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Thursday 12 June 2014

What Do You Do When You Have To Let Go?

There was once a childless man. His wife was barren. Very barren. It is the joy of a mother to carry her baby months after marriage, but this case was over the top. It was over 70 years of marriage and there were no issues. Now this man really loved God, and God had to teach him various lessons on faith, patience, obedience over the years. God promised to still give him a child, so after those gruesome, painful years; yes he made some mistakes though, had a child by the way by another woman because he was so desperate!! But after all those long years, this was it! God finally gave them a child! They were overjoyed beyond words. They threw the biggest party ever. They didn't spare any extravagance because they could afford it. Money was never their problem. He had more of it than he even knew what to do with it. The child was the only missing link, and now it had come! and a boy as at that ( no sexism intended). So life was great, moving on the fast lane. Had everything they could ever ask life! But one night, it seemed like a dream, no it wasn't real. You see this man claimed to hear from God. God had even appeared to him on one occasion, spoken vividly several times, so he should know the voice of God. But this time, he couldn't be so sure. God was telling him to kill his son??? this couldn't be real, c'mon Jesus! But he had heard this voice several times to doubt it. Lord you're asking me to throw away over 70 years of waiting, work, faith, obedience and learning, in one moment. Isaac was more than a child. He was the story of Abraham's life. He was a definition of years of wait. And God was saying let go?? no no! So on a cold misty morning, he woke his sleeping son, and while the lad was still half asleep, he carried him and with two servants slipped out of the house. He daren't not tell his wife! So with resoluteness, face set like a flint, bloodshot eyes, he trodded on this lonely path to accomplish this murder mission that he claimed God gave him. I know it took a while to get to this place, to have what you got and have that special person in your life. Even your dreams. You've worked the grind till you got to this extent. Some place you'd like to school, work, live you've dreamed about for years.To be honest, God had been helping you all along. There was no doubt that God was in this leading you through various stages. But, what do you do, when God tells you to let go, of what you love most? of everything you think you have to hold so tightly? To just throw away what took you some considerable years of your life. Now you can't claim that what God is telling you to let go of isn't real or special, you even felt a godly connection. This is what you got by faith. And God is saying let go? in a blink what you got over years? You have to understand that letting go does not always mean that you're weak in faith, or that you're a quitter or that you have no strength to keep fighting. But sometimes, it just means that you don't need to continue in your own strength, but rest in the strength, wisdom, knowledge of God. Let us consider Abraham and how he had to let go of his only begotten son. To those who have to let go and are finding it difficult, these 5 points would help. Always remember them; 1. CONTROL FREAK ALERT! You do not own anybody!! The bible says the cattle on a thousand hills belong to God. So if you can't even really own cattle, how do you think you can own a human being? created in the likeness of God? God owns everything and everybody. What he does is that he gives us 'custody' over them for a period of time. For example, if I gave you my i-phone to keep for me indefinitely, and I said you could use it; you would treat it like it was yours, take care of it, charge it daily, keep it really safe, because it is precious to you as it is to me because you know the value. Now you can be mad at me when I ask for my phone back. You shouldn't be mad at the owner or even the phone. Do you know that you don't own your husband, your wife, your children, your siblings, your money, your possessions, they all belong to God. When God tells you to let go, he is not telling you to release what is yours in the first place, he is just exchanging custodies! It was never yours in the first place. Give me back what I allowed you keep for a while. Sadly same applies when loved ones have to say goodbye and leave this earthly abode. Some parents find it hard to let go, and let their children be whatever they choose to be in life. Generally now, let go, don't feel like you should know what people are doing every minute out of your sight, give people the right to be wrong, make their own decisions, let people choose their own path, don't cower or force them into loving you, calling you, doing your bidding because ultimately, no matter how close you are to a person, it was never about you, each person has their purpose in life and God just used you to play a role in accomplishing it. When you can read the signs and the time is right, you need to bow out, and not jeopardize the role you've played already ( I'm hoping you did a great job). 2. God can replace WHATEVER he asks you to lay down. In Hebrews, bible said that Abraham knew that God was able to raise Isaac up from the mingled ashes of his cadaver. This whole thing has to do with trust! Afterall, God gave you whatever it is. he is telling you lay down anyway, and you're convinced that it was not by your power. Trust God who gave you the first time, he can do so the second time!! I've come to realize that most times when we let go of what should have been, God usually surprises us when we didn't even have any more expectations again, and in the long run, we're happier because this was better than what we had to let go of. If God doesn't have better, He won't let you lose what you think you have lost, so chill. 3. Jesus told his disciples, look at the lilies, God clothes them! don't worry. Let us face it, God has given you so many things you never asked for, or you never thought you needed. But down the line, you realized that you really couldn't have done without it, but God saw ahead of you and gave you what you needed even though you didn't think it was needful at the time. Note to self: God will take care of you!! He might not give you all you want yet, but believe me, he will definitely give you what you need ALWAYS! And that is enough for you. Don't fret, God will take care of you. 4. God will comfort you. When Isaac's mum died, he was comforted by Rebecca his wife at the time. God knows what, who exactly to bring into your life or your day, to comfort you. It might be a project, a new goal, an individual, what have you! and sometimes it may occur as coincidences, but it is God orchestrating this in your life to comfort you. Don't be too stuck in grief and miss out! They are things and people within arm's reach that God wants to comfort you with. 5. God is close to the broken hearted. Do you know how great it is to be able to speak to God? tell him how you feel about any and everything? and hear him daily?! it is one of the best feelings in the world. Isaiah said that He (God) awakes me every morning to give me a word. Every difficult process in your life, God is able to lighten. This is not even about what some preacher said, this is not something stale, it is God giving you encouragement real time from his word. So you have to get in the act of bible study. And very soon, you'll have too much word to be ever frustrated, depressed, or mad at whatever life may throw at you. When you get to the point where you have to let go, let go and let God! And just watch him step in and do what he does best; orchestrate everything for your good!

Friday 6 June 2014

Day One! ( Night Class Adventure Series)

I am not obsessed by my dreams and aspirations, but don't let that fool you; they were HUGE! Not such a driven person; maybe that is something I should work on. On this day, I would say I left the hostel by chance. After days and days of procrastinating, two of my roomies were going for night class and I decided to join them. I was just coming back from a church programme, and I was getting lazy and it seemed I was going to while away the time till the next day, like I've been doing for months. But they gave me the zeal, so I left the hostel with them. As we neared the precinct of the class buildings, my face immediately lit up. I found it fascinating the way the lights shone brightly juxtaposed with the dark night sky. It was one thing to come to that class in the afternoon, and another to come there at night. It seemed like a transformation. Seeing people sitting, reading in class gave me this nostalgic warm feeling. To many people, this was a perfunctory ordeal, to me it was adventure! I entered the class, and I tell you, it was a funny sight. Boys and girls were prepping hard. Then I saw various bottles of drinks; miranda, coke, one girl was sharing crackers with her friend. Mouths were moving, some were just chewing gum, I even saw a girl eating home made ( or school made, but by her of course! ) spaghetti! she was also on warm comfortable snuggly pajamas.WOW, no time! some people just have no chill lol. The whole thing just seemed like a sleep over, or a pajamas party, ( there is one Barney episode called that). I looked for a comfortable seat and then sat down. I was reading that night at Education Faculty, and I kept thinking to myself that I should have read at Law, because it was closer to the hostel. That was my lazy tendency acting up again. It was Physics 113 I decided to read that night. After what seemed like six hours of reading, I decided to go behind the class to take the picture I'll use for this post. I checked the time, it was just ten. I had started reading at nine. I began contemplating; do I go back and rest so I could wake up early the next day, or push harder. I kept thinking this through, I could be indecisive at times. I really feel that I am not a night guy though. I'm more productive in the afternoons. But common sense prevailed! I kept saying to myself; "Uche, you can do this!" So I decided to go to the place we call June 12 here to find something to put in my mouth basically, that would keep me active. I had wanted to buy Nescafe, they had the 80 naira own and the 120 naira own, but I finally settled for just water and a sweet; Pin Pon sweet. I couldn't tell which was more surprising; that the people selling were still there at such ungodly hour, or that the place was swarming with buyers and passers-by. I guess it was mutually beneficial to both parties. The guy selling the Nescafe was dosing and nodding off. Why, fail! this dude doesn't even use the product he is selling. Before I got back to the class, the sweet was almost finished and had already changed to 'chewing gum' ( gum). Not really a fan of gum because it eventually affects my head, the whole chewing and churning can be very stressful. I throw them away as soon as the flavour is gone. I decided to use 11 to 12 to write this blogpost.But I might have to consider this night class thing and make better use of my day time. Exams are soon. But night classes are overrated! It's about finding out what works for you and covering your subjects. My advice is, do as you much as you can. Tell yourself as I did " *insert your name* I can do this! " I ain't planning to hit 3, or 4 that most people reach. I love my sleep!! But night classes are cool. Not that hard.

Day One! is part of the Night Class Adventures Series, with which the author tells the stories of his various encounters as he goes to class at nights.