NOTHING WILL MAKE ME SAD TODAY!!!Wow! Wow! Wow! God exceeds our expectations when we walk faithfully with Him!!! I’m sticking with this verse:“Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9Today is my daughter Julie’s interview with one of the world’s top universities. I’m the proudest mom in the world today to have raised such a fierce, fabulous, humble, kind, beautiful, extraordinary, close to God sweetie. That’s how we do, boo! Blow them away with the charm and personality your mom has been teaching you (HUGE SMILE). Let’s keep going higher by the grace of God!Let me tell ya, it took lots of God’s strength and grace to help us to get here. Momma here went through lots of falls, but I’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:“I loved our family’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 CAN’T GET OVER HOW HE HAS CERTAINLY HEALED MY LITTLE BROKEN HEART!”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:“STAY 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 heart—stripped of its cherished hopes—will have more space for Me.” – Jesus Calling by Sarah Young”God has delivered me a new heart, baby! That’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. Don’t need no other body!!! God is enough!I saw that fav house number this morning, “3117,” with the “311” meaning that I’m to stay on the high road with God while He fights the battles on my behalf. The “117” is my constant message from Him, saying, ‘Nik, I am with you always. No matter the troubles that come your way, I stand STRONG with you.’Don’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 YOU’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. ‘God, anything to please You!’ God pays us back more than all the disappointments the world can throw our way!!! Like I always say, “Everything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else.”My angel/brother, Kevin, is a great example of God’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:“Yes, 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!). Don’t fight it. And trust me when I tell you this, sometimes you’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, you’re in this situation. Now you be smart enough to deal with it. Know how to deal with it. Strategize. Don’t be emotional. Emotions get you nowhere but upset. Put emotions in the back and do what you gotta do.”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:“CRAZY LADY, GO AWAY!!!I found a fun way of handling the madwoman that constantly shows up in my head, y’all. I’ve written many times about how the number 311 has been a particular communication from God… 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 God”So, yesterday, God was having fun with the madwoman when I felt His spirit repeatedly saying within me, “311!!!’ God, very funny! But that’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, you’re going to have to be patient right now. Don’t be God, be God’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! It’s just for us to listen to His guidance like He told me yesterday, ‘311, Nik!’ Roger that, Boss!
I’M JUST A WEAK PERSON WITH A STRONG GOD BY MY SIDE
“YOU’RE THE BEST SISTER-IN-LAW EVER!!!”That was me to my husband’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 shouldn’t say please as if begging her to cook for us, that’s her pleasure cooking for her children (meaning my kids!). I lightheartedly texted back, “Sorry, ma!” (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 didn’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!That’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 I’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 don’t get it twisted, I’m not only praising God for what He can do for me, I’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, I’m driving to work feeling in a crappy mood (life get’s rough!), and Justin Bieber’s song, ‘Favorite Girl,’ 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 car’s dashboard and the wrong time was displayed as 1:17 and at the top the name of the song: ‘Favorite Girl.’ 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 don’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 I’m going through life with God. There’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 I’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, ‘HERE, GOD, THIS IS FOR YOU TO HANDLE, PLEASE.’ I then continue going through life happy, joyful, and at peace, TRUSTING God to do what I cannot do.That’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, ‘Good luck with this life thing.’ 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 don’t see what we see or hear what we hear. But that’s cool. I say, ‘OK, Boss!! I’m happy to do anything for You.’ 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- “Whatever is true, right, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” 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 God’s light, I take all the complaints back, looking at the BIG picture with such gratitude. God, I’m sorry for complaining.And when I do this, I’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.
DON’T MISS OUT ON GOD’S GUIDANCE
THE BEST NEWS EVER!!
GOD IS LOVE
THE GOD SHOW CONTINUESYeah, baby! God makes me feel so loved with all the attention I receive from Him. Like this morning, taking my sons to school, the appointment with God reading a book, said that “not everyone is a child of God.” “I disagree with that! Everyone is a child of God. God is love, point blank period, and He loves us all. And He wants us enacting this love in the world,” the God mama preached to them!Fast forward minutes later, with me getting to a park for my morning run with God, I stayed in the car procrastinating a little bit (I didn’t wanna run!), but at exactly 9:01, I went to page 91 of our family’s website and look what sweetly appeared at the top of the page, God confirming my message to my sons:“I so enjoyed talking to a priest recently. We summed up God in three words: GOD IS LOVE. And He is counting on us to reflect that to a watching world. That’s what I believe would please Him greatly. The more beautiful we are, in our words and deeds, the more beautiful God looks. Wink! Wink! NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE SAID, EITHER. People should want a relationship with God because of us and not vice versa.”I met that priest two years ago, and God lined that post up perfectly to remind us today of His unconditional love for us all. We are all His children! The enacting His love in the world is the tough part, though, but we do it for God. Dropping my daughter to this gorgeous, state-of-the-art campus in New York just woke me up to the blessings in my life. I came back a new person, asking God how can I up my game for Him as His Rockstar wife, mother, and person, all for His glory!My daughter Julie and I have been getting these winks from Him with “211” popping up. They started on a day in New York when 211 just seemed to be showing up so many places. Even at 2:11 pm, on a train to visit a university, there was a WhatsApp message quoting some verse that was 2:11, and I thought, ‘What’s up with this 211 today?’ Only to get there, to this upscale area in New York City with 2011 engraved into the building. Yesterday, I called her saying that a bus was passing when I was under my God tree with the number 211 on it. Then, about an hour or so later, I asked her to help me convert some photos to pdf, and the first one came to precisely 211 kb. Talking to my husband, he incredibly told me a story that happened in 2011, so we’re excited about God and this 211 and this university Julie is excited to attend. We don’t know if it’s God teasing us, but we even got into an Uber, and the driver tells us that this is the same university his daughter attends. Wink! Wink!I came back from New York as God’s girl more than ever to share this love my family and I experience from Him. Not that everything is all perfect (far from it!), but even the imperfections are all a part of His plan to help us become all He has designed for us to be. Don’t miss out! Ask God to pull you closer to Him where, at every moment, you have His love, power, generosity, strength, wisdom, patience, charm, personality, influence, Spirit, angels, warmth, and friendship backing you up. God is intimately involved in every nanosecond of our lives, just waiting for us to remember that, although invisible, He is there with us. SWEET!!
IN GOD WE TRUST
MY LIFE IS A COMPLETE MESS AT THE MOMENT!And that is quite OK because I know God’s Presence is with me every little step of the way to help me get matters sorted out. As I show up doing my best, I trust that He is behind the scenes helping me in the spiritual realm, tweaking situations on my behalf with His mighty favor and support (Wink! Wink!). He is pretty cool like that! As I look to Him on a moment-by-moment basis, I can tap into His wisdom, solutions, strategies, love, help, strength, tact, personality, clarity, and protection. “Be still and know that I am God,” is His constant reminder to me.I love this old post from my book, ‘Keep Calm, You’re Rolling With God:’‘GOD, YOU KNOW EVERY THOUGHT I THINK’That was me freaking out over God, as usual. I was having doubts about everything that was going on with me at the moment, a little bit worried and anxious about the future. Suddenly, a thought came out of nowhere, spooking me out even more: Maybe you’re too confident! I thought of how I’m always fussing my daughter, Julie, for being overconfident about her school work and refusing to study. Then 15 minutes later or so, I needed to use the restroom, but it was occupied, so I had to wait. I opened my meditation book, Jesus Calling, on my phone and unbelievably read: “You have every reason to be confident, because My Presence accompanies you all the days of your life—and onward into eternity.” Wow! God is so intimately involved in all our lives. I opened to the perfect sentence for me in that very moment. Here’s what else He had to say about all those worry and anxious thoughts: “Do not give into fear or worry, those robbers of abundant living. Trust Me enough to face problems as they come, rather than trying to anticipate them. Fix your eyes on Me, the Author and Perfector of your faith, and many difficulties on the road ahead will vanish before you reach them. Whenever you start to feel afraid, remember that I am holding you by your right hand. Nothing can separate you from my Presence! For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” And this message was confirmed in my other meditation book that I opened for a brief minute when I needed to grab something from my handbag: God: “I will go before you and level the mountains” (Isaiah 45:2). Our Father, thank You for Your intimate Presence in every aspect of our lives. May we always trust You and follow Your guidance. Amen.KEEP CALM—YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD
WE HAVE A SWEET THING WITH GOD!
“THANK YOU FOR THE STRENGTH THAT IT TOOK TO GET US HERE”That was the beautiful prayer my daughter, Julie, said before we left her sister, Ember, to spend her first night at college. To God be the glory, guys! Let me tell you; it took superhuman strength to get her there. I think back to me planning all the study dates with her friends, my late nights being her study coach, not to mention the strength it took to leave my husband and sons in Nigeria as we went out on a limb with God for her to finish her high school in the US. Now, the ball is in Ember’s court. Before leaving, I encouraged her to make God her priority. To seek to please Him in every decision. To be wise in all her actions by asking God to be her Partner and Guide. Amen!I can’t get over the love of God! Like I wrote this in a recent post:“My other numbers from Him are 7 and 11, showing up together in either direction. This combination is God saying;- Nik, wherever you are, there I am- My invisible Presence is always with you- You have my help, support, love, approval, wisdom, strength, favor, protection, and guidance available to you on a moment-by-moment basis”Can you believe Ember’s university is located directly off of road 117? See the love of God and how He seems to delight in EVERY detail of our lives. Those signs with these huge 117 on them were all I needed to rest in His peace knowing that even though I wasn’t with Ember, His Presence is there. That lined up too perfectly to be considered some coincidence, even with the hotel we stay at working out to be 1107 miles from our home. Call me crazy, but I have no doubt that God’s invisible Presence is always with us, no matter where we are, He is there. Amen! We shall be known as the family who God loves!!!He just asks of us to go overboard in love, patience, forgiveness, gentleness, and kindness with each other. Not always easy, but when we write off the disappointments against everything God is doing for us, we must say, ‘God, anything to please You, let me learn.’ I promise you, He gives us more than we can ever ask or imagine. As for me:“I press toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Supermom, superwife, superperson, all for the glory of God!
LIVING THE DREAM BY THE GRACE OF GOD
“AIN’T NOBODY LOVES ME BETTER THAN YOU”That was me singing to God this morning on my treadmill tempo run, which was all about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable (my life right now!!!). To be honest with you, though, these difficult situations God seems to love putting me through, I’m making the most of them by asking Him to pull me even closer to Him, and He hasn’t disappointed me.Like my daughters and I had a great time on our New York adventure yesterday, and God found all these sweet ways to let us know that His invisible Presence was there with us. On a recent run, a song played with a saying, nobody will love me better, and I smiled and said to God, ‘That’s You!’ I then I go into this restaurant with the girls, and these lyrics were playing in the background:“Ain’t nobody Loves me better Makes me happy Makes me feel this way At first you put your arms around meThen you put your charms around me… Got a feeling most will treasure And a love so deep we cannot measure” – Felix JaehnGod is pretty talkative once you get to know His voice, and this was Him confirming His message from the song on my run. NOBODY WILL LOVE YOU BETTER THAN ME, NIK!!! It’s a love you must get to know for yourself by making your relationship with God a priority. The girls and I are living the dream with God, baby! They left Nigeria two and a half years ago to attend university in New York, and here we are, about to leave Ember to start her classes on Monday! The love of God is so deep we cannot measure!!Another wink we had yesterday was when the number 211 kept showing up for me, and we got to a university Julie wanted to visit, and incredibly the number on the building was 2011. God’s way of letting us know that His invisible Presence is always with us and maybe pointing Julie towards the university He has planned out for her. Who knows?My prayer is that we all go through life wrapped up in God’s arms. There will still be uncomfortable situations He asks us to deal with, but we do it all for God. We can wipe out all the negativity against all the good God is doing for us. Amen!“Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on His behalf.” 1 Peter 4:16