I was born on the 29th of February 199x to my very wonderful parent in this darling Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idiaraba. Due to the circumstances that led up to my birth, I was baptized with very Igbotic unusual names; I think people felt they owed it to my mother, to me, perhaps even God to give me a name worthy of praise…
And so amongst the namers was this very wonderful woman who named me Chukwu-élo-té-gom which means God has remembered me. Till date, aside from my grandma who also calls me her own name, this woman diligently calls me by this name.
For some reason, today being the first day in December didn’t turn out so incredible for me (although it was incredible), I had a bit of a misunderstanding with my dad, had to fast compulsorily more than half of the day, my mind was playing not-so-funny games with me and I was slowly sinking into what could be equated to depression…depression is too strong a word, let’s say melancholia (Looool, which is worse??).
So I sat myself down after so much internal struggle and started to speak to the Holy ghost. Somewhere in between tears and words, He took me back to January and led me through each month till we got to today, the first day in December. 2016 had indeed been a great year…a thanksgiving list on paper cannot take it all!
That was when I remembered my name!
There were times I felt forgotten, completely obliterated from existence. But God…God keeps finding me, every time, even when I was ready to just give up.
And so, as my first article in this Family, Love and Christmas series, I will like to highlight the things I am thankful for…like the Americans who recently celebrated thanksgiving a couple of days ago. So here is my list:
– I am thankful for the Trinity in my life. A lot of things would have gone wrong but for their loving presence.
– I was opportune to celebrate on the 29th of February!!! What added to the wonder of the day was the plenty support from my family and God’s people in CFG (my Jesus family). I was beyond speechless.
– Blogging this 2016 was the Holy spirit’s affairs and I am so very grateful for all the lessons I learnt and people I met…on my own, I wouldn’t have found the courage to do so many things I did. For my readers, I am also thankful.
– My parents surprised me thoroughly. In terms of availability, strength, prayers…sometimes when I begin to feel like an island, like I’m all alone in this world with nobody to turn to, their calls just come in….somehow they would tell me something that just soothes my raging mind.
– Friends: Oh Gosh! God thoroughly surrounded me with extremely loving, wonderful friends. Should I mention names? Definitely! T, Enny, Chinazor, Desola, Uti, Esosa, Taiwo, mustard family….God knows where I would have been without your presence in my life.
– Onyeka Dozie and Fumnanya Ntoka – Whenever I think of you, I remember God’s faithfulness.
– The Omojiades/the Odikas/The Nwaedozies/The Oleles: I am really thankful for your loving presence in my life.
– I am very grateful to Google search engine – very very helpful, Google has been for me.
The list goes on….
Why am I writing these? Scripture says:
O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people ~ Ps 105:1.
It is very biblical to tell of God’s faithfulness!
My conclusion: even as we go around planning and plotting what the holiday will look like, what will happen on Christmas day and in the New year, it is important to take out time to count your blessings and of course name them one after the other to the world!
God is faithful, make known His deeds among the people.
