“PRAY TO GOD FOR STRENGTH”

That’s excellent advice to all of us today from my hubby! “Where do you get all this strength from?” I ask him all the time. His reply is always, “God.” Like last night, after coming home from working hard all day, he still cooked us the best curry. I snuck out of the kitchen to rest for a little bit. That’s when he suggested that I pray to God for strength, but I’m not ashamed of my weakness (I’m not him!) because that keeps me looking to and relying on God. No shame in my game! I love this old post:

“ARE YOU TAKING NOTES?!?” (REPOST)

That was me to my son, Emmie, today, as we spent some time with his dad getting ready to leave for work. I’ll never forget a day at the office when I felt utterly overwhelmed by everything my husband had to take on, and a close family friend said, “Nikki, don’t even try to understand the pressures on a man. We were built to handle this; you were not.”

So, this post today is for everyone doing complex things on God’s and their family’s behalf to remind you that our God is a living God who is with us in every moment, supporting us, helping us, and giving us the strength and courage to keep going. Our support system is the Almighty God, and the joy of the Lord is our strength to take on HARD THINGS. It’s just for us to focus on Him in every moment, tapping into His strength, guidance, wisdom, favor, protection, tact, personality, joy, and help that is incredibly available to us in every moment. But enough from me today, our friend, Ceri, shared this recently:

“From the book of Haggai 2:4-5 that says:

“But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.’”

Today I’m just grateful for the spirit of God. I am grateful for our strength, something that I continuously pray for and I’m grateful for, like this verse says, God’s spirit lives amongst us. It’s so important for us to remember that the God that we serve is a living God…

Our faith is in alignment with our God. Our God lives amongst us. He’s a living God, and it’s just so refreshing to know that He’s here at all times. Even though we can’t see Him, our faith shows and tells us He is here. When it’s time when we need Him, and we call on Him, He shows up. Even though we don’t see him, but we know that he shows up because He shows up inside people, or He shows up through things, or like He still shows up. It’s hard for us to explain, but we know that He is here.

One of the things that stood out to me in this particular verse again was how Haggai was in this particular book in the Bible. They’re speaking about rebuilding the temple. He was speaking to some of the old Jews and just basically telling them to like be strong, keep pushing, we have a job to do.

And God was telling them that like even though it seemed like such a hard task, that He was there with them. God told them in this particular verse, ‘For I am with you. Be strong for I Am With You.’ And that’s something that always replays in my mind, and every day and every moment that I pray, that’s one of the first things that always comes out on my lips is that I pray for strength. I know that God is with me, but I also know that I can’t do it alone, but I need the strength so that I can keep pushing forward. I can keep doing my best. I could keep growing. I could keep being strong for other people who are close to me. A lot of times, my strength isn’t just for me. A lot of times, I pray for my strength; it honestly isn’t for me. It is to hold up the house so the roof doesn’t collapse around everyone else.

I pray for strength over anyone that needs it. And I want to remind anyone who needs to hear it that they close this verse by saying, “Do not be afraid.” Fear is of the devil, and it’s easy for it to encapsulate us and for us to get worried and anxious about things. And you must be reminded that God we serve is a living God, and He’s amongst us and lives with us. He told us not to be afraid. I’m gonna listen to him.”

Let’s keep it pushing! God Himself is with and for us!!! Heehaw!!!

That was me to my sweetie, Shula, a few moments ago! I’ve been telling everyone who would listen, “My daughter, Ember, is working at Nike in New York!” Knowing that I have two fierce daughters who are capable of going to New York City, of all places, and excel, makes me extremely happy. Julie is working, too! Only God and I know the sacrifice it took to get them there, and I’m just praising and thanking God for His guidance. God Himself orchestrated everything for my girls!!!

“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. – Psalm 126:3

That’s why I preach to you guys, “Don’t play around with your relationship with God!” It’s like what I told a staff yesterday who stubbornly refused to work with our new manager. The work she has been producing has not been good, making her look bad. I said we hired this manager because of his extensive knowledge, so her arrogantly not asking for his help hurts her. Same thing with God, He is an expert in everything. He knows everything. So, not getting Him involved in your life is hurting you! You’re missing out on His infinite wisdom, favor, help, support, love, and guidance for every aspect of your life!

I honestly can’t stop thanking Ceri for his recordings in his Bible and Breakfast Clubhouse group, where I go and stalk him. The other morning he sent me a message that he recorded another one; I quickly replied, “I’ve already shared it with the world!” I don’t joke around with these messages from Him because I hear clearly from God through Him. Yesterday, I, the staff who I just mentioned, was honestly upset with her because she was hurting her reputation and my company’s as well. So of all the messages for me to pick from Ceri yesterday, he asked us to forgive anyone who has done us wrong, and we should do our best to make amends if we can. After listening, I met with her and told her why I was upset. We hugged, and today, she humbly went and met with the manager to ask for his assistance.

No way that was a coincidence when I’ve been walking around upset at her for the last two days that, of all things for Ceri to say, was all God telling me to forgive her. See God’s love for us! I played the message for her, telling her that God was the reason why I MUST keep forgiving her. Now I pass the torch on to you! Is there anyone you need to make amends with? As Ceri says, this forgiveness thing is for us. So we can have a clean slate with God. God, I did the right thing! And it gives us peace!

My daughters in New York flourishing is all God working behind the scenes of my life and why I constantly ask, “God, how can I glorify you in all my actions!” This is the way to the best life with Him! Amen! Even when we go through difficult paths! (Wink! Wink!)

DON’T MESS AROUND WITH THIS GOD!!!

I’ve been the happiest person ever since my daughter started working at Nike in New York. I have no doubt that God Himself arranged this!!! It has been a huge and excruciating sacrifice we made for our daughters (splitting our family in half y’all!) to attend university there, and even this is a huge God lesson for us all!!! He spoke to me today through my fav meditation book, Jesus Calling:

“IT IS NATURAL that you want to minimize pain. However, in My Word I continually call you to transcendent living, to go beyond what is natural to what is supernatural. Though my ways may entail sacrifice and pain, I accomplish through them not just what is good for you—but what is best.”

That’s why I can’t get over my brother, Kevin. In one of my painful moments, I called him one day, and he incredibly said, “Neeks, you’re like a boxer right now. You will take 10,000 punches, but eventually, you will become numb. Keep fighting!” God Himself spoke to me through my brother to keep going and not give up! Who tells someone to stay in the ring and take 10,000 punches? This was not only what was good for me, it was indeed best for me! God was teaching me these crucial values in the process:

▪

To love others the way He loves us: unconditionally! To keep forgiving and keep forgiving and keep forgiving until we increase our capacity to forgive. And this forgiveness thing is for us! It brings us peace and joy! I try to wipe the slate clean for everyone every day, the way God does for us. Thanks, Ceri, my God influencer!

▪	To think less of self and more of others: “Don’t forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.”

▪	My family is a team, and I must make decisions that are best for the team! My personal happiness goes to the back seat!

▪	To wisely, calmly, kindly, skillfully, and lovingly handle problems!

▪	Don’t repay evil with evil; LOVE EVEN HARDER!

▪	When others go low, you go high because, at the end of the day, everything is between us and God. God more than makes up for any disappointments! (Wink! Wink!)

▪	To obey and trust God! No matter how difficult what He is asking – He will be our strength to do difficult things!

▪	Stay committed! Don't give up when things get hard. Sometimes we must go through difficult paths to get to the best ones. Loyalty all the way, baby! All for the glory of God!

▪	Do not judge! Loving others for both their strengths and weaknesses! NO ONE GETS IT RIGHT ALL THE TIME!

A special thanks to Kevin and Ceri! Thanks for putting up with me!

“I’M GOING ON STRIKE FROM DISAPPOINTMENTS!”

That’s where I am at this very moment! I had the perfect appointment with God by reading just this paragraph from my book:

“Dr. Wayne Dyer, in his book, The Power of Intention, wrote, “That which offends you only weakens you. If you’re looking for occasions to be offended, you’ll find them at every turn. As A Course in Miracles reminds us: “Peace is of God, you who are a part of God are not at home except in his peace.” Stay close to God and stop getting offended all the time as every time you’re offended by something, you move away from God. When you’re able to respond with love and kindness, instead of getting offended, you get closer to God. Remember, “It’s not between you and anyone else; everything is between you and God!” As St. Paul said, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance.” Tune in to God’s frequency, and you will know it beyond any and all doubt!””

Let me tell you, I wrote this post years ago, and it’s a lesson that I still haven’t mastered, but I’m not giving up! A few hours after reading this, I needed to put that alone time with God into practice, asking Him, ‘What would you have me do here?’ when an opportunity arose for me to be offended. But instead of getting upset and disappointed, I took the high road, being my kind and most loving self, seeking to please God, and I WAS SO MUCH HAPPIER FOR IT!!! Woohoo!

I love what Andy Puddicombe had to say to me during a run this week:

“We can’t control what happens to us in life, but we can train the mind and the body so that when things happen that challenge us, we’re ready for them. Not to fight them. Not to resist them. But to deal with them calmly and skillfully.”

With our eyes on God, is what I would add in! No matter the situation we are confronted with, I promise you God’s ways are always best! If we stay calm, asking Him, ‘God, what would you have me to do here? He will lead you to the ultimate best decision.’ That has been my experience! That little minute seeking Him that day turned out to be extremely valuable. St. Paul is correct; God has provided my life with abundant blessings. Wink! Wink! Don’t miss out! Make God a part of every decision you make! You won’t go wrong with God!

Dear God, help us constantly catch ourselves when we’re moving away from Your peace and ask, “How can I respond to this more lovingly and kindly?” to always please You. Amen.”

I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS CONVERSATION

With my daughter Ember’s friend Mo. He always encouraged Ember to think positively, and I asked him where God fit in with all this positive thinking. And this was his beautiful response (I paraphrase here): “MY FAITH IN GOD IS THE REASON WHY I CAN BE POSITIVE. Knowing God is with us, supporting and helping us fight battles. We must learn to let go and let God control what we can’t.” I would add that we just need to show up, do to the best of our abilities wherever God asks of us, being our most loving, excellent, and going the extra mile selves on His behalf. Then, we can expect His uncommon favor over our lives! Don’t stress; do your best! (Wink! Wink!)

I love how God finds all these sweet ways of letting me know His Presence is with me! Like yesterday evening, talking to Lillian at our office, she said, “IT IS WELL.” Honestly, hearing those words from her brought such comfort to me. YES, IT IS WELL!!! Fast forward to this morning; of all the billions of songs in the world, our cleaner walks by playing this very song, “IT IS WELL, IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.” That was again one of my God winks where everything lined up too perfectly to be an ordinary coincidence. It was God orchestrated just as another glimmer of His inviable Presence that is always with us.

This isn’t the first time this happened with Lillian. The last time she said that I had found my PURPOSE and the following day, I called one of our technicians I saw walking by, and unbelievably, of all songs in the world, he was playing this song Purpose by Justin Bieber that I was running around our home singing the day before. ‘Yes, Nik, this is your purpose!’ God seemed to have repeatedly been saying, with even a live reel of Justin Bieber singing this song live in concert appearing shortly after Lillian’s statement. See the INTIMATE LOVE AND ATTENTION God shows me! No coincidences! And that’s the awareness of His Presence that gives ME the faith to be positive, like Mo said, expecting the best from God! Even the bad that shows up, God has a way of even using that for our good! HEEHAW!!

Don’t miss out on all this GREAT loving from God! NOBODY WILL LOVE YOU BETTER!!! Make sure you have alone times with Him reading or listening to anything spiritual that brings you closer to Him. You will then begin to hear and know His voice and direction when you return to the world. OUR MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP IS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!!!

“PICTURE PERFECT, YOU DON’T NEED NO FILTER…”

“…Shower you with all My attention. Yeah, these are My only intentions.” That’s God singing to me yesterday on our run together through Justin Bieber. That’s the love I feel from God that I want the entire world to experience with me. I’m blown away by all the intimate love and attention I receive from Him. Like the day before yesterday, I felt God in my spirit, saying specifically to read Day 2 from my book, Keep Calm, You’re Rolling with God. Fast forward to the very next day, I called my daughter, Julie, in New York and asked her to have an appointment with God with me, reading the same book. I asked her to pick the number, and incredibly she picked, out of 366 days, the same day number 2.

This was another one of our God winks, where everything lined up a little bit too perfect to be considered an ordinary coincidence. For both my daughter and I to land on the same day 2 out of 366 days was God’s spirit speaking within us both.

My daughters are in New York, and I’m in Nigeria, but God tells me to entrust them to Him, and this was Him confirming that His invisible Presence was indeed there with my girls (HUGE SMILE). See the love I receive from God? Here’s that important message from my book I feel He wants me to share with you:

“ARISE, MY DARLING, MY BEAUTIFUL ONE, COME WITH ME” (Song of Songs 2:10, NIV)

That’s our great invitation from God, to live these extraordinary lives with Him as our Guide, Partner, Helper, Counselor, Friend, Teacher, Provider, and Father. And absolutely everyone is invited to the party! No matter how badly you think you’ve made a mess of things, God wants you close to Him. In fact, He has used all my weaknesses and wounds to show all of us a better way of living and thinking.

I love how He doesn’t force us to come; it’s like He patiently waits in the background for us to remember Him. And unfortunately, that seems to be mostly when we get ourselves in trouble and ask Him to help us get out. Then once we’re out, we place Him in the background again until the next big problem comes up.

This year, I want you to accept His invitation to follow Him in every aspect of your life with Him taking the lead and not the background role. Like a great friend said to me, “I want to remember God every moment.” This is where I want us, remembering God every second and collaborating with Him as to what He would have us to do, where He would have us to go, and even what to say. We’re not going by the ordinary rules of man, and some things He asks will take supernatural strength—like being mentally tough (fearless, focused, determined and refusing to worry), while also being loving and forgiving towards someone you want to choke.

But trust me, when you’re able to let go and surrender everything to God, handing over all disappointments and outcomes to Him, you begin to experience this miraculous life where He not only repays you for any wrongs, He helps you with any problem or challenge you may have and even comforts you when you’re hurt.

Quiet confidence will be your strength when you leave situations and circumstances in His hands. I’m talking about unthinkable lives already planned for us, which include fabulous adventures, the best people, and off-the-chart levels of wisdom, peace, happiness, and joy.
Start asking, God, what would You have me do here? This takes calming down, slowing down, and listening to His quiet whispers in your spirit. When you do, a whole new world awaits you.

Dear God, thank You for Your love and constant guidance. Pardon our sins and give us the courage to live the lives You have planned for us. Amen.

KEEP CALM—YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD

LET ME TELL YOU HOW GOD LOVES ME SO MUCH!!!

I’ve been bragging to anyone who would listen that Nike (only one of the top companies in the world!) hired my daughter, Ember. So, I took it as no coincidence that I’ve been running with the Nike Running Club for about five years now, pretty much every day, so I said this was all God orchestrated! God Himself had Nike to hire my daughter to let me know that His Presence was there with them in New York. Can you believe God confirmed it?

“Madam, please help me,” said my sweetie-pie, Shula at work yesterday. “Why are you bothering me, I’m doing my work for God!” I joked with her. As I’m texting the customer she needed my help with, unbelievable, the phone rings, and of all the people in the world, it’s our customer “NIKE.” No way this was some random coincidence for “NIKE” to call for this little short time I had that phone in my hand when I’ve been going crazy with this “Ember is working at Nike in New York to everyone.” It’s God’s uncommon favor on my family, y’all, and Him revealing another glimmer of His invisible Presence with me to brighten my day!!! My fav calendar, Mottos For Success, puts it like this:

“Give God the gift of your time by helping others, He will look after the things you care deeply about.

But do not forget to do good and to share for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. – Hebrews 13:16

I honestly do these blogs and vlogs as a gift to God for all He is doing for me and my family. With all the love and attention He shows us, I ask, ‘God, what can I do for You?’ He has asked me to share our family’s testimony of a family rolling with Him today and how we make decisions based on the crucial God perspective. Trust me, we’re far from perfect, but even our mistakes and failings are used by Him for our good! Especially to teach you guys that God doesn’t require perfection to be a part of His family; HE LOVES US ALL UNCONDITIONALLY, AND WE CAN COME TO HIM EXACTLY AS WE ARE. I’m the queen of falls, yet I still feel as if I’m God’s fav girl (HUGE SMILE).

My message today is don’t miss out on God’s uncommon favor in your life! Make God your top priority, and tell Him that today is the day you want to walk closer with Him. Then, take time to have appointments with Him. Google “WE ROLL WITH GOD” and start learning how to hear God’s voice and feel His Presence with you. I loved a message from Ceri today about how we could even be thanking God during the fires of our lives. Ceri said that even if the city was burning, we could be thanking and praising God that at least we could watch it burn. Now that’s a real perspective changer! Ceri also spoke about how loving others is learning to think less of self and focusing on what was also best for others, GENUINELY LOVING THEM. Kevin and I sang this song to each other recently:

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some but for everyone.” – Diana Ross & The Supremes

“In a loving family, EVERYTHING is forgivable.”