21 Days of July

We made it 🥳. It’s “we” at this point. I wouldn’t have made it this far without all of your encouragement. Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for being the best village. Today’s post is all about gratitude, not for how the last 365 days have gone, because my birthday is tomorrow 🥳, but for all that has been. I’m thankful for the highs, because God used them as confirmation that He’s with me. I’m also thankful for the lows because even in those moments, I see God’s hand steadily holding me through and carrying me. Today’s gratitude will be in five buckets Grateful to God:  This is not the cliché “Thank you, God” kind of gratitude but the deep-reckoning kind of gratitude that says, “It’s you, God, or nothing.” Thank you, God, for calling me by your name. Thank you, God, for giving me a new identity. Thank you, God, for giving me a new name. Thank you, God, for guiding me. Thank you, God, for correcting me and bringing me to order. Thank you, God, for choosing me. Thank you, God, for ordaining me. Thank you, God, for providing for me. Thank you, God, for showing me the wonders of your word. Thank you, God, for making me a voice. My gratitude list is endless. I’m eternally grateful to Him who does not relent in His love. Grateful to Family: I haven’t seen my immediate family in 11 years, but gosh, am I grateful for them. I’m grateful for their love that carried me through in difficult seasons. I’m thankful for how proud they are of me. I’m thankful for the strong bond of love that God has forged in us. I’m thankful for how we show up for one another. It’s the one thing I feared would dissipate as we grew older, but it has even grown stronger. I’m thankful for my mum and my siblings. I’m thankful for my dad, even though he’s no longer with us. The lessons I learned from him are still carrying me through. I’m thankful that I know that no matter how bad it gets, I can run back to my family and they will have my back, no questions asked. Thank you, Jesus, for sending me to the Newton Family. I’m forever grateful Grateful to Friends I lucked out on this one; I’m not going to lie. God saw my journey and sent the best people to me as friends. I don’t take it for granted, and God Himself is very quick to correct me the moment I’m beginning to slack off on a friendship. Friends that I can count on, friends that have my back. Friends that I can be vulnerable with, friends that cover me. Friends that bring out the best in me. Friends that are able to call out my nonsense. Friends that I plan to grow old with, so help me, God. Thank you, Jesus, for sending me these precious ones. Thank you for the bond of friendship that you have forged in my friendships. I will continue to cherish them as the treasures that they are, and I promise to always give my best to them. Grateful for my season: I needed to write this one here as a memoir to God that I am grateful for this season. Those particularly close to me would understand why, because they have a front-row seat to all that has happened. Yesterday, I was in a moment of reflection, and I was grateful for what God has forged in me. I had written in a post about how God came quickly to correct my stiff-neckedness and how that correction allowed me to take a different posture. I’m so grateful that He corrected me early and I heeded. I was watching a Mount Zion movie one time. I can’t even remember the name, but it was a scene where someone was waiting for a promise, and another was consoling and encouraging them, saying how we wait matters to God. God will eventually bring to pass what He promised, and the man was saying something in the line that when it happens, I want to know that I waited with joy and with purpose. Gosh, that stayed with me, and it further confirmed my determination to enjoy my seasons. You know, I’ve asked God a few times if I’m doing and learning everything I’m supposed to be doing and learning in this season. I might not have done all or learned everything, but as I reflect today, I’m extremely grateful for the joy, the resilience, and the heart that I have carried in this particular season. It was not always so, which makes it extra special. I’m thankful for the growth this season has shown me.  Grateful for my journey: One of the requests I got was to write a letter to my younger self. Yesterday I started writing it, but I couldn’t continue because I wasn’t ready to confront some parts, and I also felt like the letter wasn’t finished. Maybe I’ll get to it sometime. My journey has been an interesting one full of twists and turns, but as I look back, I can see God’s hands clearly over my journey. In the peaks, in the valleys, in the turns that didn’t make sense, and even in the mistakes. It’s the reason why God will forever be God for me. I have a running joke that when I get to heaven, I’ll give God some exam paper to answer all of my “why” questions. But even at that. God couldn’t have written the story any better, especially when some of those chapters didn’t make sense. I listened to a panel session a few years ago, and something one of the panelists said has not left me. He said it’s because we’re reading the story of Joseph or David now in its entirety that we know that things ended well for them. Joseph and David, as they

Are you dancing in the Lord? I am dancing in the Lord. Amen😂. I’m not sure how that song came, but it was the first thing that came to mind as I started typing, and I knew that I had to leave it in. Day twenty of twenty-one, and my heart is full because what was a thought in my head at the beginning of the year is one day from being complete. One of the things this challenge has strengthened is that I can keep my word, and for me, it’s comforting because lately, there have been some areas where I haven’t been keeping my word, and now I’m more committed to it. DDK would call it the principle of transferable competence. You can take the transfer of what worked in one area of your life and see how to apply the same principles in another area. And in the sense of accountability, I’m committing to find one hour every day to continue writing, so help me God. You see, one of my friends and sisters told me about a time-tracking app called “Clockify,” and it is really good. I have only been using it for about a week now, but it has shown me something really profound. I knew that I had been taking about an hour or less to write and publish each blog post, but I wasn’t sure. What the Clockify tracker helps you to do is start the timer once you are about to start a task, and you stop it when you’re done. It’s so good because you can actually have data about how you logged your time each day on your core activities, and it helps you see where you’re spending your time. It can show you how much time you’re spending with God. So back to my writing, I started logging my time from Day 15, and it showed me that I use roughly about an hour. If I could find one hour everyday eveb when I was tired, to find the time to write because I wanted to keep my word. I should be able to find one hour daily no matter what. Maybe I should start an accountability group for this, called “One Hour Daily.” I can already see the vision, and we can try it for one month. Let’s do it for August. What do you say? I realize that I thrive in accountability. If you’re in, send me a DM, and maybe we could challenge ourselves to do something for just one hour. It can be anything. Like I mentioned in one of the posts. I really want to steward my writing. I might or might not post what I write. I can finally start on the resources I’ve been wanting to create but kept procrastinating. If I get at least 5 responses, then we will start in August. Just for August, as I don’t want to overdo it. Interestingly, I am just getting to what I want to write about, but I think God took us on a detour. This morning, as I was doing my devotion, God reminded me of a word, and it felt like, yeah, I can write and share about it, and maybe it might just encourage someone. One of those days when I was reading about the parable of the sower in the Bible. It’s a familiar parable, and you can check it out in Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:2-20, and Luke 8:4-15. One of the striking things that I love about God’s word is how the revelation differs. One day you’re reading a scripture, and something is jumping out at you. Another day, it’s the same scripture and a different lesson or revelation. It’s the multifaceted nature of the Word, and I love it so much. Back to the parable, one of the things we’ve been taught about this is the fact that we need to have a right heart and “soil.” The other thing that we have been taught is that the harvest comes in different folds; we understand the thirty, sixty, and hundredfold. And on this particular day, God was opening my eyes to another defining angle that He reminded me of again this morning. From the parable, it was already clear that the seed is the word of God. But the word is a combination of different kinds of seeds. Let’s use what we learned in biology and agriculture. So a mango seed is different from an apple and from any other plant or fruit. So when a farmer or a gardener plants Mango or cucumber, he or she expects, at the end of the season, to harvest what they planted. The expectation of harvest after a mango seed is the harvest of mangoes. If an apple comes at the end, something went wrong. God, during that revelation, was opening my eyes not to relent until I see with my eyes the seed of His word I have planted. I understand that in Agric is pretty straightforward due to consistency of times and seasons; the farmers already expect when to expect the harvest of whatever they have planted. It’s not the same for us when we’re waiting on a word. It can drag for years, and I’m going to use a very personal example to make this land. It takes about 5-8 years for a mango seed planted to bear its first fruit. I know this experientially because when we moved to our former house in Nigeria in 2000, for some reason, I’m not sure why my parents wanted to plant a mango tree, but they did. And I have a vivid recollection of when it was planted. Year after year, nothing happened, but I can remember the steady growth from when it became a young tree to a full-grown tree with just leaves till when the signs of the first fruit came. It took seven years, if I’m not mistaken, for that mango tree to bear its

Just like that, we have two more posts after this 🥹. I thought long and hard about what to write today. I had two topics in mind, but I felt that the timing wasn’t right. I knew I wanted to write about my Mum because, beyond her being my mother, there are some characteristics I’ve observed that have transcended all through my years that show her heart and the kind of person that she is.  If you already know me well, you will know that my mum means the world to me. And today I want to share some of the profound lessons I’ve learned from observing my mum and how I have carried them to heart. When I wrote about how I show up, what I didn’t write then was how my mom was the model I saw growing up, and these are a few lessons I can share. The principle of love:  My Mum loves, and she loves to the full. I think God gave her a special dose of it for her assignment. She loves those who are hers and those who don’t belong to her. Even when she gets burned by people, her forgiveness is so fast that sometimes I’m angry on her behalf, and she’ll go on to say, “Seun, no one can offend me.” I sometimes keep the grudge on her behalf. Sorry, Mum 😂. My mum loves freely, and it’s beautiful to see. The principle of honor:I learned how to honour from my mum and how not to look down on anyone. Following my mum to work from such a young age showed me a different side of her that I would otherwise not have seen. My mum would greet and treat everyone with so much respect that it became second nature. No one is too high up there, and no one is at the bottom of the ladder. In her eyes, God created everyone the same, and for that reason, everyone is accorded the honour they deserve, from the janitor to the chief medical officer. I saw how she related to the lady selling something outside the hospital, how she knows the names of her children and sometimes knows what is happening to them The principle of community: It’s a running joke in my house that because of my mum, we can never have a small celebration. You see, the love and honour she naturally gives translates into community. I’ve seen time and again how she has shown up for people. I’m actually curious about my mum’s contact list because it’s plenty 😂. My mum is the queen of showing up and fiercely loyal. And one of the perks is the gift of connection that has given her. My mum might not have an answer to a solution, but I can almost bet that she has someone on her contact list whom she can call or reach out to, and it would be solved.  The principle of hard work: You can’t be idle where Mrs. Newton is. Your hands and/or your mind must find something to do. It’s the reason why she couldn’t let me stay home when I didn’t get my degree of choice. What do you mean, stay home? To do what? Growing up, our house became the correctional center for relatives who were stubborn or struggling. They will literally be sent to our home to be under my mum’s tutelage for a while because underneath the love, honor, respect, etc. is a very principled woman. If you were rude before, not under my mum; if you were lazy or just stubborn, not under my mum. The first thing that shocks them is that my mum can love and still correct us. And I see how they literally transform after a few years of living with us. It’s not just for recalcitrant people. It’s the principle she carries everywhere. Children whose parents initially didn’t want to send them to school ended up going all the way to the university because my mum encouraged their parents and didn’t relent until they took action. Young mentees who come under her tutelage and they go on to do great things. My mum herself is not relenting on her dreams but is committed to pursuing everything she desires. The reason why I don’t give up easily is that I see my mum and I’m encouraged to keep going.  I’m so proud of my mum, not just as her daughter but because of the genuinely good and kind person that she is, and I’m just privileged that she’s my mum. I know she’s a mother to many, but she’s also mine, and I love her so much.  I’ve spent years observing my mum; I learned kindness from her, I learned how to give from her, and I learned how to love God by just seeing her pure devotion. I remember saying to myself that if I can be half of what my mum is, I’ve made it for real. While I cannot do everything she does because there are a few people we need to give a knock on their head, and my mum will say Forgive them😂.I’m not ready for that part yet 😂. I’ll take these lessons, and I hope that they continue to guide and shape who I become. I hope you can do so too. I love you, Mrs Newton. 🥰 I really do 🥹. See you all tomorrow!

Look at us 🥰. One blog post at a time, and we’re almost there. I absolutely love what this challenge has done to my mind and to my will. When there is a will, there is a way. Today’s post is really sobering, and writing this for me is not only humbling, but it’s also something I must never forget in the journey called life. Have you ever wondered about the criteria that are being used in life, even when you don’t know about them? I’m going to share a revelation that has continued to change my life because every time I think about it, it leads me to sobriety and to repentance. I’m going to use 3 different scriptures God used to explain the criteria of destiny. I’m only going to share the scenarios, but I’ll encourage you to read the chapters again when you have the time Exodus 18: The Leadership Selection Cue in Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, who came to pay Moses a visit. He saw how Moses was stressed out from morning to night judging the Israelites, and he gave the recommendation that revolutionized leadership. Many times, people talk or preach about how it’s a blessing to have mentors and teachers who can tell you what to do. But my focus for today is the selection criteria  itself that Jethro mentioned Let’s look at Exodus 18:21-22 NIV “21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.” Verse 21 said to select capable men, men who fear God, men who are trustworthy, etc. If we go down a few more verses to verses 24 and 25, Moses heeded to the voice of his father-in-law, and he chose capable men and made them heads over the people.  How did Moses know who to choose if they had not already been exhibiting these traits? You can already see where I’m going. Let’s take a look at the second example Daniel 1: The Palatial Selection You already know the story of Daniel. Daniel’s story was the first one God used to teach me this selection. Nebuchadnezzar asked them in Daniel 1, from verse 3. Let’s take a look at that too 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well-informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. [a] 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. I’m sure you can already see the pattern. First, it was only those from the royal and noble families that were specially selected. Secondly, there was a criterion that needed to be met to be selected. What baffles me the most is that the King ordered someone from his own court to bring them. How did Asphenaz know whom to bring? It means he must have consulted someone who was a critical assessor of these characteristics and knew who to select. The criteria already filtered them. People are actually watching you and can already access who you are. It wasn’t in that moment that they were looking for who to choose. The criteria already floated some people to the top. The final example is also an interesting one. Let’s go to Acts Acts 1: The Apostolic Selection Cue the death of Jesus and the need to replace Judas Iscariot. Verses 21-23 21 Therefore, it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” 23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. You can already see the pattern; before they nominated, they had their criteria. Someone who had been there from the beginning. Matthias, when he chose to follow Jesus, didn’t know that he would end up an apostle, especially when Jesus himself hand-picked the twelve, but a day came for him to be nominated, and he had to pass certain criteria. Every time I remember these scenarios, it makes me shudder and puts me on the path that ensures that I am consistently growing. DDK will call it private preparation for public commendation, and it’s true. Nothing happens by chance, and it’s the commitment we make to ourselves that solidifies our footprint on the path of destiny.  We see this happen everywhere, at work and in school, when opportunities arise. There’s always a criterion, and occasionally it’s not even known. How much more with God. It’s what we do daily that sets us up for destiny. I hope we’re encouraged to continue to put in the work. Because the day of the announcement is coming soon. I’ll leave you with the 3 scriptures I’ve already shared, and I’ll see you tomorrow. 

Today was the first time that it took me a while to figure out what to write. I initially had an idea, but it would require a little more intentionality, and I wanted to do that topic justice. I’ll probably write it tomorrow. As I was thinking about it, I finally decided what to write about. This is the most spontaneous post I have written because I started with one thought and it completely morphed into another. Have you ever been in the wilderness? Where nothing is happening, things are not going as planned, and you can only hear crickets. Complete silence. It was a season in your life when things were working well, but then everything suddenly changed. It was a season when you looked at your life and felt you should have been far ahead of where you are now. From my short experience in the wilderness season, I can tell you it’s not fun. But I’ve also learned that your response in that season determines many things and, in fact, shapes the rest of your life One day in December 2022, I came face to face with a decision on how I was going to respond in my wilderness season. After the events of the war and my coming to Germany, it didn’t take long to know that God had gently ushered me into the wilderness. As I had written in some of my previous posts, God was so generous with His word and comfort, but like a loving Father that He is, He also knew when to call me to order when my complaints began to fall into borderline sin. That particular December, I looked at everything happening, and it looked so bleak. I had let worry cloud my judgment and thought that I was sinking into despair. At that particular moment, it felt like my life had ended and nothing good could ever happen again to me. I had called one of my friends, and I cried to her. She encouraged me, but God knew that it was time to bring the rod. He was no longer sparing the rod. I knew from medicine that when your soul is troubled, it sometimes tells on you physically.  You see, I started having severe neck pains. Pains that made me unable to move my neck. I had to move my entire body just to turn my head. One of those days, I heard the word “stiff-necked.” Knowing that it was a word in the Bible, I googled it, and behold, I received the most severe reprimand of my life. Allow me to share the full verse with you. Exodus 33:3 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.” I can’t forget this word and what it did to me. God told Moses to go to the land, but He wouldn’t go with them because the Israelites were stiff-necked. And in that moment God said, “This is how you are behaving, and you have a choice: you can either stay in the wilderness for 40 days or for 40 years. The choice is yours.” Whew! What a good God, who can call His children to order! That was the very moment I knew that I was not going to let my attitude elongate my season. That was where I knew that God was doing something, and I was going to cooperate with Him. Were there harder days after this moment? Oh yes, but my disposition changed to that of gratitude and also reflection. I knew that there was a purpose to this season of my life, and God needed me pruned for what is coming and where He is sending me. I needed this experience in my life because God will come for the lessons I had learned in a future timeline. My heart softened; I embraced the wilderness with so much joy that if you were not close to me, you never would have guessed what was happening.  The wilderness bares you open; you see who you really are, what you say you know or believe about God, and what idols or personalities you have held on to. The wilderness prunes you because God is on your matter, and lastly, the wilderness refines you. You really come out a different person. I’m so grateful for that season of my life. I’m truly grateful for the pruning and refining that has changed me. I’m grateful for the invaluable lessons that I learned. The most important one is that God is with me and that all things will truly work together for my good.  I’m not sure what hand life has dealt you! But I know that when we walk with God, we won’t reap a harvest of emptiness, even when things look bleak. God is there! I encourage you to embrace your season. Joy truly comes in the morning. Two scriptures came to me, and I might as well share both. Psalm 30:5 AMP For His anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may endure for a night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. Isaiah 43:2 NIV When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Love, love, love you! See you tomorrow

Welcome to day 16, my beloved readers. The light at the end of the tunnel is almost visible, and I’m truly excited for not only what I will write in the coming days but also what I will continue to write about going forward. I’m looking forward to what unfolds as I steward this gift. Some days, it’s very clear what I should write about, and some other days, like today, I’m torn between two choices and weighing in my spirit which direction to take. Speaking to one of my dear friends today solidified what I finally leaned towards as my choice, and it almost felt like I got a nod from God to go for it.  One day, I’m not sure what year it was, I was ruminating about one of the decisions I had to make. I can’t even remember what it was, but I remember that it was going on the borderline of worry because it was a big decision. While thinking within myself on what to do, I heard God say, ”Do you know I have a resume with you and that you also have a resume with me? At first it didn’t make sense, but it later clicked. What is a resume or a CV? Let’s get the dictionary meaning. A resume (or résumé) is a concise document that summarizes an individual’s work experience, education, and skills. It acts as a marketing tool used by job seekers to land interviews. We all know what it is; we have probably submitted hundreds of them, depending on the intensity of our job search. It shows a track record of what we’ve done in the aim of convincing the interviewers that we’re capable of what we say we are applying for.  In that moment when it clicked, God took me in a flash down the memory lane, and I could see the track record of the work He had done. The miracles, experiences, breakthroughs, promises, and provision that God had done in my life flashed through my eyes as much as I could remember. Suddenly, the problem that was looking like a mountain or an impossible solution easily became solvable. Not because I already had the answer, but it became a clear, confident assurance in my mind that the God who brought me out of past situations will bring me out again. And in the same vein, we also have a resume with God; every single act of obedience, every single step of faith,, is working in our favour in building our experience bank with God.  It’s a two-way dance that only God could have created. Because I said yes in the past to God’s instruction, the next yes becomes easier to say. On God’s side, the more we say yes, the more He brings more assignments of destiny to us. Let’s take a biblical example of David. On one side, David saw Goliath as, “The God who helped me to kill the lion and the bear will help me kill Goliath.” On God’s side, the David that can kill a lion and a bear, I can present a Goliath to him, and I can trust that he will handle it. When David passed that test, it led to a destiny-defining encounter that we still speak of today. And it’s the same for us, in our everyday lives. The more we trust God, the more we dare to believe and plunge into the deep, knowing that He will carry us. The more we say yes, the more God brings our way to do.  My dearly beloved, is there something that is posing a challenge to you at the moment? Don’t fret; I encourage you to go back and pull out God’s resume that you have and see that God can work it out. Also, is there an assignment or a task that God is asking you to do that seems too big or impossible? God is bringing that your way because you have a resume of past proof with him. Don’t worry about the quantity or quality of your yeses. They mean something to God, and He has that unshakable trust that you can and will handle it. I’ll leave you with Hebrews 13:8 NIV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Keep building that resume with God; He is already doing the same with you, and you’ll be astonished at where you end on the path of destiny.  See you tomorrow. 

Look at us! We’re officially 6 days away from the end of this challenge. Will I miss it? I’m not sure. I probably will have to come back to reflect on it. One thing I pondered was the amount of material I suddenly have as proof of work. That in itself is a benefit I didn’t even consider until yesterday. Suppose I were going to write and publish a post consistently, once a week. It would take me 15 weeks, which is almost 4 months, to get all the posts I’ve written, and I’m very grateful for doing this. I might probably set myself up for a few more challenges like these. Maybe I’ll do a reading challenge or something else next.  Back to today’s post, the handwriting on the wall. This post is basically me sharing how I realized that I could write, or when I finally realized that my writing was a latent gift, and it came on a quest back to my roots. When people say they enjoy writing or love to write, that was never me. For me, it was reading. I loved to read, and my appetite when I was growing up was for novels. I enjoyed reading. My parents, especially my mom, would buy me books when I was as young as 5 years old, and I enjoyed reading them. I’ve lost count of the novels I’ve read in my years, even though I’m trying to add more self-help books and other books that would advance some specific areas of my life to my library. While my entire family is a family of readers, I noticed that two of my brothers were exceptional writers. I always enjoyed the poems or the thoughts that came out of them. At that time, I just concluded that they were the writers and I was the reader. Reading for me is like medication or food. I can literally stay up all day trying to finish a 600-page novel. I have seen that it has not necessarily translated to reading non-fiction, and I’m currently working on that 🫣. I promise to do better 😂. As an inquisitive person, I had always wondered how two of my brothers got this gift. It was not a question I asked audibly, but it was a silent wonder in my heart for many years. This was because I couldn’t see it anywhere else in my immediate family, at least, so I thought. But I carried this question in my heart.  The answer came most unexpectedly through an intentional ask. In 2022, when I was taking the Unbundling The Decade course by my Pro-Coach DDK, we got to one of her frameworks called the PRESSME Model, and the R here stands for “Root.” She was asking us to go back to our roots and ask questions of our parents and grandparents and see what our history shows us about our lives. I took on this challenge and had a very long call with my mum, asking her to explain our origins and our history as she remembers it. And it was a treasure of information I’m grateful to have. Many things began to make sense, and that’s how I stumbled on the answer to the question I’ve always asked myself.  Apparently, my maternal grandfather was the secretary and scribe to the Ooni of Ife of his time, and at that time a lot of writing was done. My uncle was the secretary to the Ooni that succeeded the one my grandfather worked with. Now it makes sense. Now it makes so much sense. I left that call realizing that I not only found my answer, but I could also key into that heritage if I wanted to. The gift of writing was mine for the taking if I wanted to press into what was already there.  That call also gave me something about myself that I’ve held on to. My mum had always called me “princess,” and I genuinely assumed it was an endearment; however, I am actually royalty, as all four of my grandparents are linked from different royal kingdoms across Nigeria. It gave me the confidence of being both terrestrial and celestial royalty. My heavenly Father is the King of kings, but so is my earthly heritage. That call gave me the answers to many more questions I didn’t even know I was asking. My roots gave me a Pandora box of treasures.  So when people started saying I write well. It made sense. And my personal goal has become to nurture this latent gift and develop it fully. I’m going to write more!   My charge for you today is to go on that quest, back to your roots. The answers to the questions you’ve been asking are waiting for you.  Luke 3:38 NLT Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God. We all come from a rich heritage! Go discover what is already yours. See you tomorrow. 🥰

Gosh! By this time next week, we’ll be rounding up this challenge. I still can’t believe that what started as a thought is almost over. Welcome to Day 14, my beloved readers, family, and friends. Today I shared a bit with my team at work about how the challenge has been going. I’ve not necessarily considered myself a writer, and it was just a few years ago that it dawned on me that I have a gift. I think I’ll make this the post for tomorrow. Anyway, I was sharing with them how much easier it has gotten to get my thoughts out. While I have not necessarily struggled to write, it was a bit stretching at the beginning, coordinating my thoughts together, but I noticed how much easier it became. The moment I settle on what I want to share for that day and I get on my laptop, I can sense the flow even if I have no clue what to write. And we concluded that consistency is truly the bedrock of growth. It’s the biggest lesson I have learned from this challenge, and I am also committing to it. Write more consistently. That’s the goal after I’m done with this challenge and now that I have my accountability village. Why I show up. That’s the essence of today’s post. I wasn’t planning to write about this in today’s post at all, but the request came twice. The first request came from one of my mentees, with whom I spoke on Saturday; the second was a text message I received today, which was also a request. “Write about how you show up.” I’ve gotten asked this question several times. People write in my DMs first, cheering me on for it but then also asking how I do it. I think the reason why I’ve been hesitant is that on my own part, I’ve not seen it as a big deal. There’s no code or anything. But the more people reach out to ask me this, the more I probe, checking myself and also asking the Holy Spirit. This will be the first time I’m writing or sharing this anywhere. I’ve come up with a few thoughts that undergird how I show up.  The first is honestly my heart. Even before I knew what this meant, I understood very quickly as a young girl that if my heart is not in something, there’s no way I can show up. I genuinely don’t know how to do anything halfway or partially. It’s either I’m in, or I’m not. Once my heart is somewhere, in a cause or with someone. You can rest assured that my entirety is there. My mind, my resources, my intellect. The funny thing I realized is that it’s not even about people and things that make sense. Even for random things like sports. The moment gymnastics and basketball settled in my spirit as a sport to like, everything followed. I’ve woken up at 2 am and 4 am to watch international competitions. During the 2016 Rio Olympics, I was in Graz, Austria, doing my medical electives. Guess who would wake up at 2 am or stay up late just to watch Simone Biles perform gymnastics? Yes, me 😂. After I realized this, it became a conversation between me and God and refining what my heart becomes involved in. Because I cannot be everywhere, not with the kind of intensity I bring. The second thing I would say is my loyalty and my commitment. I’m extremely loyal, and once I give my word, I back it with my commitment. This one touches me because God gave me this trait, and He has backed me up by sending me to genuine people who have my best interest at heart, and for that I’m eternally grateful. You can count on Seun; you can really count on me. This show-up, God gave me as a gift. It took a while, but I got to understand that I’m a daughter of encouragement. God wired me this way because He knows that the people He will send me to, either to serve or to work for or with or to even be friends with, will need this particular kind of support. So it has even gone beyond the heart to this is how God has gifted me to serve you. So my showing up has gone from emotions to commitment. I would give an account for how I use this gift. Everything changed the moment I realized that this is a gift from God. It is my worship to God when I show up. The last factor, which is the most important one, is the God factor. If God shows me a person, a cause, or anything to do. I’m going to show up. I’m a naturally inquisitive person. I ask a lot of why, especially in my conversations with God. Why this person, why this place, why this season, etc. This anchors me because I need my heart to be in it. While it goes beyond my heart, I can’t also pretend to myself. I would not genuinely do anything that my heart is not in, and so when I ask these why questions, God is also committed to respond because He also knows that if Seun’s heart is not in it, it will not flow. What do I do on the days when my heart is no longer there? Oh, I question it; I take it back to God. Is the season over? If yes, then I make peace with it; if no, then I go back to pray, talk to myself, and gradually work my heart back to commitment.  One of my aunts said something to me in 2021. She said, you know, one of the things I like about you is that, though you take your time to make a decision, once you make it, you rarely go back on your word. And it’s the truth, and

Hello, my beloved! Welcome to Day 13. I have finally reached a point where I have to write something to post, no matter what happens. For the first few days, I took the pressure off by ensuring I wrote the post a day in advance and just put the final touches on the edits. This is why the posts could be ready in the morning, but they have not been for the past few days, creating a new kind of pressure. But we move! Today’s post was a special request on how I was able to learn the German language. The ask was how I learned German so quickly. I don’t know if I would say I learned it fast, but I think the lesson there was that I took advantage of the opportunity that came my way. But beyond seizing the opportunity, there were some other factors, and the combination of these factors made me endure even when it was hard. The first factor was feedback. Gosh, this feedback was a very hard pill to swallow. You see, I had spent 9 years in Ukraine, and I couldn’t really speak the language. There were many factors associated with the situation, but I had not only received one harsh piece of feedback, but the person also sent it to my mum. The person I was staying with when I first got to Germany shared their opinion not only harshly but also unkindly. The summary was that I could live somewhere for 9 years and not relate well with the community. I remember calling a friend and crying because too many things were happening, and I just felt it could have been delivered in a better way, and most importantly, my mum should have been left out of it. And my friend gently mentioned that though the feedback was harsh and not all true, I should focus on what I can take away from it.  The second factor was my own personal appraisal. One of the gifts I have had, even before I knew it was a gift, is the ability to tell myself the truth. I do a lot of introspection and self-appraisals so that I am able to unemotionally dissect where my life is not working well and see what to do to improve it. I did it after my trial year in my first uni and saw that I was off track. The months I was waiting for my visa to Ukraine, I appraised how my first Uni experience was, and I made a decision on what I was going to do better at. So it was a no-brainer to do the same self-appraisal when I left Ukraine and I got to Germany. Even in the midst of the tears and the struggle, I owed it to myself to have an honest appraisal of my time in Ukraine. It was in the appraisal that I knew that I needed to take the language seriously.  The interesting thing was that I could speak Russian to an extent. Back in Ukraine, I was the one translating for my friends, but the Russian I had learned was superficial. Ideally, a foreign student goes through a one-year intensive language course when they get to Ukraine before they start their first year. It is necessary to do this because the universities understand the need for the language. But because I transferred, I didn’t have the opportunity. My next best opportunity was when we took Russian as a subject, just like we learned French in school. One hour per week, and it was just for a year. Learning Russian this way came with its pros and cons. The upside was that because it was the everyday language, I could easily practice the little I was learning. The downside is that there was little time to practice. My medical degree was in English, my hostel was full of international students, and my church was in English. So even though I was in a different country, English was my first language. I would have had to intentionally find Russian-speaking friends, but I was sadly locked in my bubble. The funny thing was that a few months before the war broke out, I enrolled in Russian lessons. Nobody needed to tell me that if I wanted to stay and live in Ukraine, I had to step up. It was the reason why the harsh feedback hit me particularly hard. The person didn’t have all the facts. I had already made up my mind that I was going to do things differently if given the chance.  The last factor was that God did give a second chance, and I grabbed it; I was allowed to learn German for free, and I told God that I wasn’t going to misuse it. This was the opportunity I didn’t have in Ukraine. I had almost 14 months of going to school Monday to Friday, and the only thing we were learning was the language. God took it a step further and put me in a village where English is not spoken at all. I didn’t have a choice but to learn it because the moment I step out of my apartment, I say bye-bye to any form of English. In the cities, you get a bit of English translation everywhere, in the buses, trains, and some of the offices. Where I live, nothing of that sort. For almost a year, my friend had to either go with me or call an office or someone on my behalf whenever I needed something  These factors came together and put me in a position where I determined that I was going to learn the language, and it has paid off. Was it hard? Absolutely, but it has been worth it. Language is an annoying barrier, and it can be very frustrating when you can’t convey your thoughts. Am I fluent? lol no. But I communicate and am heard! Does German still sound like

Happy Sunday, Fam! And welcome to Day 12. Because today is Sunday, I’ll try to make it short and straight to the point. A few days into the writing challenge, I knew I was going to write about some of my favorite scriptures that have my heart. I’ll stick to three and maybe throw a bonus one. Faith is a key part of my existence, and God is that unshakeable anchor for me. It’s how you can find an answer for almost anything in scripture, even when you think it’s impossible.  These 3 scriptures found a way and settled inside my spirit and my soul Romans 8:28:  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. You see, every time I remember this scripture, there’s a certain level of assurance. It starts with the word “know”. To know means to be aware of, understand, or possess factual information. Then it proceeds to say, “All things,” not some, not a few, not just the pleasant ones, but all things. Every single thing works together. If we break down the word “work”. Work means the expenditure of physical or mental effort to achieve a purpose, produce a result, or perform a task. Work is an action word. So imagine everything that you are experiencing or will experience in this life coming together and the task they are performing to be for “good”. I’m not sure how and when this scripture came alive for me. But I have held on to it as one who is about to drown would hang on to a raft for dear life. All things will work together for my good.  Sometimes it can be hard. Especially when life throws its unfavourable punches, but that is when we hold on to God’s word. And I’ve chosen to hold on to this one Psalm 119:176 (TPT): “I’ll never forget what you’ve taught me, Lord, but when I wander off and lose my way, come after me, for I am your beloved!” My goodness, I’ll never forget the sobs that came out of my body when the revelation of this scripture came to me. Psalm 119 is one of the scriptures I used to avoid because of its length. I’ve read it from time to time, but one day I was praying with it in the TPT version. I mean, verse by verse. To be honest, I already started crying somewhere along the line, and it’s probably one of those encounters when you know that God was with you in that moment.So I had prayed my eyes out, and I got to the very last verse. It felt like I understood David’s heart and what made him come to that level of vulnerability. It was also what the verse implied, particularly with this translation. That I will do everything in my power to keep to God’s word, but in the event that I wander, that I miss my path, that I stray, please don’t leave me to myself. Goshh, the surrender that this scripture brings to me makes me remember what God did with the prodigal son. The vulnerability to cry out and say, Please don’t ever leave me. Come back for me when I go far away. And I’ve seen this work in my life. I’ve not strayed off the path, but there are those moments when I get tired, and I want to pause,  and then I see Him saying, you have wandered off, my beloved; come back home 🥹. Whew! Daniel 12:13: NLT “As for you, go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days, you will rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for you.” This is another tearjerker scripture for me. I also remember breaking down into tears when this particular scripture moved from my subconscious into a deep-seated revelation. Daniel, as we already know the story, moved from being a freeborn, to going into captivity, to consecrating himself, to serving in the king’s court, to rising to an administrator and advisor, to being persecuted, to being saved from the lion’s den. Only one man had to go through all these experiences, and his faith in God remained unshaken. For me, this particular gave me a sense of what matters and what I must put my priority on. It was also given, well done, my good servant; enter into the joy of your Master. The verses and the chapters preceding this were the angel telling Daniel the things to come, and then he ended by saying to Daniel, ” You don’t worry about anything else; you have done your own part, and your reward is sure to come.  There you have it, three of my favourite scriptures holding different meanings.  I said I was going to make it short, but I ended up writing a short epistle, and I hope it blessed you I’m not sure if there’s a need for Scripture of the day again. You already have 3😅. See you tomorrow🥰