Enrichment: another dimension

“The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” – Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV)

Happy Happy New Year my dear readers!!!

Is it too late to say Happy New Year to you? Whatever your answer is – Happy Happy New Year my dear readers!!! I have sorely missed you. It feels like it’s been quite an age here, and even though that is not exactly true, a whole lot has happened with me since my last post. Topping the chart is my new status as a mum! A round of applause for Jesus please. Don’t worry, I’ll be introducing her in a subsequent post.

‘I was deep within the popular Balogun textile market in Lagos, buying fabric… I was preparing for a wedding I wasn’t sure would hold.’

It’s the 28^th of January already, and that is 8% of the year done, but still, let’s talk about the new year by reliving the past. This time in 2021, I was preparing for a wedding I wasn’t sure would hold. The second (or was it the third) wave of the covid-19 pandemic was rocking the country and from every indication another lockdown was imminent. My wedding was to hold 6 weeks from this time, and a lockdown would surely hinder the ceremonies (legal, traditional, and church weddings). Yet this very day, I was deep within the popular Balogun textile market in Lagos, buying fabric for my fiance and me, my friends, and his friends. Each time the thought crossed my mind, on if we will end up wearing these clothes on the appointed date, I would quote John 14:1, and continue my negotiations. Logically speaking too, It would have made no sense to sit at home, do nothing, and wait for the lockdown, so I was right in shopping away and trusting God to keep the date. If only daddy had not thought it was the perfect time to send me a WhatsApp broadcast message of Osun State commencing a lockdown. I nearly burst into tears in the market that afternoon.

Don’t wonder too deeply why my first post of the year is towing this path, it’s been a season of deep reflection and gratitude for me. I have come a long way in the last 365 days, and if you think about it, you’ll see that you have as well.

January last year I had so many cares and concerns, I was almost always praying – I mean every moment. My mind was bugged with the uncertainties of marriage, relocating to a new city that is some 300miles away from everything and everyone that was familiar, wondering how long it would be before I got a job and if I would love the job, wondering how I’ll cope in a new and extremely unfamiliar church, and would we get pregnant as soon as we desired? So much to think about, and John 14:1 was the simple answer God kept giving.

It’s almost a year after, and I realize that while I pondered about these things, God was working on things beyond them. What I mean is, the miracle wasn’t in getting a job or getting pregnant, it was in excelling on a demanding job despite being pregnant. It wasn’t about blending with the new church but becoming a more accommodating Christian at heart, and learning the humility I needed in order to attract the blessings in the new fold. Also, it wasn’t about coping with being away from family and friends, but becoming a woman equipped with strength and endurance, enough to relate with God alone as a confidant and friend every time I desperately needed one other than my husband. Is this too much for you to grasp? You may want to read this paragraph again slowly.

The year 2021 was indeed one of growing; learning, unlearning, and relearning – and I am so not done. “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and He adds no sorrow with it” ‘…makes one rich…’ can refer to character & competence building, not only material, financial and bodily enrichment as we usually think. Marriage is a blessing that has shaped and continues to shape me, the new job laid a demand for personal development and high standards of work ethics, my pregnancy journey taught me resilience and patience, now I’ve got a baby, and in just two weeks with a child that’s not even ‘grown’ yet I can see that parenting is not for the faint hearted.

As you receive the blessings God had prepared for you in the year 2022, open up your heart to also accommodate the shaping and growing, the higher demands and responsibilities that come with them. You cannot have one and not the other. For those that will be wed this year – marriage will require a version of you that you have not fully become yet. Those who would get new jobs, start businesses, become parents, relocate outside of Nigeria, start a second degree, it’s not going to be all roses and fairytale-like. Have the attitude that accommodates the blessing of God, by allowing them to make you rich. God doesn’t add sorrows to His blessing, only enrichment. Refusing to be enriched however could be you bringing yourself sorrows in form of depression, frustration, exhaustion, strife, and even loss.

I’ll believe with you, and you with me, that this year we will be indeed blessed and made rich. Cheers!