The Glorious Emancipator!

I was in church a few weeks ago, and this hymn jumped at me in so many ways. I downloaded it after the service, and by the end of the week I had listened to it about 100 times. Imagine if I had 1000 dollars for every time I listened to the song, lol.

Anyway, so I remembered the hymn today (the one sung in church today didn’t really grip me) so I thought I’d share. And with lyrics too. This version is by the Bill and Gloria Gaither Band, it’s fabulous. You’re welcome.

1 Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters,
Chained like a slave I struggled in vain;
But I received a glorious freedom,
When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.

Refrain: Glorious freedom, wonderful freedom,
No more in chains of sin I repine!
Jesus the glorious Emancipator,
Now and forever He shall be mine.

2 Freedom from all the carnal affections,
Freedom from envy, hatred and strife;
Freedom from vain and worldly ambitions.
Freedom from all that saddened my life.

3 Freedom from pride and all sinful follies,
Freedom from love and glitter of gold;
Freedom from evil temper and anger,
Glorious freedom, rapture untold.

4 Freedom from fear with all of its torments,
Freedom from care with all of its pain;
Freedom in Christ my blessed Redeemer,
He who has rent my fetters in twain.

#31Days… and a couple writers

Sometimes we plan things and they don’t go as we plan – fact of life. Other times we don’t plan things, and they happen – another fact of life. Any other variations to this statement? Don’t think so. 

I’ve got five voices to grace the blog this month, and I’m most grateful to them for taking the time to chronicle their year for you, my glorious readers. Meanwhile, 2017 has to be better, I must write more! Gosh! I miss it!

We kick off the series with a personal friend of mine, Ehimen. He is dependable, a lover of God, and has the most gorgeous wife! God bless you for writing in Mr Wordsmith!

Appreciating the value of Today while it is today

Many men would rather wear a luxury timepiece on their wrists than wear their emotions on their sleeves, especially if those emotions are powerful enough to make them cry. Well, I’ve learned to do both and as someone jocularly noted recently, look well put together while at it. He was referring to the fact that I cried at my own wedding –an occasion for which I was suitably attired, complete with a finely-crafted wristwatch peeking out from under the sleeve of my tuxedo- but I somehow managed to avoid the pictures of me crying going viral, unlike another gentleman who also got married in 2016 and cried like a baby at his wedding.

Why did I cry at my wedding? It wasn’t only because of the profundity of starting to learn the awesome mystery that marriage is, nor was it only because my wife is the walking exemplar of the word “beautiful”. It wasn’t only because my entire lifetime flashed before me in an instant and I was grateful to GOD for the many times He saved me from death. It wasn’t only because I remembered my father who died when I was nine-and-a-half years old and left me in a world where I was told (a bit too early) to “be a man for your younger ones”. Those are small contributors to the whole truth. The whole truth is at that time, my body, soul and spirit sent commands to my eyes to produce tears and I didn’t know how to not yield. I am human.

Men who shy away from being emotional often miss the privilege of having Father Time and Mother Nature tell them what time it is better than any man-made time-telling device ever can. I received a sobering reminder of this truth just a few days before I composed this. The routine of everyday life had stealthily crept into my marriage. You see, “the two shall become one” promise of marriage doesn’t happen instantaneously and can take gruelling work. My wife and I were just sheathing our swords from killing a giant marauder so the lovey-dovey “I love you’s” weren’t being exchanged with the gusto we started off with. I hadn’t done anything major to honour her in public in a long time, which was counter to what I’d learned that good women deserve. I subscribe to this truth King Lemuel’s mother told him about virtuous women:

“Her husband brags about her and says, “There are many good women but you are the best!” Give her the reward she deserves. Praise her in public for what she has done.”

A few nights ago I tiptoed out of bed and went to post on Facebook in appreciation of my wife. If I pulled it off right, it would almost be the equivalent of sending her flowers at work. By the time she saw my post, it was past noon and I wasn’t even at home. However, her appreciation of my romantic effort was muted as we found out that morning that someone very close to us had just died. While my wife was in tears and my mouth was agape in shock, I realized that at the very same time that I was putting up a picture and celebrating my wife on Facebook, we lost someone dear who we’d been procrastinating calling to appreciate. In fact, as I was rifling through the pictures on my computer to pick the one I eventually used to celebrate my wife, I saw some pictures of the now deceased and was contemplating sending them to her, not knowing she had just left this world. Every like and comment we got on that Facebook post was a jarring reminder to love each other and make the most of every moment as we’re not promised the next.

So to those who hide their love and appreciation of others while waiting for the perfect time, this is your wake-up call. Don’t just add this lesson to your “New Year Resolutions for 2017” list; start it now! One thing I’m deliberately doing right now is pouring out my heart into all that I do so that I can be the best version of myself while I have the time to do so. I’m working on a project aimed at reducing the impact of hate speech online and offline in Nigeria so that as a nation we don’t repeat the mistakes that led to the horrific genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994. That’s my way of showing love to people and helping them stay alive to love others.

A sad thing it is when the sun sets on our lives and those of our loved ones because we failed to seize the day while it was day.

Thank you for writing in Peter, here’s to a fabulous holiday and an ever greater new year!

 

Happy Birthday to me! Well not really…

First off, it was my birthday at least two weeks ago (say hello to thirty, whoop) but that’s not what this post is about.

It’s about another birthday. This blog is six years old! I remember the first time I ever blogged about anything. It was on Facebook, in the ‘notes’ section sometime in 2008. I called it Chronicles of the Fairy GodSister and I remember that post was about a Chinese affinity for warm water during and after meals someone had forwarded to me. I didn’t want to forward it on (I’ve never been a fan of mass-forwarded messages), so I decided to flip it a bit.

Interestingly, and I’ve said it before, by the time I registered my first blog on blogspot later that year, I chose ‘Fairy GodSister’ because I wanted to be able to deny it if people didn’t like the things I wrote. Lol. And then when I got tired of the chains that blogspot comes with, it was time to move here. And I did. Six years ago.

Whoop! A lot of things have happened in six years, in my career, school/education, family (my niece and nephew were born, for one), relationships, life and death have happened. And I’m thankful for all the experiences and lessons I’ve learned along the way.

I’m also thankful for people who have read this blog, who have come to know me because of this blog. I remember one time someone took a few weeks and read EVERY single thing I ever published here. How did I know she read? She commented on all of them. Yep. At the time I had over 280 pieces. And she read them all. Gotta be thankful for people like that, and everyone else who either joined along the way, or has been a fan from jump.

I’m also thankful for the folks who have lent their voices and stories to my #31Days31Writers series, the ones who have opened up themselves and their businesses/enterprises to be interviewed, the ones who have trusted me to tell their stories. Thank you.

To the ones who would message me when for one reason or the other I didn’t write as often as they expected, thank you for checking on me, and ensuring in your own way that dust didn’t gather (too much) on the url. Lol.

Happy birthday to The Fairy GodSister. Here’s to many more years of writing, of sharing, of chronicling.

HE IS LORD, YES HE IS

“Christ alone, corner stone, weak made strong, in the Saviour’s love, through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all”

Above was one of the worship songs we sang at Hillsongs, Dominion Theatre this morning. I sang every word of the song with all my heart! Want to know why?

Apart from the fact that I really love this church, and missed it terribly, at the end of the day, Jesus is Lord of All. Whether it’s raining or snowing, He is Lord, if you’re hungry or fed, sick or well, poor or rich, white or black, He is, and remains Lord of All, including you.

There seems to be so much evil going on in the world right now; sickness, hunger, wars, horrible leadership from even more horrible leaders, and people are suffering – almost difficult to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ through all this. But, He is Lord.

Your name is higher

your name is greater

all my hope is in you

your word, unfailing

your promise unshaken

all my hope is in you

That’s another song we sang.

Very quickly, think of a World Leader you admire and imagine you were given a choice of whom to serve/work for; that World Leader, or the person who sweeps your street. Who? I thought so too – I’d choose the world leader in a flash, no doubt there!

In the same way, we’re all better off serving Jesus, surrendering our thoughts, worries, and desires at His feet, and living for Him everyday. We’re better off casting all our cares, fears and burdens on Him, because He’s more than able to turn things around for our good, take out pain away, and keep us wrapped in His love.

We need to make Him Lord of all though, not Lord sometimes. So He’s not Lord of the weekdays and we’re in charge of the weekends; He’s either Lord of all, or not Lord at all. Our decision.

Have a super productive week!

Related articles

• “All their eyes were fixed on him” (gaudetetheology.wordpress.com)
• New Clothes by Christ (sistersofchrist.wordpress.com)
• II PETER 3:1 and JUDE 1:17 (lissakr11humanelife.wordpress.com)
• Nicodemus – Searching for Answers (dmarienthee.wordpress.com)
• Oil of Gladness (killthekudzu.wordpress.com)
• Jesus, who spake by the prophets, (Epiphany 4, Year C) (thewordonthehill.wordpress.com)
• You Are Being Tested (pttyann2.wordpress.com)
• HILLSONGS! Whoop! (fairygodsister.wordpress.com)
• Still- Hillsong (whiteweights.wordpress.com)
• Who, me? Deny Christ? Never! (christiansread.wordpress.com)

THANK YOU FOR 2012!!

Ok, so it’s 5.42am and just as I tweet that my darling nephew (Boo Boo) is a miracle baby for sleeping throughout the night, he wakes up! Talk about a tweet too early! Rather than whine about my ‘me time’ gone, I’ve decided to do a ‘thank you for 2012’ post. Cliche as it may sound, there are quite a few people I need to thank for the different things they’ve been to me this year, and Boo Boo’s one of them!

To God, for life, love, hope. For the gift of every new day He’s given, for safe travels (and I moved around quite a bit this year), for health; I might have fallen ill a couple times but the things I recovered from killed some people. I’m also grateful for a sound mind; don’t really see how much more righteous I am than the people who are out of theirs. Most importantly I’m grateful to Him for mercies that I see every day. This year’s been a little rough and I’ve derailed majorly but He’s been (and still is merciful).

To my family, you guys are the surest, baddest bosses ever! Kai!! Wouldn’t trade you guys for anything in the world! To Momma, Daddy, Kizaro, Inne, Qintaro, and the latest addition to the family, my darling Boo Boo!!! God bless you guys! I love you to the moon and back! 2013 is ours!!

To The One who calls me Pebbles, what do I say? Where do I start? How do I begin to talk about you, would anyone even grasp the depths of what I feel, of what you are to me? For the songs, the stories, the beautiful dances, the encouragement, for everything; thank you.. You’re the wind beneath my wings!

To my girl for life Wumi, you’re many shades of awesome! You understand me, you’ve accepted me (and my moods, lol), you’re there for me in ways I cannot begin to explain, I just love you girl!! Christmas with you was awesome, 2013 is the year!!

To my bestie Miss Mangut, you’re a great lady, a wonderful resource, and someone for whom the sky is but the starting point! Loads of love!

To the Chief Sista and Mr Mobility, thank you for being an ever present source of wisdom, a listening ear, a shoulder to lean on (and soak with tears sometimes). Thank you for always being there, God bless you, and satisfy the desires of your heart speedily! I love you! To Aninoritse, thank you for being my friend; you’re never more than a phone call or ‘you’ve abandoned me’ BBM away. Love you muchos!

To the ‘elders’: I read through your eyes, climbed on your shoulders, walked through doors you opened, turned at your reproof, gained new knowledge, forged new friendships and partnerships through you, got the opportunity to prove myself, thank you! Thank you to my Principal, Dr Sam Amadi, Mr Eyo Ekpo, Jackie Farris, Yemi Adamolekun, Dr Ebirima Ceesay, FML, Mac-Jordan Degadjor, Bankole Oluwafemi, Alkasim Abdulkadir; here’s to a brilliant 2012, let’s do it (and even bigger) next year! I must specially thank Bankole, Alkasim, and Mercy Abang for being such wonderful business partners! And congratulations on your wedding Mercy! She rocks!

To my @i_blend family, for two years (I know, can’t believe we’ve had this group for this long) you’ve been home away from home for me. You (@AndyMadaki, @El_Jefe, @Nubian_Semm, @Lucy, @EddieMadaki, @Attaswitch, @Tess_lati, @Mamfizzle, @MissMimilove, @Oche_E, @Ene_vanhelsing, @Desiree, @Mimi, @Matilda, @Ayeesha, @Dosh, and @Gang) have been sources of joy, a rounded sounding board, activity.com, and best of all, great friends! 2013 is ours! I love you guys!

To everyone who’s read my blog, left a comment, tweeted a link, liked a post, or even followed the blog, thank you!! It is for you I write, God forbid that I take you for granted. To Iyke, Pearl, Chief Sista, Jaz, and Rita for being the top five commenters on the blog this year, thank you so much! 2013 will be bigger, better, more interactive, richer, and I promise there’ll be shorter breaks in between posts!

To Hillsongs Church, I’m grateful I found you, however late in the year. I promise to get more involved soon as I get back!

To Zemanta, WordPress, Nitropdf, and Google, your constant innovations have been a delight; they’ve also made for a richer online experience. Thank you! @Nitropdf, I’m earnestly waiting on the MAC version like you promised!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here’s to an extra-productive 2013!

The Fairy GodSister.

Related articles

• Happy 2012! (brooklyntotheburbs.wordpress.com)
• 2013, Here We Come! (lifeofafemalebiblewarrior.wordpress.com)
• HILLSONGS! Whoop! (fairygodsister.wordpress.com)

THERE’S STILL A PLACE……

I was in church on Children’s Day, House On The Rock (HOTR), The Refuge, in Abuja, and immediately Pastor Obi Ekwueme said the words that are both the title and the concluding lines of this post, they hit me so hard I knew I had to write!

To start with, in the service yesterday, a man gave a testimony about the support he received from the church in his time of need. Apparently his wife had issues with her liver; he’s resident in Lagos while she lived in Abuja. He lost her to the illness (God rest her soul) but he came to thank the church for standing by him through that period, and for catering to all the hospital bills.

Brought tears to my eyes because dearly beloved, that’s what church is about; that’s what it is meant to be! Beyond the Word from the altar, the prayers, the miracles and deliverances, the church is supposed to be a brother/sister/mother/father to people. My dad says, “church members don’t care about the words you preach till they know how much you care”. Remember Jesus feeding the five thousand? Do you think He could not have just preached and let the people go home fed on the euphoria of the miracles He performed? We’ll tackle that in full another time…

Can I say the Tehilah Company (HOTR’s choir) is the best choir ever? And I’ve been in some really fabulous choirs in my life! Whoop whoop!!! I mean, everyone knows that HOTR invested madly in sound infrastructure/equipment but if the choir was crap, all the equipment in the world wouldn’t matter. Every time they minister, I feel truly blessed, as in truly blessed. Say a ‘thank you Jesus’ for the Tehilah Company for me will ya?

I would talk about the cuteness/handsomeness/top of the line presentation/appearance/swag (for lack of a better word) of their pastor but err, that would take up the rest of my word count for this post, and I need to get to the message already!

There’s still a place……….. Pastor Obi Ekwueme said that regardless of how dissatisfied with what we have/are now, we are not what where/what we used to be. So you were not always a university graduate, you were not always a secretary; you’ve not always been married, etc. Ladies and gentlemen, God has been good! You’ve made progress! Now we may not be where we want to be, but we’ve definitely left where we started the race from! Is that true for you? Have you lifted up your hands and said thank you Jesus yet?

Right. How do we get ‘there’? How do we improve on the gifts and skills we’ve got so they can take us ‘there’? By now we should all know that random complaints and murmuring will get us nowhere abi?

What’s the extra we’re doing/giving to be better at school/work/wherever we find ourselves? Are we the ones who watch the clock instead of doing any work, just idling about and waiting for the end of the month? Or worse still, are we in the class of extremely negative people, who blame everything and everyone else for their woes, and yet will pass up on opportunities to set things right? God forbid.

I’ve said it before… Twitter is slowly turning into CNN, the harbinger of evil news! How can there be so much negativity flying around so early in the day?

Take this around with you today!! Smile! Live! And have a super, extra productive day in Jesus name! Amen!

Words for the week. Aspire! Be ambitious! For God’s sake, let the work you put in be commensurate to your ‘dreams’! Why?

There’s a place; there’s still a place called ‘there’.

Related articles

• What does God look like? (cinderellasrags.com)
• Church Personalities (kountrykinges.wordpress.com)