Winning is Inevitable

 

In my newly launched website, the first paragraph promises that the website will provide adequate encouragement and some inspiring words to boost hope. That is just what I hope to do in today’s blog.

We all have our ups and high joyful and happy moments, and because life's journey is characterized by its ups and downs, we also get to have our down times.  These downtimes come with varying degrees of intensity. Sometimes, they genuinely feel like the "valley of shadow of death" that David spoke about in Psalm 23:4. I have experienced this enough times in my life to know just what it feels like to be desperately in need of help, someone to talk to, or at least for that phase or situation to just go away.

Some of us have faith enough to pray and wait on God, but fear and doubt begin to set in when the wait seems endless. Sometimes, we second-guess ourselves, sometimes, we blame God, and sometimes, we blame ourselves and even allow others to guilt trip us. But in all these, the Lord still sits on His throne in heaven watching.

I was reading the book of Exodus some days ago and found something profound in Exodus 3:7-9. I will summarise it like this: God tells Moses that He had heard the cry of His people in Egypt and had come down to deliver them. At the time God came down for the deliverance of Israel, they didn’t even know it; they didn’t see it coming, nor did they understand it. As a matter of fact, if we continue reading, they grumbled and quarreled with Moses, saying that he brought more trouble to them. But in truth, what they called trouble was God working behind the scenes for them. He didn’t want to just bring them out of Egypt; He wanted them to be rewarded abundantly for all their labor in Egypt. He would make Eygpt so vulnerable that Israel could take valuables from them effortlessly and leave with abundant treasure in gold, silver, money, and clothing. They could not have left empty-handed just like that. So, more than Israel gaining their freedom, God would ensure they got duly paid for all the years of their labor in Egypt.

Israel didn’t see this; they only saw increased pain and added burden, and they grumbled, doubted God, and insulted His vessel – Moses. And this story feels so like us right now. The pain, the suffering, and the challenges all add up to give us reasons to fear and doubt. But I find hope in Romans 8:18, in which Paul says, “He considers that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.”  This was the situation of the children of Israel when they were in Egypt. They probably would have rejoiced instead of grumbling if they knew what was coming.

Some of our challenges may not bring the desired outcome in the short term. But in the long term, there is glory that awaits. I say this because I have been there before. Consider this illustration: You probably had been praying that your landlord would not send you packing. You trusted God and got people to wait on God with you; you prayed and exercised deep faith, but guess what? The landlord ended up sending you packing. It was a painful experience. You felt God failed on this one. He didn’t show up when you needed Him. He watched and did nothing when the landlord threatened and eventually evicted you. It was a gruesome experience that almost shattered your faith and trust in God. Then, 12 months down the line, 12 months of uncertainty, 12 months of shame and reproach, 12 months of having faith when there is nothing tangible to tie the faith to, 12 months down the line, you find yourself comfortable in your own home. Your property, where you never have to fear the horrors of a landlord – the pain, the horrors, the reproach, all gone. Something in you now thanks God that the landlord evicted you because you probably would not be in this better place if he didn't. This is why Paul would say that our sufferings of the present time are not worthy compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.

One assurance I have always had, which has never failed, is that God will always come through. He may not come through at my timing or in my presumed pattern, but He comes big when He wants to come and does so at the perfect time. After experiencing this repeatedly, I have understood one time: He surely comes through. My only prayer is: “What will you have me do while I wait.” The waiting time is the toughest of them all. Numerous temptations exist, and the battle is fierce during the waiting period. But if you have a grateful heart, never forgetting your past wins, you will resolve within yourself that if God won the war for you before, He would win the battle now, so you hinge your faith on that and trust Him.

I hope you have been encouraged today. In another two days, you can pop in again. There will be some encouragement waiting for you.

I am Back

 I am careful to say that I am resuming blogging again. And I must confess that I miss sharing my heart and views on my blog. I had a long break that could not be avoided. First, I needed to return to learning, and then my wifely duties and mothering assignments were overwhelming. But I think the pressure has eased off, so I am back.

This, my first post in a long time, will be a little gist about what went down while I was away. I finished schooling over 2 decades ago, but realizing how fast the world is evolving, I concluded that I couldn’t be left behind. Now, of all the knowledge that could interest a person my age, I picked an interest in web programming. I am sure quite a handful of you would want to believe I am weird. Well, it is what it is.

So, I have spent the last two years learning how to code. It’s been an exciting and scary journey, coupled with the fact that I am not under compulsion but out of personal interest and self-motivation. And just like that, I built thewordthatsuits.com from scratch all by myself. And to say that I am grateful for this opportunity and grace is, to put it mildly. So, the website now has a new face, and I hope you like what you see.

Writing about self-motivation and talking about pursuing one’s dream will be repeating what has been said over and over again. But there are times when you find yourself down and low; it’s often a time to understand that everyone is too busy for you except yourself. And the truth remains that there is always a way when there is a will, and I mean this in positive terms. We don’t always have to get involved in duty activities to get things done.  

Some routes may be slow – like it took me two years to get to the point of launching my website that is not a plug-and-play Wix or WordPress website, but I guess the more you need to prepare, the greater the outcome or end product.

I told myself I don’t want to write a preaching blog post, so I think I will stop here. My big message now is that I am back, and I am so proud, excited, elated, and every other word you can think of in classifying my emotions now – to be back.

For those familiar with my blog and who have been blessed by it in the past, I am glad to return to you. And for those who will start to read from me, I pray that the Lord will bless your life, your home, your marriages, and all your endeavors by the content of this blog.

 

Why Do We Worship God

Many people feel like they should only praise God when they have received a blessing from God. Honestly, I was in that category too, so I am not in any position to judge those who are still of that mindset. It is so easy to praise God when you have it all together. But how do you tell someone who cannot put food on the table, pay his/her bills, or has just lost a loved one to praise God? It’s a tough thing to do.

Sometimes you wonder why in 1 Thessalonian 5:18, Paul would say that in all things we should give thanks. Sometimes, it seems as if God is asking for a little too much. Does He not feel our pain? Does God not recognize grief? But I tell you one truth, God feels pain far more than any living being can ever imagine. He’s been betrayed, insulted, accused of wrongs, blamed for our own wrongdoing and mistakes, and still had to send His son to die for our sins, not minding our ungratefulness, and in all these things He still loves us. So, there must be a reason God will tell us to rejoice always and give thanks in all things.

We have read the story of the wall of Jericho falling flat just because God’s children praised, we have read of Jehoshaphat going to war with drums, and instruments of praise instead of spears and arrows and still was victorious. We have also read of Paul and Silas in prison with that famous earthquake all in the place of praise.

But what gives me goose-pimples is found in 2 Kings 3:14-18. I would not want to bore you with the details of the big story, but in summary, three kings who were in trouble consulted Elisha to know the mind of God on the predicament they had found themselves in. The first thing Elisha requested was a musician, and when the music was playing, the hand of the Lord was on him, and he became the mouthpiece of God.

The Bible tells us in Psalm 22:3 that God dwells in the praises of His children. Despite all the troubles you may have faced or are facing, the truth is still that God dwells in your praise because His word says so. If He dwells in your praise, you draw His attention with your praise. Just like God spoke through Elisha when the music was playing, He speaks to date when praises are raised to Him. Fresh ideas and divine directions are all embedded in the presence of God, and they are deposited to us when we draw into His presence with our praise and worship. No wonder Paul will say, in all things, give thanks. This is because all the answers to your many questions are engrained in the presence of God that you invite to yourself when you praise God.

Does God still speak to us when we praise Him? The answer is a big Yes. I shared my experience of three years ago in the last post I shared, and I still hear from God amid my praise and worship. You will hear Him too when you develop a life of worship. You will not just hear God; He will deal with that issue that is giving you sleepless nights because that too is a simple matter in the sight of God.  

My Journey Out of Despair

I woke to do my morning worship; it’s been more than three years since I shared a blog post. Sharing stuff on my blog was a big passion for me, it was something I did effortlessly with the help of the Holy Spirit, and I enjoyed every day and every opportunity to share something on my blog.

Then the battles began, things just were not looking good for me. I became unmotivated, and posting anything on the blog became a big struggle. My challenges stifled the motivation out of me. I needed to put the blog aside to tackle the many issues that were taking my attention away from my passion. Everything stopped and then everything began.

What do I mean by everything stopped and everything began? Well, I stopped all that I was doing, I almost gave up on God, and then I became very busy with things that didn’t matter, but that my environment and circumstances laid at my feet. I didn’t lose sight of God but something in me just stopped. I am struggling now with how to put my experience into words. However, one of the things that the challenge took away from me was my passion for writing my blogs.

But in the midst of it all, I found God in a very different manner. One tool the Lord used to get me out of the state of despair which some people call depression, but I wouldn’t want to call me depressed, was worship. So, while I was wallowing in self-pity and asking God why things were not going as I had hoped and prayed for, I came across a gospel music minister on YouTube while on my bed of sorrow. I listened to her sing, initially with a blank mind but just because I loved gospel music and my love for God was still intact.

And then something clicked, the song I was listening to with a blank mind grew into deep worship for me. I felt God close to me like I could feel His presence like I had never done. And I heard Him speak to me like I had never heard Him before. You probably would think He consoled me and told me everything would be fine. Well, that was not the case. He showed how ungrateful I was. He reminded me of my near misses in life and how undeserving I was of the grace I had enjoyed. And just because it didn’t feel like what I wanted I began to grumble. I allowed the devil to sell me a lie for the truth I should know.

I cried like I had never done before in my life. I was truly and honestly sorry. Remembering all my wrongdoings that God did not hold against me was very humbling for me. I prayed for forgiveness and then I told myself that that place of deep worship was where I would remain for the rest of my life. It’s been three years since I had that encounter with God, and I am most grateful to Him that He visited me that way.

It’s been three years of a newness in my walk with God that I cannot trade for anything else. God has been good to me. I have enjoyed God in a way that my heart keeps falling in love with Him every second of every minute of every day. My testimonies are many, His grace is huge in my life, and now I am the most grateful.

Those little blessings that I would normally take for granted now count for something in my life and daily I recognize them and thank God for them. The more I have learned to thank God for those little blessings, the more little blessings I have, to thank God for. Those little blessings have grown into huge testimonies for me.

I fell into depression back then because I didn’t have money. I just could not keep up. But guess what, I still don’t have money. But I have it all together. I am neither rich nor poor, but I am contented in my Father in heaven who takes care of those huge needs even before they show up. Now, I am built to trust God who has not for once failed my trust or disappointed my hope in Him. He tells me He loves me daily and He shows it.   

So back to my very first line, I woke early this morning to worship, I was listening to one of my many favorite gospel music, and I felt this huge urge to write a blog. Hmmm, I thought to wonder where this urge is coming from. But here I am writing. I pray this blesses someone and I believe God that this will be the beginning of a daily read from God through me like before in Jesus’ name.

The Advice You Need to Hear

In those days when I was having my issues in marriage, I had a close relative of my husband that I felt comfortable confiding in. I told her about my problems and sought her advice on my marital issues. She was my husband’s relative, and I had assumed that getting advice from her and implementing it should help resolve my woes in marriage. Interestingly, she told me all the things I wanted to hear. She told me how foolish I was to have tolerated so much nonsense from my husband. She spoke to me so convincingly that I was so sure I had been a fool for too long and needed to free myself from the slavery called marriage. She told me she could not tolerate half the things I was tolerating from my husband. She said she was the breadwinner of her family, and she had made it clear to her husband that she couldn’t be the one making the money for the family and at the same time be doing the house chores. So, since the husband could not provide money for the family, he should make himself useful by managing the home.

Her husband happened to be a homely man. He was very interested in his children's development, even helping them with their homework, giving them their medications when they were sick, and even folding their clothes once they were dried. Thus, it was easy to believe all the tales that my husband’s relative, who happens to be my confidant and adviser, told me.

As stupid as I was, whenever I visited this counselor of mine, and she fed me with all the trash that killed my marriage rather than build it, I would go back home to pick quarrels with my husband in a bid to liberate myself from the slavery of marriage. What I had learned was that I needed to claim my freedom and equality as it wouldn’t be given to me if I didn’t demand it.

Then one faithful evening, I visited my counselor, she was just returning from work and was in the kitchen making dinner for her family. The husband, who had also just returned from work, was relaxing in their bedroom. I joined my counselor in the kitchen as I watched on while she cooked. She was teaching me an easy way of making pounded yam. A thing I knew before but just feigned ignorance so as not to injure her ego. When she was done with the cooking, she called out to her husband to know whether to serve him his dinner on the dining table or if he would rather her take his food to him in the bedroom where he was resting.

At this I was shocked, this was a very big contradiction to all the bragging she had made to me. Rather than the husband cooking and serving her food, as she claimed, she was the one serving him food. So, she was doing things to preserve her marriage and was teaching me to destroy mine. The first awakening I got after that visit was that she didn’t come to me to advise me, I went to her, and after seeing that big difference between what she advised me to do and what she was practicing in her home, I realized how stupid I had been. And I made up my mind to stop going there for advice.

I am not the only one with this kind of experience, but I don’t know how many are wise enough to realize their mistakes before it's too late. Some wives have fallen prey to terrible marital advice from people who are even close to them. It's not strange to find mothers supporting their daughters to kill their marriages in the wake of troubles in the marriage. This advice coming from someone so close cannot be ignored or overlooked, yet it’s the very wrong advice to get.

When seeking and accepting advice on your marital issues and any other issue you might have, you need to be careful. It's not as good for people to advise you based on what you want to hear as much as it is perfect for people to tell you what you need to hear. The truth, they say, is very bitter, but in the long run, it leads to a glorious end. No matter how emotionally drained you may be, it is important that you seek advice and be ready and objective enough to hear and accept what you need to hear far above what you want to hear. And whatever advice you are given by whoever may be giving it that is in direct contrast from the truth of the Bible or does not sound morally right, then you can be sure you are being told what you want to hear far and above what you need to hear. What you need to hear might not be sweet to the ears, but it’s the painful truth that leads to a glorious end.

Getting advice on marriage issues from your parents or immediate family members sometimes (there are exceptions to this, though) does not help in getting the issues resolved, most especially in extreme cases of maybe abuse in marriage or serious disagreements between spouses. This is so because emotions are brought to play. Your mother loves you dearly and would not want to see you hurt or broken in any way, so her objectivity in the matter is eroded by the emotions she feels. When emotions are attached to advice, it diminishes the level of objectivity and bitter truth that should come from such advice. Again, I will insist that you cross-check all advice given to you as a means to help you surmount your marital challenge against the truth of the Bible. If there is a contradiction, don’t try to rationalize God; rather, obey the word of God blindly. Doing that, you can never go wrong.

I will say this, when you seek advice from anyone concerning your marriage and other personal issues, be alert enough to check the life of the one giving you the advice. Are they doing what they are asking you to do in their own lives? And if they are doing the same themselves, in what way has it benefited them? Are you seeing the results of their advice in their own lives such that you think it's worth copying the same and applying it in your own life?

After that one encounter, I made a detour and decided I would rather pray and read my Bible than seek advice from anyone over my challenges. I thank God I had the time and space to do that at that time. Today, I am happy I made the right choice. You should, too. 

I suppose you have gained some value from what you have read above. There is much more value stored in the books I wrote, and you can find out about my books by clicking here. The beautiful additive is that the books are available in Audio format, eBook, and Hardcopies. You get to read the entire first chapter for free. To make a purchase, you first need to create an account by signing up for one and have all your purchased books stored in your account with lifetime access if you are buying the eBook or Audiobook format. 

Things Happen When We Pray

I intend to make this post a short read as I just would love to share an experience I had a couple of weeks ago with you but I write as I am inspired by God, and so it might just extend a little if the Lord wants it so.

On Father’s Day of this year, I woke up in the morning and realized my husband was already out of bed. I walked to the sitting room to look for him and found him there. I attempted to give him a hug and greet him good morning and he playfully pushed me away saying I didn’t wish him happy Father’s Day and that the children also didn’t greet him happy Father’s Day even though the children were still in bed.

In all honesty I didn’t realize it was Father’s Day until he made the accusation. I felt really bad and tried to make amends but I wasn't making any headway. I wondered how I didn’t remember that it was Father’s Day and what I could do immediately to make up for the mistake. I scrambled my head to think of what I could do to make the morning a special one. If my husband had complained then it meant Father’s Day meant something to him and he wants it acknowledged.

I went into my closet to think hard but nothing came to mind. I couldn’t afford to buy him a gift because I was broke. But then I did what I normally would do in crisis mode and in fact all the time in my life. I quickly prayed. I ran to God for ideas on what I could do in the light that I couldn’t get a befitting gift and the need to redeem the situation and make my husband feel special so he doesn’t carry on the thought that we take him for granted in his home.

Guess what the Lord told me to do? He told me to write a special message with my husband’s pictures and put it on my WhatsApp status. In my wildest dream, I couldn’t have imagined doing that. I am too busy for social media, and I only see it as a tool for showcasing my business and most importantly reaching people with "The Marriage Blog Today".

Well I was quick to run to do what God had put in my mind and I wrote a heartfelt message for my husband put it as my WhatsApp status and put so many pictures of him on my status and even got our children to do the same. I made them pen a message as they felt it in their heart to their father and put on their WhatsApp status too for that day until WhatsApp itself disabled the status update.

Did this work? O yes, it did. My husband saw all our messages and that made him feel like a worthy father. And then I began to think, what if I didn’t pray. How on earth could I think that putting up a message for my husband on my WhatsApp status would actually improve my husband’s state of mind on Father’s Day? Every time I think of this, I can’t help but wonder about the awesomeness of God. He brings big things out of very little things. God helped me solve what could have turned out to be a big issue in my marriage using absolutely nothing. And please don't wonder too long on why I am saying a big issue. You just can't imagine the level of damage the devil is capable of doing with this simple issue if not handled properly. I didn’t have to spend the money that I didn’t have and yet I got the desired results.

I write this to encourage someone today, there is absolutely nothing too irrelevant to pray about. The tiny issues of our marriages which we ordinarily would look down on are the things the devil would try to hold onto to destabilize our homes and try to fulfill his evil agenda in our marriages. A little prayer at the right time is all that is needed. From the very big issues of your life to the very tiny ones, trust God with them. Don’t bother to try to figure it out yourself, just practice the act of hearing from God as you pray, He has the ideas to resolve those issues far more than you can imagine. God does the work and you get the accolades when you learn to pray and trust Him. 

The book "God's Rules of Engagement in Marriage" is a life-changing book authored by me in partnership with the Holy-Spirit. This book changed my marital life for the best. Though I wrote the book, in truth, I learned from it more. To share the goodies of this book with me you can buy a copy of the eBook for as little as N1600. To learn more about the book and how you can download the eBook, please click on this link

Give Her Wings and Let Her Fly

I facilitated a marriage seminar sometime back, and I was to speak alongside another male speaker so we could have a holistic view and presentation about marriage to our audience. It was at that seminar that I had a better understanding of the social anatomy of a man. From what the male speaker taught us, men are wired to be driven by achievements, and the narrative tagged “You have to be a man” erodes the emotional side of a man which is growing to become a great dysfunction in the male gender. This was what I learned from the seminar, and my big takeaway from that program and giving it a deep thought, it is looking to be more true than false.

If this is true, then the husbands who are driven by achievements, and have been well baptized into the “You have to be a man” narrative sees competition in everything including their relationships with their wives. So, for such men they will do everything to be a man in the home which includes submerging their wives under them. "They must achieve far more than their wives" will be their driving force and any sign of their wives achieving anything they perceive to be beyond their own achievement or at par with their own achievements will be resisted by them and even though they do not say it out, they think about it and attempt to distort such growth.

Some men who lack maturity have given reasons such as their wives becoming non-submissive to them when she becomes successful in life as a reason for preventing her from becoming successful in the first instance. But why die before death comes? Why not let her become successful first before making a judgment?

I agree that some women get uncontrollable in their marriages once they become successful but that is an issue that God can adequately take care of when you hand over the situation to Him. He is the giver of success anyway so what is beyond Him. He disciplines and chastises as He deems fit, He is God. As a husband, do you pray? And do you trust God to answer when you pray? Have you developed your listening ear to hear from God? If your answer to all these questions is Yes, then give your wives wings and let them fly and go the extra mile by being the wind beneath their wings.

Your wife’s success is your back up plan. It is your fall back option when things go wrong because she is God’s assigned helper for your life. In Genesis 2:18-30, we see that God created your wife for you as your suitable helper. Proverbs 18:22 shows us that “he who finds a wife finds what is good and obtains favor from God” and so your wife is the container carry God’s favor for your life. When the container of your favor is full, you are an all-round blessed man. Do not destroy your support base just because you lack understanding. Do not imbibe a destructive mentality and inhibit the growth of your support base because you think your base will be bigger than you. No matter how big your base is, it will forever remain your support base.

 

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