THE LAST DAY OF 2014 AND THE REASONS TO THANK GOD “As I walked through the door towards the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness, sadness and failures behind me, I’d still be a prisoner.” These were the words of my x-room mate and good friend (Musa Abel Baranzan), or maybe I should say I saw it on his Facebook wall, today, and I decided to adapt it for the purpose of this piece. Whether the above quotation is his or not is really not as important as the fact contained therein. A lot has happened since the beginning of 2014. Some were pleasant, others were just there. I mean, you couldn’t really find a place to fit them in, also, there were sad moments-lots of them. However, above everything, my sincere thanks and appreciation goes to God Almighty because He has been faithful to me and my family from January till today, the last day of December, year 2014. The Lord God has seen me through thick and thin even if, of the truth, I have not been faithful to Him, in anyway. If anything, there was never a year when I drifted away from God’s teaching and felt like I did not deserve His grace and unending love like this year. Perhaps, now I understand what the Lord was trying to make us, mankind, understand in the book of Isaiah 55: 8 -9 when declared “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (New International Version). Of the truth, God is supreme over all being. His grace and love is unending over us. There’s a very terrible way you can recount God’s blessing over your life. Instead of thanking Him for granting you the grace to see the end of yet another year, if you want to miss the point, start by comparing yourself with your mates with whom you started the journey of 2014 with. Start by complaining of how terrible your business has been or how badly your grades have dropped or how your efforts to settle down with a man or a woman of your dreams have been futile. I hope you don’t go down that lane. But if you do, that is you been most ungrateful to God. Did you ever for a second think of how many people lost their lives this year? Where you among those who died in a ghastly motor accident or those who were chased out of their ancestral homes and have no place to live in due to insurgency? Certainly not; if you were among them, you’ll probably not be alive to read this piece. It couldn’t have been you who kept yourself alive throughout 365days of this year. God did it for you. And because He did it for you, he deserves exaltation, appreciation and thanks. Not complaints, certainly not at this time. While I admit that there have been challenges, here and there, (even I myself was not an exemption to this fact) and I share in the pains and disappointments of some you who may be feeling that you’ve not met your targets or expectations, and some who feel that your prayers, for whatever reasons, were not answered this year. I want to encourage you by telling you that you are a conqueror. The plan of the devil is to frustrate you into submission. you know what, you should be proud of yourself for not submitting. God will never allow the enemy to embarrass you. The very fact that He has kept you alive is testament to that fact. That He has good plans for you. All you need do is to trust Him come 2015. Like my good friend: #facebook/Josephine.addo1, wrote on her Facebook profile: “faith is a force in the fulfilment of destiny.” Without total faith in the plan of God for your life, all your plans, work and resolution for 2015 will be made to fail, by the devil, who is actually the enemy behind whatever challenges you may have been passing through-not God. Is it employment you are looking for? God will grant you a good-high paying job in 2015? Is it admission you are seeking for, admission is yours in Jesus’ name. Is it a marriage partner that you have been praying for, God will lead you to the right partner for you. Is your business that has not been prospering? God will bless your business beyond your imagination. Is it your studies and your grades that are suffering? Don’t worry. Whatever your challenges are, God is able to take care of them only and if you put your entire trust in him and you are willing to follow Him, believing that He won’t lead you astray One important fact you must know, however, is this: it does not matter what you may have set out to achieve in 2015 or what you want for the coming year. What is very important is for you to recognise that what you currently have is what is yours and until God gives you that which you heart desires and yearns for, you have nothing yet. Guard what you have jealously as if you life depended on it.. To all my friends who have made this year a memorable one for me, my hath is up for you. I cannot thank you enough. May God bless you real good. My sincere appreciation goes to the following persons who were, are, and hopefully, will be a part of my family cum 2015 and for life: #JosephineAddo, #MadamDorcasMapis, #ChinweOpara, #ZulayhatBello, #LongkatGodson, #NathanielAndy, #OyindamolaGbemmy, #DorathyGankon, #SimBayero, #LoisYohanna, #BegeMallam, #AnitaBankong #HadeejahBello, #EdithCindy, #Egbita, #DanielPromise, #Baranzan, #DesmondEdams, #JamesHenry, #MrsPeaceIlogebe, #RosemaryMusa, #ComfortJoel, #TimothyLadan, #MadamMaryamuNashi, #FridayMarcus, #HilaryGowork, #ClementBako and #HajiyaTeni. To all of you who have taken time out to read from the beginning to the end of this piece, you are also a part of #MyFamily. Once more, as you walk through the door towards the gate that would lead to your freedom in #2015, leave your bitterness, sadness, failures, disappointments, and terrible memories behind you so you don’t still remain a prisoner to them in the #NewYear. It’s a new beginning. You may log on to my blog: shadrachbako.wordpress or my Facebook page: facebook/spbako to read all my write-ups, from 2015. #SeeYouIn2015. #GodBlessYa’ll. Thanks!
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:49:33 +0000