I Bi Dem: Woman, Wife, Mother

For about 3 years I drove at least 35 minutes to and from work every working day. I was often alone and so had time to reflect on and learn a lot of things.   My husband complains that I speed, but believe me, it is just a perception. I don't think I speed at all. You just need to see all the cars that overtake me. And that is where the lesson I learnt comes in. Sometimes, I think I am below the speed limit because cars speed past me. I stay in the slow lane and try to increase my speed only to discover that I am already above the speed limit. Some days it's the opposite; I feel I am speeding only to realize I am not. I only know my true speed when I look at the speedometer; the movements of the cars around me do not offer a fair or truthful assessment of my speed. I felt the Lord telling me that that is the way I live - using unreliable measures to gauge my life and failing to reach His standards or going above to do things He has not called me to do.   We measure h...

Hope is being on bended knees Even when it appears That the heavens are shut over you When it appears to grow worse Than better Hope is remaining there And seeing beyond the now The veil; knowing that the covering The quietness is but a preparation for an ensemble Building up from a note to a full orchestra. Hope is staying there Not leaving but staying there No matter what Hope is staying with God Keeping your gaze on Him. Reaching out without seeing But confident that you won't fall. What is hope to you? Please share with me. I BI Dem

Waiting time was one of the topics in my communication class many years ago. I wondered then what the relevance was but I soon got to learn that waiting was extremely important and that failure at this stage could mar the end result of whatever was being waited for. So what is waiting time? It is the period between initiating an action or request and getting that action resolved or the request granted. Between the two ends of the continuum, a lot can happen. When you order for a meal in a restaurant, you often go sit down and wait, doing nothing but fiddling with our phones or engaging in small talks – nothing important. This is because we consider waiting a passive activity. We sit and do nothing – nothing. But the waiting time is not supposed to be a passive, unproductive time; it should not be wasted time. Waiting time is anticipatory time. It is time to anticipate; a time to plan for what is coming. We can’t afford to sit and doddle because we are waiting for someth...

One of the things that amazes me about Abraham is his willingness to go without having any idea where he was going. If you are like me, you would like to have an end destination in mind before embarking on a journey. Not so for Abraham; he goes without knowing and this becomes a pattern for him. Even when ordered to go sacrifice his son, he went without knowing which mountain he was going to. Like I said, I find it amazing and I really respect him for it.   When one engages with Abraham’s story, it becomes clear that he was able to behave in this manner because he trusted the one giving the instructions. He had complete confidence in the God directing him, so he followed not knowing the next step but believing he would not be led into a ditch. The word ‘trust’ seemed very abstract to me until I figured it out in my mother tongue – Yoruba. One of the beauties of the Yoruba language is that it is highly descriptive. You can deduce the meaning of a word by exploring the differ...

I asked my six-year-old niece about what Christmas means and she quickly informed me that it is all about presents. Of course, I agreed with her because it is true.  Christmas is all about giving and receiving presents. And don't we all delight to receive one or two? Christmas is all about God giving us the best gift of all - Himself in our form to reconcile us back to Himself. I explained to her that Christmas is also a lovely time for us to give God presents - our hearts and lives. As we celebrate, let's ask ourselves if we have prepared our hearts as presents for the Lord who we should be celebrating this season. Or are we so concerned about all the other things that we can't or don't even have a heart to present to Him? He will not take a heart filled with sin, bitterness, and unforgiveness but he is willing and able to help us prepare our hearts for Him by giving us grace to love, forgive and live for Him. In the end, we would have given ourselves presents...

The word of God is forever new and we learn new truths each time we read it. Let me share an old story that has a new meaning for me.  It is from the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. You will find the story in Genesis 15 - 21. There are so many lessons to learn from these three people but let me concentrate on just one today. I guess you remember how Sarah decided to give her supper to the cat by giving her Egyptian maid to Abraham to have a child on her behalf. And of course you will also remember the drama that ensued from that decision. Well, human meddling does not change the plans of God.  He still insisted on the initial plan of a legitimate son being the one He would use for His plan for mankind. Even when Abraham begged on behalf of Hagar's son, God did not budge. It occurred to me that the focus was not on the father, Abraham alone, but also on Sarah as the mother. God wanted use Sarah's son through Abraham. The mother matters.! Note that Abraha...

The rain started gently, slowly and it was welcomed as the humidity was high and we looked forward to the rain for some respite from the heat. I was on the phone and did not give the rain much of a thought but I decided to unplug the television based on past experience of lightening damaging electrical appliances.   However, within a few minutes, the dynamics changed with lightening followed swiftly by thunder. Suddenly the room brightened up from the lightening; there was a massive thunder and everything went black and silent. The extent of the damage was only discovered the next day. Garage doors, alarm system, TV, lights and internet were all blown away by the thunder. Needless to complain about the cost in cash and kind to effect repairs.   The experience taught me to appreciate what I have and take nothing for granted. Of all the systems grounded by the thunderstorm, I would say the internet affected me the most. We use the Wi-Fi for the TV, the phones and of course...