Digging deep into my faith

Growing up, attending Sunday school and bible study groups in the neighbourhood, I was sure that God cared about us, little children, and we would have these fun bible studies and play games. We also watched Christian videos with children singing at the Colby clubhouse, Kids praise and others. These made Chrsitianity so much fun. We learnt and recited bible verses and even had a dance group.

In secondary school, God was righteous and was to be revered and worshipped. But he was also cool, we had what I could call praise parties, then intense worship. Sometimes some of my school mates went overboard with the righteousness thing but I preferred the cool part so I stuck with it.

As I got older, God was portrayed as holy, in whose presence there was meant to be no sin. God would not shy away from judging whoever was found wanting. For me that judgment was done through his agents in church as examplified by people who worked in church. It was also the time when I saw that one or two girls who were slightly older had gotten pregnant. There was so much talking amongst mothers that it felt like the girls had committed the most unpardonable sin. God was somehow mirrored in that way to me at that stage of my life.

Visiting Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire

I visited the biggest Basilica in the world! Basilica of our Lady of Peace (Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix), Yamoussoukro. It is modelled based on the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican but is the tallest and biggest in surface area in the world.

It took three years to build, between 1986 and 1989 and was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
36 companies were involved in building it, while the architecture and design was done by a Lebanese architect called Pierre Fakhoury.

The structure might not look so impressive from outside...

Road to recovery

I found this church in the middle of a village, in the bush. A number of churches are run by Polish priests and nuns. I was talking to a priest who told me about some of his projects; one was construction of bridges to connect communities that had been cut off. He also talked of some mediation he was involved in for peace in communities. This conversation left me deep in thought afterwards.

Youth Leadership Camp, FWC Abuja - Become a Better You

I spent the week of August 12th to 19th August 2017 somewhere in Abuja with over six hundred young adults, from ages 13 to 23. This camp was organised by the church I attend - Family Worship Centre (FWC) Abuja.

They thronged in as the gates opened!

Registration

I went to church

Whenever I move to a new place, at some point I tend to look for a place of worship. These days that should not be so hard as there are churches at almost every corner. Well, it takes me time to settle in a church as I do not necessarily agree with every practice. I have to feel comfortable to some extent with what happens there and the church should be able to respond to my need for a church. Otherwise, no thanks.

 

I think I have spotted about five churches around the area I live, I spotted a Baptist church and decided to go there because from my knowledge of Baptist churches, they are somewhat conservative, which is my preference. A mix of everything is not bad but shouting gets to me. 

Exploring manipulation 3

If you missed the last two parts, read part one here and two here

There were so many factors that stood against the relationship from the start; my dad had always said none of us would marry a non Igala person, he was a professor and wanted me to follow in his footsteps, he was from a place my people were already prejudiced about, I was in my final year while he was just starting university over again, even though he was 5 years older than me, and finally, I was a church girl and he was a bad boy. There were enough reasons to conclude that it wouldn’t work, the odds were against us. But something kept me close to him...I kept telling every one of my friends who asked me why I stayed that he has a beautiful heart. It didn’t make sense but that was it. I made things difficult for him. Somehow I had convinced myself that nothing good lasts forever so this great thing I had going wouldn't last, so I lived in hopeless fear that it would end. I kept breaking up with him, so I could save myself the trouble but he kept chasing me.

Exploring Manipulation 2

If you missed the last part, please read it here.

Fast forward to 2004, I had just returned from my industrial attachment in Abuja where I met the craziest girl I've ever known. Sandy was a wild bird, she was a dancer who wore small shirts and tight trousers that encased her skinny legs. She had the brightest smile and said the most obscene things. I wanted to be like her! This girl was one year older than I was and was openly doing the sort of dancing I only dreamed of. But I think I loved her more because she spoke her mind unapologetically. She reminded me of who I used to be when I was younger. Over the years, because of the beating and the sexual abuse, I had turned into a quiet mousy kind of girl, a recluse to put it better. My clothes were baggy because I was hoping that would ward off male attention. I was quiet except with people I was comfortable with, then I danced only in secret because I was too shy to dance in front of people. Well, Sandy was like a role model. She was a National Youth Service Corps member and I was an IT (Industrial training) student, but we became instant pals. Her birthday was on February 13th and that year, she was leaving for the U.K. on the 15th to seek better things, so I decided to do something I had never done before.