The Book Pain is always regarded as an enemy but it can sometimes be God's instrument for growth as the two stories in this book reveal. * * * Story One Emmanuel has reached the end of his rope. The point where faith in any and everything ends. It's his life but how well does he know it? When I returned home that evening, I watched my mother closely for the aftermath of the afternoon's drama of seeing my insane father but she said nothing. In fact, it was as if nothing had happened. But then, I woke up at about midnight to a sound I had not heard in years. Thinking she was afforded a level of privacy in darkness, my mother was crying as if her heart was breaking! Story Two Born and raised in a Nigerian brothel, Tonye would do anything to escape poverty. This is the story of a woman with a roller coaster life that never strayed far from the guiding hands of the ONE who knows the way. The nine angry girls fell on me like a pack of wild animals. Kicking, scratching, clawing, and biting, they tore my clothes to shreds. I stumbled towards the door and miraculously found myself outside. Half naked, I ran like a thief along the streets of Lagos and they chased me. Fear gave my feet wings and I sprinted on. When I noticed a partially open gateway, I turned my flying feet toward it.