That was from our nephew, Gbenga, who stayed with us for the past month or so. My immediate response was, ‘Ha! Trust me; we have plenty of problems! But the crazy thing is that those troubles and challenges end up bringing us closer with more love and respect for each other. That’s because we have made God the center of our marriage, making decisions by constantly asking, ‘God, what would you have us to do here?”
Fast forward to our Sunday brunch conversation today; hubby and I shared with him some of the Godly values and principles that are seriously working for us:
LOVE AND LOYALTY
Both hubs and I go the extra mile in showing each other love and support. No breaking up over here! Whatever we have to go through, we’ll go through it TOGETHER. I keep asking Gbenga, “Are you taking notes?” because I want him to see my husband in action the way he goes overboard in his responsibilities as a husband, dad, and businessman. He exceeds our expectations!
I cried talking to my daughter, Ember, yesterday because she is such a fine example of this love and loyalty. It’s so important to have a strong team of people to love and support you because this life gets hard. We need one another to make life lighter, happier, and more bearable when it gets difficult. Cherish the people who are there for you, and you be there for them, too. Wear love and loyalty around your neck! Accept that we all have strengths and weaknesses, but we must keep forgiving and going overboard in love!
GOD IS OUR BOSS!!!
We believe that every blessing is ultimately from God, and when we try to live lives that are honoring to God, He is the One to bless us. This is how He lovingly guides us on the path He has planned out for us. “Work hard and cheerfully as something done for God, not for human masters.”
Yesterday we had a situation at our office, and I said to our manager, “Let’s honor God by staying on the high road with Him. He will make this up to us.” Not that we get it right all the time, but we learn the lessons and try to improve.
THE HOLY SPIRIT (GOD’S VOICE INSIDE OF US) IS OUR BEST FRIEND!
I told Gbenga when God told my husband to start doing business in Nigeria and leave me and the kids in the US, I was not in on that conversation! However, the conversation God had with me was that I should let my husband go and do his thing! I held my husband with open hands, supported him by holding down the fort in the US, and those decisions turned out to be great for us.
Make God your Leader! Don’t ask God to follow your decisions, ask God that you follow wherever He leads you. Amen!
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
AM I CRAZY FOR TALKING ABOUT THIS “311” SO MUCH?
I questioned myself yesterday. So, I took the matter to Mr. Google to ask the significance of this “311” showing up for me, and I got the confirmation I was looking for:
“The angels are reminding you that you are loved, cherished, supported, and surrounded with positivity and good vibes…Follow your instincts and listen to your heart for great success and happy life.” – subconsciousservant.com
Honestly, I feel like the most loved person by God ever that I get on my knees every night only to say thanks to Him. No matter how demanding or stressful the day, I know He has a plan, purpose, and a reason for everything, including my anxieties, disappointments, hurts, frustrations, challenges, and problems. They are all there to make me better, wiser, happier, stronger, braver, and more loving.
That’s the conversation I had with my daughter, Julie, yesterday. I said how I’m so much more joyful and peaceful out on my runs every day now compared to only a month ago. I would run to my God tree so bitter, angry, anxious, frustrated, and hurt. But every time I go there and take time to hear what God had to say to me, I return home a little bit better. He told me His heart is a hospital for me. That I should vent to Him and to others, I should learn silence.
That “$3.11” showing up on a gas station sign across from our business, minutes after a customer’s insurance payment came to $311 was God’s way of showing up when I wanted to go crazy and lose it on my husband one day (crazy wife here!). It was God perfectly reminding me what He had been teaching me about being silent and venting to Him. And to be very honest with you, a month later, I’m so happy I took God’s advice. Hubby is back to being my gift from God. I told him next to God that he and my mom were the best things that ever happened to me. (HUGE SMILE)
So much so that I’m here to tell you a God-guided life is the best life. Yes, we still go through our dark times, but He is there with us, helping us come out the other side with joy and peace that we can never get from the world. Today, I found a book out with hubby that said, “Don’t say, “God is in my heart.” Say, “I am in the heart of God.”” That’s where I try to live my life, in God’s heart, where His love, approval, protection, support, favor, wisdom, and kindness are always available to me. God exceeds my expectations. Don’t miss out. Make sure you have your alone times with God asking what he has to say to you. That’s the best gift you can ever give yourself, time alone with God. Wink! Wink!
That was me having some fun with our business manager yesterday. This board is where we place the names of potential customers and their telephone numbers. I questioned him about the first name there and decided to call the person myself. Can you believe that within 30 minutes, this gentleman came and purchased a vehicle from us?
“He said, “This is the message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Your help will not come from your own strength and power. No, your help will come from my Spirit.’ This is what the Lord All-Powerful says.” – Zechariah 4:6
We show up to our offices to give our 50%, and God takes care of the rest! Don’t play with God! He is at work in the spiritual realm on our behalf, baby! A life lived close to God cannot fail! My hubby and I witness the most incredible people showing up in our lives to help us and support us. We know without a doubt that it’s God. We’re not lucky; we’re blessed!
“Thank you for your positive influence on our family,” I said to one of those people yesterday. My hubby just handed me the phone to say hello to him, and there is something I’ve been seriously upset and disagreeing with my husband on that I jumped on the opportunity to mention to this wise and older friend. God has been telling me to BE STILL and leave the battle to Him, so I no longer fight with my husband about it. After explaining to this family friend the situation in my husband’s presence, he then spoke to my husband on my behalf to please consider what I’ve been saying. He told him what a great wife I am and how he sees our future grandchildren thanking us in our graves for making these crucial decisions that we are making right now on their behalf.
Wow! That conversation blew me away as to God’s deep involvement in my life. I was just at the right place at the right time to speak to this friend who spoke so beautifully to my husband. When I was out walking and venting my frustrations to God last week about it, He whispered clearly in my spirit, “Be still, Nik, trust Me to handle this matter.” On the way home, I decided to see what God had to say to me on our family’s website based on the minutes past the hour, I went to that specific page, and look what incredibly showed up with God confirming His whisper to me:
“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD”
Just know that God is always with you and He is working for us in the spiritual realm. He is there to help us in every aspect of our lives if we stick with communicating to him and seeking Him in all our decisions. We don’t have to figure out everything for ourselves. We must learn God’s voice, though, and follow where He is leading us. Super hard sometimes to obey God, but when we do, this is how He leads us on the path to the best life with Him. Wink! Wink! I love how that friend put it that our future grandchildren will be thanking us in our grave for the decisions we’re making today. I pray we all go to God and make such wise decisions, not allowing the devil in our lives to set us on the wrong paths. Amen.
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
“THAT’S THE DEVIL”
Those were the exact words I needed to hear under my God tree today. I confessed to that person how I had stopped going into our office to avoid being around my critical husband. We have different managerial styles, and when he is around, he seems only to want to criticize all my decisions, feeling his ways are always superior. To avoid confrontations, I’ve stayed away. But yesterday, under the tree, I felt God saying to me not to do that anymore. That I must go and face my husband’s fault findings and stand STRONG, and crucially, He would be my strength when I’m weak.
So, yesterday, we were the ones opening up together. Hubby, my daughter, Julie, and our two sons, Emmie and Joshie. And honestly, it was such a beautiful day. Hubs shortly left with Joshie, and Julie and Emmie had some excellent bonding time working together (our middle children!). When they returned, I hoped in a car to take the kids for some lunch. They love this 7 Eleven pizza, and the first one we went to had run out, so I looked up the other closest location. On our way back, I made a whole big thing about how they were stressing me out. They started to laugh at me, “Mom, the place was two minutes away. Stop being so dramatic! You act as if we asked you to drive for hours!” We had the biggest laugh over the drama mama here!
Let me tell ya, these sessions I have with God under that God tree are sacred. Julie and I ended up staying late with a customer who hubby convinced to buy a truck from us. While waiting for the insurance, we had the best conversation with the customer’s nephew. He talked about his pastor, who is focused on ministering to men. I told him about my blogging, which is mainly aimed more at women to be the LOVING AND FORGIVING wives, mothers, and people God has called us to be. Especially about being the glue that keeps our families together.
At the end of the conversation, though, we agreed that a God-centered life is the best way to go. Asking Him to be our Director and Guide, following His voice and where He leads us – being obedient to Him! At one point, he made me cry about finding his father in Venezuela and forgiving him. This was five years into his marriage, and at that point, they were unable to conceive children. But as soon as they got back from seeing his father, his wife got pregnant, and now they have four beautiful kids. Two girls and two boys. Just like us!
After all my talking about this “311” that I feel God speaks to me through, there is now a HUGE billboard on my way home with this 311 printed on it. It is my reminder from God to stay on the high road with Him being my most loving and forgiving self. God is pretty talkative once you get to know Him. And to be quite honest with you guys, when I saw that sign, I was NOT in a good place. I was furious. But immediately upon seeing it, I knew it was a HUGE wink from God as if He was saying VERY LOUDLY, ‘NIKKI!!!!!! STAY ON THE HIGH ROAD WITH ME, REMEMBER!!!’ In a fun, playful way! I gave God a big smile, and I continued home happy, deciding to leave the battle I was upset about in His competent hands. God’s ways are the best!
Don’t let the devil get us off track! See how I stayed away from our office until God corrected me! Don’t let the devil get the best of you! The devil wants to keep us angry, bitter, frustrated, not being our best selves, but God wants us happy, living our best lives with Him. Wink! Wink!
EVEN DURING MY WORST YEAR, GOD MADE ME FEEL SO LOVED (REPOST)
I can’t get over how I complained that it felt like I fell like a million times, but yet God was there in those million times to wrap His arms around me and let me know that His invisible Presence was always with me. That’s the love I’ve gotten to know from Him. Unlike human love that cut you off when you’re not what they expect you to be, God’s love is unconditional, and it never fails. It’s a love you must feel for yourself!
Like yesterday, I pushed myself out to work despite not feeling too well. I complained to God that even with His work, I didn’t do that well. Can you believe He read that slightest little thought from me? Someone on Facebook liked this old post, and I decided to read it, not knowing it was a message from Him:
“MOMMY, EVERY DAY YOU SAY YOU’RE GOING TO DO THAT!!!”
That’s my Joshie to me again today after I promise that I will take care of something for him. My son has found out one of my weaknesses – PROCRASTINATION! I even apologized to my husband the other day that this year, performance wise, hasn’t been my best. The proud Vice-President fell A LOT. But even in my weaknesses, lack of focus and drive, God shows up in my morning appointment, letting me know that HE IS PLEASED WITH ME:
“I AM PLEASED WITH YOU, MY CHILD…You don’t have to perform well in order to receive My love (Wink! Wink!). In fact, a performance focus will pull you away from Me… It can also be a source of deep discouragement when your works don’t measure up to your expectation (me lately!).
Shift your focus from performance to My radiant Presence. The Light of My Love shines on you continually, regardless of your feelings or behavior. Your responsibility is to be receptive to this unconditional Love.” – Jesus Calling
Are you receptive to God’s unconditional love? I’m talking the slightest thought about not doing His work well and He figured out a way to get that message to me minutes later from 4 months ago. Here’s what else that post said:
“When I say God’s ways are not our human ways, trust me on that! Here I am apologizing to my hubby for not performing up to my expectations, and God sweetly says, ‘Switch those feelings of discouragement, My Nik, to my unconditional love, regardless of how you perform!’
AND GOD SHOWS ME HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!!! Like I can’t get over how a book showed up at a friends’ house on Saturday. I wrote this in yesterday’s post:
“Of all books in the entire world for God to take my attention there was just Him revealing His invisible Presence with us. This lined up EXTREMELY too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidence! It was God saying, ‘Nik, I go with you, I GO BEFORE YOU, and I’m familiar with all your ways.’ Wink! Wink! “
Can you believe God went as far as confirming that this was Him? This also showed up in my morning appointment with Him:
“As you go through this day, look for tiny treasures strategically placed along the way. I LOVINGLY GO BEFORE YOU and plant little pleasures to brighten your day. Look carefully for them, and pluck them one by one.”
What kind of love is this? For the Creator of the Universe to go to all this trouble to reveal His Presence with me. From planting the book there, having me sit three feet away from it and pull my attention to the book at the precise MOMENT I was asked its name. It was unbelievable! God is too much!
MORAL: STOP FOCUSING ON PERFORMANCE AND FOCUS ON GOD’S LOVING PRESENCE THAT IS ALWAYS WITH US!!! Amen!!! The world and ourselves condemn if we don’t perform up to expectations, but God loves unconditionally!!! He says, let’s keep going. Try to do better next time. Even if we fall a million times (like I feel I did this year), He helps us get back up, and back on track step by step and little by little. The sweet life with God continues DESPITE THE MANY TIMES WE FALL AND FAIL!”
