“Before you clock 30 years, I would have given you what every successful and responsible young man would desire to have.”
God told me something along those lines many years ago. And I kept those words hidden in my heart. I never shared them with anyone for many years, except my wife whom I met years after. Frankly, I never fully comprehended what God even meant then. I just started my relationship with Him, and as a guy who had suffered terribly, I didn’t fully grasp what He meant. But I will never forget those words.
Fast forward to when I clocked 30 years two years ago, God reminded me of the promises He gave me years ago, and I was really in awe.
Long before I clocked 30, precisely when I was 25 years old, God married a beautiful wife for me. That was the beginning of my beautiful journey.
Everyone thought I was making the gravest mistake of my life. Well, I understand them. My life has always been an open book. People knew how poor and broke I was. So how can a poor and broke boy be getting married? At 25 years at that?
“I definitely would be making the gravest mistake of my life,” so, they thought.
But what many never knew was that we were obeying God. That was the greatest trial of my faith! Those in the world would call it a gamble. But I called it faith. A decade before I got to that point, God had taken me through a tough school.
I had fallen and risen. Life had forged me. So, even when I thought I wasn’t ready; so long as God deemed me ready, I completely surrendered to Him and followed His will for my life.
All I asked Him when I knelt down at the tabernacle praying until my knees began to hurt was that He provided me with everything needed to be a great husband and father to my children.
I suffered terribly growing up, and I never wanted my children to go through what I passed through.
I heard Him clearly that day as He told me my prayers were answered. And even though there was no physical representation of His promise, I still followed Him.
I got married to Shindara Olatunji, and from the first day, it’s been miracle upon miracle.
I have grown from someone who was living with his mom even when he got married to someone who lives in a tastefully built and newly furnished duplex in a peaceful estate.
This is only what God can do. I’m not sharing this here to show off, although some might term it like that. But this is a testimony I have promised to share with the world, just like I have always.
To some, this might be the biggest of it all. They might say, what else can God do for us after this? But I know this is yet the beginning. Just like He did something similar years ago and He now surprised us with something way bigger, I know this is just the very beginning for us.
Some few months ago, God moved us to this newly built and bigger apartment (Pictures attached).
And even though we were coming in from one duplex, this new house made us look like we never had any property. So, God didn’t just do this for us, He also furnished this building for us completely.
One day, I looked around and told God (I actually wrote a letter to Him), I don’t want people to come visit us and wonder why we are living in such a big beautiful but empty house. I told Him that before December 2023, He should furnish everything for us.
I wrote a list that ran into several millions of naira; but I didn’t think of the money. I didn’t even care about the money. I just told God I needed Him to furnish everything.
I wouldn’t live in a new building and new settings with some old stuff. And guess what, God exceeded our expectations.
God did beyond our imagination.
Every time people thought we would be put to shame or embarrassed, God has always turned it around with a huge testimony.
I have fought battles. I have been attacked severely. My wife has had serious health complications.
There were several days of pains even while helping people daily. I was even hurt and betrayed by some person closest to me.
I lost money that I had never lost before. When it happened, it seemed like the worst nightmare. How I survived and never told a soul, except my wife, I can’t explain. I can’t explain how I found the strength to cope. Honestly, if God wasn’t involved in my life, I wouldn’t be here.
Many think they know me just because I am a writer & publisher, but I tell you, if you haven’t walked in my shoes, you won’t know half of my story.
I am a product of God’s grace and unmerited favor. Now, I know why my parents were told to name me Emmanuel – because, indeed, God is with me.
I have a thousand words to share, but by God’s grace, by and by, I will share this story.
I wrote this epistle today, first, to give all glory to Jesus, for being the Savior of my soul and my greatest blessing. Then I also wrote this to inspire everyone out there; JESUS CAN MAKE YOUR LIFE BEAUTIFUL. I wish that life is like a video that everyone could watch; then the entire world would know that Jesus is real through my life story. Jesus is beyond real. Jesus saves. He blesses. He makes everything beautiful.
I’m a testimony of Jesus. I will forever serve this Jesus. In fact, I haven’t been the one serving Him; He has just been the One blessing me. This is why I always say, don’t ever watch out for me, but watch out for what God will do through this small me.
I’m Emmanuel, the exceptional being. Saved by the grace and mercy of God alone!
