My life is a series of God showing up just on time. Almost never when I think He will, but always, always on time. The soundtrack of my life, therefore is “Made a Way” by Travis Greene.
It’s the summer of 2013. All my friends from Bridgehouse College (where I did my foundation year before University) had gotten their unconditional offers from their chosen Universities in the weeks and months prior. Most of them had their UCAS done and were planning their trips for the UK to start freshers week and indeed a new season of independence.
I too had been hoping and waiting for my unconditional offer from the University of Reading. From what I had read and seen, I LOVED Reading and loved it’s University even more. I didn’t care that none of my close friends were going to the same uni as me or even going to be remotely close to it. I loved London and Reading was 30 mins away and everything and everyone else was going to sort itself out. But I waited and waited for that confirmation email and it didn’t come through. I knew I had the grades but for some reason, they hadn’t gotten back to me and couldn’t tell me anything when I called every other day so I didn’t even know what to think. And because it was getting close to the start of the university term, my parents suggested I start looking at my ‘Plan B’ offer from another good enough uni, but not my DREAM university. I talked myself into the perks of it and started planning my life around it enough to get me excited after a very sad, disappointed and discouraged couple of weeks.
As I started to plan my 17th birthday for August 10th, all I kept praying for was a miracle for me to get my offer to Reading before my birthday. With childlike faith, I held on to that for the days leading up to my birthday. Everyday I checked my email, everyday there was no offer.
August 9th, 2013. 8.46am. It’s the day before my birthday and you guys already know how I feel about birthdays and celebrations. So of course I’m super excited for my birthday lunch - especially given that it was going to be the last one with all my friends before we all separated into our new lives in different parts of the world. If there was any day I would’ve been distracted it would be the day before my birthday, sorting and finalising plans. But as I wake up, I remember the prayer I asked Abba. And so as I did every morning when I woke up, I checked my email. And there it was - “Confirmation of your unconditional offer”. I screamed. My mum came into the room, and as they say - the rest is history.
Fast forward to 2016. I’m at my dream university in Reading, loving it and having the absolute time of my life. I’ve done well in my first and second year and currently sitting within a 2:1 average. But as I enter my third and final year in September 2015, I only had one thing on my mind - to get a graduate scheme offer from an employer after graduating in the summer. When 2016 rolls around, I’m neck deep in my new relationship with God, trusting Him for small and big things and watching Him blow my mind. It was pretty incredible, this new found love - so beautiful and sweet in every form. So in January 2016, I decide to do a big thing. Make a bold ask to my Father. I tell Him I not only wanted a graduate scheme offer, but now I also want to graduate with a First Class. I ask Him for the wisdom and grace to get both. To be honest, I didn’t have any reason to doubt that He would answer my prayer. But as the semester went on and life kicked in, the reality of one prayer being answered, let alone both of them, weighed me down. I wrote down my goals, so much so that I wrote exactly the results I wanted on the DAY I wanted it which was 22/06/2016. If there’s one thing about me - I’m relentless. Tenacious even. When I set my mind on something, I don’t waver in my pursuit of it, come hell or high water. And so came hell and high water as everything that first half of the year tested my faith in God.
It’s one thing to ask God for something. It’s another to believe AND continue to believe Him for it, even when it seems like all odds are against you. You see when I asked God for those 2 things I had already finished one term of my final year, and was tracking for a 2:1. It was good enough, but not what I asked for. I was also applying everyday for a new graduate scheme and would go through multiple interviews without anything at the end of it. One time towards the end of January I got to the final stage of a company I loved. I prayed hard for it, but God said, no. In a month from then, I would later find out that His no then, was really ‘nah, Bigger’ as I got an even better company and offer that I couldn’t have known existed at the time of that rejection. And so prayer number 1 was answered on March 3rd 2016. After the Easter break, it was time for my final exams. I had studied hard and prayed harder and so I expected the exams to come with ease. They did not. I finished each one sweating, some with tears in my eyes, and all with a silent prayer that I would find favour with the examiners and at least keep my 2:1 consistent. I was losing hope, but I never lost my faith. I lost hope in my ability to get the First Class, but had every faith that God could do wonders.
And wonders He did. June 22nd 2016, I would be in Greece on a Girls trip, when I get my result, and would proceed to scream (again) - this time with one of my closest friends who also went to Reading and who also got the same result. We were both confirmed to be graduating with a First Class. The crazy thing is I wrote down 22/06/16 as the date on my transcript not knowing when I would actually get my results, and indeed, I got it on that exact date. Talk about Crazy Faith.
When my husband and I started planning our traditional wedding, we prayed and fasted about COVID restrictions. It was June 2021 and the world was roaring to be back outside but COVID was just as well. As the wedding got closer, with our flights to Lagos booked and all our UK / US / Canada friends coming and excited for the day, we thought we were out of the woods with terrible COVID restrictions. Sure, there’ll be some, but nothing too crazy we couldn’t manage. And so I arrive Lagos December 1st and it’s 16 days to my wedding. My days are full of fittings, last minute planning and meetings with vendors, and some last minute work deadlines. But I’m ecstatic. Wedding planning up until then had actually been super fun for me, and my mum and best friend had made sure I had nothing to stress about throughout (apart from Lagos designers of course!). December 4th there’s news about some new fast spreading strain they’re calling Omicron and the UK and other countries make very swift decisions to restrict the spread. One of those decisions included serious travel restrictions for anyone leaving and coming back into the country. I panic, even though the Holy Spirit tells me all will be well and it’ll be reversed. In fact I had heard the date December 14th in my Spirit but in that state of panic and worry I dismiss it. My family and friends pray and pray and pray. The news doesn’t change and we’re getting last minute cancellations from some guests because of it. I’m devastated. I cry. I lose hope and for 10 days we’re tortured with this news and the uncertainty in the air. But as God would have it, December 14th, the travel restrictions are lifted. I get some messages about rebooking flights and people being able to make it. I’m elated. I cry again. My wedding is in 3 days. I have some of my best friends fly in the day before and the morning of the wedding. But they made it all the same. The Holy Spirit says to me ‘Didn’t I tell you it’ll be sorted by December 14th?’ My faith increases.
2022. I decide to do a career pivot and ask God to give me a new role that would blow my mind. One that I couldn’t have even dreamed up for myself, in a company and a team that would value me, acknowledge me, uplift me, SEE me, and KNOW me. Seeing as I didn’t know what any of that looked like, I became a child again. Curious about everything, and believing God with childlike faith through every application and interview. The rejections came but I didn’t take them too personally. At this point in my life and my walk with God, I’ve seen too much of God to give up. I believe Him when He says He’ll take good care of me and His plans for me are good, really good in fact. And so I hold my head up high in every interview, fully trusting the process. The rejections sting, but I say to Abba, ‘we’ve been here before. I know you’ll come through for me like you always do.’ Hope is not my strategy, faith is. I’m not hoping for anything my hands or mind can produce. I can however have faith that even though the odds might look like they’re against me, what God cannot do does not exist.
Most of you guys have been with me on this journey, so you already know how the story ended. But what you may not know is that I don’t actually recall applying to Amazon. I was putting in an application to every company for every role I found interesting on LinkedIn, but I promise I have no recollection of sending an application to Amazon. It wasn’t a company I dreamt of working at. I didn’t even know how and where the skills or experience I have would fit within the company. I was at final stages for 2 other companies by the time I was at the end of my Amazon interview stage, and I actually wanted any of the other 2 companies. I thought Amazon was too big and therefore it couldn’t possibly be where God would have me be. So I made a bold ask again. I tell God to make it clear where He wanted me to be. Soon after, I got news from the first company that they were going with another candidate. A couple of days later, the second company made me a verbal offer but when it was time to put it in writing they kind of ghosted me? LOL. Amazon hadn’t made me an offer at this point so I was ready to start applying again. But I decided to take a break and travelled to Italy to see my wedding venue to take my mind off things for a few days. As soon as I got back, I got the call that would change my life. And again, the rest is history. I’m a living, walking testimony.
I have so many other testimonies littered throughout my life. From the little things like praying not to miss a train, to the bigger ones like praying I make it in time for my bridal shower AND wedding despite cancelled and delayed flights with a forgotten passport (read more on that here), to testimonies of miraculous healing and supernatural breakthroughs in my family. I live and breath the phrase “what God cannot do, does not exist.” If there is His will, He makes a way. Almost never in a way I can see coming, nor when or how I deem it fit for Him to show up, but He will always show up. Some call it ‘quarter to shame’, I call it right on time.
I say all that to tell someone to trust God too much to give up. The year is coming to an end in a couple of weeks, and there are things I’m sure you’re still talking to Abba about. If not for this year, then with much hope for next year. But I want you to know that Hope (at least alone) is not a strategy. Faith is. Let faith be your anchor for whatever you’re believing. If you feel God has disappointed you like I have one too many times, trust Him that His plan is always better than your wildest dreams and I’m proof of that. I hope my stories more than encourages you, but stirs up your faith even more. Send this to a friend if this encouraged you. I would love to share some more of your testimonies so please comment them for another person to tap into, or let’s discuss it more on our subscriber chat here.
Selah.
04/12 03:08
A very good read and this article really uplifted my soul ❤️
First I missed you last week. Second, I too will write a newsletter and put a screen shot of this letter as a marker of the year a chose to partner faith with hope and I will tell the testimony of how when hope died, faith carried me through to see the miracles even when It looks bleak and impossible. I have been wrestling with some unmet desires, especially some I believe God placed in my heart and now I see that at the journey is froth with situations that seem to contradict the word but it will come to be. It will be painful, I may even cry but in the end the testimony will come to be. Thank you for sharing that the journey is like walking through a thorn bush till we get to the meadow. I am eternally grateful!