A water-walking experience with God.

I promised to tell you a story. As you read, you will find the lessons.

In 2018, God said I'd write a novel for adults. I was scared because at the time I had only written children story books. He said, "don't worry, when it's time, I'd give you amazing content". In 2020, He started showing me signs that it was time but I was pretending like I did not understand 😄🙈 I know I'm not the only one who does this😁 Anyway, my friend in Osun called me one day to gist and she said you've been saying you will come, when you're ready, come. I told her about sessions I needed to host online, she said they had wifi. I looked around my life and there was nothing really keeping me in Lagos that I couldn't do online. I went there the next day. I didn't know God wanted me out of my house to get my full attention.

Just two days in Osun State, He shared that it was time and He told me how to write the book. I did a mental plan of how to go about the task but I did not start. I returned to Lagos after some weeks. One of those days as I went through my prophetic journal (in case you are meeting this term for the first time, it is a journal where I document all God says to me through different forms. It helps me remember and work towards His plans), I saw the circumstances where He had told me about the book on 8th December, 2018. I sent a message to my mentor and she said, "I see it so vividly" and she told me how the cover would be. Guess what? That was also what I had received from God. She said, so what are you doing? Get on it😀 I told her this was actually why I didn’t tell her all this while because I knew she would push me. Anyway, I got on it. The illustrator I eventually chose coincidentally was the person whose work my mentor had shared with me when she was trying to describe the book cover she saw. This convinced me to work with her.

I wrote the book in bits and there was a time I lost motivation because I didn't know how to string the stories of the 6 women together. But God kept reassuring me that He was here. Then reminded me to just show up and motivation would come. I'd sit in front of my laptop and open the manuscript without being sure of what to write. Each time I sat there, I'd start having inspiration of the scenarios and lessons to weave into the stories of the characters. This was how I completed writing. Remember, I didn't have a full plan just that He said it was time to write.

So I said to Him, I've written the book, what's the next thing? He said you'd apply for Unbundling 2020 Founder's Fund. I said okay and I changed my plans because initially I wanted to apply for another programme entirely - the one for recovered drug users in Kaduna. Then during WAFBEC in January, He said, "you will give 500 copies of the novel to female undergraduates for free". I was like that's a lot of money which I don't have. This is because I wanted a hard covered novel and I was already doing the maths😀 because I knew the money from Founder's Fund wouldn't be enough. But one thing I've learned in my walk with God is to start making steps in the direction of what He wants and every other thing would meet up in front.

Then, the day I opened the instructions for the Founder's Fund grant, I almost fainted. I was like this assignment is too much for the money involved na, I brought out my calculator again 😀😀😀 because I had started getting estimates from printers and it was not small money. I thought of the time required to do the task and all I could see was WORK. Chaiii, I kept it aside. But since God had said apply and there really was no means to pay for the book printing, I decided to give myself a BIGGER reason to do the assignment. I told myself that I was not on a one to one coaching plan with my Coach but this was my chance to show her what I'm doing, what I'm thinking and what I see in my future.

During WAFBEC, God reminded me that one of my colleagues had written a book and I should share the WhatsApp crowdfunding method I used for my first book in 2017 with her. I did a voicenote to her explaining how to raise money on WhatsApp. After I sent it, God said, "what you told her to do, go and do it too". Hmmm, this one ehn, I was just thinking about how I'd start reaching out to my contacts and what they would think. It's easy to give advice but it's more important to be humble and able to take your own advice. So, I told myself, I'd do it jare. Those that know me, believe in me and who can afford it would respond.

I drafted the personalised message I'd send to my contacts explaining what I needed, why I was doing it and who it would help. I started scrolling through my contact lists from letter A, picking people randomly. Someone paid for 6 immediately while I was still in church 😳😳😳 Jesus!!! I knew my work was cut out. I even fell sick after WAFBEC but every day I'd send out messages while lying sick in bed. In between all these, I was collating my responses gradually for the Founder's Fund.

Some people did not respond and that is understandable, I expected it because no one owes you anything really. Some people said well done, some explained that they couldn’t due to financial limitations. Then we had those who did 1, 2, 5, 10 books and one person did 100 books. I almost fainted that day 😳😀💃 That particular day I was getting discouraged and I almost skipped her name because we’ve never spoken about money and I was self conscious. But we had been seat partners at a course in 2019. I decided I’d send the message to her and call it a night.

Immediately she responded, " I was just talking about this to my husband, Ugochi. This is important, I'd pay for 100". Hmmm, that night, I understood why God asked me to go through my contact list and send them messages because ordinarily, I'd never have reached out to her. As people paid, we paid for editing, book board and we started printing. In 3 weeks, we raised over 800k out of thin air. Then the results for the Founder's Fund was announced a day before the book launch recording and I won. But there was a catch. It's either I get the money cash or a scholarship worth 10 times the cash. Even though I knew the cash would offset the last cost, I decided to go for scholarship because knowledge improves a person. I have proof in my life.

I sent in the story of how I almost didn't do it and the option I was choosing and guess what? The Coach said I passed the test and I'd get both the money and the scholarship💃💃💃 I cried because this whole fund drive was God's idea and He had said He won't disappoint me. If I do His own, He will do mine.

Why am I sharing? Because God can be trusted and if He asks you to do something, it’s because He has it sorted already. He just wants to see if you can trust the God speaking to you and walk on water. Today, those books have gone out for free to female undergraduates in Universities across the country. If it is His will, it is His bill.

More stories of the next water-walking experience soon. By the way, if you’ve not watched the book launch recording, hmmm. Watch on YouTube, search for the channel called "God’s Own Footprints" https://youtu.be/-cvz2CcBnZY