The Day I Had Nothing Left

Amina had been trying for 3 years.
Job applications, interviews, prayers at 2am. Nothing. Her savings finished. Rent was due. Her mom called from the village and said, “My daughter, are you eating?” and Amina said “Yes, mama” while staring at an empty pot.

That Friday she went to church tired. No makeup, no energy to sing. She just sat at the back.

Then the choir started:
_“If it had not been for your grace...
Ore ofe sha ni mo ri gba o...”_

She didn’t plan to cry. But when they got to _“Aanu sha ni mo ri gba o”_ something broke. All the “I’m fine” she’d been carrying fell.

After service, Mama Ibeji, the 70-year-old prayer aunty, touched her hand and said, “God has not forgotten you. Na grace dey keep you.”

On Monday, Amina got a call. A company she applied to 8 months ago. “We’re finally hiring. Can you start next week?”
It wasn’t her dream job. But it was rent. It was food. It was breath.

That night she knelt down and whispered the song herself:
_“If it had not been for your grace...
If it had not been for your mercy...
Aanu ni mo ri gba o.”_

Because sometimes grace doesn’t look like a miracle overnight.
Sometimes it looks like you making it to next week.