“IT’S JUST THE DEVIL TRYING TO KEEP YOUR GIRL DOWN!”

That was me to my Facebook friend, Lioness, after she commented about me not wanting to get out of bed. But to be honest with you guys, LIFE GETS HEAVY, AND THE HEAVINESS OF IT ALL WILL WEIGH YOU DOWN TO THE POINT THAT SOMETIMES YOU WANT TO STAY UNDER THE COVERS AND HIDE FROM THE WORLD. Life gets challenging and stressful, and even God’s fav girl here gets knocked down sometimes. No shame! Ups and downs are a normal part of life!

But that’s where a relationship with God comes sweetly in! Whenever life feels heavy, I want us to automatically know that we’re taking on too much and not trusting God enough. Faith is knowing that God has our backs, helping us to tackle whatever life throws our way. It’s just for us to invite Him into EVERY SINGLE MOMENT, TAPPING INTO HIS WISDOM, JOY, STRENGTH, PEACE, FAVOR, SUPPORT, KINDNESS, GUIDANCE, APPROVAL, AND LOVE.

I LOVED a God wink from Him today after telling a customer that we will use God’s wisdom to deal with our husbands moment-by-moment. Unbelievably, today, I’m chatting with Ola, the beautiful soul that helps us in our house, and she unbelievably says, “It’s God’s wisdom (Wink! Wink!) we use to help us with our husbands. For my words to come out of her mouth was again everything lining up a little too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidence; it was God’s spirit within us speaking. That made me so happy today, feeling God is so close to me that He would have Ola repeat my words. The intimate love and attention I feel from God! Priceless!

“So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” – Zechariah 4:6

And knowing God’s Spirit is always with me and fighting battles in the spiritual realm on my behalf, and tweaking situations in my favor is what gives me the courage, joy, and peace to show up to my life and do everything for His glory. In fact, today, I felt like He was singing these words to me:

“Every morning you rise and open your eyes, I just want to be there with you (HUGE SMILE)” – You, by Jesse Powell

As I sang back to Him:

“Every morning I rise and open my eyes, I just want to be with You… I wanna be yours from this day forth!”

I’m talking complete and total surrender to God as I suck up every moment of my life enjoying Him! Will you sing that song to Him, too, asking for an even closer walk with Him, no matter the stresses and challenges that come our way? We can bounce out of bed with the peace and joy that passes all understanding, KNOWING God Himself is walking with us. Heehaw!!! That’s FAITH!!!

GOD SHOWS UP ON MY SICK BED TO COMFORT ME

Another one of my God winks to tell you, guys, about when everything lines up enormously too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidence. So, in reading a post on our family’s website about Ceri (my God influencer!) I decided to go to the Clubhouse app to hear from him. I randomly picked out an older message from almost a year ago where Ceri spoke about the time King Hezekiah prayed to God for help, and God sent an angel to destroy 185,000 troops of the opposing army. After listening to the message about how God is personally involved in our lives, I go back to our family’s website, and the very next post from where I left off at was when I wrote about this exact message from Ceri! No way was this some random coincidence! Of a year and a half of Ceri’s recordings, to match up perfectly with the next in line for me to read of 146 web pages, was completely and totally arranged by God. His sweet way of letting us know that His Presence is always with us – even in our sick beds! (HUGE SMILE) That’s why the message from God today with hubby was to lighten up and not take ourselves so seriously, knowing we have His help, support, wisdom, strength, favor, and love backing us up. Here’s that old post:

GOD HIMSELF IS PERSONALLY INVOLVED IN OUR LIVES

That’s the great news I want to share with you guys! I tell you how He shows up for me so that, hopefully, you can feel His invisible Presence with you, too. Like, no shame, I have lots of pressure on me right now, and I go looking to hear messages from God through my God influencer, Ceri. Yesterday driving to work, I prayed, ‘God, I really need to hear from You right now!!!’ And He didn’t disappoint!

An hour before this prayer, I read Joel Osteens emailed message for the day saying this:

““For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.” 2 Kings 19:34, NLT

This Can Be Your Legacy

Nikki, in 2 Kings 19, King Hezekiah, one of David’s descendants, was on the throne in Judah. The powerful Assyrian army was about to attack Jerusalem, and Hezekiah didn’t stand a chance. But when he prayed and asked God to help them, that very night an angel destroyed 185,000 in the Assyrian camp, and the Assyrian king went home.”

So, on that drive, I scrolled through the app where Ceri records almost daily his take on some scriptures and how they relate to our lives today. I was there scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, asking God to pick the message he wanted me to listen to, and the very one I stopped on was Ceri speaking on this 2 Kings 19 about the time King Hezekiah prayed to God for help and God sent an angel to destroy 185,000 troops of the opposing army. Honestly, I freaked out listening to him speak because this was no coincidence that of all the messages I could scroll past, for me to land on that very story again, like an hour later, was again everything lining up too perfectly to be an ordinary coincidence. It’s a message to us all today: GOD HIMSELF WHO HEARD THE PRAYER OF HEZEKIAH, IS THE SAME GOD WHO HEARS OUR PRAYER TODAY.
Look at me praying in that car, feeling so overwhelmed what’s on me right now, and for God to show up and say, ‘Nik, I’m right here with you.’ And that’s the peace you cannot buy! Knowing that God Himself would go to such great lengths to make us aware of His invisible Presence with us. That message from Ceri was recorded 6 months ago, and God used it to reveal His Presence with me yesterday.

So, about all those pressures on your girl right now, I know I’m not handling them alone and they were ALL designed by God to make me stronger. I KNOW have God Himself with me, and by HIS STRENGTH, everything will be handled. It’s just for me to show up in every moment, seeking to do my utmost best by feeling in my Spirit what God would have me to do, and I leave the rest with Him to handle in the spiritual realm! We are not going by the ordinary rules!

Even down to coolant for a vehicle I was selling today, God had the customer’s friend bring out the particular coolant I needed from his car. What blew me away was that I was looking for it in our garage and praying to God for his help on what to do as the customer was just about to leave, and the friend said, “I have the very specific coolant for that car in my vehicle.” He brought out an opened bottle of it! Again, God said, ‘Nik, Relax, I got you.’ Wink! Wink!

And He got all of us. BRING ALL YOUR CONCERNS TO HIM- THE BIG AND SMALL STUFF! Then, remember that we have His strength, favor, love, approval, support, personality, and wisdom in every moment. Are you learning His voice when you make decisions? With practice, you will learn that deep-down feeling where you know it’s God directing you. Also, I feel Ceri’s message about God resonates with me as to the person God would have me to be. That’s why I stalk him because His Godly influence about loving God and loving others is helping me make some crucial decisions on behalf of my family. I love how my beloved calendar (Mottos for Success) puts it:

“A team player thinks of his teammates whenever he makes a move, and he makes decisions according to what is better for the team, not just himself.”

“Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also the interests of others.” – Philippians 2:4

“THE RESTAURANT COMES TO ME!!!”

That’s my testimony about the sweet life with God! Today, running around with my husband, we passed a Burger King under construction in Nigeria, and I couldn’t get those delicious burgers off my mind! Can you believe hubby made me the best burger ever with this delicious and fresh Nigerian bun with my fav coleslaw on the side? Spoilt wifey here between God and hubby! (HUGE SMILE)

But there is another significant side to this life with God that is not so sweet: HE DOES ASK US TO SUFFER AND ENDURE SOME DIFFICULT STUFF ON HIS BEHALF. After telling you guys in my last post about talking to Kevin about how no one talks about ENDURING anymore, that everyone is chasing happiness and they want it right now, God had hubby and I to drive past this HUGE TRUCK with one word in big, bold letters across the entire back: “ENDURANCE (Wink! Wink!).” Of course, I took that as God’s special wink at me to keep doing my thing and NOT GIVING UP despite how things may seem now. As if God was saying what I tell my daughters, “SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP, WE’RE DOING HARD THINGS FOR GOD!!!” And for this God who is continuously revealing His intimate Presence and love for me and my family, I say, ‘God, anything for You!’

God also gives me the wisdom to help me endure. Like I had two videos uploaded to TikTok. One of them got 22 views. Out of only those 22 views, one of the viewers showed up at my office to check on the status of a vehicle we are repairing for him, and before leaving, he said, “I saw you on TikTok talking about mercy.” This was the day after I turned into a crazy lady! There was no doubt in my mind that this was a total and complete set up by God to let me know where He wanted me to be with this situation that got me so upset because “Mercy” is another one of those words that Kevin and I talked about that no one uses anymore. I took it as God personally asking me to be merciful! Of my only two videos on TikTok, for that customer to be one of only 22 viewers to watch that one and to show up to my office and mention it to me was all orchestrated by God! Again, His deep love for me and my family! Nik, have mercy, please! The same mercy God shows us every day; He asks us to share it with others.

Honestly, I’m so happy for that message from God for me to have mercy (forgiveness without punishment) on that stuff that I’ve been hurt and angry about because it made ME feel so much better! No one is perfect, and we all make mistakes, but God challenges me to resist all the evil in the world with an even greater commitment to spreading love and goodness, especially in my home. “Never render evil for evil, but render evil with good.” May we all learn to genuinely love and be affectionate towards each other, accepting everyone for their strengths and weaknesses, so help us, God. He is our joy and strength to take on all the difficulties and challenges that come our way. We do the best of our abilities, and we leave the rest with Him! (Wink! Wink!)

One more thing before I go, though. I tell you guys all the time about pretending we don’t see what we see or hear what we hear, and that’s wisdom, but wisdom is also importantly knowing when to NOT pretend and when to speak. That’s where our relationship with God will come in, as He gives us that discernment to know when to speak and when to be quiet.

On a moment-by-moment basis, we have access to God, but you must take time to develop a relationship with Him by spending alone times with Him reading or listening to anything spiritual that brings you closer to Him. GOD IS OUR GREATEST FRIEND!!!

PAPA BEAR, I’M ENJOYING YOU ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!

That was me to my hubby today! I’m forever writing about Ceri and Kevin, so today, a shout-out to the better-than-best husband who always works extremely hard for his spoilt family. May more husbands and fathers be like you! Thanks for our gorgeous life!

I love how God reveals His Presence with me, guys! After going crazy telling the world yesterday how God communicates to me through the number 311, can you believe He sweetly woke me up this morning at precisely 3:11 to confirm that it was indeed Him telling me to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD? That there is nothing too difficult for Him! So, when your girl here wants to get all anxious and crazy, God says, ‘Nik, relax; I got you!’ By my strength, we will tackle all the difficulties in your life TOGETHER. And even if God doesn’t change the situations, as Ceri has wisely taught me, God will change your perspective! (Wink! Wink!)

Like Kevin and I had another one of our sacred conversations late one night this week, and just a five-minute telephone conversation changed my perspective on my life and family. He told me that I should enjoy my sons (I had the best time studying with Joshie last night!), and I told him how no one talks about “enduring” anymore, that everyone wants happiness now. So my perspective change is that I’m lovingly and joyfully ENDURING some difficult situations knowing it was God Himself asking me to endure when that very word showed up in an appointment with Him. I say, ‘God, for you who is doing so much for me, anything to please You. You want me to endure and reflect Your Presence to the watching world, “I’m Your girl!” (HUGE SMILE)

No one has a perfect life, but God does ask us to suffer and endure some problematic things for Him. He said we should take everything out on Him knowing He gives us more than we can imagine.

Then, God even confirmed that He wants me to endure some tough stuff when Ceri shared Joel Osteen’s message for today on his wall that included this verse that I’m taking as no coincidence but a personal and very loving message from God to me:

“And let us run with endurance (Wink! Wink!) the race God has set before us.” – Hebrews 12:1, NLT

Here’s what else is in the Hebrews 12:1-3

“Follow Jesus’ Example

We are surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him (that’s me, baby! The joy of the Lord is my strength!). And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. Think about Jesus’ example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying.” -Hebrews 12:1-3

GOT THAT: ENDURE WITHOUT GIVING UP!!! Sometimes God requires us to get through difficult paths to get to our best paths and the lives He has planned out for us! Let’s endure lovingly and joyfully whatever crosses that God asks of us (especially in our homes!). He is our joy and our strength to help us! Ask Him the battles He would have you fight and the battles He says to leave to Him!

GOD, THIS IS HARD!!!

That’s me complaining to God lately! But let me share with you the sweetness of God and how He shows up to remind me that He is standing firm with me, baby! Like I always tell you guys how God talks to me through numbers a lot. For example, whenever “311” shows up, it’s His reminder that I should stay on the high road with Him (after He protected Julie yesterday, I’m on the HIGHEST road, y’all!). That I should specifically BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD and that He is behind the scenes of my life fighting battles for me. So when I want to stress, get frustrated, and anxious about anything, He sends this “311” to beautifully say, ‘Nik, I got you! Relax and enjoy your life!’ Here’s how the 311 showed up three separate times yesterday:

The first time was on the way to work, and God had my spirit take my eyes directly to a plate on a passing vehicle that included “311” in it. I notice God would do this sometimes when He wants us to specifically pay attention to something, we can actually feel Him in our spirit saying, “Take your attention to this!”

Next, I needed to call my daughter Ember to give her a pep talk before her interview with my other daughter’s manager. I went to the call log on my phone and noticed she had called me at 3:11 am that morning.

The final one was an employee saying I needed to personally call a customer. I go to call them, and “311” was sweetly planted in as their middle digits.

Believe it or not, these were all totally and completely orchestrated by God to reveal His loving Presence with me as I take on the hard things for my family right now! No shame, though, I must replay this message from Ceri every morning as my constant reminder:

“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.”

And about that staying on the high road part, let me tell ya, when others are unfair with me, God more than makes up it. Whatever God asks of me, I do my best with it! Even the difficult stuff He asks me to endure, I say God, ‘Anything for You!’ I can’t get over how He arranged for my daughters to get this beautiful apartment to stay in over the summer in New York, for Ember to get that job to work with Julie (my fierce/baddies!), and the two of them bonding and getting closer (priceless!). I tell them that the way my siblings support me, I want that for them. THIS LIFE IS TOO HARD TO DO ON OUR OWN!