Wednesday, December 31, 2008

My People...............

Today is the last day of 2008…………I know we have had so many ups and downs ….but God brought us through it all

I need you to know that my story of 2008 would not be complete without you, I appreciate you, and the time you spent reading my posts (funny, dry, interesting or just boring….)
I am posting this to say thank you to you all.

I am grateful…………
· To God who has kept us, blessed us with eyes to see this day and read this post
· To my friends, I know a lot of you read, some of you comment, some call me and encourage me. Thank you!
· To blogs Ville people, I get encouraging comments from you, and I have enjoyed reading a lot of your posts, learned a lot, and I have gotten lots of inspiration , I know some of you read and do not leave comments ( hope to hear from you soon)

And I pray the New Year would really bring for us new stories, new victories, new songs, new relationships, new status, new bank balances and new walk with God!
Bonne annee!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

My Christmas 'WORD'

I was thinking of my life (evaluating......just thinking...... generally about the passing year like a lot of people have been doing)……I guess I was overwhelmed.....a lot things are not working, some things have just been the same.......I needed change, a new song

And I got in to a mood of praying and spent some ‘little time’ with my father…. and this word was dropped to my spirit "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given" ( I was almost saying …God , out of all the directions I am looking for…………, a Christmas carol?)

Well…obediently, I reached for my bible and I looked up these verses in Isaiah 9…… and my!

It blew my mind……….

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (NIV)

The effect these verses had on me confirmed again the matchless power of the word!
It is timeless! because I (like a lot of people) have read these scripture verses many times in my life and it never ministered to me like this!

I've know these verses since I was a child…...OK, to be truthful I’ve known the carol since I was a child…’for unto us a child is born’….sure you remember that slow but nice carol, but the words had not made so much meaning to me like it did now…..

I know year in year out, millions of sermons have been preached at Christmas and other times on this Isaiah 9, but believe me, the description of the person of our savoiur Jesus Christ in the verses above just became really personal to me 4 days ago! ……

as I go into the Christmas season and beyond…the words in my spirit are……………

JESUS in my:-

My Wonderful Counselor! (Counsel is priceless, no greater blessing than knowing I have the counsel of the all-knowing, the wisest, and the omniscient one, who sees all and knows all)


My Mighty God! (what an ally I have in all my life endeavours! the “all mighty God, is ‘my own’ God, ….and I am reminded that in ALL things, He that is with/ in me is greater than He that is in the world)

My everlasting father! ( I know how it would feel right now, to be Obama’s daughter…….but the King of all Kings, the most influential personality in the world, the one that owns the cattle on a thousand hills…has lavished so much love on me to call me His daughter! ….I am the daughter of a King! You need to see me do the ‘royal dance)

My prince of peace! (And now…..I’m like God you are too much! He actually planned for my peace,( peace on every side, peace not like the world gives, peace the surpasses ALL understanding and I love the way ‘the Message version’ puts it, the ‘prince of wholeness’ and if there is anything my life needs now…its wholeness in spirit, body and soul! Jesus is the ‘prince of wholeness’


And I saw again in verse 7..…..’There will be NO END of the increase of his government and peace’.…

'The Message’ version says …….'no limits to the wholeness He brings’
'The amplified' version puts like this: 'His government and its peace will never end!

I am thankful to God today for this total package of a ‘whole life; salvation, counsel, peace and wholeness, things that all the money in this world WOULD NOT buy!……..
I pray this season make so much meaning to you too;

As many of us that need to be made whole in one or the other, may you receive wholeness

As many whose life is in turmoil, the prince of peace would grant peace to your inner man, peace is one thing I know a lot of people lack…….I pray God grants your heart that tranquility….peace that cannot be understood.....that surpasses all understanding no matter what's happening

And for those who feel ‘alone’ and isolated, may your heart receive the love of your father

And for the confused, the amazing and best counselor would meet you at your point of need!

…… and I wish you a very interesting and fun filled Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!


PS: You need to need see the translation for ‘The message’ version of the bible for Isaiah 9 :6-7

For a child has been born—for us!
the gift of a son—for us!

He'll take over the running of the world.
His names will be:
Amazing Counselor,
Strong God,Eternal Father,
Prince of Wholeness.His ruling authority will grow,
and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
He'll rule from the historic David throne
over that promised kingdom.He'll put that kingdom on a firm footing
and keep it goingWith fair dealing and right living


( I am still looking at other translations of these verses........)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

IN Between..............



It’s Christmas time! ……..guess you’d say yea we know that!
Everyone is agog about the Christmas season…….
One cannot pretend to be immune to all the magic around......
Not with the dramatic lightnings, Christmas trees & all the décor I see at night

I've been hearing comments like Christmas is in the air! I hear xmas carols, all the lined up programmes etc……..
People are asking me, what're you doing for xmas? What're you giving for Xmas?
As I write, I know many people I want to give xmas cards to, families I would love to bless with something, and some special people in my life I want to appreciate……….
but I am just not excited......, maybe not yet
While I have a lot to be thankful for,….right now I just feel indifferent, is something wrong with me?
I am particularly not excited, and I don’t want to pretend I am.
So?........ I'm working...............
I have deadlines at work all through till the New Year.

But this has triggered something that's been on my mind for sometime.
Do we always have to do what everybody else is doing?
Give cards, send hampers to people u really don’t care about? or distribute gifts to people who already have enough? must I have the new look, new weight, and be in the mood people believe goes with the season?

I’ve got my own ideas of what festive periods should be…Loads of fun!
For me its either you go all the way to have a fantastic holiday or you are not having one!
I hate with a passion a life of ‘in-between’! I always love to go all the way…………

When I say I like to go all the way, I don’t in any way imply or insinuate sex or anything illegitimate........
(I believe in divine restraints, I mean I want to have it all and enjoy all I can within the limits God permits)

I don’t like the ‘half bread is better than none’ lifestyle.
I prefer the ‘what’s worth doing at all is what doing well’
If I can have the stone, why not the whole rock?
If I can hum the line, why not sing the whole song?
If I can taste it, why not savour the pleasure of chewing?

Why just touch, if I can feel and possibly embrace?
Why just take a sip, if it’s possible to have a drink?
Why test the waters with just my feet when I can swim in it?
Why lead me on, on a journey, when you are not willing to go all the way with me?
I just don’t like to stay in between! I love to go all the way!
I always want to be there, whole! with my all! Its either I’m there or here, or no where at all!

If I say I want to work, I like to do a proper job!
If I say I want to pray, I like to do so with all my heart and concentrate!
If I say I want to spend time with you, I like it to be quality time.
If I say I want to play, I really want to without any inhibition, and have a lots of fun!
If I say I’m your friend, I want be your friend with all I am and all I’ve got, I want to let down my guards, be myself and be real with you!

I'm tired of people, who laugh with you, but you’re still not sure of thier real motives
I'm tired of friends that you really cannot see through their eyes,
I’m tired of giving, just because it’s convenient or to impress
I'm tired of paying compliments when you don’t really mean them,...'just to say something'
I’m tired of managing; pretending, hesitating, wondering…it’s not working for me!

I don’t want to just eat, or fill up my stomach; I want to enjoy the food!
I dont't want to say I love you or I like you just to make you feel good! or to get something from you, I want to say it like I mean it!
I dont want to just call you to fufil all righteousness, deceiving u, I want to enjoy talking to u.
I don’t want to buy that outfit, just to buy something, I should like it, it should trip me!
I don’t want to just give you a gift, when I don’t feel it’s fantastic and good for you.
I don’t want to manage people, and pretend they are important to me, when it’s a lie.
I don't want to dress that way, be that way just because of what people would say
I don’t want to go visit those people, just because 'we have to go' and pretend when I really dont enjoy thier company.
I don't want to do it, just because 'that's how its done' or 'we do it every year, every month'
I don’t want to go on a fast just because its end of the year, or its beginning of a new year! everyone is doing it, and it has always been like that……when I’m not convinced I have a pact with God that the fast is a part of.
Tradition! oh my God! It tires and piques me!

I want to have children and really enjoy being their mother!
I want to give and give from the depths of my heart!
I want to serve, and serve whole heartedly!
I want to love God, and love with all of my soul, my heart, my mind and my all.
I want to fashion my life, build my home, and choose my style the way I believe its best for me

God knows I get tired of just being there, and I'm tired of getting tired of just being there!
Mediocrity irks me! false intentions, pretence and all wears me out!

I'm really not impressed with the person I have become; I've learnt to pretend, to send half-hearted prayers up to God, to laugh with people through my teeth, to 'just work' and to just do so many things that I am not convinced of or I dont feel like doing.

I miss that innocent lass that believed all, loved all, and accepted all!
that laughed with all her heart, received all, trusted all! and expected only the best all the time!

Call me indisciplined, with out restraint, un realistic, deviant or crazy…….
I love to feel like the wind, I like to be free!
I want to express myself; swirl, jump, laugh, cry, shout and dance when I want to & feel like!
I want be all I can, do all I can, live all I can, chop all the life I can chop, and die –EMPTY!
Now, I know I’m saying a lot of things at the same time; I just needed to rant a bit…let out some of the many things inside me.
But after all my ranting…………………………………………………………
I guess life is give and take (people love that cliché a lot)
Sometimes we have to learn to endure, accept somethings we cannot change, pretend a little (I know its called diplomacy),

And all I wanted to say from the beginning of this post is that; from my heart, I really wish for you and my self a very, very, very, very blissfully memorable Christmas!!!!
Joyeux noel!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

AM I THANKFUL??


It’s exactly a year today……….............

That I returned from a short trip to find that I was ‘suddenly’ homeless; where I called my home some days ago was no more!

That my family now reside in a strange place called a guest house; that we no longer have ‘our’ own place, we have nothing to our name except the clothes on our backs!

That our house had been gutted by fire, a lot of fire fighting outfits in Lagos were there and all of them put together were unable to do anything to put the fire out.

I wept, I could hear everybody telling me to stop crying
I could see my siblings, tired and sore from many hours of weeping.
I looked at everybody....... and I knew there and then I was embarking on a journey.....to the world of uncertainty.
Oh my God! Am I dreaming?..... God! would I wake up and find out all this is not true?

I went to see the place………..
Our house…. now a heap of ruins, fire burnt like chops of firewood, desolate and empty!
It had become...all rubbles, the remains of a house that once was.

God knows how I liked to complain about that house, how old everything was, how I longed for a new place, my own space, my own territory, how I desired that we would stop living in ‘that’ house…….but not like this!

My pictures! My documents! My letters! My hard drive! My books! My love keeps! My CDs! My gifts, my favourite shirt, my sentimentals, my souvenirs, my write—ups, my awards, our clothes, our furniture, our ornaments, our certificates, her money, our investments, her business, his money, our this, my that……..all gone! Just like that?
All ‘my’ memories of my past; all gone up in flames!
I felt my history deleted, all the evidences that I existed erased!

And twas Christmas day…in church, I was supposed to be celebrating my saviours birth,
but my eyes…..my eyes could not stop the tears, I could not stop crying……

How did we suddenly become homeless? How did a home, a drama theater, a haven all of a sudden become a deserted land? How did the herd become scattered without a shepherd?
I had become a vagabond, a fox with no permanent place to lay my head
(forgive me to borrow for my self our Lord Jesus Christ’s description of himself)

I miss that home, I miss the laughter, I miss the gossips, I miss all the fights, the arguments, I miss my freedom, I miss ‘my comfort zone’ I miss my favorite little ‘travelling bag’ that contained all my ‘life important stuffs’, I miss the sanity, I miss the chaos, I miss the feeling of security that house gave me.

Its been a year …… (and I sigh),
I have learnt humility; to depend on people, to receive from others.
I have learnt endurance, I have learnt time heals.......
I have learnt not to be attached to anything.
I have learnt more of the content of the character of most of my friends.
I have learnt more about my own strengths, my weaknesses and my character.
I have known providence, I have learnt to abound and to abase.
I have seen love, care, deceit, lip service and in-sensitivity.
I have also found grace, and mercy, and I can’t keep it all to myself.
I have learnt that I should be THANKFUL!!!

And like the Americans……………its thanksgiving!
(I like the fact that I am posting this around the thanksgiving season)
They know how to (even if it is temporarily) forget all their problems and sorrows and be thankful!!!!
The bible says in ALL THINGS! We should give thanks!
I would not give the devil opportunity to rob me of a thankful heart!

I AM ALIVE!
I am thankful for life, I have lost dear people this year (they are no longer concerned about having a house to live in),
I am thankful for all my friends (not every one has the blessing of having good people stand by them through tough times),
I am thankful for all the progress I have made this year,
I am thankful I have a job,
I am thankful for my health,
I am thankful that you are reading this, you are alive and you’ve got eyes to read this post,
I am thankful for all the things around me that make me smile and laugh,
I am thankful for the smiles I see on the faces of my family members, we've been through a lot…but we can still smile, we can laugh, we still have joy and we can dance! We are survivors!
I am thankful for the hope of eternity, (some people are dead and in hell),
I am thankful, and I want to keep thanking……………

And can I ask? ………..are you learning to be thankful?
I know the year’s rounding up; we still have wishes and dreams yet to come to pass, but
Can I ask you to make a list of the things you are thankful for this year?

Like I read recently, we should learn to give God a sacrifice of praise, sometimes it’s a sacrifice, and it does not always have to be convenient.
I want to scream over the mountains! Tell of God’s faithfulness to me, despite me!
I have been unfaithful, I keep messing up, but He keeps dealing with me in mercy EVERYDAY!
I am tapping my feet, ready to dance, If not for anything, the holy scripture says, let everything that has breath praise! And thank!

Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet; praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing; praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

Psalm 124
1 “ If it had not been the Lord who was on our side……… Let ‘me’ now say!

Psalm 30
1 I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. .
11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Habakuk 3
17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.

I could go on, Psalm 149, Psalm 118……….on and on, I came across some interesting quotes too!

Cicero:
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld:
Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors

H. U. Westermayer:
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

Meister Eckhart:
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.