Hey,my name is Ese but you can call me SPARKLE. I’m new on WordPress and I just started blogging. So, yes, this is my first blog and my first post.
I am a Christian and a Nigerian. I’m a young christian trying to find her place in this world, in a country where our morals are slowly decaying and you are criticised for not being a perfect christian and in a world where evil sells and reigns.
I want to be a voice to people’s pain and things they refuse to talk about and I pray that God uses me to touch lives.
I met someone at home today, he came over with my housemate and we got talking. I found out we were both from Delta State and that he also attended the University of Benin (UNIBEN). He told me he studied Accounting and right there and then, I knew he was one of my dad’s students without asking.
I mentioned my dad’s name and he was surprised and asked what are the odds? Funny thing is that we had met in work and we had spoke before, but it was today of all days I discovered this about him.
We talked about my dad and it was the same testimony. He was a very nice man, funny, loved teaching and made everyone feel at home. He said coming to school and studying Accounting in 100level he was grateful he had my dad as one of his lecturers. It made him feel at home and made life easier for him🥰.
When he was leaving he sent his condolences and all the emotions I had held in since morning almost broke free🥺. The whole event was so overwhelming for me.
I do not believe this was a coincidence, for he to have come to my house on my dad’s death anniversary.
I was grateful because it was a gift for me🥹. A reminder of my father virtue and the lives he had touched and one attribute that I learnt from him: to be kind, spread love and leave everyone better than where you met them.
Today makes it a year since I parked my bags and embarked on this Lagos journey. New job, new house, new city, new state, new environment and 29 colleagues I spent a lot of time with last year.
Lagos wasn’t new to me. My first time here was in 2017 to do my IT (Industrial Training). New city, “new job” but I didn’t exactly know anyone there.
Long story short, I left with recommendations, met family members I didn’t know I had, lived in 3 different parts of the state. I found a mentor, a work family and made a few friends. I lived the whole Lagos life staying on the mainland and transiting to the Island. I was jumping buses before God upgraded me and I started staying on a route the company bus went through. Thank the Lord.
5 years later, I’m back. I still haven’t learnt to speak Yoruba and I’m not transiting from the mainland to the Island. As God would have it, my job came with residential quarters, just as I asked Him. Because I told God, if He was to give me a job in Lagos, I wanted one that came with Residential Quarters, I can’t do the whole traveling to and fro to get to work and back again. Lagosians, y’all are trying.
This time was different though, I had “Family” in Lagos. My elder sister, my second mum as I prefer to call her. She had packed her bags earlier and come to stay in Lagos. So her here was a cushion for me, stayed with her right through my Medicals and buying things I had forgot to buy in Benin, attending my first church service with her in her church and she, following me to my new house.
I’m grateful for her Presence here because whenever things get too hard or I’m missing home; I pack my things and run home to her. Those times phone calls or “Family Meetings” don’t just do it. Just seeing her was all the remedy I needed.
It’s 1 year now, I have flatmates, a roommate, my 26 colleagues (yes 3 people left with time), a church family (TCN Ikorodu), getting to meet my older colleagues and finally getting integrated into the system to know what I was actually employed for after the one year training.
I have made some friends, I have discovered my love for cooking, learnt to prioritize my health and myself, fallen in and out of love and travelled within that period. I have learnt to trust and obey and to be free to do me. And my colleagues and I started a fellowship amongst ourselves and for ourselves.
Again I was placed in a position to learn, relearn and unlearn. Looking back at the frightened girl on the bus, with thoughts running wild about what this journey would bring and looking at myself as I type this, I would say I have come a long way. And for that I am grateful.
This is picture perfect because it shows how beautiful you are inside out: The True Definiton of Beauty. The flowers pale in comparison to your beauty and the aura you bring whenever you are in a room. You have a face people look at twice and that’s true and a personality that makes them want to know you more. Thank you for nurturing me, for always believing in me and for always having a ready solution whenever I call, for never giving up on me. It’s how you show up for us every time and it’s your silent strength for me because you are a strong woman. For never being too far nor out of reach and for nurturing me to the woman I am today, your first daughter is grateful.
Royalty! A Queen! I STAN!
Happy Happy Birthday Agbadudu Mera. Its how you play the father and mother role effortlessly and how you never give up for me. As God clothes the lilies, may He decorate your life and beautify it always. And as you have wished for all of us to be happy, may you always have cause to be happy, to smile, laugh and celebrate. Thank you for all you do for me and the rest of your siblings. I know when I say this I speak for all your siblings, you are the best elder sister we could ever ask for and we won’t change a thing about you. We Love You with every fibre of our being till eternity and beyond.
The letters flow freely from the pen Indelible imprint on paper Little by little the letters form words And they tell a story Like a beautiful melody Each tune in perfect harmony A story about time and seasons Of what was, what is and what is to come A prophecy you might say But like every choreography Even the ones in synchronisation It will all come to an end For every story has a beginning and an ending Just like this poem But while the middle pages of this life is still ongoing The pen will keep spinning out words with ink on paper A form of expression, The perfect symphony for the writer.
What are the odds that two siblings share a birthday, probably 1 in a Million. Well, I happen to be among that 1 in a Million. I get to call my younger sister and say Happy Birthday and get a ‘Same to you’ reply.😊
So cheers to our best year yet. Happy Birthday to Us. I’m grateful for every year I get to do life with you. 🤗
I fell in love again It wasn’t the all consuming Passionate, almost suffocating kind I felt the first time It was a slow gradual process And an accumulation of every second Minute and hour I spent with you It was the crease on your forehead Your animated expressions when you speak It was the feel of your hand in mine It was the anticipation of seeing your face everyday Of knowing I will be spending one more day with you It was your smiles and the way they lit up your eyes I didn’t get to see nor make you laugh I guess you have to leave something for the next time we see out in space It was the thought of not knowing when next we would see face to face And just basically enjoying each other’s presence I will only get to hear the voice I have fallen in love with And see the face I long to behold, on a screen Hearing you say that you missed me already few minutes after I left you That was when I discovered, I had fallen for you, the moment I left you
One of the free gifts of life is the people we encounter. In life, there are different people you encounter, the nice ones,the naive ones, the ones who have been harnessed by experience, the smiling, ever happy and cheerful ones😁, the rudes ones, the angry ones😡, people who you encounter and the experience transform you forever and those you wish you have never met, you name it.
It’s very rare to find someone who genuinely cares about you and wants the best for you and is willing to sacrifice their comfort for you, no strings attached and without any selfish interests🤗. When you find such people hold them tight and never let go.
In a world of sibling rivalry, where sisters and brothers turns on the other and there is no trust in family and a lot of broken homes, it’s a beautiful thing to have a friend that genuinely cares about you and when that friend is also your sister, you are doubly blessed😇.
That is my story today. I’m doubly blessed with a sister I can call a friend who will always fight for me, stand by me and hold my hand while walking me through the storm. My ride or die, and surest support system, Happy Birthday Dear♥️, it’s your best year yet. You are the Mordecai to my Esther. I Love You more than can be expressed in words.
Happy Birthday to the world’s best sister💃, Oboyovworimera Omovbiye Agbadudu, elder sister like no other. Thank you for all you do for us (your siblings – we do not take it for granted) and for those around you. May God grant you answers to your heart desires and your secret prayers and may He continually reward your labour of love. You have my heart always❣.
2020 has finally ended and 2021 is already on its way. I can vividly remember crossover into 2020 and how everyone had high hopes for the year and then Covid 19 hit and things didn’t look so possible and it seems like all hope was lost. Its no wonder almost everyone was happy to leave 2020 and say good riddance to it. 😝
Don’t get me wrong, I’m super grateful for the New Year and for the blank canvas it holds, laid out for me to paint my future and how I want my 2021 to look like.🎨
2020 taught us a lot of things that we shouldn’t just sweep under the carpet and pretend it didn’t happen because of the bad experience that happened. Afterall, life is a combination of the ups and downs and all the experiences we have had and will have, both good and bad.
You can choose to just pretend 2020 never happened or you can be like me and take the lessons you learnt from it – Gratitude, cherishing the face on face time you get to spend with family, friends and loved ones, being thankful for the little things like hugs and handshakes, realising that the little things in life matter, and by taking care of yourself mentally, healthwise and all round you are ensuring the safety of another, learning to make the most out of the time you spend with others and cherishing the sweet memories, having time to pause and rest from the rush of the world and understanding how fragile life is.
I’m not saying you should dwell on the bad memories from 2020 but pick a lesson 2020 has taught you and use it to make 2021 an amazing year for you and those around.
One lesson I got is that God has given us strength and with Him on our side we can weather any storm. You will never know how strong you are till you face some certain challenges and 2020 has showed us how much inner strength God has placed on our inside and that there is so much we can achieve together.👨👩👧👦👫
If 2020 left a bad taste in your mouth, remember God said in “Isaiah 61 vs 3a – To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes.” So give Him the ashes from 2020 and watch Him turn it to beauty this 2021 surrender.
For me I’m grateful for life and that God brought my family and I through 2020 and we came out stronger,United, bigger and better with a Texas sized heart of love and gratitude. I’m grateful that *FAMILY REMAINS FAMILY.*♥️
From my family and I to you, Cheers to an amazing New Year ahead. This year is what you make of it. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Wow, this poem is both beautiful and powerful. Beautifully written and the message rings clear. Its a blessing to the hearts of any who reads it and a call to action for those saved to go out and do our Father’s business, saving the lost; for we were saved to save others.
In a ocean as vast as the universe God found me, held me close and whispered. My fragile souls shattered from being tossed against the rocks. The lighthouse beckoned, the sanctuary from the storm. He heard my cry, calling ‘swim warrior swim, your safety is near’. The bruised girl escaped she battled the waves and made it home and waiting was the safety she needed. But it wasn’t forever she rested and prepared and jumped back into the ocean, knowing her Saviour was there. Restlessly searching for the lost in the waves to bring them home to the creator. She was bruised but not broken sacrificing her comfort to find the lost.
Rest a while but not forever, because soon you must be back in the waves.
There is light There is clarity Things are opening up The fog is fading And dawn is about to break There is new utterance Words flow freely from my lips For the first time since I can remember I step on the stage Spotlight flashing All eyes on me The applause of the audience is deafening I search for the paralysing fear to choke me up I wait, but, it doesn’t come In it’s place, there is a peace beyond all understanding, The one only Jesus can bring With this knowledge I take the mic Look my audience in the eyes And I speak.
WordsThatHeal 