Hello! How are you doing today? And happy Saturday! 🥳Thank you for walking this journey with me. I received heartwarming feedback on yesterday’s post, which gave me the encouragement I needed to see this through to the end. Even if it’s one person who gets to read it per day, I’m more than grateful.

I mentioned that I was going to check in today to see if we answered the questions from Day 2. It’s okay if you haven’t done it yet, because I haven’t either, but I’m definitely going to find time to write down my answers. 

Today’s post is about asking. It’s funny because I was mentioning to someone that I had no idea what I was going to write for Day 4, and she said, “The Holy Spirit will bring the inspiration.” And voila, He did bring the inspiration. 

We’ve always heard the word ask; it’s even written in the Bible, and my role today is to remind you by sharing just a tadbit of what asking has gotten me. You don’t always get what you ask for, but you might learn the answer if you ask. 

Yesterday, I shared about the miracle of my master’s and how God opened that door. One thing I have now realized is that God opens a door, but He expects you to play your part in keeping it open. So my master’s is in Sustainability Studies, and I got in with the intent of focusing on sustainable healthcare, but I also kept an open mind that if, along the course of study, I found something else that piques my interest, I wasn’t going to be rigid about it. 

Lo and behold, an assignment that we had to do in school led me to discover climate change and climate adaptation and resilience. I would never have guessed or thought of that. But that’s not really where I’m going today. I woke up one morning, and I heard God say, “A research opportunity is coming.” Well, I thanked Him for it because I had applied for a couple of student assistant roles. And I thought that He was referring to that.

A few days later, I heard him say, “I said a research job is coming; go look for it.” I didn’t need to be told twice. I immediately went on LinkedIn and Google and typed student research jobs. Till today, I don’t know what I typed, but I suddenly found an article from a professor in Germany talking about climate change and health effects in Africa. It was like I was dreaming. DDK, my dearest Pro-Coach, and Mum will call it prophetic Googling. It was just a few weeks ago that my brain started tuning toward climate change and its health effects, and now I’m reading from a renowned professor in this field about it. It was a no-brainer to write to him. Looking back, the courage I had to send that email stemmed from being in the community I belong to. You can’t listen to DDK and not have the audacity to do bold things.

So I wrote, explaining my interest and asking if I could volunteer in any of the projects. He apparently is the head of a research center. Before I knew it, I was contacted for an interview. The professor had sent my email to the head of the climate change and health division. I can’t forget the interview because we started the conversation in English and we ended in German, and I was like, God, what is this with this language? 😂. They couldn’t offer a student assistant role, but I said I didn’t mind; I was going to volunteer.

That single act of asking has opened many opportunities for me. The research center became my external partner for the second semester project I had to do; they provided me with a critical letter of recommendation for something important I was applying for. My first assignment with them was to co-author an article that a respected journal accepted. It will be my first academic paper when it comes out. And I have a strong feeling that I’m just getting started. 

All of these were already in God’s plan, but He needed me to make that ask. The door was already opened; He just needed me to knock so that he could confirm that I’m interested. My challenge for you today is “Ask Anyway.” We won’t always get a yes, but we only need that one yes! That one yes that changes your life for good, so take that bold step and ask!

You can already guess today’s scripture.

Matthew 7:7 NLT

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Bis morgen🥰