That was me to my brother, Kevin, and our family friend, Ceri! After someone commented that it seemed as if I worshipped Ceri, I’ve been thinking about how Kevin’s and Ceri’s messages have tremendously helped me!!! Kevin taught me to stay in the ring, even if it meant staying beyond the 10,000th punch (WHO ADVISES STUFF LIKE THIS?). Ceri showed up to help me figure out WHY I should take the punches (not real punches, by the way) from an Almighty God (Biblical) perspective so that I could share these valuable lessons with you guys. I HEAR GOD CLEARLY THROUGH BOTH OF THEM! No joke!

Like both have lovingly corrected me about a severe distraction I have going on. Ceri continually said, “Nikki, you have kids! You have kids! You have kids! You’re carrying this thing around too much! Let go and let God! Give God an opportunity to be God.” Then Kevin brutally said, “Neeks, this thing is consuming you to the point that you’re even neglecting your children.” Ouch! Now, God has joined them in asking me to let go of this matter entirely and turn it over to Him.

This God wink started yesterday in the middle of my run when I felt God saying to sit and have an alone time with Him. It was 47 minutes past the hour, so I went to page 47 of our website, and this verse showed up:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.” – Hebrew 12:1

God knows everything about us and understands that this issue has been consuming His girl here too much. I immediately knew this was God speaking to me! Fast forward to going to work a few hours later, this randomly showed up in my calendar, Mottos for Success, that God speaks to me through:

“If you want God to take care of your difficulties, then you need to let go of them and give them to Him (Wink! Wink!). Tell Him that you’re going to trust Him to work it out.” –

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us walk with endurance the race that is set before us” – Hebrews 12:1 (Wink! Wink!)

No coincidence that of 365 days, God had me go there! I decided to reshare that entire post, feeling it was God’s message to the world that we should let go of anything holding us back.

But what really freaked me out was in the middle of the run today, I AGAIN STOPPED TO HAVE ANOTHER APPOINTMENT WITH GOD. This time, though, I went to read page 20 of our website, but a glitch (God!!!) ended up cutting out the zero in a link that I use to pick out specific pages, and I ended up going to page 2. Unbelievably, at the very top of that page 2 was a YouTube video of one of Ceri’s Breakfast and the Bible talks where he incredibly shared, of all verses in the entire Bible, he spoke on this very Hebrews 12:1! God, I’ve gotten the message loud and clear!!! Nikki, stop obsessing over this thing! God corrects those He loves! (HUGE SMILE)

Once again, these all lined up too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidences. THEY WERE ALL DIRECT COMMUNICATIONS FROM GOD HIMSELF! Even looking back on some advice from Kevin from a few months ago, I’m completely blown away. Kevin said, “This is a no-brainer!” All I can tell you guys is THANK GOD I LISTENED TO KEVIN!!! God is the ULTIMATE STRATEGIST AND PLANNER, and I listened to Kevin’s advice, even though it was tough to do, and God has once again exceeded my expectations! If I didn’t, oh my goodness, it would have been a total disaster!

THE WISDOM, LOVE, PEACE, JOY, AND COURAGE YOU CANNOT BUY KNOWING YOU HAVE GOD ON YOUR SIDE!!! Make sure you are developing a relationship with Him!!! What sin is entangling you and needs to be thrown off? Let’s run with endurance the race that God has set before us, being the people in the world He would have us to be, AND TELL GOD YOU WILL TRUST HIM TO WORK OUT SITUATIONS BEYOND YOUR CONTROL. Amen!

God is so concerned about making us better, and this old post was the perfect reminder for me because I’m too easily distracted, and God wants us all to throw off everything that holds us back from being all that He created us to be. Let’s use every moment to the fullest, living our bestest lives with God! Here’s what the old Nik had to say:

WOW! WOW! WOW!

‘Before you call your husband, have an appointment with God first!’ was what I thought to myself. The last time we spoke, it didn’t end too well, and I wanted to call him from a much gentler and softer place. It was 18 minutes past the hour, and so I went to page 18 of our family’s website, and the perfect reminder showed up in this old post:

“DON’T TRY TO BE GOD, BE GOD’S ANGEL”

Are the words from my brother, Kevin, that I can’t seem to get out of my head this beautiful Sunday. This is where I believe God is calling us all – to be His angels in the world. God, I’m in! That means not being so hard on myself or on others. To see the good, their innocence, and what people are capable of becoming. Not on the past failures, fallings, and mistakes. To forgive endlessly with the hope that better days are ahead, by God’s grace. To be kinder and gentler with our words (holding some back when necessary) and focused on building others up, not tearing them down.”

Right after reading that first paragraph, my husband surprisingly calls me from Nigeria, and a much softer Nik showed up asking him, “How’s our Big Daddy doin’?” He was bragging about some car parts our daughter, Ember, had ordered for him from the US and were shipped there to him. I then told him about a conversation I had with her late the night before. I said there was a verse that showed up in an appointment with God saying that we should strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back.

Hubby then got a phone call that he had to rush and take. So, I continued with my appointment with God reading that same post from page 18. Look what incredibly showed up there:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.” Wink! Wink!

I’m talking about the very verse (Hebrew 12:1) that showed up the night before for Ember and me! And just like that, God revealed His invisible Presence that is always with us. It was another God wink where, out of the blue, everything lined up extremely toooooo perfect to be considered some ordinary coincidence.

Ember actually came into my bedroom extremely late to discuss a decision she had made. I asked her if she got God involved before making that choice. She said she had, and I said, “Let’s see what God has to say to us reading my book.” It was 11:22 pm, so I thought to read page 22. She said, however, that we should see what day November 22 is, and let’s read that day instead. That turned out to be the 326th day of the year, so we read Day 326. When this verse showed up, she felt it was God confirming she needed to strip away something that she felt was holding her back. That’s my very wise daughter, guys!

So, for Ember and I to go through all of that trouble for our appointment with God late last night and for this verse to show up, for me to tell my husband about this very verse first thing this morning, and for it to show up less than a minute after our conversation, was all God showing us His deep love and involvement in our lives. No coincidence!

It doesn’t get better than this, guys! Knowing God Himself is walking through life with you and that He is intimately involved in every single moment. From essential discussions with your children to how to deal with a sometimes difficult spouse (SMILE), God is there to help.

In fact, yesterday, Coach Andy asked me on my run, “What is your song of the day?” I thought of ‘Leave The Door Open’ by Bruno Mars as I imagine God singing it to me, saying that He is leaving His door open, meaning His love, wisdom, approval, help, and guidance is always. I then hop in the car to take my sons to work with me, and amazingly my son, Joshie, of all songs in the world, is singing this very one to himself. No doubt, another God wink! Then all day long, I kept hearing it play on my fav radio station, 96.5, Miami’s Party Station. God’s love! By the way, He is leaving the door open for you, too! Wink! Wink!

“LIFE IS FULL OF UPS AND DOWN!”

I loved this statement from a close family friend this week! That’s it! It’s all a part of the human experience we ALL go through. I’ve been going through YEARS of a rough patch! I told my daughter, Ember, I’m the queen of falls yesterday. I may fall a million times (NO SHAME!!!!), but I get back up a million and one! That’s life! But the GREAT NEWS I want us KNOWING is that GOD’S PRESENCE IS WITH US THROUGH THE ENTIRE JOURNEY- THE LOWEST OF THE LOWS AND THE HIGHEST OF THE HGHS! Yeah, baby!

I can boast of my weaknesses because those are the times when God’s strength comes shining through. God and I have a little joke between us that whenever I want to complain, ‘God, what is this?’ He says, ‘Nik, My grace is sufficient, sweetie! Suck it up, buttercup!’ No one has a perfect life, and we all have our share of difficulties and troubles, but as they say in Nigeria, “God dey (God is here!)!” He is in complete control of everything and everyone. It’s just for us to develop a relationship with Him so we can know His voice and guidance for our personal lives.

Like this morning, God blew me away with His closeness! A Facebook friend commented something yesterday that I got a little bit upset about that it looked like I was “borderline worshipping” our family friend, Ceri, who I call my God influencer. I wanted to immediately write a post about my low state when I met Ceri and how someone called me from Nigeria saying, “Don’t worry, Aunty, God will send an angel to calm your mind.” Fast forward to this morning, I asked God what page to go to for my appointment with Him, and because it was 6:33, I decided to go to page 6 of 146 pages and look what incredibly showed up there:

“GOD WILL SEND YOU AN ANGEL TO CALM YOUR MIND”
I can’t get over these words from someone who called me from Nigeria. The crazy thing is that God didn’t just send me an angel, He honestly sent me an entire team of angels. Like my husband questioned my relationship with our friend, Ceri, yesterday (hubs is low-key jealous!) and I had to explain to him how Ceri faithfully does these messages every morning in a group that I now upload to YouTube and no shame, I replay them repeatedly to literally help calm my mind.”

THIS WAS NO COINCIDENCE THAT GOD TOOK ME THERE FOR MY ALONE TIME WITH HIM! It was God’s loving way of revealing His invisible Presence with me, as if saying, ‘Nik, I’m with you, I’m with you, I’m with you! I am aware of EVERYTHING going on with you!’ THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH! Honestly, Ceri is just an example of the deep love God shows me. God gives me direct and specific message through Ceri! No joke! There was a message from Ceri that I shared and had to replay tens of times to calm my mind. It wasn’t funny the level of stress I was dealing with, but in God’s loving way, He connected me with Ceri and some recordings that he faithfully woke up to share in a group. Thanks, my God influencer!

Even the one where I told you guys recently about me crying to God in a sad moment and seeing if God had anything to say to me through Ceri, and his latest group message was God speaking to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me (me at that moment!)? Tell the people to get moving!”. Again, I took it as a direct message from God to me, and I left Nigeria, but still sad, weak, and fretful.

Then in another message through Ceri, once I returned to the US, I felt God saying to go into Rocky mode as if I was preparing for a big fight. I began these 5K runs every day as my time with God to strategize and get clarity on how to tackle my life. Let me tell you, a NEW Nikki returned to Nigeria. That weak, fretful Nik needed to say bye-bye! God has turned all my mourning into joy, and His super strength has emerged! This morning, I was able to lie next to my husband and say, “Hon, don’t worry about anything; our God is with us! Let’s move confidently forward.” What the devil means to harm us, God will use it for our good! I’m more committed to my family than ever before! Devil, go away!

Ceri has been a HUGE part of this transformation. I pray that he sees the changes in me and the power of his words. Not only has Ceri given me more faith (God repetitively reveals His Presence to me through Ceri, but he also gives me the WISDOM to tackle my life. His group recording of Feb 11, 2022, about loving others the way God loves us unconditionally with lots of grace and mercy, is the reason why I was able to get on a flight from the US to Nigeria and say to my husband, “Forget the past boo, we’re moving forward.”

Don’t be ashamed of your low moments! They are the times God is doing His best work to bring out the best in us! Heads high, my peeps. We’re rolling with God! Make sure you are having your alone times with Him! Ceri is one of my go-to places to seek God’s face (no shame!), but He talks to each of us individually, so find your place to hear from Him! THE BEST LIFE IS CLOSE TO GOD! Your girl here has decided to have fun with this entire situation! I’m watching and laughing! God tells me to take a lighthearted view of trouble because HE IS on my side!!! He is with you too!

“I BOW TO YOU! I BOW TO YOU! I BOW TO YOU!”

That’s me to my brother, Kevin, a short while ago! He has lovingly and wisely guided my life for the past few years. I talk to Him, and it’s like I’m talking to God Himself. He has become engrained in my soul and in so many crucial decisions I make. Even yesterday, after everyone told me how I’m gaining so much weight, I responded with what Kevin told me one day, “Neeks, you’re well taken care of! You don’t need to check for (worry about!) anyone.” I tell you guys that between God and my hubby, I’m very spoilt. God is forever telling me that He takes care of me exceedingly well! And like Kevin reminds me, “Neeks, you have a gorgeous life; enjoy it!”

The most important piece of advice Kevin has given, though, in an awful moment, he said, “Neeks, the only thing I can tell you now is to get close to God. Make God your TOP priority!” I would say that THIS HAS BEEN THE BEST ADVICE EVER GIVEN TO ANY HUMAN IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND!!! Your girl here has ran with that! Even with everything I’m tackling right now, my husband said last night, “Nikki, you’re lucky! God is with you!” Best believe it, baby! God makes me feel like His favorite girl in the entire world!

Like I had a challenging situation that I needed to deal with today, and in my late night appointment with God, He said to me, ‘WATCH TO SEE WHAT I WILL DO!’ Fast forward to today, God had the perfect person to sit next to my husband to help advise us. I was blown away by this person’s in-depth knowledge and how he wisely counseled us, AND by God’s deep love to have him there at that precise time as I had some other people waiting to hear our decision.

So, I don’t want to feel this loved by myself! Start making God your top priority! I wake up every day to appointments with Him, and I’m extremely in love with this message from my other messenger from God, Ceri, that has also changed my life. Now I keep saying like a broken record to myself, ‘Nik, keep forgiving! Nik, keep forgiving, Nik, keep forgiving!’ I do this because I’m being obedient to God, and in the final analysis, everything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else. Being OBEDIENT TO GOD IS WHAT HAS GUIDED MY LIFE ON THIS VERY GORGEOUS PATH! Wink! Wink! Here’s what Ceri had to say:

“… You got to be kind. It reverts back to what they said Paul said in this verse. He says to make allowance for everyone for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. When you make allowance for something, you prepare yourself that people will fail you. Ain’t nobody perfect. And even when people mess up, you must give them that Grace.

Remember now, we cannot keep asking God for grace and mercy when we don’t extend His hand to each other. Whatever it is that God gives us, he provides us with the opportunity to reflect that onto our fellow man. Hence, he told us he made us in his own image. What He’s given to us, we have the opportunity to give to other people. Every day we see the love that God has given us. From the moment we woke up and have our eyes open, we now have the opportunity and the ability to Grace others with what God has been so gracious with us. God helped us to wake up to see another day. He shows us love continuously. He is telling us once we wake up, ‘Hey, that’s what I did for you, now go out there and do for others.’ And forgiveness is one of those things.

Remember, it’s something that I always used to preach in here from when I first started preaching in this room. Forgiveness is something that God gave to you. He gave that to you. Forgiveness is for us. Nobody cares if you forgive them or not. Trust me on this one. Nobody cares. The only person to be affected by you not forgiving somebody is you. You’re going to walk around with a spiteful heart. You will walk around with hate in your eyes. You will be having sleepless nights because there’s something this person did to you that has you upset. You think they care? They don’t care because they can continuously run into the same problems over and over. They can keep running into people who either forgive them or who don’t. You think that like they are going to stop at you? Nah. It just doesn’t work that way.

The forgiveness is for us. The forgiveness is for us to just say, ‘Hey, you know I forgive you. You don’t do it because we want God to forgive us. That isn’t just the reason. You have to honestly search deep down inside you and realize that whatever this is, I am bigger than this. I’m not gonna let this consume me. This isn’t a part of me. This isn’t me. This isn’t what I’m going to focus on. I need to focus on the word of God. I need to focus on loving other people. I need to devote my energy to something more important than what it is that this person did to me. And that’s just what it is. So today, let’s remember to go out there with exactly what God asked us to do in these particular verses when He asks us to clothe ourselves today with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God our Father.”

‘I’M SO INTO YOU’

That’s not only God singing to me but to us all!!! The most intricate details of our lives, God is in the midst! He blows me away with His love and attention!

Like I went to Him crying one day, feeling hurt. That morning, for my appointment with God, I read Exodus 14:14, and in that sad moment, I felt God saying to listen to Ceri’s latest message. Ceri astonishingly continued reading Exodus 14:15-16 saying this:

“Why are you crying out to me (exactly me in that moment!)? Tell the Israelites to get up and get moving.”

The way that lined up so perfectly from me reading the previous verse, I felt God saying it was time for me to leave Nigeria and go back to the US. Ceri wasn’t even supposed to speak that day but described how he felt a pull from God to share those verses. Saying he didn’t know who they were for, but God pushed him to speak.

I get back to the US, and in another recording, Ceri spoke about Rocky mode and trusting the process. I jumped on that, deciding I needed to get out of my comfort zone, and I decided to complete a 5K run every day for 50 days – Rocky mode as if I was preparing for a big upcoming fight.

Now that I’m back in Nigeria, I see the difference between the Nikki who was crying and listening to that message from Ceri that morning. That Nik had to go for this new Nik to emerge – God’s girl first and foremost. The fretful, worried, sad, depressed, hurt, overwhelmed, frustrated Nik has been replaced by a faith-filled, confident, secure in God, brave, courageous, happy, joyful, and fearless Nik. Heehaw!

That’s why I said that God is so into all of us. He knew I needed that little wilderness experience in the US, running those 5Ks as my alone times with Him to tackle everything going on in my head and, most crucially, bring me closer to Him (HUGE SMILE). I’m leaning more on God than ever before! Today, the prayer with hubby is again just saying thank You to God because no matter how bad we may look at a situation, we must never forget it could be so much worse.

Moral of the story: Get to know God’s voice so you can feel His intimate direction for your life. See how I got the feeling to listen to that specific message from Ceri and how I knew it was God telling me to leave. Then again, to begin the 5K runs. I prayed the most important prayer of my life about 15 years ago: God, I want a closer walk with You. And the way I’ve learned His voice has been the most beautiful thing. Just one sentence in my meditation book made my day today from Him:

“The one thing you absolutely need is the one thing you can never lose: My Presence with you (Wink! Wink!).” – Jesus Calling

God, may the entire world come to know Your love! Amen!

“I’M HAPPY TO HAVE MY WIFE HERE WITH ME”

That was my hubby to me yesterday, and I’m so overwhelmingly thrilled and grateful to be here with him as well. But I can’t get over how God figures out these sweet ways to reveal glimmers of HIS PRESENCE HERE WITH US. Like the first night I arrived, I said let’s say a prayer together with hubby and our sons. I got on my knees next to our bed, but my son, Joshie said, “I don’t need to get on my knees because God doesn’t care what position I’m in.” I go to read an appointment with God in our Jesus Calling Devotional for Kids from where my son, Emmie, had left off, and this incredibly showed up (written as if God was speaking directly to us CONFIRMING EXACTLY WHAT JOSHIE HAD JUST SAID):

“I don’t care about the position of your body—I care about the position of your heart.”

Wow! That blew the God maniac here away! That lined up extremely too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidence for that book to so specifically confirm what Joshie had just said like 5 minutes before reading this. That’s the love of God I want you guys to know and experience for yourself! Our God is always with us!!!! Its just for us to have ears to hear Him and eyes to see Him!

Then, today, I got the feeling from Him to read post 86 in my book. Honestly, I didn’t get why He wanted me to go there, but after hanging up from a phone call about an hour later, an old post suddenly appeared on my phone from our family’s website, and I got the nudge from God to read it. It incredibly mentioned the book, The Happy Family, and can you believe this was the exact book I mentioned in that post number 86 in my book. Again, it was God’s sweet way of letting me know that His invisible Presence is always with me and that I handle nothing alone. God Himself is in the storms, fires, and struggles of our lives. Here’s what that old post said:

“GOD SHOWS UP AGAIN TO REVEAL HIS PRESENCE WITH US (HUGE SMILE)

This is another one of my God winks, where everything lines ENORMOUSLY TOO PERFECT to be considered an ordinary coincidence. This one started yesterday morning in a conversation with a friend about her marriage. I kept telling her that she had to set the tone for the house, being her most loving self, going the extra mile, and staying on the high road with God, no matter what her husband was doing. Then, by her showing up with that spirit, her husband would be motivated to change. She should do her best and leave the rest with God because nothing was too difficult for Him. No matter how terrible the situation may seem, she should keep giving her best for God.

Fast forward about an hour later, I randomly opened my meditation book of Bible verses, and God confirmed what I said when this was the very first verse that I opened DIRECTLY to:

“Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives. – 1 Peter 3:1

I immediately sent a pic to my friend and called her. But she freaked me out when she told me that she had just read the same thing five minutes before. I told her I didn’t believe her and that she should send me a picture of what she had read. She sent this:

“If matters of conscience come up, an unbelieving husband is more likely to respect his wife’s position if it is presented with a “mild temper and deep respect.” Some unbelieving husbands have been won through the conduct of their wives (Wink! Wink!), because of having been eyewitnesses of (their) chaste conduct together with deep respect.” — 1 Peter 3:1” – The Happy Family

Wow! The love of God in action! See how He is so deeply and personally involved in our lives! How could this be some mere coincidence? For me to open this book of over 300 pages of Bible verses and read THAT specific one first, then to call my friend back saying this is God’s marching orders to us, for her to tell me in an entirely different book this same message from 1 Peter 3:1 showed up only 5 minutes before, was completely and totally orchestrated by God to make us ALL aware of His invisible Presence with us. It brought such great comfort to my friend, letting her know that God was there with her, helping her to fight and stay strong for her family.”

Our families sticking together is important to God! Make sure you are having your alone times with Him! These glimmers of His Presence give me joy, courage, and strength to be the person, wife, and mom God Himself would have me be. This life is too hard to do on our own! God knows the beginning, middle, and end, and He is involved in every aspect of our lives, but we must take the time to seek His face and ask for His help and guidance. Don’t miss out on a life close to God!

“YOU KNOW WE HAVE A BAD REPUTATION”

That was me to my daughter, Ember, a short while ago. Julie said that if you look up spoilt in the dictionary, you would see a picture of the two of us holding hands. She is my daughter, for sure! But honestly, it’s the love of God and my husband (her dad) that spoil us. (HUGE SMILE). Like I can’t get over how God showed up for me yesterday. At exactly 10:51, I sent our family friend, Ceri, a message saying this is our message from God to teach the world:

“Loving unconditionally and making allowances for others”

Precisely 44 minutes later, I was at a park where I run, and looking for a cool spot to sit down and have my alone time with God, I walk directly to a book that someone left behind incredibly entitled:

‘Beautiful Mercy: Experiencing God’s Unconditional Love So We Can Share It With Others’ (Wink! Wink!)

And that was another one of my famous God winks with God lovingly planting that book there for His fav and spoilt girl here – me!!!! That lined up extremely too perfectly, IT WAS ALL GOD revealing His invisible presence with us! No way this was some ordinary coincidence for me to type those words to Ceri about loving unconditionally and for that book, of all the books in the world, to be left there about that topic.

This is the love that I want us all to experience from Him so that we can live our lives joyfully, knowing He is by our side through everything we go through! Yes, we must endure some HARD THINGS (our crosses), but we do it all for His glory. Running to listen to another message from Ceri today, his advice was to keep forgiving. This forgiveness thing is truly for us so we don’t have to go through life unhappy, bitter, and frustrated. You just accept that it is what it is like Donald trump wonderfully taught us and hand everyone over to God – Let go and let God – as we keep being His representatives in the world, loving unconditionally, and STRONG AND COURAGEOUS. I’m bragging to my support group now, telling them to watch me, superman! As God’s influencer, I have to show you guys how we do! OUR GOD IS WITH US, BABY! Wink! Wink!

WOW! WOW! WOW!

God speaks clearly to me through our family friend, Ceri! The other day, I was under my God tree, and my friend Marcie asked me, “Have you left your husband yet?” I explained to her that I was not leaving him and was his ride-or-die wife. That I’m God’s representative, and I’m sticking with my husband, even if that means being the poster child of a wife sticking with her husband despite all the messiness involved. That I will love my husband up. Show him a lot of mercy and grace because none of us are perfect, and keep loving and supporting him the same way he has lovingly done for me. Even though the world might tell me the complete opposite, I follow what I feel God is calling me to do: Give my husband grace and mercy and even go as far as not discussing the issue again by being extremely gentle and patient.

Fast forward a few minutes later, I saw the date Feb 11 and felt God saying to go to Ceri’s message of Feb 11 on the Clubhouse app, where I go to stalk him and record his messages. Incredibly, Ceri confirmed what I had just told Marcie:

“… You got to be kind. It reverts back to what they said Paul said in this verse. He says to make allowance for everyone for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. When you make allowance for something, you prepare yourself that people will fail you. Ain’t nobody perfect. And even when people mess up, you must give them that Grace.

Remember now, we cannot keep asking God for grace and mercy when we don’t extend His hand to each other. Whatever it is that God gives us, he provides us with the opportunity to reflect that onto our fellow man. Hence, he told us he made us in his own image. What He’s given to us, we have the opportunity to give to other people. Every day we see the love that God has given us. From the moment we woke up and have our eyes open, we now have the opportunity and the ability to Grace others with what God has been so gracious with us. God helped us to wake up to see another day. He shows us love continuously. He is telling us once we wake up, ‘Hey, that’s what I did for you, now go out there and do for others.’ And forgiveness is one of those things.

Remember, it’s something that I always used to preach in here from when I first started preaching in this room. Forgiveness is something that God gave to you. He gave that to you. Forgiveness is for us. Nobody cares if you forgive them or not. Trust me on this one. Nobody cares. The only person to be affected by you not forgiving somebody is you. You’re going to walk around with a spiteful heart. You will walk around with hate in your eyes. You will be having sleepless nights because there’s something this person did to you that has you upset. You think they care? They don’t care because they can continuously run into the same problems over and over. They can keep running into people who either forgive them or who don’t. You think that like they are going to stop at you? Nah. It just doesn’t work that way.

The forgiveness is for us. The forgiveness is for us to say, ‘Hey, you know I forgive you. You don’t do it because we want God to forgive us. That isn’t just the reason. You have to honestly search deep down inside you and realize that whatever this is, I am bigger than this. I’m not gonna let this consume me. This isn’t a part of me. This isn’t me. This isn’t what I’m going to focus on. I need to focus on the word of God. I need to focus on loving other people. I need to devote my energy to something more important than what it is that this person did to me. And that’s just what it is. So today, let’s remember to go out there with exactly what God asked us to do in these verses when He asks us to clothe ourselves with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God our Father.”

I can’t get over how God had me to go to that specific message of Ceri’s for Feb 11 that has drastically changed my life. I feel so loved by God that He would go to this extent to reveal His Presence with our family, confirming I must continue giving my husband grace and mercy, the same he does for me. I told him today that I never want to discuss this issue (infidelity) again because it has only been a total distraction to our family. Honestly, my hubby has been loyal, devoted, reliable, trustworthy, and steady and deserves our deep respect, love, and appreciation. I said we need to recalibrate from exactly where we are and keep our eyes on the prize God has in store for us. As Ceri said, the thing has consumed and distracted us too much. The setback, though, will be our set-up for an even stronger comeback, by the grace of God! Time to refocus on Him and His plans for our family!

We can’t change anyone! People have to want to change on their own, but in the meantime, WE MUST MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR THE WEAKNESSES OF OTHERS, GRANTING MERCY AND PATIENCE as GOD DOES FOR US BECAUSE NONE OF US ARE PERFECT. LETTING GO AND LETTING GOD. Amen!