You will KNOW by the PRESENCE of MY PEACE…

Hey Darlings.

Chimamanda NGOZI ADICHIE, if you follow my blog you would know, is one of my fave humans on earth, and that because of how absolutely INTELLIGENT she is. Plus we share the same middle name hehe

I mean, that Chica has a brain on fire and sets us all on fire with her usage of it. One of my fave past times is hanging out on YouTube checking out her speeches

(I especially LOVE her Commencement speeches cos she is NEVER SERIOUS lol), interviews and stuff. I  LOVE the way she laughs coyly and then looks away shyly to the side and down. Hey, I don’t agree with EVERYTHING she says but we cannot take away that Chick’s intelligence and talent/gift. One of my BEST friends recently participated in a fellowship with her and Wole Soyinka this Summer and all I wanted was a picture cos I was SO DARN JEALOUS haha. Unfortunately, only group pix they had cos they were all forming serious and had no selfie time. Dunno if I could have spent one month without a selfie with both sha, but this is not why we are here…

For some reason, I hadn’t bothered reading her latest book DEAR IJEAWELE…

Until recently while on my maternity leave (Yup will be back to do a proper Birth Announcement BA and Birth Story BS), and as usual, I was mesmerized by her thought process, choice of words, beautiful flow, starting and ending, and all round intelligence. That piece had some major ANTI-Christ ideas in it (AC meaning that it goes contrary to Christ not necessarily 666 lol) BUT there was a LINE there that LITERALLY didn’t leave me alone. I would have to put it in context so I would quote the entire thought and highlight the line that stayed with me long after I finished reading…

Share childcare equally. ‘Equally’ of course depends on you both. It does not have to mean a literal fifty-fifty or a day-by-day score-keeping but you’ll know when the child-care work is equally shared. You’ll know by your lack of resentment. Because when there is true equality, resentment does not exist.

The entire thought behind it all resonated with me because I understand being a frustrated and then RESENTFUL wife, and I knew when I lost it was when I began to truly build my home in a way that reflected our season and lives, as opposed to how A or B was building theirs. I share my thoughts in this Post YOUR MARRIAGE, YOUR RULES because this blog post is NOT about marriage and its nuances.

Ok so the line, (and MS Word has just taken me to the next page yet I have not even gotten to the koko of my post today. E’ , you talk too much lol)

You’ll know by your lack of resentment.

I kept on meditating on it but not in a marital sense. I just felt God wanted to show me something else and then in a moment, it hit me as I heard

YOU WILL KNOW BY THE PRESENCE OF MY PEACE…

You see, one of the things I knew giving birth to my second son was that a new Eziaha was also going to be birthed. I had had literal groanings in my Spirit and so I would just be like…

God, show me clearly what You need me to do as I step into this new season.

YOU WILL KNOW BY THE PRESENCE OF MY PEACE…

Oh gosh there were DECISIONS DECISIONS DECISIONS I had to make. My life was spinning and spinning fast, I recall sharing one of the MAJOR absolutely POSITIVE changes that this baby had brought to my home with Pastor M and how I knew I would need WISDOM to navigate it, and she said AMONGST OTHER THINGS,

You will PRAY A LOT!!!

Oh gosh. I don’t even know how to explain how that hit me but I literally beg God everyday to help me!!!

Help me decide right.

Help me stay strong and persistent…

Help me fight well…

Help me keep my JOY INTACT and HOPES UP no matter what

Help me adapt where I need to

Grace me Lord…

Oh my gosh, my head has been buzzing.

Then the Word again, especially at various show-times…

YOU WILL KNOW BY THE PRESENCE OF MY PEACE…

Oh my gosh!!! Oh my gosh!!! If He was endorsing a situation, I would know by the PRESENCE or ABSENCE of His Peace.

I started to search my spirit for that one thing

PEACE!!!

****SIDE NOTE… So this is the FIRST time my laptop is coming on since I had this baby. Was gonna chill till MONDAY but this was just strong in my heart to write. As I typed, my baby woke so now I am typing and breastfeeding (Thank you Lisa BEVERE) cos I wanna turn off this laptop again asap lol, until the mountain of work descends by Monday. Help me Jesus… ****

Ok back to my gist…

How did/does this feel in my Spirit? Did this decision bring PEACE or was I worried still?

One of my friends was in my neighborhood this week and rang if she could swing by. I obliged. So I asked her for an update about something we had prayed about, and she gave me an answer that WE HAD NOT PRAYED ABOUT lol. But as she spoke, I felt one thing emanating from that decision

PEACE!!!

I could tell that she had made the right choice after hearing from God and even though it wasn’t the ‘more popular’ one, the PRESENCE OF HIS PEACE made it PERFECT!!!

Immediately she left, the Holy Spirit began to school me on PEACE again.

Wow!!!

I was also reminded of the time one of my mentees needed to make a certain decision. In fact, we had prayed for it, pulled some strings and it seemed like the door had opened and by God, I was SO EXCITED. Oya, enter the door na, the Chick starts to sing a different song.

Uhm!!! She didn’t THINK God wanted her to enter that open door. As I read her message, I was thinking…

BABE, This is a NO-BRAINER!!! You better walk da heck in lol,

but before I could tell her anything, the Holy Spirit hushed me.

I’m doing something in this girl. DO NOT INTERRUPT!!!

I’m like Phew… Ok God

So I backed off. I read her messages again and even though I heard her fears, I saw her give them all to the Lord, I also saw her obedience, and most importantly, I saw that she had PEACE.

Oh my gosh, I became SOOOOO EXCITED for her. And of course, SOOOOO PROUD!!!

A path may seem unfamiliar, challenging, stretching and more but I am learning to check for the PRESENCE or ABSENCE of His peace.

But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is Love, Joy, PEACE… Gal 5 v 22

And His peace is NOT an emotional thing. It is a fruit of the spirit and that means that I have to constantly be growing and maturing in my walk with Him so that I can recognize His peace…

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid… John 14v27 NIV

Is it not beautiful, and quite telling too, that He left us HIS PEACE as a gift when He ascended. The PEACE that should guide ALL we do…

I also LOVE this Scripture that talks about His PEACE as an UMPIRE…

Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]… Col 3 v 15a AMP

I love How it says it is available for those who walk DAILY with Him…

One more story.

Recently Heather shut down her TV program and did a vlog about why…

Oh dear, I knew it must not have been the easiest of decisions. I mean that show was LIFE!!!

As I watched the YouTube video, TWICE, I kept on feeling the same thing emanating from the screen

PEACE…

It may not have been easy but it brought her PEACE!!!

Then as I watched it yet again, TWO decisions I needed to make but had been foggy in my spirit came to light immediately and I KNEW what to do.

OBEDIENCE is BEST when done RIGHT AWAY so I got to it immediately, then rang my accountability partner to update her…

Mehn, the PEACE that followed was EVERYTHING!!! PEACE and JOY ooo. I almost started skipping lol.

I just loooooooooove how God fathers us.

He is soooooooooo soooooooooo good.

I pray that as you read this Post, we all are challenged to GO FOR HIS PEACE. To make decisions that do not graify our flesh OR INSECURITIES, but rather are a product of our daily walk with Him, and then we enjoy the attendant peace (and joy and blessings that follow), in Jesus name, AMEN!!!

Ok so we should be back to regular programming on my blog and in my life this new week and there is JUST so much I wanna share with yawl… And hopefully, I get around to typing my BA and BS this week too. Like, I am so thankful for how amazing this birth was, and the best part is that my absolutely AMAZING Consultant ObGyn did me the absolute pleasure of having it recorded, just that He made them stop once the baby was out and he screamed IT IS A BOY… Lol.

Totally look forward to that and hey, subscribe to my blog already if you haven’t already.

Muah

E’

 

PS

Lisa didn’t tell me typing over a breastfeeding baby slows you down by 50percent lol. Luckily momsie took him off me at some point, bless her. Now make i go baff haha. Time check, 5pm. Don’t judge. All i do daily is lay in bed, journal, watch YouTube videos (esp John Gray and SJR lol) and sleep and eat. How dirty can i get?