I can’t get over how I run to my God tree every morning feeling so overwhelmed, heavy, burdened, and anxious by everything I have on my plate to tackle these days. Yet, on my way back home, after having some alone time with God, I’m light, happy dancing, and filled with peace and God’s love. This is God’s invitation

“HOW???” was the critical question I was asked today on Facebook when I wrote that we should get to know God a little bit better every day. That “how?” is my assignment from God to teach you guys how I experience Him so that you would begin feeling His invisible Presence with you.

Like this morning, even with everything on my plate, I said I must finish my blog postings to my Facebook groups. I went to one of the groups, and someone asked in a post, “What’s the meaning of FATHER OF LIES?” I ended up discussing this with my son, Joshie, how the devil is the “Father of Lies.” Fast forward about an hour later, I’m under the God tree, and just using the scroll key to randomly select something to read from Jesus Calling (my fav meditation book!), asking God what He had to say to me, look what incredibly showed up:

“Remember that the evil one is the FATHER OF LIES (Wink! Wink!).”

God unbelievably got involved with that conversation!!! I call this a God wink when everything lines up a little bit too perfect to be some random coincidence, but God Himself revealing a glimmer of His invisible Presence. I freaked out feeling so loved and blown away by God’s personal attention to me. For all the posts for me to see on Facebook asking that peculiar question, to me just randomly scrolling and selecting this day of 365 days in this devotional, was everything aligning just too perfect. It was all orchestrated by God Himself to remind me that He is with me in every moment of my life. And He is with you too!!!

I loved another God wink after I wrote this in yesterday’s post:

“Like Moises (our business manager) had even abandoned me for a little bit, but now I thank him for leaving. If I’m honest, he was a crutch holding me up, and when he walked out, I had to learn to stand firm on my own. With hubby gone, that left me leaning on God and God alone, and let me tell ya, THERE IS NO PLACE I’LL RATHER BE. Moises and hubby leaving turned out to be the best thing! I’m going to new levels of closeness with God!!! I had to boss up and boss up fast!”

Fast forward two hours later, I decided to spend time with God while eating my dinner. I started at July 11 of the same devotional, Jesus Calling, written as if God is speaking to me. After writing that I was left LEANING ON GOD, look what God had to say to me:

“I WANT YOU TO LEAN ON (Wink! Wink!), trust, and be confident in Me. When you lean on Me for support, I delight in your trusting confidence.”

Again, this lined up too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidence. It was God AGAIN with a special message for His girl here, letting me know He is PERSOANLLY involved in my life! And this awareness of God’s Presence is what I want us all feeling! That we are not going through life alone. God gives us the love, joy, and peace to not just endure our lives, but enjoy them KNOWING HE IS BY OUR SIDE THROUGH EVERYTHING WE GO THROUGH. That’s faith baby!

But notice that both of these God winks came when I took time to ask God, “What do you have to say to me?” I was silent, and He spoke. So, that’s an essential part of the “HOW???” learning to spend alone times with God, seeking His face by reading or listening to anything spiritual. As you seek Him, trust me, you will find Him! A love out of this world! Don’t miss out! Our help comes from the Lord!!!

Those words from our manager, Moises, really got to me yesterday. The family hustle just got way deeper! It’s not just about my family and me; other people are counting on me to show up and give my best to feed their families, too. Forget Vice-President supporting hubby; your girl has to step up as the President of our car sales company, as hubby has a lot he is handling. We’re a team, baby, doing our thing all for the glory of God! Your wifey got this, and God got her!!!! Your girl is so confident that I’m telling everyone that I will be the one teaching my husband the car business! That’s me having fun with it, taking it as a lighthearted challenge that God and I can confidently handle together! Amen!

Honestly, though, this business has brought me so much closer to God because of the many times it had me run to Him for help on issues that would arise. God, what is this!!! Like Moises had even abandoned me for a little bit, but now I thank him for leaving. If I’m honest, he was a crutch holding me up, and when he walked out, I had to learn to stand firm on my own. With hubby gone, that left me leaning on God and God alone, and let me tell ya, THERE IS NO PLACE I’LL RATHER BE. Moises and hubby leaving turned out to be the best thing! I’m going to new levels of closeness with God!!! I had to boss up and boss up fast!

I really have to shout out my brother, Jason. I called him one Sunday returning home from a run to my God tree, and he said, “Nikki, stop overthinking. JUST BLEEPING DO IT!!!” Honestly, I had lost my courage and confidence. Then, that Tuesday, a bank rep called me out of the blue, and he repeated what Jason said, “Nikki, JUST DO IT!!!”

Right after that conversation, a Nissan Altima came up at an auction, and I clicked that button to buy it! It came in, and a previous customer brought his brother, and they ended up buying that car together. As I’m telling them about how my brother, Kevin, had been holding my hand during my little rough time, he said, “Thank your brother for me.” He is so happy to have the car to go to his hustle as he begins a new and fresh start in his life. We all have a past, but with God, we can refresh and start our lives again at any moment, being different than we were five minutes prior, knowing His love is unconditional. God holds our sins, failure, mistakes, and transgressions away from us like the east is from the west. We can all begin again now, and God will lovingly accept us rolling with Him exactly how and where we are.

I feel like I mess up all day, every day, but today on my run, God found a sweet way to let me know He loves me. It was a song that started playing in a store couple of days ago by Doja Cat. As I’m doing a 5k run with Coach Bennet, he asked what song I was listening to. He said REALLY pay attention to the lyrics. Minutes later, look what lyrics showed up on Doja Cat’s song ‘Get into it:’

“Thank you, Nikki (my nick name!). I love you.”

This lined up too perfectly to be a coincidence. It was a message from God Himself to me! From Coach Bennet telling me to REALLY listen to the lyrics and for those words to show up minutes later, was an extra special surprise from God. (HUGE SMILE) Don’t miss out on what He has to say to you! You should have seen your girl on that run, dancing like nobody’s business, filled with such joy, peace, and God’s deep love. I’ve learned His voice! My appointments under my God tree, meeting with Him, asking what He has to say to me, reading our family’s website, and my meditation books (especially Jesus Calling) have been priceless. Try every day to get to know God a little bit better!!!

That was me to my son, Emmie, today! He is my official critic! He fussed me out that I wasn’t calling his dad in Nigeria enough, “You tell me to call him, but you don’t call him!” It was just my psychic YouTuber, Stargirl, who told me I must stop chasing people, but my son and God have corrected me! I’m to not call my husband from a space of tracking him and knowing his whereabouts, but from a space of genuine love and wanting to check on the world’s best husband. Like I called him today from under the God tree, saying an extra special prayer for him. That God would provide him exceptional support, love, guidance, wisdom, and favor to be the father, husband, and person God is calling him to be. Amen! Love sets free, not chase!

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” – 1 John 4:16

Let me just be real with you guys. My brother, Gil, said the perfect thing: “If we take away infidelity issue from marriages, we’ll have perfect marriages.” We must just forget this cheating issue completely and address it with God (the Manufacturer) when we die. Just turn a blind eye, pretend you don’t see what you see and pretend you don’t hear what you hear, and just keep being the best spouse you can possibly be and leave the rest with God. It is what it is, folks!

Some things we will never be able to comprehend or understand why people do what they do, but our job is just to love, keep forgiving, and stop judging. Whatever anyone does is between them and God! Our job is to stay focused on God every moment, asking Him to help change OUR attitudes and behavior so we show up as the best people for Him. Amen!

We must learn to get our love and security from God, not other people. I’m learning to live life with one foot on earth for all the messiness, clutter, and frustrations and with the other foot in heaven, enjoying my life with God, knowing He knows every thought I think, and He is with me at every moment. One day recently, under my God tree, He asked me something like, “Isn’t it clear that my love arranged all of this for you?” I looked around at this beautiful neighborhood I get to go running in every morning, and I just smiled with God saying, ‘It’s very clear Your love arranged all this for me!’ Including the best husband who’s working hard every day to support our family! Thanks, boo!

Like I was just cleaning the bathroom at our office (your girl is in hustle mode, too!), and I thought about a customer who owed us some money. Can you believe that this very customer called me in less than 15 minutes to ask if he could come and pay? That was just God revealing AGAIN His invisible Presence with me, letting me know He is behind the scenes of my life, helping me in every aspect. No coincidence!

God is at work in the spiritual realm on your behalf as well! I want us all to learn His voice – the Holy Spirit within each of us, and pay attention to what He would have us do. “Obey God and leave the consequences with Him” is the advice I’m running with from Charles Stanley, and it’s seriously working! God is taking me to a new level of closeness with Him! (HUGE SMILE)

In my last post, I wrote how I asked my brother this when he insisted on paying me for some help:

“How can I possibly charge the person who has held my hand for the last three years that I’ve been going through my little ROUGH PATCH?”

Fast forward to today, I grabbed my daughter’s meditation book, Jesus Calling, from her room, and I randomly opened it to read it, and look what showed up, written as if God was speaking directly to me:

“When you encounter ROUGH PATCHES (Wink! Wink!) along your life-journey, trust that My Light is still shining upon you. My reasons for allowing these adversities may be shredded in mystery, but my continual Presence with you is an absolute promise.”

I remember typing that ROUGH PATCH in that post, feeling a little embarrassed about sharing it, and for God to go ahead of me and have those very words planted in this book of 365 days to reveal a glimmer of His invisible Presence, just brings tears to my eyes. OUR GOD IS WITH US!!! That was no coincidence but totally orchestrated by God Himself to deliver that promise to me on a day when my anxiety level has been on the high side. This was His sweet way of saying, ‘Nik, Relax, I got you!’ Wink! Wink! “My continual Presence with you is an absolute promise.”

Honestly, there were God winks showing up all over the place today! I was in my daughter Julie’s room to drop off a gift I had purchased for her. It was a week where she heard me like a broken record say, “Whatever you do, but love into it.” She even joined in telling me about a visit to one of our lenders saying, “Don’t worry mom, we put a lot of love into it!” Fast forward to today, I’m in this big store, and God draws my attention to a mug saying, ““Let all you do…be done with love!” (Wink! Wink!).” Again, no coincidence but God’s way of letting me know that He is intimately involved in every moment of my life, every conversation, every move I make, He knows all about it even before it happens.

And He’s with you, too! It’s just for you to try the best you can every day to learn more about Him and the many ways He communicates with us. Trust me, He is quite talkative. Joshie has already stolen a wristband I purchased from this same store saying that “The Lord is My Shepherd.”

I asked him if he knew what that meant. I explained that God is continually guiding his life from moment to moment, it’s just for him to learn God’s voice and follow wherever He leads. My sheep know my voice! I told him how we left Nigeria following God’s lead for the girls to finish high school in the US with plans to go to university in New York. Come next month, both of them will be enrolled in New York universities, baby!

Hanging with my sweetie daughter, Ember, today, I said I don’t go with my dreams anymore because God always gives me far beyond anything I can ever imagine or expect! (HUGE SMILE) Yesterday he asked me to have faith in His love! God, may we all increase our faith in You!!! Don’t miss out! Start developing a relationship with God for yourself!

He wants to be PERSONALLY involved in our lives!!! I had a lot going on today, but I’m so happy I’ve disciplined myself to go for that run to my God tree just about every day to spend some time with God and get His Almighty perspective on my life! It’s too hard to do without Him!!! NO SHAME! God, I need You!!!

A situation happened where I released a car to some customers that might not have been the best move (not sure yet). But I was so happy that my kids were around to witness the ups and downs of our family business. At the end of the day, when I questioned them as to the lessons they had learned, Julie responded, “In life you will have problems, you just need to figure out the solutions.” This is after she saw me tackling the issue head-on, attempting to resolve it with one of our lenders. That didn’t work, and now I’m on to plan B.

But here’s the most crucial part of the story. I’m discussing the entire situation with God, seeking His help and guidance. His ideas and solutions are coming to mind, and I’m running with them. I feel Him in my spirit directing me and helping me. God and I are super close now, and He tells me He wants me to develop the habit of always being with Him. So, my entire day is spent asking, ‘God, what should WE do here?’ and following wherever He leads. Even releasing that car, I followed Him. And I’m learning to enjoy His company, knowing I’m secure with Him standing by my side through it all. IN GOD WE TRUST, BABY!

And don’t feel as if you must have your life all together. Trust me, my life is a complete mess! No joke! But yet I feel incredibly loved by God as if I’m His fav girl!. His love is unconditional, unlike the love we receive from humans, who are quick to cut us off if we mess up. He wants to walk with you, too! Just start talking to Him, asking Him to be the Guide and Partner of your life.

That’s the Buju Banton song I just listened to on my way back from my God tree. Touching the tree, though, I gave my husband a call in Nigeria and prayed that God would strengthen him in his inner being to take on his crucial role for our family and the entire world. God will also give him His wisdom, perspective, guidance, favor, and support. Love you forever, best husband/my gift from God! That’s my prayer for us all as we each bravely and lovingly take on our individual roles, all for God’s glory. Amen.

I strengthen my inner being by having many (no shame!) appointments with God by reading my meditation books and old posts I’ve written, continually reminding myself that I’m not going through life alone; God is with me every second. No doubt! And He is with you too! It’s just for us to practice the DISCIPLINE of having those alone times with God and crucially looking to Him in every moment, keeping our eyes fixed on Him, and asking what He would have us do. Extremely hard but so worth it in the end because God’s ways are always best, even when He takes us out on shaky and unstable limbs (walk on water kind of faith needed!) where we’re forced to lean on Him more than ever (me at the moment!).

And God is so good to me, guys, that He finds the sweetest ways to let me know He is with me. I call them my God winks, where everything lines up a little bit too perfect to be considered an ordinary coincidence. But they’re God’s way of revealing His invisible Presence. And this awareness of His Presence is truly what gives me the courage to take on my role as His Rockstar wife, mother, and person. God’s girl all the way, baby!

This morning I had the best time doing a run with Coach Bennet on the Nike Running Club app. Devon Franklin encouraged me to put some praise and worship music on my playlist, and I’m so happy for that advice. You should have seen me running out with my hands up in the air praising God while singing this song (and no, I didn’t look at all crazy!):

“Your grace is all-sufficient
It’s an all-sufficient grace
Your power and Your glory
Are forever on display
And Your loving kindness
Loving kindness
Is better than life

All your ways are just, you’re just in all your ways
I will lift my hands in gratitude and praise
Life can be uncertain at times
Your loving never fails” – Better Than Life, Israel Houghton

Fast forward to me sitting at my computer debating what to share with you guys today. Can you believe God took me to these very lyrics on our family’s website. It was a screen I had left open from days before, and God had me to go right back there minutes after that run, as if He was personally saying, ‘I saw you out there running and singing this song, My Nik!’ No way this was a random coincidence! God went before me and intentionally had me to leave those lyrics open on my screen from days ago just to let me know that His Presence is with me. Trust me, out of 132 web pages and years of blogs, no way I left off reading exactly there by some ordinary accident!!!

And speaking of God’s loving-kindness, I just spoke to my brother Kevin and his wife, Verona. I thanked them both from the bottom of my heart for all their genuine love, wisdom, and support they have given me. Kevin insisted on paying me for some help I gave them yesterday, and I asked, “How can I possibly charge the person who has held my hand for the last three years that I’ve been going through my little rough patch?” He said he wanted to support our family hustle. I told him the emotional, mental, and spiritual support he has given me on behalf of my business and family has been priceless (not everything is about money!).

Yesterday was the most beautiful day with the kids at work with me, thanks to Kevin saying to me one day, “You have to teach your kids the family hustle.” Since then, it has given me a new joy and perspective on going to work. I feel like I’m doing this not only for our kids, but for our future grandkids and great-grandkids. Not to mention all the people who support us and purchase cars for them to do their respective hustles in the world.

Emmie (our 14-year-old) and I fought all that day about working hard and putting excellence into everything he does, but on the way home, he said, “At the end of the day, I still love you.” (HUGE SMILE) Doing everything all for the glory of God!!!

He wants to be PERSONALLY involved in our lives!!! I had a lot going on today, but I’m so happy I’ve disciplined myself to go for that run to my God tree just about every day to spend some time with God and get His Almighty perspective on my life! It’s too hard to do without Him!!! NO SHAME! God, I need You!!!

A situation happened where I released a car to some customers that might not have been the best move (not sure yet). But I was so happy that my kids were around to witness the ups and downs of our family business. At the end of the day, when I questioned them as to the lessons they had learned, Julie responded, “In life you will have problems, you just need to figure out the solutions.” This is after she saw me tackling the issue head-on, attempting to resolve it with one of our lenders. That didn’t work, and now I’m on to plan B.

But here’s the most crucial part of the story. I’m discussing the entire situation with God, seeking His help and guidance. His ideas and solutions are coming to mind, and I’m running with them. I feel Him in my spirit directing me and helping me. God and I are super close now, and He tells me He wants me to develop the habit of always being with Him. So, my entire day is spent asking, ‘God, what should WE do here?’ and following wherever He leads. Even releasing that car, I followed Him. And I’m learning to enjoy His company, knowing I’m secure with Him standing by my side through it all. IN GOD WE TRUST, BABY!

And don’t feel as if you must have your life all together. Trust me, my life is a complete mess! No joke! But yet I feel incredibly loved by God as if I’m His fav girl!. His love is unconditional, unlike the love we receive from humans, who are quick to cut us off if we mess up. He wants to walk with you, too! Just start talking to Him, asking Him to be the Guide and Partner of your life.

I was talking to my sister-in-law, Aima, yesterday about the kids coming to work with me. She said I should pay them, and I said I’m teaching them about relationships. That this mom and dad who have been so good to them, that they should just be asking, ‘What can I do to assist you?’ and not looking for any formal payment arrangement. We also spoke of someone who is very arrogant and has difficulty getting along with people. I said this is why I’m bringing the kids to work with me because it’s so important in life to get along with others. So, at 6 minutes past the hour later that night, I felt God nudging me to go to page 6 of our family’s website. Look what showed up there in an old post:

“Like after speaking with her (my sister) today, I had to have a tough meeting with my daughters. I explained that life is not just about always asking, ‘What’s in this for me?’ but, ‘What can I do to help you?’ Relationships are a two-way street. You give, and you get! Having humility and asking, ‘How may I serve you?’ with a helpful, grateful, and kind attitude and always giving your best is the way to go. Not just asking other people to do for you! It ain’t that kind of party! “If you’re a street cleaner, be the best street cleaner!” God loves the humble!!!”

God is intimately involved in our lives, guys! No way all this randomly showed up on page 6 at 6 minutes past the hour. I’m talking I got a strong feeling from Him in my spirit to stop what I was doing and read page 6! I sent it to my sister-in-law as a reminder that God is always with us. Every conversation. Every thought. Every move we make, He knows all about it. That includes every worry, every fear, and every challenge. God knows all about it!!! It is just for us to show up, do our utmost best as to what we feel He would have us to do, and leave the rest with Him! (Wink! Wink!)

I love a message from Him through Joel Osteen this morning from a sermon he did like 5 years ago. Joel said, “God will go ahead of you and level the mountain.” This was God letting me know that He was in the fires of my life with me. I can trust Him to go ahead of me and tackle battles on my behalf in the spiritual realm.

I’m feeling close to God and want the entire world here with me. GOD IS PERSONALLY INVOLVED IN OUR LIVES!! Don’t miss out on Him! Say this prayer, ‘God, I want a closer walk with You.’ Then start having alone times with Him and then feeling Him in Your spirit as to what He is saying to you directly regarding your specific life issues. His ways are always the best! Even when bad things happen, I trust that God knows the experiences I need to improve. Amen.

That was me to my guru (spiritual adviser), Kevin, yesterday. It was maybe a year ago. I called him asking how he predicted this statement when I called him all frustrated, sad, and emotionally hurting under my God tree:

“Neeks, you’re like a boxer right now. After getting hit (NOT PHYSICAL HITS) in your head like 10,000 times, you eventually get numb to the pain.”

Fast forward to a year later, your girl here has become numb to the hits! How did Kevin know this would happen? I have no doubt about it now; God speaks to me through Kevin. An ordinary human response would be to get out of the ring after 10 or 100 punches, Kevin encouraged me to stay even past the 10,000th punch, when I would eventually get numb to the pain. Who would advise such a thing? But that advice has paid off, and I’m super happy I stayed in the ring. True love has to be tested! (HUGE SMILE)

God has been teaching me that these hits were a part of the journey between Him and me, not between me and anyone else. He wants me to learn how to love unconditionally, then pass these lessons on to you guys. It has NOT been an easy journey (I’ve fallen like a million times), but I always felt I was doing it for the team (the entire human race!). To help us all learn these messy love lessons that God Himself would have us to learn.

God is love. He wants us all to abide in love with Him and each other. That’s what would make Papa God proud. The way Kevin has been supporting me and encouraging me to get back up when I fall with all His great advice has been all God’s way of showing me His deep love. And that’s my prayer for us, that we can all be God’s hands and feet and mouths in the world, His representatives, spreading His love wherever we go. Not easy, but God will be our strength when our human capacity to love and forgive fails. Our job isn’t to judge anyone, just to love and hopefully bring them closer to God, as Kevin lovingly has done for me.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35 NIV

That was from a customer I sold a car to yesterday, after I shared with him and his brother how my brother, Kevin, has been lovingly holding my hand and giving me direct messages from God. Yesterday, I even called Kevin to thank him for his statement that God wanted me to know that I was secure in Him. It’s really sinking in, and it explains why I’ve been so happy lately. Can you believe God went a step further with that message under my God tree today? In my spirit, I felt Him say that I should go to a specific version of my fav meditation book, Jesus Calling. As I randomly picked a page to read, look what incredibly showed up (written as if God was speaking directly to me):

“I want you to realize how UTTERLY secure you are (Wink! Wink!)! Even if you falter as you journey through life, I will never let go of your hand. Knowing that your future is absolutely assured can free you to live abundantly today.”

Our God is not only faithful, but He is also quite talkative! (HUGE SMILE). It’s just for us to get to know Him better for ourselves. His sheep know His voice! After reminding myself the entire morning that God wanted me to know I was secure in Him, for Him to go to the trouble of having me go specifically to that page in this big daily devotional for 365 days, just blew the God maniac here away. This was no coincidence! It was just God AGAIN revealing a glimpse of His invisible Presence with me under that tree. And this awareness of God’s Presence is truly what gives your girl here the peace, joy, courage, and strength to take on life! Amen!

Hubby said a beautiful prayer under the tree today for our family (ANOTHER SMILE). The kids are all upset at me because I’m forcing them to work four days a week each following in my husband’s mom’s footsteps, who dragged him to work with her consistently. And my hubby turned out to be a great guy! Hard work and dedication pay off! I tell the kids that I’m not their friend now, but one day they will appreciate this momma. My mom taught me that if you’re a street cleaner, be the best street cleaner. So, between my husband’s mom’s legacy of hard work and my mom’s of giving your best, we have some awesome people in the making, by the grace of God! OUR FAMILIES ARE IMPORTANT TO GOD!!! MAY WE DO IT ALL FOR HIS GLORY!!! Big ups to my brother, Gil, in the pic! I’m enjoying having you around!!!