A Daughter's Affirmation

Allow me to reintroduce myself

I am a little girl who believes

I am a princess
Daughter of the King

Loved and cherished by Him

He would go any length for me

He gave everything for me

He gives all things to me

I am precious in His sight

Of more worth than gold and the most precious stones

Those can be bought with money

He paid for my sins with His very own life

I am beautiful

Fashioned by the greatest artist and sculptor of all

His brush strokes are intentional

Everything exactly right

And He calls me beautiful

I am heard

Though my voice is tiny and sometimes shaky

Even when all I have is silence

Or tears

He hears the innermost stirrings of my heart

The thoughts of my mind

And He answers

I am seen

When I am by myself, or in the midst of the multitude

When I feel alone or invisible

I am still seen

By He who saw me in the darkness of my mother’s womb

When I was yet a shapeless mass of cells

I am seen

By He who gave me form; who gave me life

Who gives me a future

I am led

By He who knows my future

I am known by God

How wonderful is that?

He knows my name

He cares

So I am bold as a Lion

Fearless

Full of Courage and Confidence

I soar as an Eagle

Focused, determined

I fly high

I am surefooted as a deer

I am a warrior

Victorious always

Because He is with me

Yes! The God of the Heavens and the Earth is with me

I am His

He is mine

2 Cor 6:18 And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.

Psalm 45:13 The King's daughter is all glorious within; Her clothing is interwoven with gold.

References: This is just me reaffirming some of the things the Bible says about me.

Picture: https://uk.pinterest.com/explore/dad-quotes/

Look What I Found!

Two days ago, I went in search of the famous Elgin Cathedral and found Elgin’s best kept secret! I found one of the few Biblical Gardens in Europe! I had not known about the garden prior to that day so imagine my surprise! Yes I was screaming (inside) when I found it.

Interestingly, even though the garden is only officially open to the public between May and September, I found the gates opened and was able to spend a few precious minutes there! Awesome right? Another God-incidence in a month filled with pleasant surprises.

So, the Biblical garden in Elgin was planted in order to bring the Bible to life through plants, sculptures, bible passages and other depictions of notable events in the Bible. One hundred and ten plants mentioned in the Bible are planted here! The cross is at the centre of this three-acre garden which also contains many different sculptures including Jesus at the well (a real well), Sampson, Jesus as the good shepherd, Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, the prodigal son, and many others.

Jesus at the well

The most amazing thing to me is the age of the garden. Planted beside the ruins of the approximately 800-year old Elgin cathedral, the Biblical garden is only 20 years old. This contrast between the old and the new is soul-stirring to me. The old cathedral represents a generation when Christianity played a major role in the lives of the people in Elgin, Scotland and most of Europe. I believe the new garden tells us that the word of God is still evergreen, relevant and alive today.

It is also amazing that the idea of the Elgin garden was not conceived by the church but by the city council. Only twenty years ago, the city council, community, local businesses, schools, and church came together to raise funds and plant this amazing garden centred on the truth of the Gospel. Incredible, right?

This fills me with hope; in this generation where many have turned away from God, God is still able to use people to spread the truth of the Gospel in ingenious ways.

Dorothy Frances Gurney wrote that “One is nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth.” This may be true because gardens are mentioned numerous times in the Bible; for example God planted the first garden in Eden and put man in it; Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane; and immediately after His resurrection, Jesus was even mistaken as a gardener by Mary Magdalene.

Somehow I believe that even though the cathedrals of old are now in ruins and the old church buildings are being converted for other uses, around us, biblical gardens are being planted on the earth and in the hearts of men. After all, the Bible refers to the hearts of men as soil in which the Lord plants His word (Matthew 13:1-23). The word of God is alive in the hearts of men today.

I can’t wait to see the garden in Spring, Summer, and my favourite season Autumn!

For better pictures and more information about the Biblical garden, please see www.biblicalgardenelgin.co.uk

Pictures: First two are author's pictures, third picture is from https://britishheritage.com/elgin-and-its-biblical-garden/

The Great Beautiful Outside

Calabar, Nigeria

I fell in love with the beach a long time ago. I first went to the beach with my family for a Christmas family beach party when I was a little girl. Many years later, I went with my classmates (twice), a few very close friends and alone. I have been to the beach a lot more times, but these four were the most memorable. 

Until last week.

I remembered my love for the sea last week when I went on a solo vacation. I walked for hours on the beach, dipped my hands into the freezing water, sat on the sea stones, and just gazed across the water.

I fell in love again.

I was inspired.

And I remembered that some of the best times I have had were spent in the great beautiful outside. Some of my favourite pictures were taken outside.

So today, I was going through my photo library and saw some pictures I took in different beautiful places across Nigeria. Nigeria is beautiful and I want to see more and experience more of this beauty.

Warri, Nigeria

Warri, Nigeria

And most times, I don't even have to go far from home for the experience.

Abuja, Nigeria

 

Calabar, Nigeria

I stayed indoors a lot last year.

William Shakespeare said the earth has music for those who listen.

I want to listen, I want to hear, I want to dance and make music of my own. 

One day at a time

It's easy to stay motivated in the first few days of a New year, or the first few days of starting something new.

This year, I want to write one blog post everyday.

This is partly motivated by my favourite Facebook page (NasDaily), where Nas updates one-minute videos everyday. Even though we watch each video for only one minute, it takes the whole day for him to think about a topic, write a script, go out and actually film videos, and edit the videos. I think he said in one of his videos that the hardest part is thinking about a topic.

In the past few days, I have been on holiday so it has been relatively easy to write. Now, I do not have so much time and I don't want to write for just the sake of writing. Can I really write one interesting blog post everyday? 

I don't know.

A Facebook friend said if we think too far ahead (about the things we have to do), we may get scared.

Writing 365 articles is scary. Writing one article a day? Not so much.

Eating healthy for 365 days? Scary. Eating healthy today? Not so much.
Go to the gym everyday for 365 days? Scary. Exercise today? Not so much.

So, I am taking one step a day. Some days I'll take giant steps, but some other days I'll take little steps. I guess that's what is really important; to keep moving.

P.S. I'm really happy today. 

And you really should like NasDaily on Facebook.

And listen to Moving Forward by Mali Music

Picture source: Author

Tides- What on Earth is this blog about?

I knew very little about tides until yesterday *covers face*.

The risk you take when you blog about learning new things is that the readers may already know much more about them than you do. But that’s fine because this is not an educational blog and I am not really aiming to teach or preach. However, some others may not know about them, so yay, let’s learn together.

This brings me to the question I have not really answered, which is, what is this blog really about? What do I aim to achieve by blogging?

A friend of mine started a radio show today and she took great pains to outline and explain what the show is about. I think this is very helpful for the listeners as they know exactly what they are tuning in to. It also helps the show host to remain focused and build followers in her niche.

My pilot blog post was about love, as it should be. However since then I have written about faith, first dates, weight loss, exercise, birds, movies, etc. I have written fiction, truth, and a mixture of both. I have written poetry, essays and stories.

So what exactly is this blog about?

According to my bio, “I once feared that my voice was not strong enough; then I lost it”.

This is true.

Prior to starting this blog, I had a lot of fears about my abilities. I almost did not start because I wondered if anybody would read anything I wrote. But I was just beginning to find my voice and did not want to lose it again. So I wrote. [Thanks for reading!]

This blog was initially about finding my voice. I wanted to be as authentic as possible. I still want to. So I wrote and I still write about the things I care about.

Sometimes I am tempted to focus on the topics that have the highest read stats. But some of the posts I really care about have the lowest L, so I can’t.

I pray this blog is a place of hope, encouragement, learning, laughter, love, and faith. Even though the posts may seem all over the place, I believe each one of them reflects one of more of the above themes.

We’ll have to talk about tides another day.  However, the tide was low today and I was able to see and walk on parts of the beach that I couldn’t see when the tide was high.

I pray that this year, on this blog, we will have new good experiences and walk on pleasant and beautiful places that we didn’t know last year. In Jesus name, Amen.

This blog post was inspired by the beach and my friend Loliya. So please tune in to www.radio31.org every Thursday at 8pm for 'In Conversation', a platform that encourages a reading attitude and knowledge sharing on topics such as personal development, science, and faith. The show will also provide links to materials for inspiration and growth.

Wonder lost?

Wonder (Noun): “a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar.”

Oh, I do not want to lose my sense of wonder

To walk beside the ocean without pausing

To leave uninspired by the powerful waves crashing at the seashore

To not observe the different colours and shapes of the stones at the beach

To briefly note the five birds that seemed to hit the ground at exactly the same moment, then look away

To follow a well beaten path without thinking of the first one; the first man

To witness a mini sandstorm without amazement

To see the beautiful interaction between man and nature and just walk on by

To take a picture of the beautiful sky without acknowledging the artist

To have wonderful experiences and brush them off as coincidences

... How did the pastor know to preach about the same things I studied this morning?

... How did my mistakes and unplanned journey lead me to meeting and staying in the home of this lovely woman?

... What were the odds that she would be my birthday mate?

To see God and not recognise Him

To hear His voice and not pause to listen

Oh I want to feel a sense of awe

To see Your strength in the ocean and the wind

Your creativity in our differences, talents and gifts

Your beauty in the skies

Your faithfulness in the constancy of day and night, of winter and summer

Your Love in Jesus Christ

Oh I long to be filled with Awe

To look at you God with childlike faith

And say Abba, Father

Reference: Oxford dictionaries

Pictures: Author’s own

Please listen to: Wonder by Bethel Music

The King's Speech- Reflections

It is the third day of the year and I have already seen two movies. Oh and I think I have eaten more raw tomatoes this year than I did the whole of last year. This is a great year.

Okay, so I watched The King’s Speech on the first day of this year. I didn’t expect to like the movie and was sure I would leave before the end. However, I stayed till the end and absolutely loved it.

The movie is based on the true life story of King George VI (Formerly Prince Albert), who had a speech impediment. He stuttered badly and could barely read/say a complete sentence in public and even private conversations. Prince Albert was not meant to be king because he had an elder brother Edward VIII. However, Edward VIII renounced the throne in order to marry an American divorcee Mrs Wallis Simpson. So Prince Albert had to step in and become King.

Even before he became king, he had suffered many embarrassments while trying to deliver public speeches on behalf of the throne. Now he was going to take up a job that would require him to regularly speak to and on behalf of the greatest nation at the time. He felt unqualified and unsuitable to be king due to his speech problems and was overwhelmed by the duties that were required of him. As if that was not enough, the Second World War was looming, and Great Britain and the rest of the world needed a strong and inspiring leader at the time. As the king says in the movie “The nation believes that when I speak, I speak for them. Well, I can’t speak.”

He visited many speech therapists, doctors and quacks, and tried everything to overcome this problem, to no avail. Then his wife meets an unorthodox Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue who becomes friends with the king and helps him slowly but surely overcome his problem.

According to The Telegraph, “This vulnerable and stammering king proved to be exactly the right man at the right time. The stammering that defined him, and the courage with which he tried to beat it... A certain solidarity between monarch and subject emerged, especially when George VI overruled requests from the government that he and his family relocate to the safety of Canada.

The story is very inspiring with many great personal lessons to me. Sometimes, we may required to fill certain roles and perform certain duties that we honestly feel are above and beyond our capacities, training or experiences. We may have one challenge or inadequacy that prevents us from truly living. One thing that makes us feel unworthy. So we do not live, we stand back and sometimes let someone who we feel is more qualified do the job.

King George VI did not quit.

On the surface, it looked as if Edward VIII had more physical abilities to be king and would make a better king. But deep down in his heart, he lacked the qualities to be king. Among other personal and moral failings, he was unwilling and unable to take on the full responsibility being king required. According to The Telegraph, "he was more charismatic, handsome and fluent... but he was more feckless, self-indulgent, politically naive... and mean-spirited. George VI... had fortitude and dignity".

In the movie Lionel, the speech therapist, tells the king “You have such perseverance Bertie, you are the bravest man I know. You will make a bloody good king.”

This makes me believe that having the right heart is the most important thing of all. This also reminds me of a young king David who was anointed king over Israel because he had the right heart towards God. In 1st Samuel 16:7, when Samuel was thinking of anointing David's brother as king due to his physical attributes, "...The Lord said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Thank you for creating in me a clean heart oh God through the cross. Help me to guard my heart (with your Word) with all diligence. In Jesus name, Amen.

Epilogue: The king's story inspired the screen writer of the movie, David Seidler, who also suffered from a significant stammer to believe that if the king could cope with a stammer, so could he.

References: www.kingsspeech.com, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/8223897/The-Kings-Speech-the-real-story.html
Image source: http://www.impawards.com/2010/posters/kings_speech_ver5.jpg

The Notebook

I have tried journaling numerous times. Almost everytime, I have been unsuccessful. The one time I wrote consistently for a long period of time, I lost all my electronic notes and I'm yet to recover them.

Two years ago, I started a thanksgiving journal (more like a notebook). However, I have not been very consistent in noting the things I am thankful for.

The thing about thanksgiving journals is that they are all rosy and cheerful. And I think everybody needs one because it is so easy to remember all the bad stuff and oh so difficult to remember the good times.

Today I read through the journal and I remember...

- the time I was very tired and could not work but prayed and received needed strength from God

- the time God literally left me speechless and I wrote "Jehovah, God of Israel, I am speechless. Thank you" in caps in my journal

- the day we prayed and God intervened in an impossible situation

- the many little coincidences or as we call them, God-incidences

- the time I was overwhelmed, forgot that it was a thanksgiving journal and wrote down a heartfelt prayer to God.

I also remember the things I did not write in the journal. I remember the many little and big miracles that have happened in this long walk with God.

The elderly lady in the movie 'War room' had a framed plaque of answered prayers on her wall.

Somehow I have framed a plaque of prayers that seem unanswered in my mind. But this little thanksgiving book helped me remember... There have been far more answers to prayers.

Sometimes it feels like a lonely walk.

But this journal has helped me to remember that not once, never once, did I ever walk alone. That when it mattered the most, God showed up.

Unplanned journeys

This morning I was stranded at a bus station, on my way to somewhere familiar. This evening I am sitting by the fireplace, wrapped up in a cosy Christmas blanket watching the king's speech with two lovely ladies I just met, in somewhere new.

Great stories usually begin with seeming mistakes, and unplanned journeys, right? I had it all planned out last night, or so I thought. I took a quick shower at work this morning, left early, hitched a ride to the bus station, and used Google maps instead of an actual bus website to plan my journey on New Year's Day. Rookie mistake.

I had three options: go back home, take a very expensive taxi ride to my intended destination, or go somewhere else. Long story short, I took option three after praying, and ended up in front of a sleepy but very accommodating bed and breakfast owner at 10am on a freezing New Year morning.

"You are lucky the guests left last night and I cleaned out the room immediately", she said while heaping my plate with hot food.

I don't think luck had anything to do with it. I believe that God knew I was going to stay here tonight and He prepared a way and a place for me.

I am very optimistic about this New Year. I do not have much figured out but I believe that God will somehow, someway, direct my path and help me this year.

I hope for and desire a lot of things, and there is the niggling thought that I may fail, that my resolutions may not make it past the first week, that the new will lose its novelty and I may wrap myself up in the comfortable but inadequate old.

I acknowledge this.

I also acknowledge the fact that if I try to do the things and make the changes I need to make on my own I would struggle, strive and fail.

So I'm believing and I'm trusting that the Word that gave light and life to the formless, void, and dark earth is at work and will continue to give light and life to this new year, to me, and to you.

Image source: https://valentinesdaywishes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Best-Happy-New-Year-Pictures.jpg