The past few months have shown me things about myself that I didn’t realize until now. I am finally shifting from “if God doesn’t do something for me, then we’re done” to “even if he doesn’t grant some requests, he’d still be God”. And I tell you, it’s liberating. 

Let me share a short story with you. The year was 2010. I had just completed the Government mandated NYSC for Nigerian graduates and rumor had it in my place of Primary Assignment that “we would be retained”. By “we” here, I mean ALL the NYSC Corpers that served in that creative agency. Now imagine my dismay when the other corpers at this organization received employment letters way ahead of passing out time. Lol. And nobody, I mean ABSOLUTELY no one was saying anything about mine. To say I was furious would be putting it mildly because I was livid 😂😂😂.

That was not all. After NYSC ended, I was informed I’d still get the #25k corpers salary for no reason other than “we didn’t know you were passing out on the same day with the others”. Me: really? 🙄😂😂😂😂.

I’ll be honest, I was tempted to leave. Even interviewed at a different company. But after all my gragra, I stayed because…I knew deep inside it was the right thing to do plus wise counsel from friends.  So, I stayed.

Prior to that, I had been invited to speak at an event at the University of Lagos to testify about the goodness of God and though I had given the organizers a firm “yes, I’ll be there”, I told God “Lord, help me sort this employment letter thing. Imagine how awesome it would be if I go to UNILAG with that letter in hand? Plus, you know it would look somehow if I’m testifying about your goodness and I don’t even have a job. What if they ask me what I’m doing now?” My words exactly 🤣.

Kept praying along those lines. Fast forward to a week to that program, no employment letter yet. Then I got upset and threatened God 😂 “if I don’t get that letter, I’m not going to UNILAG to testify” . I imagine God saying “fine 🤷‍♀️😂😂😂”.

But I came back to my senses later and decided that “even if I don’t get the letter, I’ll still go. I’ll talk about the goodness of God from past experience. That counts too”. Lol and that was exactly what I was going to talk about.

Fast forward to the D-Day, my friend had come to get me so we could travel to UNILAG together. While I was rushing to meet him on the porch, HR was running breathlessly behind me “where have you been?”. Slightly confused I responded “My desk, of course”. Then she gestured for me to follow her and said “I have been looking for you all day. I have something for you”. I followed her with zero anticipation per what to expect. But guess what she handed me?

My employment letter!!!

My friend ALMOST passed out 😵  when he saw the letter like “do you have the hotline to heaven or something?” . That’s not all, the letter was backdated to the previous month when the other corpers got their letters and they paid me the # difference of the salary I should have received 😎.

Back to you. Do you find yourself in a similar situation? Maybe you have prayed and prayed and now weary because of the unchanging situation?.

If that’s you, then I’d like you to consider what transpired between Ruth and Naomi. You know the story. Naomi was Ruth’s mother-in-law and after losing her sons and husband, Naomi urged Ruth (and Orpah) to “Turn back, my daughters, go” because she literally had nothing else to offer her daughters-in-law. Even though that was true, it wasn’t enough to deter Ruth 😭. Instead she followed Naomi to Bethlehem. And of course, you know how the story ended. While Ruth was busy taking care of her mother-in-law, God hooked her up with Boaz.

What a plot twist.

What I’m saying is, I believe sometimes circumstances like the ones described are tests to see if we’ll continue loving and following God even when it looks like our circumstances aren’t changing.

So, don’t turn back. God will meet you at the point of your need, okay? 🫂