OCCUPY NIGERIA - DAY 4 (PART 1)

I wasn't able to join Day 3 of the protest for many reasons. Firstly, at about 12 noon, I heard gun shots from the Lekki Expressway and, well I stayed home.......
However today, I was more than ready. I also found a willing partner in Ivana. I picked her up in Lekki Phase 1 after stopping at Ebeano to replenish supplies for the house.
At Ebeano, the shelves were empty, and I said a quick prayer, that 'may we never see war in Nigeria'.
Anyway, I managed to get a few things and some frozen tomatoes (Man must wack afterall), and went to pick my partner for Day 4. When we got to Falomo, there were a lot of parked cars, but the crowd had moved. A quick phone call to Kola (Sleeves up) and we were informed that the group was occupying NTA, Ahmadu Bello. Apparently, NTA news yesterday (Day 3) had reported that there was no protest in Lagos, and that businesses were operating normally on the Island.
I'm sure that they're now better informed after today's visit.

The control truck from which speeches were made and music played.

Kola addressing the crowd in front of NTA

Listening to Pat Utomi

The crowd at NTA. Very interesting slogans also.
The pink poster says
JONATHAN, NIGERIA DOES NOT BELONG TO U
PACK YOUR LOAD AND GO. WE ARE TIRED OF
CORRUPTION AND INJUSTICE

While in front of NTA, we were addressed by Pat Utomi, and Kola (Sleeves up). And again, it was reiterated that this is beyond the fuel subsidy; but about good governance. It has taken us a long time time to get here, but finally we are demanding good governance.

I loved this placard!

He was just a billboard of various captions

English finish inside dictionary

See for yourself; no mention of subsidy

Very true!!!

Medical personnel on duty

The journey back to Falomo

From NTA we returned to our base in Falomo.

I will relate what happened at Falomo in Part 2. Enjoy the placards.

My conclusion is that Nigeria is changing. I met so many of my friends at the protests. Some came from Ikeja, to see what was going on in Ikoyi. I'm so proud of everyone, even the people who haven't been able to join.

It is evident that people have been and are praying for this country. We are all in this together!

Uche all the way from Ikeja to lend support;
she's been occupying at Ojota

Me, Ivana and Alero, who rode her
bike from Dolphin 

Lorraine and Uche _ Ikeja peeps

I love the T shirt, Me and Nora

The Bodyworks crew!!!

OCCUPY NIGERIA - DAY 2

Happy New Year Everyone.
On 1st January 2012, the Federal Government of Nigeria removed the fuel subsidy. Personally, I thought that was that about that! When labour started making the usual noises, I thought that it wouldn't last.
I stayed at home on Monday in compliance with the stay at home order. Although it felt like a public holiday, I kept on following the demonstration at the Gani Fawehinmi park on Channels and my spirit was stirred. I perceived in my spirit that Nigeria has indeed changed.
It has taken the removal of the fuel subsidy to wake us up. As one of my friends said, "it has launched us into a level of national consciousness it would have taken years to achieve".
On day 2 of the strike, my sisters and I decided to join the peaceful march. We met the group at Tinubu's house on Bourdillon, and then from there marched to Lagos State Government House with Prof Pat Utomi.
We marched from Bourdillon down Awolowo Road. When we got to Race Course, the area boys joined us, and we were out numbered. For a few moments, I was very uneasy as we could have easily lost control. However, the organisers addressed the area boys and got them to agree that this was a peaceful protest and would remain so. We sang the National Anthem, and proceeded to State House.
At State House, the area boys got restive again, but we were addressed by Pat Utomi and Fola Adeola. They insisted on being addressed in yoruba, and Fola spoke yoruba. When Fashola came out to address us, the area boys insisted on him speaking yoruba and he complied. Their angst however wasn't fuel subsidy; but school fees. I spoke to a few of them, and found out that some of them were LASU students who were feeling the pinch of the recent hike in school fees. I was amazed that some of these rough looking young men were actually university students, but that's a discourse for another day.
From State House, we walked back to Falomo roundabout with Fela blaring from the loudspeakers.
In conclusion, the demonstration has gone beyond fuel subsidy removal. Nigerians are demanding good governance and accountability.
I will be joining the march again today at Falomo roundabout. I leave you with sights and sounds of my participation in yesterday's march.

 Setting out on Bourdillon

 Approaching Falomo Roundabout

 On Awolowo Road

 My Sisters enjoying the exercise

 I think I look too well fed to be a protester!

 Pat Utomi marching with us...still on Awolowo Road

 Approaching Onikan. The area boys waiting to join us.

 At Onikan

 Psyching ourselves to join the area boys!

 We are one!

 Approaching State House

 At State House

 Waiting for Gov. Fashola

 Listening to Pat Utomi and Fola Adeola at State House

 Faces - young, old, elite, area boys

 Fashola addressing us

 Fashola telling us that they are talking to the Federal Govt

  After this we walked back to Falomo via 3rd Mainland Bridge, to Awolowo Road....
God bless Nigeria

MY GRATITUDE LIST

As 2011 rolls away, I realized that I hadn't  posted anything in Restored this year. It's December already, and the year is fast ending. "Where did all the time go?" I ask myself.

A lot happened this year, and firstly I want to thank God for preserving my life and that of every member of my family. I am so grateful as I had my share of 'health scares' this year. However, I made it through, and I'm standing well.

I'm thankful for my husband and children. For their love and support at all times. And for the children not having any major dramas this year. 2012 promises to be a great year as it is milestone year in their journeys. May God see them through.

Thank you Lord for all my cousins and friends who stood by me this year. My ever growing LJC family - old and new. The veterans - Gaf, GB, Babashola, Funlola, Chizube, Bolade - we didn't see very often; but were in each others thoughts constantly.

I am also so grateful for my new family in Wesley Chapel, and the old one in Hoares Memorial. Thank you Lord for them. Being part of your God's household is a good thing. It's good to not only feel loved, but to be loved as well.

Finally, I really thank God for the progress on the Piano Project. Only ten keys sold so far; but I trust God. I'm so out of my depth with this one, that when it gets done, I'll know that it wasn't me; but God.

Thank you for Experience 2011. A magnificent worship experience.

I really had to get that in. So much has happened this year. I've laughed hard and I've cried harder. God took Bassey home this year. That was a very hard one. How can you have a conversation with someone, and in less than forty-eight hours, they're dead? God knows best. Her family are still reeling from the shock. My prayer is that He will be with them, protect them and strengthen them.

To all my mentees, my restored families, be strong, stay strong, stay close to God, focus on Him, please Him, and everything will work out for good. When the going gets tough, He'll carry you, and when there are times to celebrate, remember him. It is well with us all, and we shall live to see in Lord in the land of the living come 2012.

FAITH - A GARDENER'S PERSPECTIVE

When we plant seeds in the ground, we don't keep digging to find out if they have germinated. We wait expectantly for proof of germination - new shoots.

Similarly, there's a propagation method called air layering, where we make a cut into the branch of a plant, cover it with soil and seal it up with a PVC covering. We then wait for roots to appear.

While waiting, we get on with other things. We don't stop all activity because we're waiting. We continue with our normal duties.

Some seeds take days to germinate; others months. As for air layering, we cannot expect new roots before one month.

Therefore, when we ask anything of our Father in heaven, we should not make our period of waiting an ordeal. We know that He will answer, so we should get busy with other things, while thanking Him for answering our prayer.

Just like the gardener does not dig up the seed to check if it is germinating; nor does he remove the PVC covering to check for new roots, so should we stop asking God for the same thing over and over again.

I came accross a sermon by someone which said "Hannah sought God for a child and was reassured by Eli that her prayers had been answered. In faith, she accepted Eli's word, and went home to wait for the miracle. When she returned to the temple with the evidence of the miracle walking beside her, she cannot help but glorify God by pointing out His Power, Authority and His Nature. "He is a God who raises the poor from the dust, and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people! He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother. Praise the LORD". (Psalm 113:7-9)

Several times this year, God has had to remind me of this because sometimes I approach Him with a lot of doubt and repetitive requests. he reminds me that I am digging up the soil to check, and I quickly repent. My most vulnerable moments are when I'm about to wake up, in that state between sleep and wakefulness. The first thing on my mind when I wake up therefore is to ask again, and He gently reminds me. I thank God for His mercy, and pray that I will be able to drive the thought awas as soon as they start creeping in.

YES, I'LL SING THE WONDROUS STORY

This year, I rediscovered my love for reading and decided to re-read the classics I had read in my youth. I chose Tolstoy's Anna Karenina which I knew that I had enjoyed reading, but really couldn't remember much about it.

I learnt that reading some book as a youth when your whole life is before you and you haven't made too many mistakes is different from reading it as an adult. In my first life, I judged Anna really harshly; however, on reading the book again, I found that I could understand her position.

The shock was that I would never have classed the book as a religious book. However, Anna Karenina ends thus:

'This new feeling has not changed me, has not made me happy and enlightened all of a sudden, as I had dreamed, just like the feeling for my child. There was no surprise in this either. Faith—or not faith—I don't know what it is—but this feeling has come just as imperceptibly through suffering, and has taken firm root in my soul.


"I shall go on in the same way, losing my temper with Ivan the coachman, falling into angry discussions, expressing my opinions tactlessly; there will be still the same wall between the holy of holies of my soul and other people, even my wife; I shall still go on scolding her for my own terror, and being remorseful for it; I shall still be as unable to understand with my reason why I pray, and I shall still go on praying; but my life now, my whole life apart from anything that can happen to me, every minute of it is no more meaningless, as it was before, but it has the positive meaning of goodness, which I have the power to put into it."
 
One of the main characters has just discovered that there is a God afterall, and this is what he has to say about his realisation.
 
Isn't this what happens to some of us when we get converted. There really is no Damascus moment, but a surrender and an acceptance, and by faith we know that we've been saved.
 
In conclusion, in the English Methodist Hymn Book, verse four of Hymn No 380 sums it up:
" Days of darrkness still come o'er me,
Sorrow's path I often tread,
But His presence still is with me;
By His guiding hand I'm led.
Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
Of the Christ who died for me,
Sing it with the saints in glory,
Gathered by the crystal sea'.
 
Remain blessed.

ASK, BELIEVE, RECEIVE

Earlier this year, I read a book called 'The Secret'. It isn't a Christian book; but it used christian principles to explain some theories.
The book talks about the creative process and explains that this theory was taken from the New Testament in the Bible. The creative process is an easy guideline to create what you want in three simple steps:

Step 1: ASK
'The Secret' states that you must be clear about what you want. If you're not clear, then you will not get want you want.You don't have to ask over and over again. After all, you don't order something from a catalogue over and over again. You order once, so ask once.

STEP 2: BELIEVE
The book says that once you have asked, you must believe that you have received. You must know that what you want is yours the moment you ask. You must have complete and utter faith.

"See the things that you want as already yours. Know that they will come to you at need. Don't fret and worry about them. Don't think about your lack of them. Think of them as yours, as belonging to you, as already in your possession." (Robert Collier 1885-1950)

How your prayers will be answered is not your concern or job. When you wonder about the how, you're just exhibiting a lack of faith.

STEP 3: RECEIVE
Feel and act as though you have received it. Begin to feel wonderful about it. Feel the way it will feel once it arrives.

I have listened to a wide range of sermons preached on this topic, especially sermons on faith. Immediately after listening to such sermons, I apply these principles to everything, but after a while I forget, and I become preoccupied with other things.

However, when I read this book which is clearly not a christian book, it struck me that more and more non christians are tapping into christian principles and are using them to prosper and forge ahead in life.

Meanwhile, a lot of us christians have become so fearful and so devil focussed that we have missed the plot. We are not using the guidelines given to us in the Bible to live our lives.

I read this book over and over again, and decided that I would apply these principles all the time - in and out of season. As a result, I have worked harder this year than I have worked in a long time. I know that I won't get what I want by lying on my bed all day dreaming about all my answered prayers; but it doesn't feel like work because I am acting to receive.

"And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and (really) believing , you will receive." (Mathew 21:22 Amp)

"For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident)that it is granted to you, and you will (get it)". (Mark 11:24 Amp.)

Remember that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:6)

LORD WHY HIM, AND NOT ME?

For the past few weeks, entertainment news columns have been awash with the news about the death of a young Nigerian artiste called Dagrin.
I thought that I had never heard of this particular artiste until I read that he had written the song kondo. Surprisingly, I knew the song because my son had drawn my attention to it as a song that he had heard and liked while he was at NYSC camp. I remember us laughing about the fact that the song was in Yoruba, and that his Yoruba was bound to improve if he listened to more Yoruba songs.
Dagrin (Dapo Olaitan Olanipekun) died at the age of 27 in a fatal motor accident. He ran into a stationary trailer in front of Mushin police station. He was rushed to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and barely twenty-four hours after he was admitted to LUTH, its resident doctors went on strike to protest government neglect.
I cried. I cried because this young man could have become something - President, Governor, Pastor. He was well on his way to becoming something.
Some people said that he probably had been drinking; but I had to ask God, 'there's nothing that this young man did, that most youths don't do, so Lord, why him and not anybody else; why him and not me?'
I know that it isn't because You love me more than You love your saints, or is it because You love them too much and want them with You? Or is it that they've run their own race and have done what You sent them to do?
What then, is my purpose on this earth. Am I doing what You brought me to this earth for?
This time last year, I wouldn't have been able to answer that question positively; but now I know that I can. After years of running helter skelter, going for various programmes, night vigils, joining prayer groups and helping other people run their own race, I finally knew what my purpose was. It was so simple, that I almost missed it. In fact, for two whole years, I dodged it because I refused to accept that was what God wanted of me. But He is so merciful, He waited for me and kept guiding me until I realised it.
Thank You Lord for waiting for me. Thank You for Your patience. Thank You for not raising others to take my place, and thank You for raising up helpers to assist me in doing this work.
I'm sure that by now, you're all curious about what my purpose is. That, my people, is a story for another day.
Until then, I pray that God will help each and everyone of you find their purpose. We will all fulfil destiny in Jesus Mighty and Glorious Name, Amen.

Psalm 103: 8 -11
"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him".