That was me to my daughter, Ember, recently. She was supposed to come to work full time with us in our family’s business while awaiting her start to university in January, but God put it in my heart to go gently with her. She has honestly earned her respect from us, though. I found her report card from kindergarten, and I keep it as a reminder in our kitchen of how this daughter has been consistent from day one. She has been a gift to our family by setting such a fine example for the other kids to follow. I remember coming home sometimes from work in Nigeria, and I would meet them all around our dining room table studying and doing homework together, with Ember taking charge. I can go on and on about her, but I want to share some of her values today.

Like she is very close to God! I always feel God’s Presence through her. For example, last night, she was talking to me about an “evil eye,” and this morning, this post showed up at the top of one of my Facebook groups:

“Any evil eyes (Wink! Wink!), monitoring your life and family, shall surely go blind in the Mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

No coincidence! I’ll never forget a day she asked me to pick her up from school early. I went right away because she never wanted to miss school, and we ended up going to our office in Nigeria, where God began revealing some great plans He had for our family. Again, no coincidence, but God again revealing that He is with our daughter.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

Another value I treasure about her is that she is very hard working. I call her silent killer because she always surprises me. When her dad disagreed about her going to university in New York, I told her to give her best and leave the rest with God. After a few weeks of working closely with Ember and seeing her fierceness close up, he finally gave his blessings for her to go.

“I’m not stupid, mother!” she said to me when I told her to make good decisions. Honestly, she is very wise. I went to her last night to ask her how I was doing with the boys after she told me last year that it looked like I had abandoned them. Let me tell ya, it was a big wake-up call for me to get my sons back on track. I’m so proud of our alliance, where we support each other and call out weaknesses and faults. Thanks, my sweetie!

May we all take these values from Ember to live our best lives with God: Stay close to Him by seeking His guidance in the 1,000 decisions we make every day, seeking always to please Him. It’s so funny how I try to stay up to monitor Ember that she is home at her curfew time, and she tells me she was home a while ago or that she never went out! She focuses and makes good decisions for her life by being very consistent (so beautiful this consistency thing!), hardworking, responsible, and wise. May we all do the same! Amen! God is our reward as He guides us to a blessed and gorgeous life. He has great plans for us all, it’s just for us to follow His leading as Ember so beautifully does. May God continue to guide you, our Ember so fierce!

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“YOU GOT THIS!”

That was from my extraordinary son, Emmie, last night when I took some time to just be with him. He and his brother, Joshie, are my two little husbands right now, and like I told them the other morning, “It’s my honor and privilege to show up as the best momma possible to help them become all that God has created them to be. We are all so spoilt from our overly comfortable life in Nigeria with a cook, housekeeper, and driver, but that’s the challenge for me as a mom to teach our kids how to do for themselves. Like just passing my daughter, Julie, the other morning driving her car to the gym made me so happy. I said to God, “Wow! Thank You for exceeding my expectations!” To have such healthy, happy, well-adjusted, and close-to-God kids makes me the proudest mom in the entire world, y’all! Our house may be a disaster, but I have no doubt that Papa God is proud of our family! (HUGE SMILE)

Even my nephew, Duro, I’m so thrilled by how he is stepping up. I encouraged him to work with us saying, “I want to train you to be a king!” He told everyone that he wanted to be a warrior, so I call him Warrior Duro. This life is difficult, but we must have a Warrior mentality that we can do all things with God by our side, helping us tackle life joyfully and bravely! I loved his excitement late last night telling me about the job fair he attended to land an internship, hopefully. I told him that I’m the mother eagle who takes apart the nest of the eaglets so that she forces them to learn how to fly on their own. I’m not my kids’ friend now, but eventually, they will hopefully see that this crazy momma/aunt always had their best interests at heart.

Same thing with my relationship with God. I ask Him sometimes, “God, why?!?” but those challenging experiences are exactly what I need to become the Nikki God Himself has created me to be. I love these verses:

“Trials and Temptations
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” – James 1:2-5

The trials and challenges have been God’s way of pulling me even closer to Him, where He is working on helping me mature in every aspect of my life. Especially in the aspect of courage and confidence, knowing I have Him backing me up. I can tell Emmie, ‘Yes, I got this because I know that there is never a moment when God is not standing STRONG with me helping me to be the best momma, wife, and person, all for His glory.” A God perspective changes everything! We are never alone, God got us!!! I’m hugging Him tight right now with everything I’m handling, but I want us hugging even tighter! May we all get closer to God!

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GOD SENT ME ROSES YESTERDAY

This story began on Monday when our customer/friend, Mike, called to resolve an issue that I needed to help him rectify. After speaking to the bank together, I discussed my son Joshie’s bad grades with him. He honestly gave me some good advice about being the example for my kids to follow, and maybe also sensing I wasn’t in a good place, he said, “I want you always to buy FRESH ROSES and keep them in your house as a reminder of what a beautiful life you have.”

Fast forward to Wednesday morning, my niece, Toluwa shows up at our house. Julie called me to come because she had bought something for me. It was a gorgeous bouquet of FRESH ROSES (Wink! Wink!)! This lined up too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidence! I couldn’t believe it, and I asked her, “Why did you buy me roses?” She replied, “I don’t know!” Well, I know! It was all God behind the scenes of my life having Toluwa to bring me fresh roses, not only to remind me of my beautiful life like Mike said but His deep love and commitment to me. (HUGE SMILE)

Like that bathroom cleaner I purchased on Sunday. I only bought it because it said, “Brand New Day” on it. The next day, going to God and venting about Joshie’s grades, this post showed up from some years ago where I was again beating myself up about another issue (God, help me!):

“GIVE THE WORLD A FRESH START (REPOST)

I loved reading this in an appointment with God yesterday with my daughter, Ember. We were taking a break from organizing inventory at our office. This was also a reminder to include me in that fresh start. I was beating up myself all that day that our stock had gotten to such a disorganized state, and I was unaware of it. Quite frankly, in looking back, I was thinking about the wrong things. The worries, insecurities, frustrations, disappointments, sadness, and fears had gotten the best of me. BUT TODAY IS A NEW DAY (Wink! Wink!)…”

Sadly, these are still the issues your girl struggle with, but God had a message for me through Joel Osteen yesterday under our God tree together:

“God was saying to them (Israelites), “THIS IS A NEW DAY (Wink! Wink!). You are not going to continually struggle. You are not going to live defeated. I’m not only going to remove the burden, I’m going to destroy the yoke. From that day forward, they stepped into a new level of their destiny. What they used to struggle with, was not a struggle anymore. That constant pressure to overcome enemies was lifted off of them. God gave them favor to conquer opponents that were much bigger and more powerful. God is saying the same thing to us: “You’ve struggled long enough. You’ve dealt with that addiction long enough. You’ve been dogged by those family problems long enough. I am going to take away that burden. I’m not only going to remove the yoke, I’m going to destroy the yoke.”

Amen! I claim it for all of us! Let me tell ya, throughout the entire sermon, Joel kept saying, “It’s a new day!” and I knew this was a message from God Himself (no coincidence!). What burdens have you carried for too long, let’s give them to God! He is our wonderful burden carrier, and there is nothing too difficult for Him! Whenever my life gets too heavy, I know that I’m taking on too much of the load and not trusting God to help me carry them. He asked us to come to Him all who are heavy laden and burden, and He will give us rest. What do you need Him to remove from your shoulders? He is there for us. Give Him a try!

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GOD IS PRETTY TALKATIVE ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW HIM

I loved having my daughter, Julie, out on my run with me today! She picked the perfect run with God preaching to me through Coach Bennet about being my own best friend, coach, teacher, encourager, supporter, fan, and cheerleader. I can be my own worst enemy with all the negative chatter I have continually in my head.
Like yesterday, I was upset at myself for my son’s mediocre performance in school, but God sent someone to talk to me for the longest time. Every time I wanted to end the conversation, I felt God in my spirit saying that I should listen. He told me all about what another family was going through, and I left that conversation feeling so grateful and highly blessed. Like, ‘This is nothing compared to what other families are struggling with! My son is a pretty smart and wonderful kid, and we will tackle this situation together.’ I loved what he told his dad, though, “I’m giving up PS4 (video games) until I get back to all A’s!” That’s the spirit, my boo; WE DON’T RUN FROM OUR WEAKNESSES!!!

Including the mama here! I precisely discussed with our customer Mike the problem I have going on when he surprisingly called about an error the bank had made with his loan. He gives me great advice about raising the boys to be great men, and I shared the situation about the upsetting report card. He suggested that I be hard on my son, but I told him that I needed to be hard on myself first. I said, “I need to change my MINDSET. These crazy thoughts I have going on all day have me unfocused on the crucial issues of life, like being the mother my son needs me to be for him right now. I get to work after that conversation, and the calendar that God speaks to me through, incredibly had this to say:

“In order to effectively fulfill your mission, you need to embrace NEW MINDSETS (Wink! Wink!) and outlooks that will help you to personally change.” – Mottos for Success

Honestly, I read back my old posts from many years ago, and I see how I still struggle with the same crazy issues that hold me back. This calendar was indeed God’s way of speaking to me yesterday. No coincidence! God even went further in helping me figure out what that new mindset should be. It was this song that played today as I dressed for work:

“Girl let Me (God) love you
And I will love you
Until you learn to love yourself
Girl let Me love you
And all your trouble
Don’t be afraid, girl let Me help” – Ne-yo

For me, that means going through life, not trying to seek the love, attention, or approval of anyone else, just allowing God to take first place in my heart, wrapped up in His arms as I tackle life bravely, knowing He is always there for me. God’s girl all the way, baby! Not living in fear, but trusting Him while loving others from His perspective. Going the extra mile in love, kindness, patience, gentleness, self-control, peace, and joy. Super hard, but this is where God is calling us. No more starving for love, but being filled with God’s love for us and sharing His love with others and ourselves. Challenging mission, but God will be our strength to be His super people in the world that when we die He will say, “Well done my good and faithful servant!” We got this!

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Today, I had a lot going on, so I needed some extra time with God under our tree before starting my day. I have this fire hydrant that I touch, then I would run back to the God tree and sit and have some alone time with Him. When I paused the Nike Running Club run, I saw the number 53, so I decided to read page 53 from our family’s website. I took this old post as my wink from God:

“I’m acquiring the beautiful habit of always being with God, and I’m enjoying Him. Yesterday, we had a situation with a vehicle that was swerving to the right when you drove it. After test driving it for myself, we called a shop to take it to for repairs. After talking to the shop, another issue came up with a customer who purchased a vehicle from us last week and the bank financing her. I thought, ‘God, what is this?’ and I rushed to read my meditation book to hear from Him. This verse showed up:

“Let us hold unswervingly (WINK! WINK!) to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” – Hebrews 10:23

Did you catch that God wink? The vehicle was SWERVING, and the verse said, let us hold UNSWERVINGLY (meaning not changing or becoming weaker; steady or constant) to the hope we profess. Call me crazy, but that was God’s way of having some fun with me and His way of letting me know everything would be fine with that customer and the bank. And it was. Our God is faithful!”

That was the perfect message for me to take on this challenge I needed to handle today! But before I left, I said, let me see what else God had to say to me. It was 23 minutes past the hour, and look what incredibly showed up on page 23 of our family’s website:

““Let us hold UNSWERVINGLY (WINK! WINK!) to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” – Hebrews 10:23

Did you catch that God wink? The vehicle was SWERVING, and the verse said let us hold UNSWERVINGLY (meaning not changing or becoming weaker; steady or constant) to the hope we profess…”

The EXACT message from page 53 was confirmed!!! This line up EXTREMELY TOO PERFECTLY to be some regular coincidence! It was God’s sweet way to let me know He was with me as I took on a difficult day. And He is with you too! It’s just for us to be aware of His Presence and involve Him in our lives. Amazing how He would find one little word to reveal a tiny glimmer of His invisible presence with us. May we all acquire the beautiful habit of always being with God, and enjoying Him. Wink! Wink!

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