That was me to my daughters yesterday! They wanted to play tennis, and the one tennis ball we had was at my office. So, instead of going to buy some more balls, we politely collected the ones that were left around by other players, and we had ourselves an excellent tennis tournament with me beating them both. Heehaw!
I actually wanted to go for a run, but Ember wanted to play tennis. With one glance at God, though, I knew what He would have me to do – work on a closer relationship with your daughter by showing her your love and attention. Yes, Father! And that’s where I want us in EVERY moment, seeking God’s guidance for our lives.
The tennis turned out to be a good thing as we got some other stuff done at our home association’s office. When I told the lady we’ve lived there for 15 years, she was amazed, and I was reminded of how God has really guided our lives beautifully. When hubby and I found this house, we knew this was the one for us after looking at so many other homes that we couldn’t agree on. But with this one, we felt excited, at peace and knew without a doubt that this was the one.
Every morning as I go for my run with God in this beautiful neighborhood, I thank Him for His guidance. Fifteen years later, we’re still in love with this home and area. Now, even the college the girls want to attend is only minutes away, and I just can’t get over how God has every aspect of our lives so perfectly planned out, even FAR ahead into the future. A life guided by God cannot fail! He knows what’s best for us. PERIOD.
Are you seeking God in every decision? That peaceful and happy feeling, knowing without a doubt that this was the home for us, is how God astonishingly guided us. I remember hubs and I loving this house so much that we would ask for the key while we waited for the closing just to hang out like little kids. Super excited! However, all the other ones we weren’t so enthusiastic about, that was God saying, ‘No, not this one, guys.’
All day and every day, start paying attention to your feelings as God becomes the main Guide of your life. No peace, feelings of doubt, stress, worry are God’s way of saying hold up, this may not be a good move for you. Joy, excitement peace, however, are usually Him saying, Yes! This may be a good move, but still, proceed cautiously listening to Me one step at a time. Don’t make a move without Him!!!
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2020: THE YEAR OF KEVIN
He’s my brother/messenger from God. Like seriously, looking back on this year, our conversations have been like God speaking directly to me. One of the most important ones was him telling me, “Neeks, you’re going to have to be patient right now.”
Let me tell ya, that patience has worked! It wasn’t easy, super hard when I wanted to turn into the crazy lady, and I will repeatedly remind myself, ‘Nik, be patient.’ But this week, God revealed to me the beauty of this value of patience. It was my sons coming to work with us. I had our elder son, Emmie, take over a conversation with my husband about purchasing inventory, a crucial aspect of our family’s business. “Tell them we’re blessed!!!” like the Buju Banton song says. And it was patience that got us here! Kevin said to me one day, “I made a lot of good decisions because I was patient.” K, I am with you! Just call me Nikki So Patient!
Ember, my elder daughter, also called saying that she made an important decision to attend the same university I attended in New York. “Mom, you had an internship on Wallstreet. I want to do that.” Patience. An important value I’m learning from God to teach you guys. It’s working. It has guided my life on such a beautiful path. Last night after having the most delicious dinner, I said to my husband, “I’m asking God to make you my husband for my next 10 lifetimes!” We may go through our ups and downs, but the overall gradient is upwards. All by the grace of God, we can REBUILD STRONGER WHEN WE FALL. Amen!
Let’s all honor God by going the extra mile in love, covering others’ weaknesses, and shining bright by being the fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, friends, and people God is calling us to be. Everything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else! God is love, and love is patient.
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“I DO NOT GIVE TO YOU AS THE WORLD GIVES”
This is the wink from God this morning rereading this verse I shared yesterday:
“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
That’s exactly what I’m finding from God, He doesn’t give like the world. His love, faithfulness, peace, acceptance, approval, joy, strength, wisdom, happiness, closeness, direction, and favor are so far beyond what we can get from anyone or anything in this world. I love these posts that I found one day in an appointment with God:
“Happiness never came from the dependency upon people; happiness comes from dependency upon Allah/God alone.” – Tumblr.com via believeroftheunseen
“Don’t love people so much; don’t rely on people so much. It is deception, don’t love it, don’t love anything here. Allah (God) has made connections in this world like mother, father, husband, wife or friend to test you. Don’t put too much heart in this matter. – Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi
YOU MUST KEEP EVERYONE IN THEIR PROPER PERSPECTIVE!!! Don’t put too much heart into them. Hold them in their proper place – they are ordinary humans just like you with their own struggles, demons, and challenges. GOD MUST BE OUR NUMBER ONE FOCUS AND PRIORITY – FIRST PLACE IN OUR LIVES. Then, with His love backing us up, we can then love others from His heart, His way, and with His strength. When others hurt, reject, disappoint us, or the world gets to be too much for us, we can immediately shake off the negative emotions (including worry and discouragement), hand them over to God, and focus on God’s love that never runs out. The real us, His children, can never be rejected. And those who hope in Him will not be disappointed! No matter how many times we fall and fail, His love is continuous and unfailing. We can trust His faithfulness.
In fact, these constant falls that I’ve been complaining about, have been so good for me. I’ve fallen directly into the arms of God. Now my life has become, He and I. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I know who I roll with on the daily: GOD.
And He finds the sweetest ways to let me know He is with me. Like this crazy God nerd here took another picture of my neighbor’s license plate a few days ago because of the word “HUG” that’s special to God and me. I made it my screen saver today, though, on my phone. So, after asking God what page of werollwithgod.com I should go to hear from Him, I got a feeling to go to page 24, and unbelievably, a very ugly picture of myself is there holding up my phone with this very screen saver from the picture of it I took five months ago. It was God’s way of saying, ‘Nik, HUG! I have My arms all around you!’ And around you too! MAKE GOD FIRST PLACE IN YOUR LIFE!
“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.” – Isaiah 43:2
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“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!
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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!
