I look back now and I smile at how God fought my battles for me. I also seemed to have missed out something very key in my last post which was at what my point my delivery from captivity came about.

If you recall I had noted that I had decided to see a counsellor. Well when I graduated I continued to see her and I remember being in her house on a particular day. Her family had understood my predicament and had decided to always be there for me. I was sitting on the chair ever so calmly when her son walked up to me and uttered “You seem not to have a care in this life. One look at you and everything looks so calm”. I smiled and muttered back “I have learnt to stop struggling and fighting back, if every time I try to get up the Lord says stay down, then I’ll stay down and not wear myself out”. I said this to explain that I had come to a place of fully trusting my Maker in my situation and knowing that he alone was capable to set me free in his time. You will never believe that the following week was when God led me to the very same pastor that he used to set me free from captivity.

I needed to keep my deliverance and the only way to do this was not to relax but to fill up my life with the word and with prayer. Just before I graduated I had decided to start studying my bible from beginning to end and was making a conscious effort at doing this. Not too long in the future when the opportunity opened up I chose to join the prayer ministry of my church but before I get to that point, let me explain some other things that happened along the line. I would like to start by explaining some of the ways the Lord Jesus fought my battles during my years of captivity.

When I was in the final semester of my 300level, we had a lecturer that was basically known for harassing students. During one of his lectures, he had caught me explaining to a friend of mine some of the things he had been saying and as result he asked me to get up and explain to the whole class everything he had said from beginning to the end. Of course I did this without flinching, little did I know that my inability to look stupid in front of my course mates had offended him. He noted my name and this was the last incident that occurred with him. Of course when my results came out, I failed the course. This incident in question made me sad because it was the only spill over course I ever had whilst at the university and I was completely puzzled because some of my course mates that had even struggled with this course had actually passed it. Anyhow, I went back to the Lord and uttered a simple prayer to him. I told him that I knew deep down that I had passed and I wasn’t going to give in to a lecturer that had ulterior motives towards his students. I also asked him to please fix the situation because many students in my department were being held back in school and could not graduate simply because of the intentions of this so called lecturer. To buttress the importance of prayer, God showed up and the next thing we heard was that the lecturer had been retrenched by the school authorities for molesting his students especially the female ones. When I eventually redid the course I scored an A in it.

Now when the enemy knew that this avenue had failed in keeping me behind at school, you will never believe the next thing that happened. Upon completion of my final semester at the university when my course mates and I were undergoing our final clearance i.e. final screening of our credentials to ensure that we had entered the university in the legitimate way, do you know that the school board came back saying that they could not find some of my key registration documents. It was quite puzzling for me because I knew I had undergone the proper registration process as everyone else. Whilst all my mates were cleared and had gone home on holidays awaiting our final results, I had to stay behind at school frequently checking with the school if my documents had been found. I chose to remain unmoved by the situation, trusting in God because I knew deep down that I had entered the university in the legitimate way. Just when I thought the situation was becoming a rather uncomfortable experience, my documents were found.

Now one cannot overemphasize the goodness and mercies of God and also his faithfulness. This time around, the set that I graduated with had been merged with the subsequent set for NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) meaning, I graduated in December and my set was merged with the following April graduates for us all to serve in September. Just to show how good our Lord can be, he knew that I was going to have another relapse just before my service year in September and this would make me miss my NYSC, so he permitted it that NYSC omitted my name from the September batch. I was in no frame of mind to go to serve as I was just recovering from the relapse. When this occurred I was grateful to God for seeing the end from the beginning and knowing what the devil had planned. This was the third instance.

On the fourth instance, my NYSC service year had finally come and I had been posted to Ekiti state. My mum and dad had gotten all the paperwork from my medical doctors to exempt me from strenuous exercises at the NYSC Camp. I went with all of it and was always exempted from the exercises which my mates were called every morning to do. Little did I know that what was in store for me. While at the camp, I had registered to be redeployed to Lagos on health grounds and the NYSC officials were processing it based on the paperwork I had provided. Just before my redeployment letter came out, I fell and sprained (very badly) my right ankle. Note that I said right ankle as you will get to understand why later. Anyhow while at the camp clinic, because the issue was beyond what the doctors could deal with, my issue was escalated to the state coordinator and she asked them to prepare me that she was going to Lagos and would use the avenue to drop me at home for proper medical attention.

On getting home, my folks were pleased to see her and briefly exchanged pleasantries explaining in earnest to her why it was necessary for me to serve closer to home. God as usual was one step ahead and had chosen to turn this evil once again into good. Do you know that when my redeployment letter came out, it was mixed up and I was redeployed to Ogun instead of Lagos state. Of course the state coordinator was very much interested in the matter and assured me to go home that it would be resolved. I remember blessing the Lord that day as we all left camp and thanking him that the situation was going to work in my favor. In time the issue was resolved at the NYSC headquarters and that was how I served in Lagos. God turned a situation that the devil planned for evil for my good. What was that situation? my fall /sprained ankle at the camp.

To say the truth, it was quite obvious that the enemy was actually on a rampage long before my deliverance to set me back, but on every occasion God had showed up on my behalf. The bible says that the “the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” – John 10V10.

I seem to have made some salient points today and if you have been following my posts from the onset of the blog, you will understand the key point which is the fact that once God has been entrusted with a child’s life at a very tender age, he’s got that child for good. He basically was in charge of my life, was ordering my steps and ensured that every situation worked out in my favor. I’m not saying that he doesn’t do this for older adults, it just that the trust of a little child who has come to know Jesus is so very easy for them as older adults have the tendency to doubt and sometimes want their way.

The second point is the importance of prayer. Every seemingly little prayer is heard by God and enough to cause him to work in the situation if it’s made in faith. Know that God can never be surprised by any prayer you make to him because he created you and knows what you are about to say even before you say it. Once I understood this at an early age, it made me more open in my walk with him and I became more transparent to both he and myself. Also, God is able to cause all things to work together for your good. The bible says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8V28.

The last and final point is that parents/relations should please not permit their sickly offspring in Nigeria to go to NYSC without their necessary paperwork from their medical doctors because the exercises are too strenuous for any Sickler and could take a toll on their health.
Now I would like to talk about this point a bit because to say the truth, if I had my way, I would have applied to be exempted from NYSC. I recall that I had pleaded with my dad about this but my request was denied. Nonetheless, all my paperwork from my Medical doctors were obtained for me and when I got to the camp all I needed to do was to show it to the camp officials whenever they asked me to take part in the morning exercises and I was exempted. Also note that there is the opportunity to apply for redeployment at the camp because it will be communicated to the youth corp members and this medical report from ones doctors always proves useful.
The reason I’m explaining this is because some of you parents/relations may want your sickly offspring to serve and redeploy and are not sure of how to go about it. My redeployment case was a mix up because all other corps members at the camp who applied were actually redeployed to the states they specified.