THE LORD HIMSELF WILL FIGHT FOR YOU. JUST STAY CALM

DONā€™T MESS WITH GODā€™S GIRL!!!The way God shows up for me as if asking ā€˜Whoā€™s messing with my Nik?!?ā€™ has been astonishing!!! I was telling my messenger from God, Chris, about a messy situation (life is not always pretty!)Your girl is dealing with, and he sent me the perfect Bible verses:ā€œThus says the Lord to you, ā€˜Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but Godā€™sā€¦ You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf… Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.ā€ā€˜STAND FIRM, my Nik! I will fight for you!ā€™ And thatā€™s exactly what Iā€™m doing! In a down moment yesterday, I had an appointment with God reading Day 209 from my book, Keep Calm, Youā€™re Rolling with God, and this message showed up:ā€œGod has these unimaginable plans for our lives when we stick close to Him, not leaning on our own understanding. Is this hard listening to God and following his nudges and cues as to what He would have us to do? Yes, in fact, it takes supernatural strength at times (exactly me now because the crazy lady is ready to come out!!!). I love a cartoon picture with a little girl walking along a path with a huge hand holding her little hand with the caption: ā€œIF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?” (ROMANS 8:31)Fast forward two minutes later, I then went to my meditation book, Jesus Always, which is written as if God is speaking directly to me, and it incredibly said:ā€œIF I AM FOR YOU, who can be against you?ā€Can you believe God would show up to confirm that message from my book minutes later? Donā€™t mess with Godā€™s girl, baby! No way this could be some random coincidence! It was another one of my God winks with everything lining up too perfectly to be considered some ordinary coincidence. Thatā€™s what gives me the confidence to show up my best, strongest, and most confident self, knowing Iā€™m not going through life alone.Dear God, this life is not always easy. May we follow Your direction, being our most loving, forgiving, courageous, and merciful selves, even when we face difficult times. Amen.

GOD WILL GUIDE YOU ALONG THE BEST PATHWAY FOR YOUR LIFE

ā€œHOW WAS JULIEā€™S INTERVIEW?ā€Was the question asked of me from halfway across the world today regarding my daughter’s application to one of the top universities in the world. I was excited to report that Julie answered some of the questions from the mighty God perspective (thatā€™s the mamaā€™s daughter, baby!). In the end, the interviewer shared a God quote with her and how they both share the exact value of trying to make the most impact on making the world a better place while they are alive. Sweet!Let me tell you, God’s perspective changes everything! I just had a conversation with our manager about our business, and we both have faith in God that no situation is too difficult for Him. Even if weā€™re at nothing, we give God our nothing, reminded that He created the entire world from nothing! Our hope is in Him!!! Julie got a chance to tell the interviewer what I always quote, ā€œIf youā€™re a street cleaner, be the best street cleaner.ā€ Weā€™re doing everything for the glory of God, knowing our reward is with Him! Knowing this top university took time to speak to my daughter was a HUGE win. When she told me a year or so ago that a website said to her that her chances of getting in were extremely low, I said to her, ā€œDonā€™t forget the God factor!ā€ God has this sweet way of tweaking situations on our behalf, working in the spiritual realm on our behalf.Julie doesnā€™t like when I take credit for stuff, but itā€™s not me, itā€™s God Iā€™m giving the praise. Like the idea that He put in my mind from Nigeria that Julie should become a full-time college student in the US, while still being in high school. She told me how these colleges level classes have pushed her GPA up and now she is in the top 10%, not anymore 20%, of her graduating class. Iā€™ll never forget that day when God told me in my spirit to send that email to Julieā€™s guidance counselor asking if Julie could start early admissions into college. God is pretty talkative once we get to know Him!!!I say all that to say God is personally involved in our lives. Itā€™s just for us to tap into His voice so we know what He would have us to say, what to do, and where to go, on a moment-by-moment basis. Right now, He has me in silent mode, telling me to vent all my frustrations to Him (His heart is my hospital) and to others, I should learn to be quiet. Super tough for your talkative girl here, but anything to please God, I will learn. (HUGE SMILE)

THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEIR GOD SHALL BE STRONG AND DO GREAT THINGS

NOTHING WILL MAKE ME SAD TODAY!!!Wow! Wow! Wow! God exceeds our expectations when we walk faithfully with Him!!! Iā€™m sticking with this verse:ā€œRather, as it is written: ā€œNo eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.ā€ ā€“ 1 Corinthians 2:9Today is my daughter Julieā€™s interview with one of the worldā€™s top universities. Iā€™m the proudest mom in the world today to have raised such a fierce, fabulous, humble, kind, beautiful, extraordinary, close to God sweetie. Thatā€™s how we do, boo! Blow them away with the charm and personality your mom has been teaching you (HUGE SMILE). Letā€™s keep going higher by the grace of God!Let me tell ya, it took lots of Godā€™s strength and grace to help us to get here. Momma here went through lots of falls, but Iā€™m thanking God for every single one of them because they brought me closer to Him. He reminded me of this important message today from an old post:ā€œI loved our familyā€™s appointment with God today that we should go as far as praying and asking God for help in learning to forgive and love the difficult people in our lives. I CANā€™T GET OVER HOW HE HAS CERTAINLY HEALED MY LITTLE BROKEN HEART!ā€Fast forward to maybe an hour later and still in my messed-up mood from ANOTHER BROKEN HEART (LOL), I finally opened up my meditation book to see what God had to say to me, and unbelievably I opened to this powerful message from Him:ā€œSTAY CLOSE TO ME (GOD) as I work on mending your BROKEN HEART. Of course, your repaired heart will not be exactly as it was before, but in some ways it will be much better. Your renewed heartā€”stripped of its cherished hopesā€”will have more space for Me.ā€ ā€“ Jesus Calling by Sarah Youngā€God has delivered me a new heart, baby! Thatā€™s why I say nothing can make me sad today! He has taken out all the false hopes and expectations from others. He has made it much better able to withstand the pain from disappointments that come my way. Most importantly, He has filled my heart with HIS love and approval. Donā€™t need no other body!!! God is enough!I saw that fav house number this morning, ā€œ3117,ā€ with the ā€œ311ā€ meaning that Iā€™m to stay on the high road with God while He fights the battles on my behalf. The ā€œ117ā€ is my constant message from Him, saying, ā€˜Nik, I am with you always. No matter the troubles that come your way, I stand STRONG with you.ā€™Donā€™t miss out on the best relationship ever: YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD! Seek Him ALL DAY, EVERY DAY asking for His perspective on every situation you face! We need Him!!!! This life is too difficult to do on our own.

OUR GREATEST STRENGTH IS KNOWING WE NEED GOD

I WAS BOILING ANGRY YESTERDAY!But God showed up and cooled me right down! It was a conversation with a friend I called to ask for help. The same top New York university that is interviewing my daughter, Julie, on Monday has already given her son a FULL scholarship to attend this fall. The way this friend was so genuinely happy and excited for Julie was my reality check: NIK, THIS IS WHY YOU ARE STAYING ON THE HIGHEST ROAD WITH GOD, REMEMBER? FORGET THIS FOOLISHNESS YOUā€™RE UPSET ABOUT!!! STAY FOCUSED!!!God is pretty talkative, guys! He melted away all the anger and replaced it with such gratitude and a renewed commitment to Him for the love He shows our family. ā€˜God, anything to please You!ā€™ God pays us back more than all the disappointments the world can throw our way!!! Like I always say, ā€œEverything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else.ā€My angel/brother, Kevin, is a great example of Godā€™s love for me. He is a big reason why Julie’s application for admission to that university got such attention (they want to talk to my daughter, y’all!!!) Kevin has been my special messenger from God, who has been lovingly guiding me through a very dark period of my life. Thanks, my vro! Like this message today concerning my anger from yesterday:ā€œYes, Nikki. Whatever you have to do, however you have to adjust, just be a chameleon (a lizard that knows how to adjust its color to blend in with its environment). If the surface turns brown, you turn brown. Adjust with life (go with the flow, is how I put it!). Donā€™t fight it. And trust me when I tell you this, sometimes youā€™re in a position where you have to do certain things to get things done. You just have to sit down and realize that you are in this position, youā€™re in this situation. Now you be smart enough to deal with it. Know how to deal with it. Strategize. Donā€™t be emotional. Emotions get you nowhere but upset. Put emotions in the back and do what you gotta do.ā€And sweetly helping me to strategize the moves I must make: GOD, BABY! He is available in every moment to guide us with His wisdom, tact, personality, strength, and favor to be the very best chameleons (Wink! Wink!). He is so funny, too! Yesterday in all my anger, I felt Him jokingly in my spirit saying, ‘311, Nik! 311!!!’ After I wrote this in a recent post:ā€œCRAZY LADY, GO AWAY!!!I found a fun way of handling the madwoman that constantly shows up in my head, y’all. Iā€™ve written many times about how the number 311 has been a particular communication from Godā€¦ My fav time, though, was when God had a billboard with a HUGE “311” printed on it close to our office when I was driving home one evening extremely upset. I instantly knew it was God saying:Stay cool/chill mode, Nik! Stay on the high road with Me. Relax, trust me to handle things. Be still and know that I am Godā€So, yesterday, God was having fun with the madwoman when I felt His spirit repeatedly saying within me, ā€œ311!!!ā€™ God, very funny! But thatā€™s the strategy from Him in dealing with this upsetting situation: To stay calm (chill mode) and on the highest road, being my most loving and excellent self, and let Him fight this battle for me. He is pretty awesome at that!Then, I use my valuable time and energy for the things that are important to me and God, like getting our business on track, focusing on getting both of my sons on the honor roll, and bringing humanity closer to Him, superhero style, all for His glory! Then I go with some other advice from Kevin: Neeks, youā€™re going to have to be patient right now. Donā€™t be God, be Godā€™s angel. Marriage is like a team. When one spouse is weak, the other has to be strong and vice versa. God will level this situation out. Amen! The battles belong to God! Itā€™s just for us to listen to His guidance like He told me yesterday, ā€˜311, Nik!ā€™ Roger that, Boss!

I’M JUST A WEAK PERSON WITH A STRONG GOD BY MY SIDE

ā€œYOUā€™RE THE BEST SISTER-IN-LAW EVER!!!”That was me to my husbandā€™s sister, Aima, today! I sent her a message yesterday morning saying how much my son and I enjoyed some Nigerian food she had sent over and if she could please make more. Can you believe that our kitchen was full of the most delicious foods by the time I got home from work? Two different types of soups and enough to last us about two weeks! She said I shouldnā€™t say please as if begging her to cook for us, thatā€™s her pleasure cooking for her children (meaning my kids!). I lightheartedly texted back, ā€œSorry, ma!ā€ (HUGE SMILE)Can you believe only one conversation with her from Nigeria brought our daughters to the US to finish their education? She opened up to me, saying that her daughters missed out on scholarships because they didnā€™t graduate from a US high school. Thanks to that conversation, Ember was able to qualify for $120,000 of scholarship monies upon her graduation. And on Monday, another TOP New York University wants to interview my daughter, Julie. Pray for us, please, guys, that God’s will be done!!!! Amen!Thatā€™s the favor of God in action, baby! One little conversation has set our family on a new trajectory aiming for only the best universities. God knows the desires of our hearts, and He knows that Iā€™m not a materialistic person, but giving my kids an excellent education is one of my top goals. God has once again EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS. (ANOTHER SMILE)But donā€™t get it twisted, Iā€™m not only praising God for what He can do for me, Iā€™m praising Him because He is truly the greatest friend ever. He stands with me through the good, bad, and ugly. In my weakest moments, He figures out these unique ways to remind me that His spirit is always with me.For example, I write all the time about the 711 or 117 showing up as my reminder that His invisible Presence is always with me. So, Iā€™m driving to work feeling in a crappy mood (life getā€™s rough!), and Justin Bieberā€™s song, ā€˜Favorite Girl,ā€™ started playing. This is a song that I feel God sings to me with all the love and attention He shows me. Can you believe His Spirit nudged me to look down at the carā€™s dashboard and the wrong time was displayed as 1:17 and at the top the name of the song: ā€˜Favorite Girl.ā€™ Wink! Wink!Once again, this lined up too perfectly to be considered some ordinary coincidence. It was a special wink to me from God at that awful moment to remind me of His Presence with me as I tackle the difficulties of my life AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, HIS LOVE FOR ME. These little glimpses of His Presence remind me that I can go through life joyfully and at peace, knowing the battles donā€™t belong to me; they belong to God! Wink! Wink!

ALL GLORY GOES TO GOD!

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE WEEDS (FRUSTRATING SITUATIONS) OF OUR LIVES (REPOST)This is how I do it. I imagine that Iā€™m going through life with God. Thereā€™s an imaginary yoke (a wooden bar used for joining animals) that ties God and me together. Whenever a situation gets too much for your girl here, and it weighs me down, I know automatically that Iā€™m taking too much of the burden on myself. I then take whatever it is that is frustrating me and stressing me out and say, ā€˜HERE, GOD, THIS IS FOR YOU TO HANDLE, PLEASE.ā€™ I then continue going through life happy, joyful, and at peace, TRUSTING God to do what I cannot do.Thatā€™s why I say GOD IS OUR GREATEST FRIEND. He is super wonderful and cool like that and READY to take on whatever worries and burdens we have to give Him. This yoke that I referred to is sweet and light. He never gives us too much to carry. He does not create us and then says, ā€˜Good luck with this life thing.ā€™ He unbelievably wants to be a part of our lives helping and guiding us on the best paths. However, we must get Him involved. Even in the messiest of situations. He. Is. There. Ready to help us.Our part is to be the best of our ability in every moment with our eyes fixed on God seeking to please Him BEING OUR MOST LOVING SELVES. Sometimes that calls for us to pretend we donā€™t see what we see or hear what we hear. But thatā€™s cool. I say, ā€˜OK, Boss!! Iā€™m happy to do anything for You.ā€™ Life is too short to be fighting useless and unnecessary battles, anyway. I leave them for God AND MOVE FORWARD HAPPILY.God has also TRULY been my greatest friend because He has helped me work not only on talking less (and trying to keep myself out of trouble!), but also with all the nonsense talking going on in my head all day. The Nik who was a professional at THINKING THE WRONG THINGS has gotten lots better. No alcohol needed, either!Like the reminder on my phone says- ā€œWhatever is true, right, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy ā€“ think about such things.ā€ I take all the junk, negative, utter nonsense talk, and then look at the situation again from His perspective. It is super easy to complain and to tear ourselves and others down. But when I shine Godā€™s light, I take all the complaints back, looking at the BIG picture with such gratitude. God, Iā€™m sorry for complaining.And when I do this, Iā€™m so much happier. I take on all the battles GOD WOULD HAVE ME TO FIGHT, with my whole heart giving my best in every moment ALL FOR HIS GLORY.