Date Archives July 2020

Dear Mentee || The failproof principle

Dear Mentee 7 Comments

This segment is where I write what’s desperately on my heart. Obviously, that’s what the entire blog is for, but this is different. On the blog, I’m addressing myself, addressing my future children and grandchildren, addressing you and your uncles and neighbours. This segment though is addressing my mentees or proteges, if you’ll like. The things that I desperately want to pass on to the younger ones (not only age wise) that’s what I’ll write here. They are some of the life tips I’ll tell my younger ones who come to sit beside me at night and say “advise me. Tutor me”. Its a broad range of advice. Little structures that give me the results I get.

I began to wonder what I should write to you about this time. It came to me and I was ecstatic. I think this will be my greatest principle of all time. On this blog, posts expressly dedicated to the Word are:

This principle is my backbone and the backbone of all I respect the most today. It’s the study of God’s word.

Study. Make a commitment of it. For example, a couple of times I’ve read Psalms, Hebrews, Ezra, Esther, 1st and 2nd Timothy but never before have I seen the gems in them that I have been seeing in them these recent months. I remember some four years ago when I read Isaiah and was bewildered. I thought “How come I’m getting it this clearly?”. It was no longer an Old Testament book that I had to push through. It became life.

You should know that there’s no stream of wisdom in the world today that’s not traced back to a biblical principle. Everything is from God. When you begin to study scriptures, you begin to tap into wisdom. Hidden wisdom.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple

Psalm 19:7

What makes a man succeed in an endeavour designed to fail is the hand of the Lord upon him. The hand of the lord rests mightily upon those who obey the principles of his word. You obey the principles of his word when you know (study) his word. Ezra’s entire secret is in chapter 7 verse 10. It was deep for him. It was a heart preparation standard.

 For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel

Ezra 7:10

This Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him

Ezra 7:6

You don’t get extraordinary results by doing ordinary things.

By the way, I’ve wanted to bring three posts to limelight again:

My take on House Chores. I think it’s very relevant for everyday living. Life isn’t always glamorous and we must maximize it still.

My trusted and simple False Adequacy message.

Secrets of a wise man is more recent and hasn’t gotten the traction it deserves yet for a timeless message.

In the False Adequacy post above, I mentioned the principle of locking yourself up in a cell so you have time to do this. There’s no excuse that suffices for not keeping to the Word.

I call the principle of studying, obeying and teaching God’s word failproof because I have seen every other thing fail. Everything but His Presence. Everything but his word.

In some other micro news, my guitar practices are starting to annoy me to no end for failing to produce the right sounds.

Enjoy your Saturday. Do drop a comment, and share with others.

Light and love,

Debby.

Life Update 2020 (3)

Life Diary Love and Lover 30 Comments

Hey guys!!

I’ve been skeptical about publishing a new blog post because I feel some set of eyes boring into me. Since my result was released, in some quarters, almost everything I do has been analysed in terms of my result. I tweet a scripture passage and wham, someone thinks it has to do with my result somehow. Lol.

It doesn’t.

So if you’re reading my blog because you’re inquisitive about my life, relax please. Life is simple. My blog is part of my introvert expression not an extrovert expression, so I don’t necessarily write what you expect me to write, nor when you expect me to.

If we’re on the same page, we can progress. I’m happy to write to you for one reason:

Somebody special told me to.

Mister Lover

Here’s a snippet of some of the text messages we exchanged yesterday.

Mister: Hello fried fish, I hope you have a blog plan for tomorrow.

Debby: Haha. I don’t o. Someone is drowning. Help

Mister: Do life update. Write about you and your Mister. About what it feels like to have someone who cannot help himself but love you and express it. And about God’s love. Lol. Even me I know that is personal. Second idea is to share on a recent message that has gingered your heart. Maybe from the evangelism and mission secretaries meeting.

Idea 1: He said I should write about what it feels like to have someone who cannot help but love you and express it. I want to, but as the cliche goes, I don’t know where to start.

By the way, don’t be bothered about his calling me fried fish, or barbequed moimoi in some instances. We can’t have it all. ?

So Mister lover is my supporter. Complete supporter. While people congratulate me for my excellent result at the law school, mister was the one who fasted for me the entire week I wrote the Bar exams. I had to eat because I needed the glucose for the mental tasks in the exam hall. Mister was the one who chose to fast and continue praying for me.

One of the things I told him early on after I said Yes, was that he began to gain grounds in my heart when he began to come close to my dad on the subject of praying for me.

My parents pray for me selflessly. I think in particular, that my dad is my most fervent prayer warrior in the whole world. That gives me the spring in my steps.

Mister lover (amidst other things) covered considerable grounds in my heart by starting to pray for me. Deep, continuous and selfless prayers.

Test: When last did you pray for me?

Yep. I’ve come to understand that true, sacrificial love often reveals itself in prayers. There’s a passion in your spirit for that person which can only be channeled through prayer. It’s too deep to be completely uttered superficially. The welfare of that person consumes your mind.

I’m humbled by God to have that. To be a possessor of that kind of love.

Despite starting out by saying I don’t have what to where to start, I think I just told you one secret of my confidence. Selfless prayer warriors.

So if you’re yet to pick your special somebody, use the above checklist for them. Does his(her) love for you manifest in the things that count the most? And don’t listen to the people who tell you not everything is spiritual. They don’t understand. Lol. We’re not looking for a religious and pious cloak, but everything IS spiritual. There’s a kind of guy(lady) who can’t “break your heart” because of the Spirit controlling him. Get that guy/lady.

I love you mister. I always will.

http://www.tkpradio.org/I’ve been at a conference this weekend. It started on thursday evening. It’s been power-packed. I think a couple of people have their Christian diet very limited. There’s an all-round diet you should have from your local church. It should involve a regular dose of your biblical call to evangelize, sanctification and holiness, true faith etc. The work of missions has never been for “full-time” missionaries only. You don’t get to out-source the work. Jesus instructed YOU to make disciples of all nations. Based on Acts 1:8, you start at your Jerusalem (those around you), Judea, Samaria and the uttermost ends of the earth. You can connect with The Kingdom Projects, a missionary organization labouring to connect Christians with methods of carrying out the great commission through their secular jobs. The conference continues today and you can listen in through www.tkpradio.org or connect on YouTube or Facebook or Zoom.

Another tid-bit I’ll like to share with you is this –

God is more interested in who you’re becoming than in what (activity) you do. His expectation is that we conform to the image of his son whether things work out our way or not.

If your life isn’t moving at the pace you think it should, what are you learning in the midst of it? For me, Watchman Nee has been a good teacher this season. I just moved on to another book of his:

What are you reading? And what do you think about all the issues I raised above? Pray tell.

PostScript:

Babyyyyy my Sunshine. The way I was smiling as I read your blog, my cheeks would have reddened. Wow! I love you sweetheart! I woke up this morning with a freshness in my spirit and I prayed for you more than in the recent past. Then I saw your post. I will continue and increase in praying for you by God’s grace. You’re the best, Debby.

This morning’s text message. Haha

Love and light,

Debby.

Unraveled

The Christian Faith 19 Comments

While this post could’ve been titled ‘Dear Law School Graduate’, it shouldn’t be so titled.

It should be titled ‘Dear Christian’, because it applies to all Christians.

Unraveled though, does the job best.

I had wondered why the inspiration to publish yesterday (Saturday) wasn’t available to me – I get it now. The blog post was meant to be a Sunday post based off on Saturday’s events.

El Evento/ The Event –

Circa 11pm on Friday, July 3 2020, the Nigerian Law school result for April 2019 set was released.

In the course of my evening routine, I had wanted to sing a particular hymn but hadn’t gotten round to doing so at the time I got the information that made my heart do a rapid beat. Result has been released. Deciding I best soak in the Spirit first ?, I paused and sang the particular hymn I had been putting off.

I saw a first class degree. In that moment I thought there were many other first class results and it was a big big celebration everywhere. It wasn’t necessarily to be so (with regards to the first class and not the celebrations).

Spilling into Saturday, the congratulations that flooded my phone seeing I was one of the five first class graduates in the country was overwhelming.

Being overwhelming, I followed the whelm and … I got overwhelmed by men’s expectations.

Circa 12:30am on July 5, 2020; In the middle of the night (when all the noise went to sleep), I got this message from God – Unraveled.

Here are my instant tweets as the thoughts developed:

While the song writer sang about fear, I see that a lot of us need to be delivered from worries of the future, from the expectations of men, from (insert your experience).

You need to be unraveled. Not harshly and scaringly, but with a song.

Picture that – being slowly but steadily unraveled from the cords of anxieties and expectations. Unraveled by God’s song. By God’s melody doing the work.

By his rhythm of grace.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:28-30

God never created us to be complex and damaged. He created us to be whole and filled with his Spirit. Do not go about wrapped by bondage. But by songs of deliverance. We’re the sons and the daughters …let us sing our freedom!

You, dear reader, are not defined by your grades or your looks or your achievements. You’re wrapped in his arms of ever-singing-melodious-grace. You’re placed in a music chamber – you’re surrounded and made free by the Father and His songs.

Jesus set you free, why should you be bound?

Read also: My Playing Small Does Not Serve The World (which I wrote after my first law school dinner). In it, is this quote:

I AM A PERSON. I AM NOT A MACHINE, SPREADSHEET, AGENDA OR RÉSUMÉ. I HAVE A HEARTBEAT, SKIN, SCARS AND A SOUL. MY WORTH ISN’T CALCULATED IN EFFICIENCIES, RESULTS OR LADDERS CLIMBED. I AM NOT THE SUM OF MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS — OR THE SUM OF MY MISTAKES. I AM NOT MY AMBITION, ENERGY LEVEL, APPROVAL RATING, MASS APPEAL OR WORTH TO THE COMPANY STORE. I AM NOT AN A-PLUS OR D-MINUS. I AM NOT A MESS OR A MISCALCULATION. I AM NOT A MISTAKE. RATHER, I AM A MIRACLE. AND SO ARE YOU. BECAUSE I AM A PERSON, MADE OF LOVE IN THE HANDS OF GOD. I WILL BE A PERSON TODAY. I WILL BE ME. I WILL RESIST THE URGE TO BELIEVE I’VE GOT TO FIGHT FOR MY PIECE; GOD SAYS THERE’S MORE THAN ENOUGH TO GO AROUND. I WILL SEE THE BEST IN OTHERS AND RECOGNIZE THE BEST IN MYSELF. I WILL REACH FOR VIRTUE MORE THAN TROPHIES, DIGNITY MORE THAN STARDOM. I WILL CHOOSE ENCOURAGEMENT OVER ENVY. I WILL REJOICE WITH THOSE WHO REJOICE. I WILL STAND TALL ON THE INSIDE, EVEN IF I’M FEELING WEAK ON THE OUTSIDE. I AM A PERSON, A CITIZEN OF THE KINGDOM, WHERE THERE IS UNENDING GRACE FOR ME. BECAUSE I AM A PERSON, AND I BELONG TO JESUS

Sing your freedom, you who are defined by God’s word and not the happenings of life. Sing your freedom.

#TeamUnraveled

You unraveled me with your melody You surround me with a song Of deliverance from my enemies Till all my fears are gone – Listen on YouTube

As always, Love and light

Debby.