IT’S OUR ANNIVERSARY!!!

Today makes 19 years I’ve been married to the best husband in the world! He’s not even the best husband anymore, though, as my son, Siah, put it when I asked him recently if I found him the best dad. He said, “Mom, you found us better than best!” And I agree entirely! But, of course, I’m giving God all the glory and praise! This has been a love story, no doubt, orchestrated by GOD HIMSELF!

God is truly our Life Partner once we get to know His voice! My favorite story to explain this was when I met my husband. One week after meeting him, I gave him a book, and I wrote inside, “I know, and I know and I know that we were meant to be together, and we will be the world’s most perfect couple.” I had such confidence after only knowing him for one week! Like ‘YES!!! He is the one!’ I joke that even if God Himself had come down and said, ‘No, Nik, this is not your husband,’ I would have argued back, ‘No, God, this is my husband!!!’ I had no doubt whatsoever, and five months later, we were married.

What made me so confident, that I now know, was God’s spirit within me! He is pretty talkative when we have ears to hear him and eyes to see him. Those feelings of excitement and happiness were God’s way of directing me as if saying, ‘Yes, Nik, he is the one.’ And honestly, those feelings were 100% correct! God gave me a better than best husband. Don’t play around with your relationship with God; HE KNOWS EVERYTHING!!!

However, if I had feelings of doubt, stress, uncertainty when I thought about marrying him, that would have been God’s way of saying, ‘No, Nik, don’t do that!’ So, now, in every aspect of my life, and all day long, I’ve WISELY learned to pay attention to those feelings from God so that I allow Him to be the guide of my life. As John 10:27 explains, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Wink! Wink!

That’s where the joy comes in, KNOWING I have the Creator of the universe assisting me in making the utmost best decision like he did 19 years ago today (HUGE SMILE). Ephesians 3:20 has been my experience with God:

“Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us”

God has given us superabundantly more than we could have ever hoped or dreamed, nineteen years and four beautiful kids and an awesome nephew later! God, thank You!!!

Not to say we don’t have our share of trials, challenges, and problems because we do! But that again has been where the joy of knowing God has been our strength! No matter the troublesome times, He always seems to show up as if asking, “Who’s messing with my people?” We feel his Presence in the background of our lives, arranging for the right people to assist us, magical solutions would pop to mind, and His direction as to what decisions to make, has seen us through many difficulties. As we go through life handling the .75% in the physical realm, God is in the background taking care of the 99.75%. Meaning, we can go through life joyfully despite the overwhelming challenges knowing we are NOT handling problems alone. Like they say in Nigeria, “God dey!” That gives us the courage and confidence to tackle head-on any challenge that comes up, knowing our help comes from God Himself! Heehaw!!!

But this knowing and hearing from God take a commitment on our part as well to develop a relationship with Him where we’re getting to know Him better. I will never forget a particularly stressful day where I sat on this Minnie mouse stool I have to sit on and hear from God praying for his clarity and direction on a tough situation that came up – in this life you will have trouble! As I sat there, a friend sends me a WhatsApp message of a prayer from Devon Franklin (BTW, this may be a message from God to you today!):

“Heavenly Father, we’re praying right now for anyone listening to (or reading) this prayer. There is so much confusion going on right now. There is so much worry. So much anxiety. So much uncertainty. And I’m praying right now that if you are listening to this prayer, that you will know that this prayer is for you.

There are so many people who are trying to figure out, ‘What are we supposed to do?’ …There are so many unanswered questions…You may be losing hope…You may be throwing your hands up. But I pray right now, as you throw your hands up, that you will begin to put your hands together. PRAYER DOES CHANGE THINGS.

I pray, Dear Lord, that you will provide clarity on what to do. If you’re listening to this prayer, MAY I SUBMIT FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION THAT THIS IS CONFIRMATION THAT GOD HEARS YOU. And if God has allowed you to hear this prayer, it’s because He has every intent to help you. So, I pray, Dear Lord, that you will send the help, you will send the clarity. You will meet the need as only you can do it. If you can feel God’s Presence through what I am saying, let that be confirmation to you that God’s not going to bring you this far to leave you. He will not take you to this moment and drop you. Have the faith to know that God is going to carry you everywhere He wants you to be…”

Wow! I couldn’t believe it! There I was praying for CLARITY on that little stool, and the title of the prayer was ‘Praying for CLARITY.’ I knew this was no coincidence, but like Devon said, it was confirmation that God was not going to bring me this far and leave me. That HE was in the midst of this troublesome situation with me. Devon and I were even wearing the same shirts as proof, black, buttoned all the way to the top, polo shirts. God is too much!

That was back some nine months ago, and unbelievably that situation, where I was thinking the worst-case scenario on that stool, turned out better than I expected. God helped us! How God does what He does, is none of our business, our job is to trust Him!

But can you believe God used my friend again in the Bahamas to confirm another message from Him through Devon Franklin? Yesterday, I was on Instagram, and another one of Devon’s prayers showed up in my feed saying that every help that I need is on the way, after I’ve been praying AGAIN to God for His help and clarity! Let me tell ya, in this life you will have trouble! I felt strongly that it was God speaking to me AGAIN through Devon. Unbelievably, I wake up this morning, and my friend in the Bahamas has sent me this same prayer I saw yesterday on Instagram. It was God confirming, ‘Yes, Nik, this was a message from me!!!’ The sweetness of God, baby! He is with us and for us!

So the experience from nine months ago of hearing that Devon Franklin prayer for clarity and me seeing God come through for me in that terrible situation has strengthened my faith in God. It helped me learn His voice even better that I knew it was Him again speaking to me yesterday. Then for Him to go to the trouble of having my friend to confirm it, was all God’s love and close attention to the details of my life.

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” – Psalm 8:4

And that’s again where the courage comes from to give me the joy and strength to take on life, knowing God is my Partner. As I do my best in the physical realm, I can trust God to do what I can’t do in the spiritual realm.

Are you getting to know God better? I don’t promise a life without challenges, but I can promise a life where you can feel at peace, content, and joyful, knowing you handle nothing alone and God’s invisible Presence is standing with you through the ups and downs. Not one moment of seeking God and learning his voice is ever wasted! We need him!

I prayed the best prayer over 12 or 13 years ago, “God, I want a closer walk with you.’ I hope you say this prayer with me as we commit to walking even closer with God this year! Start waking up and having alone times with Him, so you learn His voice as you take on your days JOYFULLY with God as your Faithful Partner and Greatest Friend ever! Amen!

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