#SpreadTheGospel

Good people!

What’s cracking?

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May happiness, good health and abundance of wealth be your portion as you read this. As I was doing my devotion this morning, this verse stood out for me and I declare this to be your portion too:

“When you make a decision, it will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.”
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Job‬ ‭22‬:‭28‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I am an island girl hailing from Mombasa, Kenya and over the course of my traveling, coastal towns or cities always tug my heart strings. The scripting of today’s article happened across different settings – from my study room at home typing away until I ended up burning boiled eggs – to the white sandy beaches of Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam and finally, in the office, after hours, crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s as I let the rush hour traffic abate.

Have you ever seen burnt boiled eggs before? Well, now you have. 😛

Here’s what happened; a huge, international conference that I was planning was coming up fast, additional workload kept creeping in, I had a flight to catch that same evening and to top it all off; I was hungry. I did not want to order in and neither did I have time to cook a full meal – owed to the fact that I would be departing soon – and so, boiled eggs looked like the perfect answer. I put the eggs on the cooker, went back to my home office and continued working. After a series of meetings, a waft of something smoky greeted my nostrils and I thought it was my neighbours making some meat on the grill. I continued typing away, minding my own business until the room started to look cloudy; but I thought it was my eyes’ cue for a break due to the protracted hours I’d spent before a screen. Then it hit me… THE EGGS!!!!

My kitchen was filled with so much smoke! I asked God to contain the situation because I did not want a fire to erupt!

Although my kitchen had the most smoke, my living room and dining area were equally affected by the smoke too. I turned off the burner and rushed to my room to finalize my packing. I did not have time for anything else except catching my flight. The smoked eggs would take care of themselves. I threw them in the bin, cleaned my sufuria and off I went. I told Virra what had transpired and he laughed at the situation, telling me that though he too had burnt eggs before; my eggs were as charred as coal!

In spite of the incident, I arrived at the airport on time and I thank God for the tranquil flight and that everything went right. My stay was superb and when it was time to return, another interesting thing happened. I was in the cab en-route to the airport but there was an unusual traffic snarl up; we had barely moved 200 meters in the span of an hour and there was still a considerable distance to be covered before getting to the airport. I called my buddy Breezy (his pseudonym in this case) and explained my predicament to him. He advised that I take a motorbike to the airport or else I would miss my flight!

I am not the one to travel light and I had with me two suitcases and two backpacks. Breezy was teaching me the different kinds of bags in Swahili – mkoba, begi, mfuko and something else that I do not recall at this point. Speaking of which, I thought I had a good command of Swahili until I went to Tanzania… my word!

Thankfully, I love the language and I took that opportunity as a chance for me to polish up on my Swahili vocabulary. Breezy made a great Swahili teacher too. Now back to our motorbike story… so your girl here has a mini-relocation almost every time she travels and so I had to get two motorbikes to go to the airport – one for me and some of my bags and another one just for the suitcases.

Once the bikes were saddled up, we set off for the airport, riding like the renegades to ensure that we do not miss the flight!

Speeding on a bumpy road while on a motorbike is a sure recipe for a hot, sore bum but I had to endure the discomfort for the prize that was set before me… the actual flight! Reminds me of what Jesus did to earn our salvation:

“…..who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God

Hebrews 12:2 KJV

I had to despise the shame of the dust in my nostrils, clutching on to the sweaty bike guy for my safety and bearing the loud honking of cars as the bikes perilously weaved in between them to get ahead. I was speaking in tongues in hushed tones and my heart beat in tandem with the speed of the bikes. It reminded me of my rollercoaster ride at Gold Reef City; just that this time round, it was not mere play!

Once I got to the airport and had checked in my bags – I first exhaled then laughed at myself. That was random.

While in Tanzania, I got to spend time with some beautiful souls. My buddy Toy had flown in from Nigeria and we spent some time post-work to catch up and bond. We talk fairly frequently and pray for and with each other as often as our mutual schedules allow. Toy has an infectious laughter and her confidence makes everyone in the room stop and stare as she inadvertently commands attention whenever she walks into a place. She makes great conversation and has a genuine heart for people.

She surprised me with a spa voucher as a treat for the long, tough days that went into the preparation of the Summit week. If that is not thoughtful, what is? And she accompanied it with the sweetest note:

Next in line is Breezy. Breezy is cool, calm and collected – informing my choice of his pseudonym. I told Toy that he has big boy energy. He is a man who takes care of business and nothing can [seem to] go wrong under his watch. That explains why I called him when the traffic situation wasn’t improving. He is a man with a plan. We met in person once last year and we had a good time… now fast forward to this year and lo, amazing could only begin to explain the wonderful experiences we had together. Toy, Breezy and I all became friends and we made great memories together. OG was there too.

The Bible tells me that God orders our steps and my experience in Dar is nothing short of a testament to that. I got to meet Solape Akinpelu, a woman of God, an astute business woman, published author and an authority in the investment banking space. Through Toy, Solape and I struck a conversation that started with our mutual love for egusi [I am known lover of West Africa(ns) – their food, people and all]. Coincidentally, Solape had just received her order for egusi and eba at the hotel and she invited me to dine with her. In the course of our dinner, we connected on a deeper level – sis is born again! She gifted me an autographed copy of her book – Stripped – which I got to read as I was relaxing by the beach during my vacay.

All the while, I was seeing God’s handwriting in all the serendipitous turn of events because there is absolutely no way that this was mere coincidence. As if that wasn’t enough, Solape gifted me a perfume called Joy by Christian Dior and I loooove its scent! Plus the name of the perfume itself is simply divine. I choose joy. 🙂 God was talking to me in various ways and showing off through His human vessels. Look here, what are the odds that someone you just met; invites you to dinner, gifts you perfume and a personalized, autographed book? That is God fo’ sho!

Thank You, God – You are the sweetest! One more person from West Africa is my great friend Nifesimi; who was ready with a warm hug and wide smile whenever we met. He too warmed my heart with a special, thoughtful gift that had been preconceived months ago. Time fails me to talk about Victor who stepped in to help me with work even without me asking so; enjoying cassava and madafu by the sea front was amazing and he made me laugh until I ran out of breath.

Dar es Salaam was an international reunion with my friends; those I’d met years ago, those I’d met from far and wide and my newly acquainted buddies all converged together. This was special for me; having gone through a season where I felt alone and in a dark place; I thank God for bringing me light and fellowship. It feels so good to laugh again. It feels so good to enjoy the taste of food again and it definitely feels good to see, feel and enjoy the sunshine. Healing is beautiful.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Psalm 30:5 KJV

Let me tell you a fun fact, the person who took the photo above; read my blog even before meeting me in person. Look at how God works. We had such a great time together too! And you know what? Ayo is from Nigeria! Ha! West Africans are winning this thing.

I would like to invite you to the Christ side of life. Though there can be the storms of life, rest assured that God is and will always be with you. Apostle Paul writes that our lives should be letters worth reading and it is my prayer that in sharing my own ups and downs in life; that you too will be encouraged to trust God throughout life’s different seasons.

The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NLT

I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty.

Philippians 4:12-13 TPT

If you have read this and would like to give your life to Christ, please repeat the prayer below out loud:

Dear Lord,

Thank You for dying on the cross for me. I believe in my heart that you died and rose again and I confess with my mouth that You are Lord and Saviour in my heart and in my life. I denounce my former ways and choose to be Your child. Thank You for setting me free. I am now born again.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

If you have made that prayer, I rejoice with you! The comments’ section is open and I would love to hear the testimonies from your end too. What has God done or is doing in your life? Let’s talk.

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God loves you more than you can fathom!

XO,

That Lady