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The Song of my Youth

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I remembered the song clearly.  It is a three short-line song I used to sing as a little girl - in my extremely squeaky voice.  I used to hide in some quiet corner or place that I could find for myself in the crowded family house.  My mum heard and saw me singing in those days though.  Mums hey?  They don't miss anything.  Not mine anyway!  She still sings the song to me sometimes - to tease me... I remembered my loneliness then...  No.  Not loneliness.  I think I just liked to have my own little space for myself and my interesting and maybe weird plays.  Dreaming away with my imaginations running wild and chatting with myself.  In my own little wonderful world...  I loved it.  I miss it. Anyway, this is the song - in Yoruba (Nigerian) language.  I have no idea where I heard it from.  The song has stayed with me since. Ibukun o Onigbagbo To gbekele And my translation (not professional) of the song is; The Blessing (of God); On the Believer; On which they depend on

Hard times?

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The power of the mind is real!  A bit like programming your inner self.  Using your self-will does help when you are going through tough times.  It requires you to keep on focusing and fighting the forces that are working against you and your plans.  It is the determination to get going when the going gets tough.  Although, it is hard to keep up with the intense and energy-draining process, however, the effort does pay off in the end. It helps if you are a Christian who holds fast to his or her faith.  Getting your strength from God is a better way to deal with difficult situations.  God will surely not abandon His own and will be there for you in your time of need. How do you do this anyway? How do you let go and let God?  For me it is the following verses in the Bible that remind me of God's promises to take care of His own; Be still, and know that I am God...  Psalm 46:10. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enou

The Christmas Gift Saga

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2013 Christmas day was an eventful one for me for a couple of reasons...  Firstly, we didn't have the traditional turkey meal - much to the disappointment of my eight year old daughter.  We had a traditional Nigerian meal which she enjoyed so much and I hope I have been forgiven for breaking the tradition! The second reason and the real story here is about the little chaos over Christmas gifts with my neighbours. Here is the story... I had received a gift with a greeting card two days before Christmas and it had the names of the senders and the address of number 4.  The names made no sense to me because although, I am very friendly with my neighbours, I have no idea what their names are.  Anyway, the confusion really is because I wasn't sure if the card and gift came from the actual number 4 address of the street or the flat 4 in a block of flat on the same street. The Brain storm This leaves me trying to figure out who the culprit is???  Hmmm, the street number 4

Can't undo

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A few weeks ago, while trying to give myself a hair cut (don't like going to the Barber's - it's just not girly to say you are going there).  Anyway, I forgot to place the guide comb on the clipper and you can guess what happened next... The moment I felt the cold metal on my scalp, I knew I had made a really really stupid mistake. I looked at the little pile of my hair in the bath tub and felt like crying. I wished there was a way I could undo or fix it with some magic glue or something.  Anyway, to cut the long story short, I went to buy a wig and wore it for almost 4 weeks until my hair grew back. I hated the wig, it just wasn't me despite the 'you look nice Abi' comments I received from friends. I learnt a few lessons from that experience; one, when you make wrong moves, you have to be patient and endure the inconveniences or maybe pain that comes with them. They won't last - as the saying in the Bible goes "... and it came to pass...". S

Not Rocket science

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The Christian religion is no rocket science, not complicated...  If it was, ordinary people will not have access to God or the Bible - only the elites will understand and be saved.  It is simply a message of love - The God of the Universe came down to earth in human form to show us how to live, to love and be saved.  Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 1 : 20-25 - The Message 20 So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? 21 Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb - preaching, of all things! - to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation. 22 While Jews clamour for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, 23 we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle - and Greeks pass it off as absu

The Ungagging of God...

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The ungagging of God is the title of a seminar I attended at this year's Spring Harvest in Somerset.  It does sound very unusual but made some sense by the time I came out of the seminar venue.  We Christians sometimes don't know this but we tend to keep God safely locked up when we are out of church or not at home or when not with other Christians.  We often lock Him up safely in our hearts and miss opportunities to share Him with our non-Christian friends.  Or sometimes we just come on too strongly and argumentative when talking about our faith. God's presence is all around us and we need to be conscious of this and let Him guide us to speak from our hearts and not just because we want to speak.  Thank God for modern technologies! television, internet, the social networks etc. we just don't have face-to-face communication anymore, we can now communicate in so many ways! Paul quoted from the old testament in Romans 10:14-15 (The Message). 14 But how can p

My Faith and I...

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The Bible tells us that God raised Jesus to life (Matthew 28:5-7).  A  fundamental law of nature was reversed here because we all know that dead men don't come back to life? And if God created the universe, that means He created the laws that governs the universe.  Afterall the Bible also says that with God all things are possible - Matthew 19:26. But... how do we know this is true and not some sentimental myth started off by some religious sect. For me my belief is based on the following'  1. My life experiences... God's amazing and wonderful works in my life.  They give me this solid foundation on which my faith stands and can not be shaken. 2. Changed lives... those who saw the risen Christ - their lives were never the same again... 3. And countless people who through the generations have had personal encounters with Jesus and told their stories. God does not ask us to have blind faith in Him; He helps us overcome our doubts and reveals Himself t