“YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING NICE TO SAY TO ME ALL DAY!!!”
I lost it with hubby yesterday! Of all days, the anniversary of our first meeting, nineteen years ago, he harshly criticized me, saying what a problematic CROSS I’ve been to him. I was furious! I came home and immediately went to my daughter’s room to continue my work for God, and right away, God had me to read the caption from a recent post: “GOD IS PLEASED WITH YOU.”
I went on to quote from my Jesus Calling, my appointment with Him: “I AM PLEASED WITH YOU, MY CHILD…You don’t have to perform well in order to receive My love.”
And that was just the reality check I needed, My God is pleased with me regardless of my husband’s feelings at any given moment or day. Other people’s love fluctuates based on whether or not we act according to their liking, but God’s love is steady and unconditional no matter what we do or don’t do.
I kept reading through some old posts, reminding myself that no matter what, I have to stay on the high road with God being the wife, mother, and person He is calling me to be. He said to me yesterday, through this same Jesus Calling, “You can only have one Master.”
By the time hubby came to get me from Ember’s room to have dinner with him and the boys, I was back to my senses, reminded of what a gift this husband has been to me. So, even if he doesn’t get it right all the time, I still cherish him. I forgave quickly and loved extravagantly, KNOWING nobody’s perfect. Between hubs and God, I’m super spoilt.
Can we all keep our eyes fixed on God? Super tough, I know, but this is the way to the best life with Him as our Master (Wink! Wink!). I was so mad with hubby yesterday that I wanted to remove this pic as my WhatsApp profile pic, but I felt God in my spirit saying, ‘You shall do no such thing, Ms. Nikki!’ So, I’m resharing it today to remind us all to DO IT ALL FOR GOD’S GLORY, no matter what anyone else is doing. Let’s make Master God PROUD. Our reward is with Him! Heaven and God are our audiences.
“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. 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
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 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, lets 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!
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
GOD, I REMAIN LOYAL TO YOU!!!
After this year of my one million falls, I have new love and respect for God, who showed me that He was right there with me EVERY LITTLE STEP OF THE WAY. The love He showed has been and continues to be off the charts. Even yesterday, His invisible Presence showed up at my friends’ house with this extraordinary God wink.
I asked if they got a chance to see a Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, featured on CNN the other night. Honestly, I was so impressed and proud of her speaking with such courage and boldness. Maybe an hour after discussing her with them, I started talking about this writer again, and was asked, “What’s the name of her book?” I said, “I think it’s ‘Americanah,’ but I must be wrong because that’s the name of this book right here.” ‘Yes, that’s one of her old books,” my friend replied. I freaked out! God just pulled my attention directly to this book on a stand about three feet away from where I was sitting. It was incredible! 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! Like He knew I would have moved from where I previously sat so that I would see that book at the precise moment I was asked that question. God is too much!!!
Are you feeling His Presence with You? Say this prayer with me, ‘God, I want a closer walk with You.” Then, let’s seek to be loyal to God by being the people He calls us to be at every moment with our eyes fixed steadily on Him. At the beginning of this year, I sent a text to my daughters saying, “Let’s do hard things this year for God.” I couldn’t have imagined it would be this hard, but I’m thankful for EVERYTHING as I learned some important values from God. Loyalty, faithfulness, and faith in God, at the top of the list. I say, God, ANYTHING for You who does so much more for me than I can ever imagine or expect. Our loyalty is repaid by God Himself! Let’s be the glue that holds all our significant relationships together, by going the extra mile in love and forgiveness, all for God’s glory!
At every moment, we have God’s love, power, generosity, strength, wisdom, patience, charm, personality, influence, Spirit, angels, warmth, and friendship backing us up. Are you guys getting this???? 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!!!
It took a conversation with someone early this morning that brought this idea home. I have a way of making some pretty cutting, hurtful, and rude remarks sometimes, and in that conversation, before making one of those awful comments, I held my tongue, looked to God, and asked, ‘What would please You here?’ I felt Him respond through my Spirit, ‘Nik, don’t say that!’ And I didn’t, and instead responded with gentleness, kindness, and love, all for God’s happiness and honor. Love is not rude.
The BIG lesson is that I need us to up our game in doing an even better job of continuously going to God and responding to EVERYONE and EVERYTHING from His perspective. Trust me, like in that conversation today, instead of saying the wrong things, God gave me His tact, charm, genuineness, and charisma to respond from His loving and kind character. And it’s ALWAYS available to us. GOD IS OUR GREATEST FRIEND.
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.
Even with problems. I so want to figure out how I will handle the difficulties of my life, but God is showing me that I don’t have to have everything all figured out. This message showed up on WhatsApp, and I knew I was indeed a message from God to me:
“But God is saying to you…Be still and know that I am your God. I will fight all your battles and give you victory.”
That means relaxing (not in a lazy way!), confident, and having a continuous thought of God being with us and for us, seeking to do what He is asking of us. His constant advice as to what to do, what to say, and where to go, leads us to a life of joy, purpose, peace, success, and victory no matter the challenges – may no darkness weight is down by the grace of God!
Let me tell ya, His direction hasn’t failed me yet! I LOVE MY LIFE WITH GOD! WILL YOU JOIN US?
“Grant me the grace, O Lord and Saviour, to never allow time to elapse between the desiring and the putting into practice that which You want. Amen.” – The Imitation of Christ
“YOU’RE DOING GREAT; KEEP IT UP!!! WE ALL GOT YOU”
Was the comment from my sweet girl, Julie, minutes after I posted a video on YouTube entitled, ‘EVEN AT MY LOWEST…GOD IS THERE.’ I have new love, respect, and loyalty for her and my other daughter, Ember. Let me tell ya, I can boast of my weakness because even when I’m down to my lowest, God is there with the people to assist and support me like both of these fierce and fabulous daughters. Forget spoilt kids; I’m the spoilt momma!
I can’t get over God’s deep love for me. I always say and write that whatever is a concern for me is a concern for God, and this morning, He confirmed that through my meditation book, He and I:
“Everything that affects you touches Me personally.”
Yesterday, this was confirmed when I didn’t have my son Emmie’s birthday celebration at school adequately planned out, and God just had a friend to put together these delicious lunch bags AT THE VERY LAST MINUTE. I started ugly crying, thinking of God’s fidelity to me and my problems. Nik, how could you not have your son’s birthday stuff put together?!? When I’m weak, God’s love comes shining through brightly! As if God personally said, ‘Nik, I got you! Birthday Lunch Bags? No problem. Done.’
That’s the sweetness of God I’ve come to know. That morning, feeling again good for nothing, beating myself up that I’m so far from the person I strive to be, this amazingly showed up in my morning appointment with Him:
“Even when you feel good for nothing (exactly me at that moment), give me this nothing. Didn’t I create with nothing?’ – He and I
Didn’t God create the entire universe from nothing? So, I’m happily giving Him my nothingness, all my past mistakes and failure, knowing He is capable of turning it all into something extraordinary. Will you do the same? Let’s give God everything-the good, bad, and ugly-as we look to Him in every moment to help guide our lives on the most fantastic paths with Him as our Guide and Life Partner. God’s grace is sufficient to take away all the sins and failures of the entire planet. Give Him a chance with your life. Stay with Him. Give every small effort for His honor and glory. Even the slightest gesture, let’s do it for Him. When you do this, I promise you, He will give you much more than you can ever imagine or expect from Him. Wink! Wink!
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
“I’M A WARRIOR, NOT A WORRIER”
That was me to my husband and sons a short while ago after my hubby asked why I roll up my exercise shirt sleeves like a crazy person. No shame in my game; that’s my reminder every morning that I have to be tough, strong, and brave (warrior style!), ready to tackle anything that comes my way. Hubs had a good time laughing about it, but being his wife alone calls for a double dose of a warrior mindset because he is not the most comfortable person to be around sometimes, let me tell ya. LOL! But I use his hardness as motivation to be BETTER! Heehaw!
Fast forward to my sons leaving out for school, I go to have an appointment with God at 7:52, so I decided to read page 52 of our family’s website, and look what incredibly showed up at the top of the page:
“Warrior Nikki, baby” Wink! Wink!
Believe it or not, this was another one of my God winks when everything lines up a little bit too perfect to be considered a mere coincident. It was God’s sweet way of revealing His invisible Presence with me. Yesterday, I had another fun wink from Him when I got frustrated looking for a t-shirt to exercise in from my closet. I couldn’t find one I was happy with, so I got a white shirt from my husband’s drawer.
Fast forward to my sons coming home from school, Joshie starts playing a song, Franchise by Travis Scott, and I instantaneously fell in love with it, adding it to my playlist. We kept playing it repeatedly when I finally paid attention to the lyrics that began:
“In my white tee” (Wink! Wink!)
Again, God having some fun with my sons and me, sweetly reminding me that He is familiar with all my ways. For me to be annoyed at my shirt selection that morning, to go looking to get my husband’s white tee drawer, to Joshie playing this song of all songs, was God revealing His sweet, loving, and invisible Presence with us.
And this love from Him is what keeps me going. I felt like a failure waking up today because I haven’t been the person I’m proud of these days. I’ve been fighting my demons, y’all! But again God sweetly showed up in a recent post when I said this to my son after he was feeling bad about a mistake he had made:
“What happens if a child is running across a street and falls? Does that child stay there crying, or does that child pick themselves up and keep going? That’s how we have to be in life. Constantly picking ourselves up after falls and failures, and keep going.”
Warrior style, baby! Rise and shine! All for the glory of God!
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
“WHAT IS THE BALL IN THE AIR YOU KEEP REFERRING TO?”
Asked my sister, Juanita. I explained to her that I have a crucial matter I’m attending to in Nigeria. In this life you will have trouble! I consider myself the proud Vice-President of my hubby. “I’m at the service of the President,” I say to him. Meaning I’m here to support him in any way I can. So, when a situation came up, I had to leave the US and fly to Nigeria to help tackle it – this life is not for weaklings! But, I didn’t come alone; I brought Back-up: God.
That’s the message I hope you guys are getting: WE HAVE GOD TO HELP US FIGHT ALL OUR BATTLES!!! I’m the God maniac here, but He freaked me out yesterday when I investigated a matter that had your girl here all agitated. Unbelievably, it magically resolved, pretty much on it’s own! Like poof. Disappeared. It’s another testimony of how God is at work in the spiritual realm on our behalf. I can show up every day, do my best with whatever God would have me to do, then I can turn the hard and challenging parts over to Him. That goes for every aspect of my life: parenting, marriage, business, health, and other significant relationships.
I still have my anxious moments, like when that issue first came up. I remember stopping at a gas station to have an appointment with God. To remind myself that I wasn’t handling the problem alone. Within minutes (AGAIN, God working in the spiritual realm on my behalf!), I got a phone from the person who took the entire matter into hands and beautifully resolved it for us. This was after his boss told me that there was nothing he could do to help us. God is too much! He used the boss’ assistant to help us. The only thing I honestly did from that point was to follow up on the status with a couple of emails and calls. Next thing I knew, poof! The problem was gone!
That’s why I stress to you guys that everything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else. I’ve decided to use all the disappointments, losses, and frustrations as fuel to motivate myself to be better: a better wife, a better mom, a better person for God, no matter what anyone else is doing. To step up my life in every area and, most importantly, make God, even more, a part of every moment. THEREBY TURNING THE LOSSES INTO HUGE WINS, BABY!!!
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation (deliverance from harm), which He will accomplish for you today…The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” – Exodus 14: 13-14
I loved a recent alone time with God when He said to me, “Watch to see what I will do!” God, I’m watching with total confidence in You! He said it saddens Him when we doubt Him! Let’s kick our faith in Him up a notch! Shall we? Using all the past times when He has come through for us as our reminders that our God doesn’t disappoint! He is the same today, yesterday, and forever!
