Everyone watched in awe as the wedding ceremony progressed without any hitch. Bible passages were read, and the young couple was advised on how to navigate a new phase of their lives. Soon it was time to exchange their vows.

Zara and Jeff stood before the officiant and repeated their vows after him. Jeff went first and said the words with a smile on his face as he gazed into Zara’s eyes. Then it was time for Zara to say the vows as well. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, the doors to the church swung open loudly, and two cops walked in. Their entrance was so loud that everyone’s attention was drawn to them at once, even the couple that was getting married.

One of them walked slowly down the aisle, his eyes on the altar as he studied them shrewdly. As he got closer, his eyes suddenly widened in shock as he saw something weird and ordered the officiant to cancel the wedding. He called Zara and told her to get off the altar, that she wasn’t getting married anymore. He then ordered Jeff to get off as well.

To everyone’s shock, though, Zara begged the cop not to interfere. She told him that she had to get married to Jeff no matter what. The cop felt a slight pain in his heart as he realized that the girl must have been brainwashed. He could see that Jeff had taken advantage of her and made her think that she loved him. He knew then that he had to stop the wedding at all costs. He refused to listen to her pleas and even tried to get her off the altar. He told her over and over that she would thank him later. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she fell to her knees and began to weep profusely.

Before all this, Jeff was by far one of the most loved members of the community, and it wasn’t just because he was a pastor. While he was one of the most devout Christians, everyone knew he was also a model of piety and humility. He was also philanthropic, and he loved doing things that he was sure would go a long way in making the people around him happy.

He helped build a school that served the community, and as if that wasn’t enough, he also subsidized the school fees so that more children could get access to quality education. He loved to help the needy and the poor. Many times he paid visits to the houses of the poorest people, bringing foodstuffs, clothes, and sometimes cash for those who were sick and had no money for their medical bills. He was always there to help them out.

For people in violent homes, he fought for them, making sure that the perpetrators faced the full wrath of the law. The things he did for people couldn’t be quantified, and what made it so beautiful was the fact that he seemed happy doing it. He didn’t do it because he wanted more members in the church or because he wanted people to like him.

He simply did it because helping others made him happy. When he was asked why he always went out of his way to be good to people, he said that he had come from a home where he and his family lacked almost everything. The basic amenities were a pipe dream, and they only coped with the little they could get. Jeff knew what it felt like to have nothing and to have no one who cared if he survived. He had sworn when he became a priest that he was going to use his platform to help people. He would use his position to make people happier. For him, the very act was its own reward.

Not long after, Zara and her mother, Sophie, arrived in the community. It was a small community, and everyone noticed when they came around. For a long time, they were the talk of the town. People talked about how Zara and Sophie mostly kept to themselves and would not hang out with anyone else. About a year later, Zara and her mother joined Jeff’s church. Zara, the proactive teenager, and Sophie, with her angelic voice, immediately became active in numerous activities. They associated with more people, yet no one knew much about them.

They rarely talked about themselves, and even when they were asked about where they came from, they subtly changed the subject. They were friendly with everyone; they had a smile and could hold conversations when they had to. They just never shared their secrets. Zara and Sophie had managed to build their lives in the community, and things were going great for them. Sadly, it all came to a screeching halt when Sophie fell seriously ill and was diagnosed with acute lung failure. It was so bad that she required a lung transplant as soon as possible. The hospital bills were expensive, and the treatments she was getting before the operation drained their purses down to the last penny.

Jeff swung into action and tried to do everything he could, but this time the bills were way too big for him to handle alone. He even rallied the community to raise money for Sophie. She needed a new set of lungs from a donor, which would cost a lot of money. Everyone in the community tried their best, but they could only raise a fraction, and it made no difference. Instead, it depleted every day with the frequent medications Sophie kept on receiving. Jeff didn’t relent, though. He went to other churches and asked his fellow pastors for help, but nothing worked. They were not able to raise enough money, and Sophie’s condition only got worse with each passing day.

Zara was at her wit’s end. She didn’t know what else to do. Her mother was slipping away right in front of her, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Despite it all, Jeff persevered, and everyone commended the way he was pursuing Sophie’s recovery as if she were his mother. They knew that he was only trying his best for a member of his flock, but it made them love him even more. And that was the reason everyone was shocked when he suddenly announced his plans to marry Zara. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

It was so out of the blue; no one had seen it coming in any way. The unsettling thing was that Sophie was still in the hospital and couldn’t even do a single thing about what was transpiring. Everyone felt sick and disgusted by Jeff’s actions. Zara was such a young girl, and it didn’t make sense that he would take advantage of her in such a way while her mother was fighting off death in the hospital. Jeff wasn’t forthcoming with explanations for his sudden decision, and the people tried to come up with theirs. The most common was the idea that she married him so that he could continue helping her take care of her mother. That was also the most plausible because, besides Zara, Jeff was the only person who had shown remarkable effort in raising funds. The people were shocked that their favorite pastor would stoop so low as to have his way with a teenager.

Many of them tried to talk him out of it, but he refused. He told them that he knew what he had to do, and it was to marry Zara. His stubbornness and refusal to see why it was a bad idea made things worse for him, and soon he began to lose followers. Many people stopped attending service, and they said they would only come back once he canceled the wedding.

He didn’t, and with every day, the wedding got closer. As it became clear that he was going ahead with marrying Zara, a concerned member decided that it was out of their hands and decided to involve the cops. They were sure that there was something shady going on that Jeff wasn’t telling them, and it could jeopardize Zara’s life. None of them wanted to do it; they all loved Jeff dearly, but they had accepted the fact that he possibly couldn’t be saved anymore. He had chosen his path, and he had to bear the consequences.

On Zara’s 18th birthday, the wedding happened, and it was going smoothly until the cop barged in. As he made his way down the aisle, he noticed that Zara was crying profusely on the altar. The tears were streaming down her face and ruining her makeup. He knew then that something was wrong, and he immediately tried to tear Zara away from Jeff’s side. When she fell to her knees and was crying profusely, the cop tried to pull her to himself while telling Jeff to stay away.

But to his shock, Zara wrenched her hand from his grip and ran back to Jeff. She linked her hands through his elbow and begged the officiant to marry them. The members of the church got involved now. They told Zara that she didn’t have to get married to Jeff. They promised to help her get enough money for Sophie’s transplant. They knew it was hard, but they swore to raise the money for her. She didn’t have to walk into a trap just because she wanted to save her mother. It wasn’t what Sophie would want at all.

Jeff stood at the altar watching everything in shock. He couldn’t believe that things had gotten to that point. He watched as Zara was struggling against the cop, who was still trying to pull her away. The people were getting increasingly agitated and looked like they could erupt at any slight provocation. He realized then that there was only one thing he could do. He decided to tell the truth. He called everyone to order and told them that he was going to tell them everything and allow them to judge for themselves. He told them that the idea of getting married wasn’t even his, but Zara’s. She was the one who needed to get married to him, not the other way around.

Zara’s father had been a highly misogynistic man. He believed that women couldn’t handle money and that they needed men in their lives to tell them what to do because they couldn’t make such decisions on their own. True to his belief, he kept Sophie out of so many of his dealings. She wasn’t a signatory to any of his bank accounts. She didn’t have her name on any of their assets. She was locked out of everything that had to do with his money, and he gave her monthly stipends that weren’t enough to do anything.

In his will, he left his assets and everything he owned to Zara because he believed that Sophie had no business having all that money. Sadly, he died later on. He was involved in an accident that required urgent surgery. However, Sophie couldn’t pay it off because she had no access to the money. She had to run around and raise the money, borrowing from friends, but it wasn’t enough. By the time the money was ready, he had kicked the bucket. While it was ironic that his very belief was the one thing that killed him, Sophie was still sad about it, especially because she knew that his death could have been avoided.

But then, something else was going to happen that would make her hate him forever. After his burial, the time came to read his will, and as expected, he had left everything to Zara. But there was a clause. Since she was his only child, he left it all to her, but he still believed that no woman could handle all that money, least of all a teenage girl. He was sure that she would squander it on pointless things, and to avoid that, he put in a clause that she could only access the inheritance when she got married to a man.

The money would then belong to her husband, who could then do with it as he saw fit. For Sophie and Zara, this was the highest form of betrayal, even though he had made sure that they got nothing at all from him. That was when they decided to leave him and everything about him behind. They wanted nothing to do with his inheritance anymore. Sophie promised to work her butt off to make a good life for Zara, and they would survive without her late husband’s money.

But sadly, fate took a twist neither of them could have expected. Sophie fell ill, and with her imminent need for a new set of lungs, something had to be done quickly. When Zara and Jeff tried all they could with nothing to show for it, Zara had no choice but to return to her inheritance. She knew that she had enough money to cover the hospital bills and still have enough left over, but the only way she could get it was by getting married. She couldn’t risk placing all that money in the hands of some random man, so she turned to the one man she trusted more than anyone else: Pastor Jeff. At first, he was hesitant to help her, but when he saw that it would fetch them all the money they needed for Sophie’s treatment, he immediately agreed. Her story touched him, and he swore he would do what was necessary.

Jeff then told the congregation that he was only getting married to her to help her out. They were not going to consummate the wedding, and it would only last until Sophie recovered fully. Then they would divorce immediately, and he would leave everything to them. They had announced the wedding beforehand so that it wouldn’t look so obvious that they were getting married simply because they wanted to lay their hands on the money. Even though that was their plan, Jeff wanted to make sure that he covered all bases so that it would not affect his getting the money later on.

The cop then asked them why Zara had been crying. It was her tears that had moved him to cancel the entire wedding. Zara said that she was emotional. Her wedding meant that her mother was going to finally get her treatment, and soon she would be well. It was an emotional period for her; she needed to get married. As the people heard the full story, they were immensely touched. They had always wanted to know Zara’s backstory.

Now that they did, all they could think about was how much she had been through and how horrible her life must have been under her father. They were impressed by Jeff. They were shocked that he was going to the point of getting married to her just so he could help her. Jeff apologized to them for keeping them in the dark and said that he only did it to protect Zara and Sophie’s privacy. But he had been forced to reveal it because things had been getting out of hand.

This time around, when they asked to be married, no one objected. Instead, the people concurred and urged the officiant to be quick about it. The moment they were joined in matrimony, they hurried out of the church and drove like maniacs to the lawyer’s office. Right there and then, he signed everything over to Jeff, who immediately handed it over to Zara. From the lawyer’s office, they drove to the hospital, and Zara paid all outstanding debts and also paid for the transplant. It was a hefty sum, but it didn’t even make a dent in the money she had gotten. Finally, Zara could breathe freely, knowing that her mother would get the surgery and also heal eventually.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success, and Sophie made a full recovery. True to his word, Jeff divorced Zara the very day Sophie was discharged from the hospital, and he made sure that she had total control of all the assets her father had left behind. Life became better for Zara and Sophie, and to show their appreciation, they swore to make hefty donations to every project Jeff would be working on from then on. He had gone all out to help them, and they would do the same for him. The people of the community loved him even more after all that. They talked about him everywhere they went, and those who had left returned and brought in even new members. They couldn’t stop talking about how selfless he was.

Pastor Jeff was a good man, and he promised that he would always do what he could to make sure that people around him were happy and fulfilled. What a beautiful story!