That was me beating myself up for showing up an hour late! ‘Nik, how rude and disrespectful can you be?’ But like I always say, I can boast of my weaknesses because those are the times God seems to show up for me. Driving to her burial site, I quickly opened my meditation book, and the most amazing messages showed up from God about His unconditional and unfailing love and approval of me. That nothing can separate me from His love, even my mistakes and failures! Wow, God, You always know how to make Your girl feel better.

HERE’S THE DEAL:
It’s all right to be human, my guys! We’re all sinners and Saints in one body. I loved what Jessica Alba said about a lawsuit her company faced and how it forced them to grow up quickly, and to learn to do better. That’s what I try to remind myself of whenever I mess up – Nik, just do better next time. And I’m learning not to be so hard on myself OR ON OTHERS.

Rolling with God doesn’t mean He expects perfection from us in every moment. Nobody’s perfect. But it does mean we can drop the shame, pain, fears, sadness, and rejections from the past and continually work on being BETTER. God’s grace (forgiveness, favor, approval, and love) IS BIGGER than all the negativity the world can throw our way.

The trick is not to be overly focused on what people think of you. Humans will continue to judge us according to standards that they don’t live by. WITH MY EYES FIXED ON GOD, I’m learning to look for His approval. God’s love is steady and unfailing. Unlike humans, He’s always there encouraging me to be all that I’m capable of being, not condemning everything I do. If we’re at Z, He LOVINGLY calls us to Y. I love how He even uses all our mistakes for our good! Like the person picking me up LATE from the airport, I just said, “It’s OK.”

So, no more beating ourselves up. We can ALL keep our heads held high looking to God. If you can make amends, make them, and if not keep moving forward, paying attention to God in every moment as to what He would have you to do. That’s how He keeps us on the best track for our lives, close to Him. Let’s be gentle and patient ourselves and on others.

I try to ALWAYS pay attention to His Spirit within me nudging me as to what He would have me to say and do, seeking to always please God. The Holy Spirit is indeed our BEST FRIEND, and will guide us specifically as to what God Himself would have us do in every situation
Therefore, no more carrying around negative feelings, I put them in the heart of God where I seek to spend my entire life, unconditionally loved and approved of by Him, KNOWING HE IS ALWAYS WITH ME.
I use my weaknesses to run to Him, and little by little I love the Nik He is helping me become. I look to His standards, but even though I miserably fall short, I still know that there is NOTHING I can do that will ever separate me from His love!
“YOU ARE A BEAUTIFUL WORK IN PROGRESS” Heads held high, everyone!
KEEP CALM—YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD

My hubby asked me yesterday morning. I needed a Hotmail account, and he doesn’t have one, so I used my own to set up a new laptop I purchased for him. He had asked me to help with something else, and as I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised to see the desktop background from my email account also appear on his. I called his attention to it. “Honey, this is a special message here. Whenever you see this background this is God reminding you:

“I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS””

Fast forward to that night, right before sleeping, I decided to have an appointment with God and amazingly look what showed up in my meditation book, Jesus Always, written as if God was speaking directly to me:

“I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS”

I took that as another God wink, and I went right off to sleep.

Fast forward to waking up this morning, I opened an entirely different meditation book and look at what astonishingly showed up on the very page I selected to read for my first check-in with Him for the day:

“I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS”

For this exact message to show up three separate places was no coincident, it was God showing me His love. That’s why I say I’m addicted! In this crazy world where we don’t know what will come up from one moment to the next, God’s intimate Presence with me gives me the confidence to be happy and joyful despite the unfavorable circumstances I have going on.

And because of God’s love for me, I want to love others the way He loves me. My hubby just called me a short while ago asking what I was doing, and I said I was washing my hair and getting pretty for him. I finally got a BIG lesson God has been trying to teach me about covering the faults of others. A movie on the plane where a wife was accepting a Grammy award and the husband came on the stage with her drunk. He peed himself, and the wife rushed in front of him and used her dress to cover him. I said to God, ‘I get it.’ I’m not to reflect my husband in a negative light. When he’s weak, I’m to be strong and vice versa. We’re to cover for each other. Nobody’s perfect! The two shall indeed become one!

Are you feeling God’s love? Notice my appointments with Him just reading one sentence sometimes is enough to touch base with Him and be reminded that HE IS ALWAYS WITH ME. Check out those two meditations books I mentioned by Sarah Young and get to know God’s love for yourself! HIS LOVE IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE; I’M ADDICTED!!!

KEEP CALM—YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD

That was me to my sister today. But, for me, these so-called “coincidences” are such a COMFORT to me in this very troublesome and evil world. I know they are His way of reminding me that I’m not alone and that His Presence is always with me AND THAT HE HAS MY BACK.

Like today, I asked Him which meditation book to read in an alone time with Him. This was my morning session to ask what He wanted me to write about today (not what I wanted to write about!). And paying attention to my feelings (His Spirit within me), I selected a book and began reading from the introduction where the writer discusses his God wink, a so called coincident, in trying to come up with a title for that very book.

Fast forward about an hour later my sister in the Bahamas sends me this message:

“Nikki, my Jesus Always is awesome. Today is especially inspiring. It is describing God winks. Thank you,”

See what I say about everything lining up too perfectly to be coincident. For my sister to have her appointment with God in the Bahamas reading a completely different book and author, and me in Nigeria to also be reading about so called coincidences was NOT coincident; It was a God wink! And believe it or not, this was God saying to me, ‘Write about “coincidences” today, and let everyone know this is one of the ways I reveal my Presence with them.

And they are so comforting. Like on my trip recently, one word kept showing up and that was significant to something going on in my life at the moment. I took it as God saying to me not to worry. I mean, the word was showing up A LOT! Even one day, I volunteered to help my hubby with something, a very out of the ordinary errand, and I decided to go a different route than the way I got there, and can you believe I ended up passing a street with THAT VERY word as the name of it. I smiled with God because I knew this was one of His orchestrated events for me to pass that street. ‘Nik, don’t worry,’ was the message He wanted me to have. Again, to comfort me and remind me that I could be happy despite the circumstances of my life. God’s got our back! He’s overcome the world and NOTHING is too BIG for Him to handle.

So, the next time you have a coincident, think again. It’s most likely God trying to get your attention and to let you know He’s with you. Wink! Wink!

KEEP CALM—YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD

That was Him to me in OUR appointment early this morning. GOD, NEVER! I TRUST YOU COMPLETELY!
Through the good, bad and ugly, I see the hands of a LOVING Father. We may not always understand His ways when we’re going through life storms, but I always come through them STRONGER, WISER AND WITH LOTS MORE CONFIDENCE IN GOD. He always shows up to help me with the right people appearing up as if perfectly timed, the solutions that magically pop in my mind, and the wisdom as to what to do one step at a time that I feel through my spirit (His voice within me). Not by my might or power, I’m counting on God’s Spirit to work in the supernatural realm on my behalf. I can RELAX and TRUST Him.
Are you having appointments with Him? I can’t stress the importance of making time with God a priority in this crazy life where we don’t know what will come up from one moment to the next. God, I need your help!!!
This morning was a bit chilly in Florida, but I stuck with my run with Him because they help me face my day with more confidence, reminded that God is with me. The jam of the day was Skin Tight as I imagined God saying this to me (and now to you!):
“If you give your heart to MeI no go let you go…Baby trust in MeWhen you give your heart to MeI no go let you goWey I no go do you wrong noBaby trust in MeI go dey your body like skin tightWey I go dey by your side”
Will you give your heart to Him? He’s skin tight with us wherever we go, and He will always be by our side. He’s just waiting for us to acknowledge His Presence. We can talk to Him like we talk to a best friend. He’s always listening. Don’t worry about the right words; He hears our hearts.
The wiser Nik is learning to look to Him in all my actions asking what He would have me to do. Another reminder this morning was not to overcome evil with evil, but look for every opportunity to repay evil with good. Everything is between God and us my peeps. When you seek to please and serve Him, it’s like He responds,
“It is my pleasure to serve you, too.” Wink! Wink!
Give your heart to Him! He won’t let you go!
KEEP CALM—YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD

Was a comment I read this morning!
EXACTLY!!! God has totally gotten a bad rep with people thinking life with Him would be unexciting, but my experience has been nothing short of a GRAND adventure. I wake up every day not knowing what to expect from one moment to the next. I just got back from an excellent run with Him in beautiful South Florida, and I came back a new person.
‘Wow, God, I get to live this life?’ is how I’m feeling! I’m on a bleisure trip – business and leisure – away from Nigeria! My mom came to join me yesterday from the Bahamas, and I’m enjoying every moment with her. We had dinner at our fav Cheesecake Factory (the leisure part of the trip), and today it’s back to business.
The run was spot on for me where Coach Bennet and Andy Putticombe gave me the perfect advice on the Nike Run Club app. I don’t know why I’ve been so anxious, lately, when I think about the future and they said that instead of being insecure and nervous about the future, we can be excited and inspired by it. That we can replace the negative, scary thinking with positive thoughts of unlimited possibilities with an increased appreciation of every moment. And when I add in the God factor, being there with me in the present holding my hand, AND in the future waiting to help me accomplish all these potentials, I’m talking the BEST LIFE – FORGET BORING!
Then they talked about how to change of thinking about the past as well. We can look at it as lessons and learnings, and let everything that has happened in the past change us to be better. No more beating ourselves up and dragging the past around with us, let’s hand over the mistakes and failures to God (who will use it for our good!) and BEGIN AGAIN to be a brighter, more sparkling version of ourselves. Ain’t NOBODY PERFECT!
The background music, with God as my DJ, got me even more excited when ‘The Secret Garden’ played with God reminding me that HE IS TAKING CARE OF ME, which was just another reason why I need not worry about the future – He’s got me! I have FULL CONFIDENCE IN HIM that He will help me get through ANYTHING that may come up in the future. This was confirmation of what I had read in my hour with Him through one of my meditation books early this morning: “As for you, I’m taking care of you.”
Life with God is so NOT boring! I pick up on His Presence with me almost everywhere. Like this other song He played for me today:
“Arms around youTe amo (I love you) mami, let Me hold youWrap Me arms right around you, girl, oh yeahGood lovin’ got all around youTo make sure no one could harm youDale (Let’s go), mami, let Me have you, ooyy” – Arms Around You
God, I’m ALL Yours!
KEEP CALM—YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD