Dear Self,

It’s being an awesome journey coming, I mean can you even begin to imagine.

If I had told you that the things you worried about in the past will eventually be a thing forgotten, would you have believed me?

Can you remember when you worried about getting a jelly shoe in primary school, almost all your classmates had one and you wanted one also. You didn’t eventually get one but that season passed and then you moved on to worrying about other things, like getting into the university, making sure you passed that course or found that paper, hoping that boy would notice you or just having money in your account that we see you through the day but all that has changed now because with each level of growth comes its own set of worries.

All I’m trying to tell you is that you should give yourself time, we both know that you worry too much even about things that are yet to surface and at this new stage of your life you will be having new things on your radar, things seeking your attention but you must remember to breathe.

Oluwayimika, you’re a dreamer and that in itself is not a bad thing but learn to smell the roses. I can’t tell you enough how many times you will get disappointed, get your heart broken, fall in love, get that raise, excel at something, be promoted, do something new, go on an adventure or do so many other amazing things because you yourself have had a share of these things and more but one thing I will tell you is this, give yourself time even as you go through all these different phases.

The expectations you will set for yourself as you go higher will not become lesser but rather go higher so also will be the expectations that others will place on you but you must remember that only your decisions and that of God count.

On this wonderful day of ours, I would like you to remember that you’re the Father’s daughter and that he has loved you with an everlasting love, a kind that does not finishes, that you’re made and soaked with love… So even as you enter into a place and season of abundance, I want you to remember this.

Happy Birthday Darling💓

I was the eldest and I knew that someday I would have more responsibilities handed over to me. Although my father didn’t say so, it was a position I assumed at a very young age, I wanted him to know that he could depend on me and that I will be ready whenever he felt it was time to assume a position in the family business.

My younger sister Yomi wasn’t like me, she was the life of the party, whenever she stepped into a place the atmosphere changes and immediately lights up. While I sought to please the father and do his bidding, Yomi did hers and accommodated him whenever she found the time to do so.

Growing up was fun. Yomi and I would run up the flight of stairs laughing boisterously and talking, and in the evening, we go fellowshipping with the father. Our house was a place of affluence, we had servants at our beck and call, money was never an issue and we wanted for nothing.

Occasionally, I would try to do things the servants have been designated to do for us and each time the Father catches me doing them, he will say there are other things that he will rather have me do than the things I bother myself with, which have been designated to the servants because they are there to minister to my needs but I never really listened, I will always try to juggle the things that He expected of me with other things.

Yomi was nothing like me. She knew her rights as the Father’s daughter and knew how to utilize it. The servants were always ready to minister to her needs, as she would often tell me whenever I’m trying to go over and beyond, “Wura, the Father says the servants have been placed as ministering spirits to minister to our needs” let them do what they have been placed to do.

As long as the Father provided (of which, we never ran out of provision), Yomi was going to make full use of the provision as long as it was available, however, she pleases, but that didn’t continue like that because Yomi decided she wanted to try her hands on other things…

I was 21 and had just graduated Top of my class from Harvard Business School and was just settling back into the country when everything began to spiral down quickly. Yomi walked into the living room while the Father tried to fill me in on what’s been going on in the family business when she outrightly asked for her own share of the inheritance.

I was mortified, how could you ask for your inheritance from a man who is still alive? I asked her as I followed her into the room, every form of advice I had to give fell on deaf ears neither was she ready to reason with me, her mind was made up and that was final, and since I knew daddy was definitely going to be giving her, her share of the inheritance.

It’s been 8 years since we heard from Yomi after she requested for her share of the family inheritance, got it and left the house but I followed her on the gram and got a glimpse into all her adventures and escapades, and then gradually there was a decline in her post until there was none and then all her social media account were deleted like she no longer existed. Somedays, I hoped she was not just spending all her inheritance on adventures but truly hoped she had the common sense to save and invest in something worthwhile.

However, while Yomi lived her life, I climbed to the pinnacle of success in the family’s business, working tirelessly to eventually becoming the second-in-command in the chain of business. My work rate had earned me the workaholic title from my parents. Sometimes, I wonder why I never took days off work or even embark on vacations, I have been busy with the family business that my communication with the father began to drop, we never saw each other as often as we use to even though we lived in the same house.

One evening on my way back from work, I noticed that there was a huge fanfare going on at home, the house was boisterous, the music was loud, the servants were up and about like they were preparing a feast worthy of a king. I got down from my car and beckoned to one of the servants to inquire what was going on and his response was “The one who was long gone is back”, still it didn’t make much sense to me till I stepped into the house where I met my younger sister looking haggard and tired in the arms of the Father narrating her ordeal as everyone gathered to listen with interest. 

The scene playing before me felt like what you see when kids gather to watch “Tales by Moonlight”.

Her ordeals were of course gory but it didn’t start out being gory, she first had the time of her life, travelling to different countries and partying with both strangers and acquaintances before she was duped at several points while trying to invest in businesses she didn’t bother to make findings about which all turned out to be Ponzi, and then her money ran out with no other way to survive, she started pushing dustbin and even at that she could  barely survive until the day she had an epiphany that even the servants in her Father’s house do not pick from hills of dung before they can survive and then she remembered the father’s constant words to both of us ‘’No good thing will I withhold from you”.

I watched with disdain as she poured out her story, it was not that I hated my sister because I didn’t but I have been with this man every single day, serving, proving myself time and again and yet he had the guts to throw a party for someone who demanded for her inheritance and squandered it, what significant thing has she done that deserves her having the father’s attention like that, I was filled with rage.

But here she was, pouring out her story and asking for forgiveness because she knew that no matter what she might have done, he would forgive her and welcome her home.

I knew I had finally had enough of whatever she was selling, so I slammed the door to announce my presence making everyone to react to the sound and then I ran up the flight of stairs to my room.

The Father: -

With tears in my eyes, while still holding on to the daughter who had just returned, I watched Wura run up the flight of stairs in tears. All I ever wanted was for her to know that I have loved her with an everlasting love that cannot be shaken but for some reasons, she kept thinking that her works will make me love her more, that her continuous work will always keep her in my good graces.

I mean, how do you explain to a child that it doesn’t matter what they could have done or didn’t do you would always love them forever.

I believe that was the difference between Yomi and Wura, Yomi knows that if there’s anything constant about the Father that it will be the Father’s love and that no matter how much she might falter the Father will always show up for her but will now have to learn discipline and balance, while for some reasons, Wura had held on to the notion that she needed to work for everything to be deserving of the Father’s love and attention so as to always be in his good graces.

The Father’s Love: -

I knocked slightly on her door but I could hear her sobbing heavily, I walked in, sat on her bed, gathered her in my arms and allowed her to sob completely in my bosom. After sometime she pulled herself up and a rush of questions came tumbling amidst fresh tears,

Father, why do you love me less?

Why is it that everything I have done was never enough?

I have been here with you, working tirelessly and producing results, how come you never throw me a party?

Am I such a bad daughter not worth celebrating?

Listening to her as the questions flowed out of her mouth broke my heart into a million pieces… I stretched out my hand to her calling her name so she could focus on me and then told her

“I love you Wuraola, I loved you before I met you, before you were formed or had any thought process I loved you, I love you not because of the work you do at the family business and even if you choose to be lazy in your duties despite knowing that I frown at laziness,  I won't love you less. I have loved you and will continually love with an eternal love”.

I would like if this becomes your motto now going forward, having the surety that I will always love you and I see all the work you do, all the effort you put into it and all the amazing results it has yielded and I couldn’t be more proud of you.

  

However, I think that’s its also right to celebrate your sister who was once lost but has now been found, someone whose disappearance felt like she dropped from the surface of the earth but now home hale and hearty.

Don’t you think that alone calls for a celebration, Wura? I think so too.

I believe it’s going to be a good celebration tonight because I did not just gain my lost daughter back, I was also able to tell my other daughter how much I love her and how much she means to me.

***

Image credit:- Google

Hey Guys! A couple of weeks back I was pondering on ways to continually create content for my blog alongside the stories and articles I have written in the past and I think I finally came up with something. This is a quarterly article called ‘’Life Lately”, and it is about everything I have been up to in the past 3 months.

Don’t worry there will still be more creative stories and articles.

So here we go…

Whoever said writers should always have a pen and paper or something to scribble on at all times because you never know when the idea will come wasn’t joking, I mean, if only you guys could see my journal and how I have scribbled various things here and there 😀😀 all in a bit not to forget an idea or something that clicked.

However, since there are a bunch of things I will like to cover in this post I will like to quickly list them out in the order that they will be appearing before we dive into them: -

Relationship

I remember seeing a post on Instagram this year where someone said “For those of us who thought Love would happen this year well you can try again next year” and I remember smiling most importantly because I was on this table that they were shaking. If I had a dollar for every time marriage or relationship has come up this year then I should definitely be smiling to the bank.

I can’t count the number of times friends and family have asked me “So who is the lucky boy? Or when are we coming to eat your rice?’’ I have even had friends who semi fought with me because Yinka was not dating anyone and made it seem like I was the problem…

Well, Dear Friends, Family and Extended Family 😊😉, Let God use you like he used the person that introduced Meghan Markle and Prince Harry or use you like the person who introduced Nicholas Young and Racheal Chu together (You will have to read “Crazy Rich Asians not the movie o but the book to understand what I mean) for me but till when that happen can we just trust the process and support my other causes like my career, spiritual growth and my blog.

The thing is this thing called “Relationship” almost happened this year on different occasions but they were with the wrong set of people, I should tell you about each and every one of them but I wouldn’t want to go into their gory details but I have learnt a very long time ago to walk away from things not meant for me even if they are clothed in packages that indirectly have my name on it.

With that being said, I have developed friendships with people who have taught me in many ways than one that what I want is attainable. Their lives, relationships and even how they have been able to grow their career has opened my eyes to the many possibilities that abound which has continuously taught me to surround myself with good stories.

Work

I knew it was time to do something that will strategically move me forward in my career and so when I saw the opportunity I resigned from my job and applied to be a certified digital marketer that in a training that was organized by Digify Africa and supported by Facebook. This training came with the opportunity to be placed in digital and creative agencies after the two-month training for internships.

This was definitely one of the scariest decisions I made this year as it gave me a lot of anxiety and panic attacks, leaving the certainty of a paid job to the uncertainty of a training where I was not going to be paid, leaving the future with gaps to be filled. I remember having a senior friend ask me if this was something I wanted to pursue.

The training was rigorous, intensive and enlightening and was definitely worth it. It opened me up to various opportunities and also exposed to areas that I would like to pursue career-wise. My new place of work is a complete breath of fresh air and I’m loving every aspect of it.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the training propelled me into what I would like to be doing for the rest of my life which is producing content.

Faith

My relationship with God this year has been on a continuous increase. I consider myself a member of the Pastor Joseph Prince and Steven Furtick church, these men of God have increasingly added to my growth and relationship with God as I have consumed their messages on a weekly basis and also with the help of my local church I have been able to flourish on all side.

The conversation I get to have with the Holy Spirit, the way I yield to him even in difficult times, learning to trust him in situations that look hopeless and how he has constantly filled my mouth with praises and worship on days I couldn’t find the words has been beyond amazing. The constant knowing that He is ever so present, increasing my capacity and meeting all my needs in ways un-imaginable can only be the work of the Good, Good Father.

An even as I press forward in this journey called life, the goal is that Christ will be seen and expressed in all I do. #WeMove 💪💪

Fitness

The goal is to have a flat tummy, firm arms, buttocks and thighs and be able to maintain a body size and shape that fits my frame but a lot of things won’t make me be fit in peace 😁😂, like I recently told my mum when I wanted to eat a snack one late night, “It’s stomach I have, I didn’t kill somebody this flat tummy journey will resume the next day” 😊😀 and then she just started laughing that I was not serious.

I have plans anyway to get a tummy blast from LIN seeing that I have not received the grace yet to go on morning or night run but I’m walking long distances so that should at least count for something.😉😉

What I have Learnt Recently

Lastly, one of the biggest truths I have just recently learned is having an attitude of thanksgiving. I noticed that thanking God for my needs and expectations even when he is yet to do them caused me to stop worrying. This has been a continuous effort on my part as I have learnt to catch myself in between worrying about a problem and asking God when he will do it which has led me to spiral into being feeling depressed and just thank him for doing it.

This attitude of thanksgiving as caused me to worry less leaving me happier and free.

A few Android pictures from the last couple of months

Phew, that was a lot! If you have made it this far, then at this point you might as well give me a few life updates too!

Let me know in a comment below.😉😉