a moving train. But by the time she arrived, the service had already begun. The word was going on and the pastor was speaking about faith; not the kind that sits quietly in the heart, but the kind that pulls you forward when your legs are too weak to move.

Genesis listened with her whole heart, but distracted by her own worries. Her mother’s health was failing, and the bills at home seemed taller than the church tower. She kept asking herself how faith could fill an empty stomach or pay for medicine.

Then it happened...

The pastor paused in-between as though he saw something, his eyes scanning the congregation. “Someone here,” he said softly, “has been praying for an answer, and you’ve almost given up. But God hasn’t forgotten you. He is closer than you think.”

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The words struck Genesis like an arrow. Tears filled her eyes. She held her scarf, embarrassed at how exposed she suddenly felt. Could he mean me? she wondered, shaking her head. Still, she couldn’t ignore the thoughts in her chest.

After service, she stepped out into the sunlight, her heart heavy but lighter than before. That was when she noticed an old man struggling with a bag of oranges near the gate. Instinctively, Genesis went to help him. His face lit up with gratitude, and he insisted she take two oranges as thanks.

“No, Baba, keep them,” she said kindly.

But he pressed them into her hands. “Child, sometimes what you give comes back in a way you don’t expect.”

She smiled politely, not realizing the weight of his words.

That evening, while peeling one of the oranges in their small kitchen, Genesis’s younger brother rushed in, waving a paper. “Sister, come and see! I got the scholarship!” His joy was uncontainable, his eyes shining. It was the same scholarship they had prayed for months ago, the one that would cover not only his education but also provide a stipend to help the family.

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Genesis froze, orange juice dripping onto her fingers. Her mind replayed the pastor’s words, the old man’s voice, and her own doubts. She sank into a chair, laughter and tears mixing on her face.

Faith had not come in the way she imagined. It hadn’t filled her mother’s pill bottle or erased their debts overnight. But it had opened a door, one that would change their lives.

As the evening breeze blew through their little home, Genesis whispered to herself, “So this is what faith looks like, not just waiting, but trusting that every twist, even the painful ones, leads somewhere better.”

And in that moment, the ordinary became sacred, and her weary heart found peace in the twist of faith.