Grateful for An Amazing October 2018

It has been a very longed time since I blogged in this space. I will do another blog post to cover that soon. Here is my offering for this month.

I am beyond thankful

I am grateful

My gratitude is overflowing in praise

Like a fountain jetting heavenwards

October 2018 has been amazing with memory-making moments

beyond my wildest imaginations.

A month of growing deeper roots

A month of intimate communion and fellowship

A month of an increasing revelation of the knowledge of God’s will

That has been my greatest desire for the month;

the recompense and restoration my soul desperately longed for.

October 2017 was memorable,

but not in the way I could have ever imagined

I watched dreams consumed in fire

Expectations laid in cinders of hurts and disappointment

I writhed in the pain of false accusations and vilification

I groaned in voiceless cry

Many nights, my tears flowed unstoppable

Though I knew they were stored up in a bottle before God

and recorded in His Book of remembrance,

I didn’t want them, not in October, not ever.

What was my crime?

What was my offence that I should be cut down and shredded in tiny pieces?

My heart longed for an answer as the pain I never knew possible

seared like a hot blade through deep places within me.

That was when I knew without any doubt that hurting people hurt others.

You run a risk of getting hurt when you hug a porcupine.

The sharp edges of their jagged broken pieces can inflict untold pain.

I had two option;

Heal, Arise and Shine

or Let offense fester and become bitter.

I couldn’t afford to trade my years in God’s sacred school of brokenness

for the emptiness of self-vindication.

To let offense fester and become bitter was too costly to be an option

I chose to heal, to arise and to shine.

As months went by

I watched God’s gold of grace infused into the lines of my brokenness

until it shone with brilliance.

I learnt that God could make beautiful things from my broken pieces.

He did so in a painstaking way;

the healing was slow but determined and definite.

He lifted my head like the horn of the unicorn

He turned towards me and smiled at me

He filled me with joy beyond description

He gave me mighty deliverance and victory

in places I never imagined

When October 2018 showed up in the horizon

I had only one desire;

To experience God in a brand new and refreshing way

unmarred with pain or tears.

I wanted to be free to share the testimony of His faithfulness

I desired to speak of His amazing goodness to me unhindered.

He opened doors for me to do that.

I can testify that God’s finger reached down to deep places

only He could reach

His touch like soldering gun joined together my broken pieces.

His beauty shone through the lines of my healed brokenness

His fingers scripted a new chapter in His story of my life

New Psalms flowed out of my caves of solitude

You can never vindicate yourself

Don’t bother to try

The only One who is perfect and just in all His ways

is the only One who vindicates

He fights the battle for us in the places where we have no strength

He is the advocate who defends the helpless and the hurting

I have experienced the goodness of God in the last 12 months,

in ways I could never have imagined or foreseen.

I found diamond along the shores beaten by fierce storms

I saw hope glittering with unfading light in a dark tunnel

I heard God’s favor speaking for me where I had no voice

I experienced His mighty arm stretched out to carry me above mountains

Crushed, hard pressed and squeezed,

I am oozing with fragrant oil of hope and grace.

I will embrace the great fights for they produce great faith

I will embrace the great tests for they are the precursors of great testimonies

I will not run from great trials for with them comes great triumphs.

I am full of testimonies

I am full of gratitude

My heart overflows with adoration

My praise is gushing like a fountain

from a heart that has experienced

the healing and restoration only God can accomplish.

I will give thanks to God

for His goodness and wonderful works to me,

His precious daughter.

Thank You, Lord, for an amazing month.

I am Grace In Motion

I am Hope personified

I am a Living Proof of promised made and promise fulfilled

I am the object of His undying and faithful love.

I am sure you have also experienced the goodness of God in one sphere of your life or the other. Share with us in the comment and let us rejoice with you.

And if you are still waiting for God in a specific area of your life, stay the course of faith. Don't give up on God. Don't give up on hope. God is able to do for you just what He says He would do, in His own time and in His way.

A Compelling Purpose.

"The compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into oneness with that purpose."- Oswald Chambers.

There is an irrefutable, well-reasoned, overwhelming plausible, powerful, potent and irresistible purpose of God behind every event of our lives. There are no chance events in the life of a Believer. Whatever God permits or allows in our lives has a compelling purpose. God’s words and actions are never purposeless.

"The things that happen do not happen by chance—they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes.

God’s will, purpose and plan for His children, does not exclude pain and suffering, even for those He love so much. Jesus is His Beloved Son in Whom He was well pleased. But part of His pleasure is ensuring that His eternal purpose is fulfilled, and that included allowing His Beloved Son to be crushed, beaten and humiliated. It was so that the Kingdom agenda may prosper through Jesus’ pain, suffering and death. How else would you and I have been adopted into God’s family? How else would we have experienced salvation and deliverance? How else would we have had the hope of eternal life with Him in His glory?

 The compelling purpose of God behind Jesus’ suffering was so that the price for sin is paid in full by being the final sacrifice for sin. Because Jesus submitted to God’s sovereign will and purpose, He provided for every human access into the very presence of God. This is the reason you and I have a hope in glory.

Therefore, a Christian is someone who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God to accomplish His compelling purpose for his life in every situation, and not in his abilities. Even when he does not understand it or grasp the significance of the situation or the purpose for it. Christians are those who know that God directs their footsteps and delights in every detail of their life no matter what season of life they may be in or how dark that season may be.

“Each day is held in the hands of a caring Father. Every moment, it is kept by a loving God.” – Roy Lessin

The tagline on my email and my favourite quote is “Kept by the Hands of God, day by day, come what may.” This is informed by the knowledge that my life is kept in the hands of God. It is an assurance that if God holds my life in His hands, nothing can happen to me without His prior knowledge. If God does allow an event in my life, it is for a well-reasoned and overwhelming plausible reason and to fulfil a purpose in His Kingdom agenda.

It, therefore, behoves us as Christians to find purpose in our pain, afflictions and adversity. When we do, we will see blessings in areas where humanly speaking we should be bitter. Being fully persuaded that in all things God is working for our good. Every act of God is suffused with grace.

There are no exceptions to the ALL things. When God says ALL things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His good purpose, He certainly means ALL things. This is applicable to everyone who loves God and to everyone who is called according to His good purpose.

I love God, with all my heart. I know God has called me for His purpose. I know my calling is to fulfil God's Kingdom agenda. So I can go to the bank on the validity of this promise knowing that God Whose word and promises are infallible is faithful to do just as He has promised.

Therefore, there is a compelling good purpose of God behind my twenty years of living with a chronic respiratory disease and a debilitating neuro-muscular disease. There's a powerful and potent purpose of God behind the amputation of my legs and every other challenging situation I have had to go through.

My pains and afflictions are not purposeless. Now, I see only in part. I am yet to grasp the full significance of all of the events of my life. But, I can definitely testify that God is not only working it together for my good, He is also using the story He is writing of my life to touch lives for good.

You see, my dear friends, God’s thoughts and ways are supremely higher than our thoughts and ways. His thoughts are composed of His eternal purpose, which we cannot fully comprehend on this side of the divide. That is why we cannot presume to know all that God is doing in us in our diverse seasons. Faith compels us to trust in His omniscience, knowing that He has complete and unlimited knowledge and awareness of all things

Many times we want to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. But we need to understand that it is God who engineers our circumstances. Since Jesus’ life dwells in us, every attack on us by the enemy is an attack on the life of Jesus in us. That’s what the devil seek to do. Jesus Christ’s honour is at stake in our bodily lives. Therefore, we need to remain faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us.

The compelling purpose of God determines that we walk in a certain path God in His infinite wisdom has assigned to us. Sometimes that path may pass through Gethsemane. In there, grace compels us to, in absolute submission to God like Jesus say, "Not my will but thy will be done." The path may take us through fierce storms where the billows rage and the waves unfurl its fury at us. There also, grace compels us to look to Jesus, sleeping peacefully in the midst of the storm and find peace resting in Him. The path may take us through the fiery furnace of trials and affliction. Grace compels to look to Jesus, Who is our Companion in the troubled and challenging times, and assures us He will never abandon us or leave us alone.

In every season, each of us is in a unique time in life, in a unique place with unique talents and gifts to play our assigned part in God’s story. I believe that God has put me in a unique position in life to fulfil my unique role in God’s story. This unique role will require me to be shaped and fitted for the role. The storms, afflictions, pains and trials I pass through prepare me for that unique role in God’s eternal purpose. This is the compelling purpose for my life at every moment and season of my life.

God has a unique place for you in His story and as part of His eternal purpose. This is the compelling reason for every season of your life. When you submit to His will in each season, soon you will see how the seasons align to lead you to fulfilling your God-ordained destiny. Be assured that the grace of God is available to sustain you through the seasons of your life. Don’t give up in the season even when you don’t understand what it is all about. Rest and trust in God’s omniscience.

Feet Of Grace 2015 Charity Walk_Hit The Street For Their Feet:

Over the past three weeks, I have had to spend many days and several hours with my prosthetist. My prosthesis, the Feet of Grace, made just last year had become very tight and painful to walk in. I have gained back some of the 30kg I lost during the last 10years of my affliction. This experience was a shocking reminder of the situation of amputees in developing countries who have no access to prosthetists and for whom the cost of prosthetic limbs is prohibitive.

The prosthetists, our partners in Nigeria, the Irede Foundation is working with, are located in Enugu. This means that the amputees have to travel to Enugu twice. First time to have the measurements and moulding of stumps done. The prosthetic limbs are then fabricated and customized to fit the amputee. The second time is for fitting and learning how to walk with their new limbs, which requires a two-week stay in a city where they don’t know anybody. Caring for the amputee and one family member who is required to travel with them is included in the cost.

It was at this time; it dawned on me again how blessed I am. The cost of changing just the cup of my Feet of Grace is more that the cost of providing prosthetic limbs to two amputees. I live in Geneva, one of the most expensive cities in the world. God has my back, and He has been taking care of how my Feet of Grace is paid for. Secondly, it takes me 30-40 minutes to get to my prosthetist. I am blessed with a loving husband and great friends who take me for these often very long visits and stay with me without complaining. Lastly, I have a physiotherapist working with me on a weekly basis, helping me to become accustomed to walking with my Feet of Grace on all terrains, climbing slopes and staircases. That’s why I can contemplate a 5k Charity Walk in less than two years after amputation.

Chidi and Olivet do not have such privileges or opportunities. Without your support, they cannot regain their autonomy. But you and I have been positioned at this unique time to help these amputees to fulfil their unique roles in God’s story. Indeed, we have been blessed to bless. They are counting on our support.

Happy Easter from my family to yours. May the resurrection power be at work in your life through this season and beyond.

We Call, He Answers, And He Reveals

“Call unto Me, I will answer, and show you great and hidden things that you do not know.” (ESV).

“...I’ll tell you marvellous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.” (MSG). – Jeremiah 33:3.

It has been several weeks since I planned to write this blog post but I did not get a release in my heart to do so. It was held back. And I did not have any inclination to write on another topic over the last couple of weeks. The Lord illuminated some truths in my heart on Wednesday morning, which gave me the impetus and much needed release to write this post.

I will share with you in this post my understanding of the scripture quoted above from Jeremiah 33:3 and how I have applied it to some seemly knotty and intractable issues in my life and in the lives of several persons in my sphere of influence who I have been standing in the gap for. I will also share some of the truths God illuminated in my heart as I asked for the revelation of the hidden things. These include how deep-seated anger and offenses cause scars, calluses and hardness in our hearts, and how these can impair the vitality of our relationship with God and with significant people in our lives.

The Call: “Cry to Me”

“Call Upon me” is not a plea. It is not a request. It is an instruction.

These were the words of Pastor Mayokun Oreofe, a dear Sista I met at the ROTH 2014 Conference in Lagos last July. These words caught fire in my spirit and have been resonating in my heart since then.

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble (distress);” (Ps. 50:15)

“Is there anyone in trouble? Let them pray.” (James 5:13)

“In my distress, I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.” (Ps. 18:6)

In August 2012, I wrote Unravelled. It was about intractable situations we sometimes face in life. Situations that are as complex as the Gordian knot—inextricable, challenging, complicated, convoluted and multi-faceted. Some are a tangled mess, defying understanding or solution. According to Charles Spurgeon (1908), it is God alone Who can untie the Gordian knots we try to unravel in our lives.

That is why we are instructed in the Bible that when we are faced with seemly intractable challenging situation, our only and best option is cry to God in fervent prayer.

My life’s story gave me several opportunities to acquire some experience in crying out to God. There have been instances when I had to open my mouth and cry out with a loud voice to the Lord of my salvation; “O God, help me,” I screamed at the top of my voice in my closet. “Father, intervene in this situation,” as I intercede over a burden concerning someone in my sphere of influence.

“Is there anything too difficult for You to do?”

“Can a heart be so hard that You cannot touch and soften?”

“Is there a situation too far gone that You cannot resolve and restore?”

It is at such times that I thank God for the thick walls of my house. No one but God could hear me crying out. And there have been instances when I have cried out to God in my heart yet not a sound came out of my lips. I had tracheotomy tube in my throat connected to the machine that was helping me to breath. I had no voice. I could not make any sound, yet in agony I cried out in my heart. I clenched my fist as tight as I could in that state of sheer weakness and exhaustion. I closed my eyes, and my heart wept before God. My soundless cry went before Him, into His ears.

Calling upon God is not a passive asking or a by-the-way making of request. It is akin to crying out to Him with a loud voice even if soundless. It is active. It requires effort. It requires consistency and diligence.

The Answer: “I will answer…”

“...I shall rescue (deliver) you, and you will honour Me. (Ps. 50:15)

“From His temple, He heard my voice; my cry came to before Him, into His ears.” (Ps 18:6)

“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” (Ps. 145:18)

The Bible assures us that God is gracious to hear us when we cry out to Him for help. Because our cry brings us into His presence—granting us a private audience with Him (Ps18:6, MSG). As soon as He hears, He will answer us (Is. 58:9). We are also assured that His ears are ever open to our cry. He will listen to us. He will rescue. He will deliver. He will save. This is the guaranteed assurance that we have. When we come close to God, He comes close to us (James 4:8). He is near to those who call upon Him in truth.

When we call on God with the intensity that is described by crying out, God’s response is also intense. The Bible noted that in response to David’s cry of distress, God responded with anger and indignation. To the extent that the earth quaked and rocked like aspen leaves, and the foundations of the mountains trembled. God bowed the heavens and came down. He thundered from heaven and flashed like lightning against the cause of David’s distress to rout them. Then, He reached out from on high and drew David out of his troubles and delivered him from his strong enemies. This is the intensity of God’s response when we cry out to Him. He answers with thunder from heaven.

This gives me great confidence that God most assuredly responds to our cry for help and in His own time and in His own way, He brings us an answer.

The Revelation: “…and show you hidden things which you do not know.”

The instruction is to Call Unto God. The guaranteed assurance is that He Will Answer. The promise is that He will reveal hidden and secret things. My understanding of this is that when we heed God’s instruction and we cry out to Him in prayer and supplication, He will answer. Not only will He answer, He will reveal those things which are fenced in and hidden from our sight that will lead us to the answer He has guaranteed us.

“… From now on, I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you” (Isaiah 48.6).

We also know from Deuteronomy 29:29 that the secret things belong to the Lord but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may follow His word. God promised to take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are ours.

I knew with all my heart that I needed to know these hidden, fenced and secret things that will lead me to see the manifestation of the promised answer to my cry to God on behalf of my family, friends, church and nation. So I stood on the authority of this promise, and beseech God to reveal to me what we need to know. It is only in the place of prayer that secret and hidden things are revealed—in the place where we call upon the name of the Lord.

These are remarkable secrets we do not know about things to come. The Bible says that they are mysterious, incomprehensible and difficult to understand by the human mind in itself. They are things we do not know about. They are marvellous and wondrous things that we could not have figured out on our own. That is why they need to be revealed. Because they make huge impact on our lives.

God sees the complex situations we find ourselves in today just as He saw the misery of His people in Egypt as recorded in the Book of Exodus. He hears our cry today just as He heard the people of Israel crying because of their slave drivers. And as He declared then, so even now He is concerned about our situation. God see, God hears and God acts on our behalf. It gives me such great joy that we have a High Priest that is moved by our feeling of infirmity, by our distress and by our afflictions. One of the ways God acts on our behalf is to reveal those things we need to know.

In response to my cry, God in His faithfulness did reveal some of these hidden things and illuminated His truth brilliantly in my heart. I will share with you in the concluding post coming next what I have learnt about how scars, calluses and hardness in our hearts impairs the vitality of our relationship with God and thus hinder the answers to our prayers.

Memory Making Moments

There are moments in life that are amazing. Some, simply beyond amazing. Moments that cannot be captured by the shutters of a camera. Moments of intense joy captured by our soul and etched in our memories, creating reflections of God’s amazing blessings, mercies and grace.

 

Azgek | Dreamstime.com

We had many of such epic moments during the six-week period of our family vacation, first in our home country, Nigeria and later in UK. That’s why I have been absent from the blogosphere since July 1^st.

Despite all my good intentions and with much to share, it was very difficult for me to find the kind of time I needed to write and post our experience on the blog. Therefore, the next couple of blog posts will be devoted to these precious memory making moments we had during our trip.

It had been four years since I last visited Nigeria and seen many of my family members and faithful friends. They have all been praying along with us and supporting us with fervent prayers during the dark season of our lives especially in last seven years. It was, therefore, appropriate that these who travailed so much in prayer on our behalf should also have the joy of sharing in our praise and thanksgiving to God for the awesome work of deliverance and restoration He brought to pass in my life.

The first thing we wanted to do upon our arrival at home in Nigeria was to have a thanksgiving service in our home church, Christ Chapel, UCH, Ibadan. The story of my twenty years of being tried in the crucible of affliction began there at the University College Hospital, where we both lived and worked in the early 1990s. It was there the doctors made the initial diagnosis of the lung disease and potentially debilitating neurological disease. It was also our brethren in the Christ Chapel who supported us and upheld us in prayers at that initial phase of dealing with the problem. It was, therefore, apt for us to return to where we started from—this was truly a homecoming event for us.

And they praised God.

The testimony elicited spontaneous and unadulterated praise to God. We were overwhelmed, amazed and astonished at genuine joy and gladness expressed by our families and friends. Their joy and thanksgiving on our behalf was intoxicating. Their appreciation of God’s faithfulness was authentic. The praise they offered to God is simply beyond description, indeed beyond amazing.

They lifted their hands in adoration; they bowed their heads in worship, and they danced as David danced unto the Lord. This experience was replicated everywhere God gave us the opportunity to share the testimony of His divine intervention in our lives. Many listened with amazement. Many wept, but it was tears of joy. Many were inspired to hold on and not give up on hope. Many simply stared in awe, too overwhelmed to utter a word. Many were encouraged to stay strong through their trials. I heard a number of people commenting that if God can sustain us through the twenty years of our trials and afflictions, He can surely keep them through their valley experience. The message of God’s amazing grace resounded through it all.

 Luke 5:26 says:

The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!” (MSG).

Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” (NLT).

Matthew 9:8 says;

When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. (NIV)

Luke 7:16 says;

They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." (NIV).

And they gave glory and praise to God. That was indeed, the case for us. Our families and friends saw me walking free of all the paraphernalia and encumbrances of the many years of affliction, they heard of the manifold grace of God, which kept me, and they perceived God’s acts of wonder in my life. AND THEY PRAISED GOD—offering unadulterated sacrifice of thanks and praise. They were filled with awe; they marvelled saying “We have heard and seen remarkable and amazing things today.

I was awed at the manifold grace of God in turning our trials and afflictions of the past years to life-touching testimony. I was awed at the genuine warmth and love shown towards us.

Amazing Opportunities:

God surprised me with amazing opportunities to share my story and our testimony, and for many more people to join us in giving glory and praise to Him.

One of such was at an event tagged, “Women Worship Without Walls 2014” organized by Just Praise Ministries Worldwide in Ibadan on July 17^th, 2014. The program, anchored by Oluwatoyin Adegunle, was a gathering of women from all works of life coming together to offer one day of praise to God. Many renown Praise and Worship leaders from different churches and cities were there to lead the people into the presence of God in praise. The atmosphere was electric—charged with the Holy Spirit as over 2000 people praised and worshiped God in unity.

It was before this crowd that I shared the testimony of God’s grace made abundantly available to keep me and my family through the years of struggle with the chronic lung disease that literally drained life out of me. I shared the story of the grace that sustained me living with hope after the amputation of my feet following the complication of the surgery to replace my lungs.

The praise they offered to God was resounding, the intensity of which, simply can’t be captured by any camera, but are etched in my memory. Every remembrance of these memory making moments brings bouts of praise to my heart and causes me to reflect on God’s awesome mercies and grace to me.

My prayer for you today, my dear friends, is that you will experience the amazing and sustaining grace of God in your circumstances. I pray His grace put on display in your life and your situation will cause men to be astonished and to give praise to God on your behalf.

May the shouts of praise resonate in the heavenly places as people see the awesome works of wonder performed in your life by our gracious Father God.

I will share with you more memory making moments I experienced participating in the Return of the Helpers 2014 Conference in Lagos and the precious memory making moments my husband, sons and I shared together as a family as we dwelt in close proximity during our travels.

The Beginning of a New Thing

In April 2013, I had a life-threatening chest surgery and developed severe complications thereafter. I was in induced coma for the next four weeks. Because of these complications, I suffered insufficient blood flow and oxygen supply to my hands and feet resulting in necrosis of the cells. My husband was told that amputation of both my hands and feet may become necessary but they decided that decisions on this will wait until I came out of coma.

When I came out of coma, I realized that something was very wrong with my hands. They trembled almost nonstop. I could not hold anything without dropping it. My fingers were discoloured with bumps and swellings around them. My nails disfigured with dark bands across them. I wrote about this in the blog post: Blog Post 100: Not Static. Not Stagnant.

It was difficult to feed myself or write. It took almost 30 minutes to type one sentence of text message. It was a frightening and frustrating experience. While all these were going on, my mind was plagued with the thought of not being able to write again. It was simply unimaginable for me not to be able to write. Writing was non-negotiable. I knew I have been called by God to write. He placed the passion to write inside me and for me it is a foregone conclusion that I am God’s warrior of words. At this time, my writing future looked bleak. But I had to hope against hope that God would restore my hands. I refused to accept anything to the contrary.

God gave my husband and I an assurance that He has given me the Feet of Grace and I believed that the grace also extended to my hands and so by extension, I have the Hands of Grace. I realized in 2010 that my hands are a gold mine when God impressed on my heart that I was sitting on a gold mine and led me to start writing actively (see Sitting on a Gold Mine).

Slowly but surely, God restored strength to my hands. Healing and restoration became manifested as I began to hold the cutlery and fed myself. I started writing what looked like chicken scrawl, which became more and more legible as time went on. By July, I was able to type on my laptop and my physiotherapist encouraged me to practice this as often as possible to strengthen the muscles of my fingers. Even though, I had three fingers in bandage at that time, it did not stop me, I started blogging again right there in the hospital.

With the confidence that there will be a complete restoration of the use of my fingers, a desire began to stir up within me to have an income generating activity. I knew it might still be a while for me to go back to my professional career as a Nutrition Specialist and I was not even sure at time if I still wanted to do that fulltime especially within the context of my new definition of normal. I had a strong desire to be able to support my husband with the huge burden my medical expenses had placed on our finances. It was in the process of ruminating on this that the thought of beading and making jewelry with semi-precious gemstones was laid on my heart.

Right there, in the hospital, I started to research the subject. I took online courses and made my first order for the materials and tools required. I drafted my business plan and formulated my vision for my beading business. Within a couple of weeks of returning back home in August, after 4 months hospital stay, my materials, books and tools began to arrive.

I made my first bead necklace set in September and wore it for my thanksgiving on Sunday, September 29^th, 2013. It was in October, that God reminded me of the dream He laid upon my heart in 2009. In the search for an article I wrote years ago, which I wanted to include in my book, I stumbled on another document titled: “My Dreams and Vision,” in which I wrote my desire to have a Youth Center that will provide scripture-inspired apparels for our youth. I could not find such apparels with inspired inscriptions in English readily available in my city and I believed that these could provide great opportunities of youths to share their faith in God. It was a much-needed confirmation that I was in the right direction.

My friend and Sista, during her visit to Geneva in November 2013, encouraged me to make my jewelries with a difference; “Let it tell a story.” I pondered for many months after that: “what story can my jewelry tell to make them unique?” In a flash, it came while I was preparing for the launching of the jewelry. They can certainly tell of the grace of God in restoring my hands and indeed, my health. I knew I could not talk about Hands of Grace Creations without sharing the testimony of God’s amazing grace in restoring me to life and full health.

On Saturday, March 8^th, 2014, Hands of Grace Creations made its debut as we launched the handmade beads jewelries, made by hands that were once considered for amputation because of the season of lifelessness and loss of functionality that visited them. The God Who restored the dead body of Lazarus to life and wholesomeness, the same God Who caused dry bones to live again is the God Who restored life and functionality to my hands. He caused them to do detailed work of beading, creating beautiful and unique pieces, in addition to writing the words God keeps giving me.

Indeed, I have recovered all. Not only did I recover the capacity to write again, I recovered much more. I was compensated with the skills to bead and do detailed beading work with my hands (Gen 14:16, 1Sam 30:18).

 

Each piece of jewelry I make is assigned a name, which describes the attributes of God and denotes a piece of my testimony of Who God has been to me through my seasons of storm, affliction and trials. They speak of the might and faithfulness of God as He intervened in my situation. Hands of Grace Creations will share a part of my story. Such that each person who buys and wears Hands of Grace Creations is not just wearing a piece of jewelry but is wearing a piece of my testimony and story, and by doing so, also join me in 

acknowledging the goodness of God.

Here are some of the names:

• Titilailailopemi: I will give thanks to God forever.
•   Oluwafifehansimi: God puts His love on display in me
•  Oluwadamilare: God justified me
•  Oba Awi ma yeun: The Lord that speaks and does not renege on His Word
•  Oluwasoromidayo: God turned my story into joy
•  Oluwaferanmi: God loves me
•  MotilayoninuJesu: I have joy in Jesus
•  Oluwasegunfunmi: God gave me victory
•  Oluwamayomikun: God made my joy full
•  ModupeoreOluwa: I am grateful for God's goodness 

It will be a memorial to the wearers that the same God Who worked on my behalf is not partial. What He did for me, He is faithful to do in their lives too, and what He promised He will do because of His unfailing love.

The “I am” series will serve to remind the wearer of who God says they are according to His Word. They will be a reminder to the wearer to say “I am who God says I am.” These series will use engraved messages and colours to present the truth of God’s Word and promises to the wearer.

A portion of the proceeds from the sales of Hands of Grace Creations will be used to support three charity efforts:

• Feet of Grace Foundation, which is positioning itself to provide opportunity to those who are compelled to sit down in a stand-up world to walk again, through the provision of prosthetic limbs.
• Funmi Adewole Foundation: The Education Trust Fund.
•  Education Fund for a missionary family.

 Behold, the beginning of a new thing, now it springs forth. Join me to give thanks to God.

The Promise Of A New Thing

It was Monday morning and I found myself musing about some things that used to be a part of my life that I now see no more. The more I thought about these events, the more I found myself outlining them as a chapter for the book I am writing.

I remembered those days when I spent several hours each day coughing and bringing up ugly, dirty looking and horrible tasting secretions from my chest. I suffered from a lung disease called bronchiectasis and as a result had chronic chest infections, which necessitated intravenous antibiotic treatments that lasted for 21 days each time, several times in a year. The cough was so bad that it always left me in respiratory distress, with accompanying pain in my chest.

Countless number of times, I cried out to the Lord to deliver me from the cough and everything it represented. One day, I sat on the floor by my bedside, exhausted from the coughing. Before I knew it, the secretions started coming up, it came so fast and was so profuse that the tissue could not contain it. I had to collect what was coming out in my hands. It was at that moment that something broke inside of me. First, anger welled up in me against the bacteria which the doctors said had colonized my lungs. They told me it was difficult to get rid of it because of the state of my lungs despite the frequent antibiotic treatment.

Then, I looked at the secretions in my hands and started shouting as I struggled to get up to go to the bathroom; “You, Egyptians that I see today, I will see you again no more forever” (Exodus 14:13). I knew the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent takes it by force. I determined in my heart that I was not going to allow the devil to cheat me out of the promise of life and good health God has given me. So I decided to make the efforts, time and pain of coughing and clearing secretions from my lungs, count for something. Each time I brought up the awful secretions, I looked at it and I spoke the word of God to it, and declared; “It shall come to pass and I will see you no more forever.” The coughing and secretions thus became a reminder for me to speak the word of God to my situation and to remind me of what God has spoken concerning the situation.

To the glory of God, today, I surely see the secretions no more and I hear the rib-cracking cough no more. I outlived the vicious bacteria. My joy overflowed just to realize and to note that God heard my cry and took it all away. He gave me a brand new life free from the incessant harassment of the cough and all it represented. The old conditions and former order of things have passed away, Hallelujah! In accordance to God’s promise, the reproach of the cough was taken away from me.

http://monyawatson.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” This is the promise of God to His children in Isaiah 43:19. It is also the word of assurance God gave me while I was in the hospital undergoing respiratory rehabilitation in November 2010. This promise is being fulfilled every day in my life. I can testify that I am experiencing a new thing in different spheres of my life, which is beyond what I can share in one blog post.

Based on this experience, I can with full confidence declare that the adverse and challenging situation you may be going through right now will not always be there, because the faithful and unfailing God we serve has promised us that He will do a new thing in your life. God specializes in doing new things in our lives: “I am making everything new” (Rev. 21:5). He causes old things to pass away and make all things new when come to Christ. He gives us a new heart and put a new spirit in us. He turns our captivity and we are like them that dream.

The One Who brings about changes in our lives is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He wants to do new things in our lives every day. His eyes goes through and fro the earth seeking to show Himself mighty in on our behalf. He promised to call us a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name.

For many years, I was referred to as “the woman with the cough,” even to my hearing. During a hospital stay in 1998, while I was practically coughing my lungs out, one lady shouted from across the ward: “this cough will not kill you.” Well, praise be to God, I am delighted to say that I am still in the land of the living declaring the goodness of God and the cough is no more. God has changed my name from “the one with the cough” to “Kept by the Hands of God” and “Grace in motion.”

The new thing God is doing in my life and in the lives of my loved ones, is just beginning to unfold. Now, it shall spring forth. Indeed, I am persuaded that testimonies will abound in our lives this year as we see the fulfillment of God’s promise and the display of His glory in our lives. I am believing God for new opportunities to do great exploits and fulfill my calling, new level of walk with God, new manifestation of God's glory in my life, new and extraordinary blessings, and newness in all my relationships.

This promise of a new thing is valid for you too. You can appropriate it to your life and to your situation. You can trust in God to bring His promise to pass in you as you depend and rely on Him, and as you speak His Word to your situation.

May God’s grace continue to abound in your life and  bring you to your promised land.

Stay Focused

The holiday is over. My husband and sons have gone back to work and school. It was on Monday morning, I had woken up early with the readiness to start work on my tasks too. But as I laid on my bed pondering on all the things I desire and need to accomplish over the next couple of months, I felt overwhelmed at the magnitude of work that needs to be done.

When I was working on the timeline for the publication of my book with my publisher, I thought six months would give me more than enough to complete the work. Upon reviewing the work at the beginning of the year I was shocked to note how much work is still required to complete the work. With less than 2 months left to go, I am feeling an intense pressure and quite uncertain of how I am going to accomplish this task on top of the other goals I had set for the first quarter of 2014. My brain cells were working overtime that morning trying to figure out how these set goals will be accomplished.

I knew with all certainty in my heart that it is the will of God for this task—the completion of the book, to be done in a timely fashion. The clarion call has been so loud over the last four months that I cannot make any more excuses for a further delay in the completing this assignment without disobeying God. But it just seemed so hard to stay focused on the task and meet the writing goal set for each day. There were so many important things also competing for my attention and a few distractions as well if I want to be sincere to myself.

For my devotion a short-while later, I decided to use the 31 Devotions For Writers compiled by Susette Williams, which I bought recently. The Bible verse for meditation literally jumped out of the page at me:

“For I am the Lord your God Who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Fear not, I will help you.” - (Is 41: 13).

I was elated. My spirit was lifted high up. God upholds my right hand and He is saying to me, telling me not to be afraid, He will help me. He is assuring me that I don’t need to try and figure it out all by myself how all these goals will be accomplished. He is with me to help me. I meditated on the verse and read it in as many Bible translations as available to me until it sank deep into my spirit.

The writer of this devotion, Rachel Hauck, continued to encourage me that God is with me, with her inspiring words and her testimony of how God came through for her when she felt it was just too hard to put one extra ounce of effort into her writing and she felt so alone.

She wrote, “Writing is hard. Get over the idea or notion it’s fun, easy-breeze and a snap. Align your thoughts and actions with the reality that it takes hard work and perspiration to produce well-written article, poem, song or book. But also align your heart with the truth that God is with you. He will help you.” This has application for everything we desire, dream and envision of accomplishing in life. It will take some perspiration. It will require us to align ourselves with this truth.

My responsibility is to align myself with the truth of God’s word concerning the task He has assigned to me and stay focused on the goal, the work at hand. Yes, He will help me. He will hold me up and retain me with His victorious right hand of righteousness and justice.

Stay focused on the goal and task that God has assigned to you. He will not leave you alone or abandon you in it. Refuse to agree with the negative suggestions and thoughts telling you that it is too hard or it is impossible for you to do it. Truly, it will be impossible to accomplish your task in your strength without the help of God and His sustaining grace.

He has promised to make us fit for whatever purpose He called us to, just as He made Jacob, considered a worm, a weak thing, to become like a new, sharp threshing instrument.

Don’t let the magnitude of what needs to be done dismay you. Don’t let the magnitude of your expectations and desires terrify you and make you despair to the point that it looms before you like an insurmountable mountain. God is able to provide supernaturally all we need to accomplish the task set before us. He opened rivers on bare heights and fountains in the midst of the valley to provide water for His thirsty people. He made the wilderness a pool of water and dry land to become spring (Is 41:18). He is still the same God today, Who is promising to sustain, uphold and help you. We are assured that we will have constant supply from where we least expect.

You just stay focused on the task at hand. Take a step, a concrete and definite step each day, no matter how small you may consider it to be. And you will be amazed what God can do with your limited resources and determined effort. It is humanly impossible for cedars, firs or myrtles to grow in the desert, they need well watered and fertile land to grow. God’s provision and intervention will cause us to see and have provision in unusual places. God is able to render us fruitful by causing His grace to abound to us and by helping us at our time of need. We and all those who behold the outcome will give glory to God and rejoice in Him.

What a great assurance it gives to know that God will bless us with the grace to relentlessly keep at pushing ahead and not give up, give in or stay down.

http://holleygerth.com/free-words/

There is no technology yet invented that can translate dreams and visions into reality except you take deliberate and concrete actions to work it out. It requires hard work, discipline and determination to do so. Though not easy, it is the only way to living your dreams and seeing your vision become a reality.

A vision has to be accompanied by an action to become a reality.

Am I where I want to be yet? No. But am I making progress? Definitely yes. 300 words one day, 1200 on another, every single word is making a difference and taking me towards the goal. Concerning the other projects I have on hand, I know God Who is helping me with the writing is also ever present to help me with the rest of the tasks on my hand.

The words of the song, Push Back The Dark by Josh Wilson, inspired me to keep at it and to stay focused.

“Whatever you do, just don’t look back

Oh somebody needs the light you have

Whatever you do, just don’t lose heart.

Oh, oh, don’t underestimate the God you follow

He is the light that burns inside your soul

So keep on shining ‘til the whole world knows.”

Someone needs what God has committed into my hands to do. I afford to give in to the fear how big it is and how much work it requires to get it done. I prayed and asked God for the compelling motivation and the zeal to stay focused and keep at it until it is done.

What about you, friend? What task do you have at hand that seems almost impossible to accomplish? What is that dream or vision on your heart that makes you wonder, how can this be? I encourage you today, to stay focused and trust in the truth of God’s word. He will surely help you.

Sharing with you a complimentary blog post: Make The Next Move Forward

We Will Remember

We will remember, we will remember
We will remember the works of Your hands
We will stop and give you praise
For great is Thy faithfulness
 - Tommy Walker (2005)

Celebrating Life:

That's exactly what we have been doing since last weekend. On Sunday, September 29^th, my family and I together with our friends went before God to give thanks and lavish praises on Him as we remembered the works of His hands in our lives. It was a time of rejoicing, praising and dancing in the presence of God. It was a celebration of life and God's faithfulness.

We remembered where we were coming from, what we have been through and the victory God wrought on our behalf.

 We remembered that God has been our helper, our deliverer, our liberator and giver of life without end.

We stopped and gave Him praise for great is His faithfulness.

The praise and rejoicing continued on October 1^st (my birthday). It was an opportunity to celebrate life in the land of the living. We recalled the mercies, which God faithfully lavished on us this past year.

We remembered when we walked through life's darkest valley, that God was our joy, comfort and life sustainer.

Last night, my Sista and friend of almost 30 years stood by my bed. She recalled the last time she was standing at the same spot, a few months back at the end of March. It was a challenging time for me then. I was on the ventilator and coughing my chest out. She looked around the room and started to give praise and thanks to God.

Why?

The ventilator was gone. I was not struggling with breath. I was not coughing. I was not hanging to life.

The Paraphernalia:

for travels

short term outings

oxygen reservoirs under our stairway

And the place they were knows them no more. They are all gone. Hallelujah!

Celebrating Togetherness:

We used the opportunity to celebrate our 21^st wedding anniversary which we missed on April 23^rd. I was in coma on that day.

 

April 23rd, 1992

Twenty-one and half years later - Sept 29th, 2013

We remembered that throughout the 21+ years of our marriage, God has been our shelter and our peace in the midst of the storm.

Our Boys. Our Joy. Our Blessing:

We remembered how God kept them strong through it all. They have been so supportive. I praise God for blessing our lives with these fine young men.

Giving Thanks:

But then I recall all You have done, O LORD;

I remember Your wonderful deeds of long ago.

They are constantly in my thoughts.

I cannot stop thinking about Your mighty works.

Ps 77:11, 12

We shouted Hosanna and Hallelujah to the One from Whom all blessing flows, Whose glory has been put on display in our lives. Our friends joined us to shout that our God is good and that He is the faithful One.

Your Turn:

Now it is your turn. 

Will you take time to remember the good works that God has done in your life in 2013 alone? 

Will you stop and give Him praise? 

God has surely given you reasons to be glad. So this is a good time to lavish praises on Him. You can also share with us in the comment box below what God has done for you.

While you are at it, please pause for a moment and give thanks to God on our behalf. He has been good to us. We can't say it enough or thank Him enough.

Pleased to share with you Tommy Walker's "We Will Remember" 

I love this song and I have used the lyrics in preparing this blog post.

Blessings be multiplied to you and yours. May your life daily touch lives for good.