I grew up in a Christian home. Morning devotions with hymns started our days officially and night prayers ended them. We were in church at least three times a week – Sundays for the regular sunday services, tuesdays for bible study and Thursdays for faith clinic. It was routine, I didn’t really understand why but I guess I didn’t have a choice. That’s what you’re meant to do – you do what mummy and daddy tell you to do. That was it really – home, school and church. As kids, we didn’t go out much, we had each other to keep company and an open compound.
Fast forward to 2005. My family and I relocated to the UK in October. I was excited. New environment and new accent. No Nigerian food or so I thought. It was a new beginning but this was when the shift and disconnect started in my life. We were no longer sheltered and so i went off literally. I was FREE. Or so I thought. Freedom was sweet. I was getting a lot of attention from guys and I thought I had arrived. This didn’t affect my grades. I was acing school up until year 11. i got really cocky with it and I guess you could say my overconfidence was my downfall in year 12. I was chilling casually with Ds and Es. My parents were obviously disappointed, I was too but I didn’t really dwell on it because I was moving to Canada. All that will be behind me, I thought. New beginning … again.
In May of 2009, I boarded my flight from Heathrow to Toronto Pearson Airport by myself. The rest of the family were going to join me later on in the year. I was thrilled for a fresh start. It was summer time and I got in trouble a few times LOL. So much for a new beginning. I was eager for school to start. Maybe that’s when my new beginning would actually start. Well, I was wrong. I was taken back to grade 12; my sixth form grades were too poor to get admitted into a decent university. It was my fault but when I was asked about it, I would lie and blame it on the education systems being different. After high school, I took a year off to work mainly because I didn’t know what I wanted to study in university. I was very indecisive and I was always told to pray about it. I never did. i believed in God but I had backslidden so much that I thought there was no point. I still went to church but my life was not reflecting of Christ in any way, shape or form. I lived each day with the Y.O.L.O. mentality.
I finally went to university in September of 2011. I had just turned 20. I was determined to steer clear of born-again Christian friends because I didn’t want to be judged. If I found myself among them, I would tell them exactly what they wanted to hear. Whenever I was in a Christian gatherings (I was a part of the gospel choir at my uni) and had to give a contribution to the discussion at hand, I would contradict myself. I knew the right scriptures to spit out because of my Christian upbringing. I didn’t want to be seen in a different light because I was a PK (pastor’s kid). At the same time however, I was comfortable living a lie. My grades were disgustingly poor. I got my first F in first year. You would think that would be my wake up call to realign my life to what and who I knew was the TRUTH but I kept up with Y.O.L.O. life. Everything about me was very mediocre and I was very comfortable with that.
Initially, I was meant to graduate in June 2014, but as usual, there was always something wrong. I was due to travel to Nigeria for six months for an internship placement. Another new beginning. I was excited. I enjoyed working in Nigeria for the most part. It somewhat kept me level headed and allowed me reflect on my life a little. Did I change? Nope. I had plans to make a change but still wasn’t ready. I was still a baby girl. It was time to leave Nigeria and I didn’t want to because it meant having to face reality. I wasn’t ready! I had a sit-down with my father and he explained to me that I needed to wake up. I seemed remorseful in that moment and days to come and I did have plans to change … eventually.
In January 2015, I was ready to rededicate my life to Christ but I struggled. I struggled on my own accord. It didn’t occur to me to pray about it. Finally on the 9th of February, 2015, I decided that I needed spiritual healing. I knew that I needed Christ. If I was going to make a complete 360, I needed the help of the Holy Spirit. There’s a saying that you can lead the horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. My parents did all they could to lead in the way of Christ but when i backslid, I just wasn’t interested. One thing they never stopped doing was praying for myself and siblings. They never stopped praying. For that, I am eternally grateful to them.
I included GOD in my life and things changed for the better. I didn’t care about the “oh she’s now one of those Jesus babes”. YES! I am one of those babes. Why you mad? You should want to be a Jesus guy or babe too. It’s not a chore; it’s a lifestyle. i began to put Christ first and the GOD factor was evident in my life. The bible says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6 v 33; NKJV). Once God is the centre of your life, every other thing starts to fall into place. It might not be immediate but when you need it, when GOD see that it’s a necessity, it happens.
Yes, it feels like I lost some years when I wasn’t of where my life was headed but GOD has promised me restoration. The GOD factor brings about restoration. The bible also says “... I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2 v 25; NKJV). Here, God is making the promise to restore the years that you and I have lost. This is only guaranteed when we are in Him.
It’s not the IT factor y’all. It’s the GOD Factor.
A quick shoutout to those that have played a part in my journey. My immediate family, my family in the The Revived Generation Group, my sisters in the Women After His Own Heart group, Koromone Koroye, Tayo Bero, and my church, The House of Praise.
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