CHANGING LIVES!!!!

I saw the movie “Courageous” recently and it opened my eyes to see how as individuals we take the people in our life for granted, thinking that they will always be there and never go away. We never truly show or tell them how much they mean to us, we don’t do things together with them or just basically hang out with them, and we are always too busy and too occupied with our own stuff and in our own world to allow them into our space.

I encourage us to listen to our loved ones when they speak to us or try to communicate to us, most of the time we only hear but we don’t listen to really hear what they are truly saying to us. In the movie Courageous, young Emily asked her dad to dance with her in the parking lot but he was too embarrassed to do so because he believed people will be watching him. Emily was disappointed and danced by herself (he was thinking of what people will say instead of having a moment with his daughter) now little Emily is dead and he lives with the regret of all that he never did with her while she was alive.

We should not allow death or loss be the turning point for us, we should live life to the fullest, enjoy the company of our family while we still can, tell them how much they mean to us while we still can and have the opportunity to do so.

Look for ways to appreciate them for been in your life, even if they are sometimes a pain in your back side, there is still something about them that makes them lovable. See the good in people always, appreciate them openly when they do something good and scold with love when they misbehave, let them be constantly reassured of your love and presence in their life.

I know that as Nigerians it’s difficult for us to express love and affection to our loved ones, we hardly say “I love you” to our spouse, children, parents and siblings.

Always give people the benefit of the doubt, it doesn’t have to start and end with your family or the people in your circle of friends, we all must be responsible for the lives of people we come in contact with everyday of our lives, we need to be positive influencers of lives and adding value to every life we encounter. Let’s not leave any room for regrets in our lives.

Life is good, Live it, Love it and Enjoy it.

ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING

             Four years ago I read this very interesting book “HADESSA” by Tommy Teeny; the book is about the life of Esther, and how she attained her position in the kings palace, it is a very educative and eye opening story that will change the way we think and act towards the king (GOD) of our lives.

          

           This article is about the life of Esther, how she lived her life to the fullest and attained a favored position in another land that was not the place of her birth. It shows how much staying power she had despite the trauma she went through at a very tender age when she witnessed the massacre of her entire family, yet she did not hate God forever, she became a force to be reckoned with, she made a positive impact in the lives of many and she also liberated her people from the bondage they had lived with in a foreign land.

           

           She did not just get to the top by luck, chance or random selection, but because she listened and sought after the most important thing which was to know the heart of the king and also to do whatever will please him, which was not what every other maiden that was chosen for the exercise came for, some came because of the fame it will bring to them and their family, some came for the gifts and wealth they will enjoy for that period, some came just to see and know how it feels to live in the lap of luxury, some came because they thought they had what it took to become the next queen. They all came for what they could get (splendor of the kingdom) out the kingdom and not what they could bring to the king.

          Remember when the bounty room was opened for the maidens to take what they will wear to appear before the king, they were all rushing to pick out the best and heaviest jewelry and clothing, because they knew they get to keep all the things they picked from the bounty room after their night with the king, they were all so selfish and self – centered that they did not even think it right to bring the king a gift except for Esther, who knew that it was a taboo for you to come before the king empty handed, she knew that the night would not be all about her but about bringing praises to the king.

When it was Esther’s turn to meet with the king, she knelt before him and gave him the gift she had picked out, king was very impressed and he remembered her for that single act of thinking to bring the king a gift (even though the gift was of no financial worth to the king), all the other ladies that had gone before her went in empty handed and expecting to come out with something tangible.

         

          We all seem to have lost sight of the most important things, we have truly lost our sense of purpose and service, we have gradually become spiritual gold diggers, and we feel God has put us in a spot to mock us when things don’t follow the path we want them to. We no longer seek the heart of the king, rather we chase after the splendor of his kingdom forgetting the basic truth that once you are the heir of a king, everything he owns becomes yours automatically when you seek to please him. We forget that doing the kings will for just one minute can give us the favor to enjoy a life time of splendor (Selah).

        

           How do we obtain favor from the king? You can only have the kings unmerited favor through real, total and complete worship of the king, the bible says that GOD (king) inhabits the praises of his people, we all know that our GOD is a very jealous God, so he does not find it funny at all when you ignore him to chase after trivial things that can be yours if you know how to get to his heart which is always through real worship.

         In verse 15 of Esther 4, we saw that Esther refused to have anything except what hagai advised her to have, we all know who hagai is, he has been with the king for a very long time, so he understands and knows what will please (get the attention of) the king, which is what Esther sought after, to please the king. Esther refused everything out of the abundance of what was put before her and only desired to do that which will please the king, how many of us can truthfully do that without our greediness for the splendor of the kingdom getting in the way? But Esther did without compromise that was why she attained such goals in life.

          You will find favor with the king when you sincerely seek to please him and do his will, you will also be the first to hear every decision he is about to make for you and for others, just one night with the king can change the entire course of your life, your destiny will be re-written to have a positive impact in your generation and in time to come.

          There was so many ladies that came for the same interview/process that Esther came for, they all had chaperons like she did, but at the end of the whole exercise Esther, was chosen not because she was beautiful or had the right connections, she was chosen because she had a passion for the kingdom and she solely desired to please the king, she followed her chaperons (hagai) instructions to the letter, and because she (Esther) believed that hagai already knows the heart of the king and how to get to it.

          Success is not measured by potential but by how much passion you have for the potential, as long as you are passionate about the things that concerns the king, no matter who hates you, the king will forever love you. For a moment, just forget about the splendor of the kingdom and chase after the heart of the king because that is where the resources you need to attain your God ordained destiny lies.

PHCN SAGA (LIVING IN LAGOS 2)

Hmmmmm PHCN or NEPA as we used to know it is at it again o.

I live in Igbo-Efon area of Lekki, Lagos and for the past 2 weeks we have not seen NEPA lite blink for a second.

We have been speculating on what the cause of the power outage is, so i decided to call a friend that works with PHCN VI, to help me find out what the problem is, since everyone is acting as if its a normal occurence.

I can't even think of how much we have spent in the past weeks running the generator cos I have food (soups and stew) in my freezer that i cannot afford to see them go bad. Another thing is, I must have the tv and at least fan on when I'm at home which is every evening and weekends. Now you have a rough estimate of how much I have spent generating my own power.

My PHCN friend finally called me back that I should brace myself for a long wait cos the under ground cable that supplies power to our end is bad, and that our Atgungi PHCN district have contacted the head quaters cos its not what they can do by themself.

It felt like someone just gave me a huge blow in my mid section, cos this to me seems like its going to be a long wait (and waste of hard earned money on generating my own power). When and how long will it take the head quarters to solve this problem? when do we expect to have power back? Are we in the priority list and what number are we on in the priority list if we are in it? so many questions keep goin back and forth in my head. The cost of living keeps increasing on a daily basis, but our income does not increase on a daily basis.... people are been fired from their jobs daily, some poeple are taking a pay cut just to keep their jobs, now we have this huge bill in front of us: we pay rent annually (this happens only in Nigeria) cos every other place I have been to; rent is paid monthly, pay kids school fees, buy food and suplies that are not cheap, generate your own power, buy cloths, pay medical bills, things just keeps cropping up.

With all this happening to you, you're expected to still keep a good attitude, smile and wave at everyone as if nothing is going on........damn...... Nigerians are the most resilient people I have ever seen or met cos trust me if our conterparts in the US & UK go through 20% of what we see as normal life, they will all commit suicide.......most times I just think to myself that God has indeed been gracious to us as Nigerians, we have developed thick skins cos all we do is just complain about it for a while and then move on (what's next?).

I have a strong believe that some day soon, all this will be a thing of the past.......If not for the Lord who has been on our side...............(complete the statement)

Cheers guys and have a good day.

TALKING IN PICTURES

Cloudy day in Jo'burg South Africa

My Visit to Old Trafford

Spanish Lunch @ Old Traford Mall

Road trip to Warri, Delta State, Nigeria

More pictures in the future.

LIVING IN LAGOS!!!

In this day and age I wonder how most people survive with the cost of living in Lagos. How have we been able to make life worth living and having the basic necessities of life?

Now I am beginning to understand that for you to succeed in this part of town you must have the right partnership either in marriage or in business.

Rent in Lagos is not cheap at all, in most cases your one month salary can’t even pay your rent for one year (it has always been my mindset that 1 month salary should pay 1 year rent) and you are yet to add feeding, clothing, transportation, diesel/fuel for the generator (as there is never power from phcn), toll charges (for those of us in the Lekki area), fuel subsidy, school fees e.t.c.

You ask yourself how will a single parent with 3 children survive, or how will a bachelor or spinster survive with all this bills hanging around their neck? And we all want to live a decent life in a good upscale neighborhood, so our kids can mix with the right kind of people.

This is the major reason why a man will definitely want to marry a successful woman (a proper helpmeet) because he cannot pay the bills alone; he needs support to be able to survive living in Lagos, since we are not as lucky as our foreign counterparts that work 2 to 3 jobs to make ends meet, here 1 job takes your whole day and at the end of it all the end does not justify the means..

I understand that most people have hit the jackpot and don’t seem to be fazed or have no clue about what I am talking about, this topic is not for you; I am talking about those in the middle and low class.

Most of us went to public schools in our growing up days but we can’t even send our kids to public schools now because the standard of public education in Nigeria has fallen to zero%.

Nothing seem to work anymore, you need to develop a thick skin to live in this times, and we are the bravest people I know on planet earth cos no matter what we go through, we still keep a good attitude and always hope on things to turn around even if it takes years.

Family vacation is now a luxury that so many cannot even think about, but we believe that one day we will definitely take that trip. Our faith and Hope is all we have to help us through all the tough times, so let’s keep them ALIVE for someday soon there will be a manifestation.

Keep the peace and stay on top.  

THE LIFE OF A CAREER MUM

Hello peeps,

I'm glad to be back, been away on maternity leave......(big wide grin on my face now). My last post was on the 5th of March and my bundle of joy arrived on the 7th, God has indeed been faithful and awesome in my life.....

Hmmmm my topic says "The Life of a Career Mum". It is indeed amazing how your life make a 360 degree turn once there is a baby in the picture, because all of a sudden you are no longer thinking about you and your spouse alone, there is a very small human that suddenly demands a 110% of your time and attention.

In some cases if you are not careful, you tend to ask yourself how you arrived at this phase without been prepared. Trust me nothing prepared me for this and I have always been actively involved in the lives of my nieces and nephews but this is a whole new ball game cos its mine 100% so I cant take a break for a second.

During my maternity leave, thanks to my mum (God bless her plenty) I matured and learned very fast, I am more patient and always think about the concequences of any action before I carry it out.  In the last weeks of my leave, it was very difficult to comprehend the idea of leaving my 3 months old baby to go back to work......it did give me sleepless nights because i was faced with either hiring an elderly live-In Nanny to care for him or drop him off at a Creche every morning on my way to work.

It was indeed a tough decision cos i had to sample opinions of working mum's too that have had to make such decisions in the past and majority of them did the Creche drop off and are satisfied with the idea.

My major concern is that as i was growing up, my mum was always there cos she ran her own business and always takes me along as a baby to wherevere she was going for her meetings or appointment, but in my day I cant even take my son to work becos my company does not have a Creche facility.......now I am faced with the option of leaving my son to COMPLETE strangers for the long hours I'll be at work.

I have actually decided to make peace with the idea and trust God more to protect my son and surround him with loving, patient and generous people.

I know there are other mums out there that feel the same way, let's share our experiences and learn one or two things from each other.