Godly teens

Phew! We blinked and it’s December already? Who else agrees with me that 2021 has been one heck of a ride? The speed, the bumps, the twists, the turns... But we've got to hand it to 2021. It was a year of growth! Yasss, raise your hand if you can count one or two ways you grew this year. C’mon, take inventory and bless God for the wonderful human you’re becoming!👏👏👏 Speaking of growth, this year, books were my catalyst. Isn’t it amazing that there is this ocean of knowledge out there that you don’t have to pay a dime for, if only you can read?! Here are some of the significant books I read this year.  Hopefully, at the end of this post, you would want to read one or two of them. 1. ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear :  I used to be this person that was almost always overwhelmed with activities. I had so much going on and I was always gettting to breaking point too soon. But busy doesn’t equal productivity. Through this book, I was able to form new habits that started bringing me...

Dear Journal, Today was exciting. I read Lost and Found, by Sarah Jakes Roberts, and I can’t even explain how miraculous my reading this wonderful book is at this time of my life.  I love how intentional God is about us. Even in times when it seems our pain has blocked or distorted our view of Him, He still reaches out to us through the most unlikely methods. Reminds me of a line in Cory Asbury’s Reckless Love.  “…There’s no shadow you won’t light up, no mountain you won’t climb up coming after me…” I promised I would tell you about my heart wound today. You see, I needed answers to know what really caused it. It was growing into something I could no longer wish away, and assumptions were not helping. But the answers were not with me or with anybody else on the face of this earth. They were with the One person I was not exactly sure I was ready to talk to regarding the issue: God. This was lesson number 1. Sometimes God allows certain things in our lives so that He would get ...

Dear Journal,   This month, I had 2 wounds that were as different as they were similar. One happened when I mistook my thumb for a carrot while trying to make a salad, and the other happened to my heart when I heard a news that shook my world.  They taught me that God speaks through our pain, that our pain always has a purpose with God, no matter how insignificant we think they are. I never saw the both of them coming. I was just trying to make a salad for goodness’ sake! And how was I supposed to know that one bitter news would break me to pieces? Looking back, I wish I had paid more attention and stayed a little more alert. I would have been able to see that I was about to drive my finger under a sharp blade instead of the carrot, and also braced myself for the news that was getting ready to crush me. The injury on my thumb rendered my left hand ineffective. I couldn’t do anything with it because of the pain. It bled at the slightest provocation; while the injury to my ...

Uche adjusted his tie as he stood in front of the mirror. He had applied for the position of software engineer in a big tech firm in Lagos three weeks ago, and today was the interview. Pulling his arms through the sleeves of his navy blue suit, he tried to scan himself for any form of excitement, enthusiasm or even hope; but he found none. Instead of approaching this interview with a sense of excitement, he realized he was bracing himself for disappointment.  He stared at his image in the mirror and sighed. How did he become so cold and lifeless? How come the very things that tickled his fancy earlier in the year no longer excited him? Where was the fire that once burned in him at the beginning of the year? Guy, he asked himself, what happened to you? He couldn't answer, and was about leaving the table when his eyes caught something beside the mirror. It was a picture of a beautiful waterfall, and underneath it, a scripture had been etched. Remember ye not the former things, neithe...

My love for you burned like an inferno And day after Day my passion continued to burrow I called your name, from the heavens, even past Pluto Child, I tell you, my love for you was more than that of Othello Your face sped through my mind every day in a slideshow I gazed at you like a child at a rainbow You knew, but you dodged, and everytime I only saw your shadow My love and your interest was in a counterflow... Until one day, my love reached a pleateu And erupted like a wild volcano I found you, you found me, we merged and became solo Together, we were finer than Marilyn Monroe Whenever you cried, I was at your side pronto But one day, I discovered your love for me was shallow You loved his adornments and still kept his memo You dressed like his children and still craved the ghetto I don't understand how you claim to love me and have not my glow Child, church never went together with disco You want to be mine, but with the trend you still want to flow From the world you keep seei...

Agnes was back in the good old days, when her parents were still alive and they were having dinner together on the dining table. Just the three of them. Her mother brought the last plate to the table and her father's eyes lit up like those of a child on Christmas morning. He complimented her cooking even before tasting it and her mom rolled her eyes playfully. Then her father took her left hand in his and her mother's own in the other as he bowed his head to pray. "Thank you for this family Lord. Thank you for your love and light that shines so brightly here. May it continually be so. May we always be the perfect family..." The perfect fami... A pungently familiar scent wafted across Agnes' nose, interrupting her happy dream. It grew stronger and stronger, working it's way into her nose, then throat, until... "Achoooo!" She sneezed her way back into reality. As she pried her sleepy eyes open, the familiar surroundings of her hostel room began to form...

Feyi's heart pounded in her chest. Her nervous eyes darted from one end of the prison to another, seeking an escape route. Darkness as thick as black stared her in the face. Blood curling screams of the numerous babies she had aborted roared in her ears and she wanted to slam her hands against them to stop the deafening noise, but two solid chains dragged her hands back down to the floor.  She twisted her hands in the cuff, trying to wrench them free, as tears of regret poured from her eyes. But they wouldn't give. The chains, though old, where still very strong and she began to feel the familiar sting of her flesh cutting, as blood seeped out of her wrists.  Her stomach grumbled ferociously, threatening to tear to shreds if she didn't eat. Every night, a grotesque looking hand would slide a tray of lies under the prison door. She ate the Devil's lies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She had no choice. If she didn't eat them, she would starve to death. They were lie...