GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS: NOTES OF A STORYTELLER

#LatePost
 
Time: Before the cock crowed twice.
Location: Somewhere in Nigeria.

I finally rise, with an alarming wealth of feeling.
I had been falling in and out of sleep as different thoughts ran through my mind.
My phone had started ringing some minutes before.
Breathe. Yes, I’m actually breathing.
Okay.
Let’s go…

Today is my birthday.

And today, however, it is with a sense of gratitude I mark this year. Songs rise in my heart in gratefulness to God. Not that you care or anything, but He has been super good and faithful to me, as is His character. I have not been an exception.

A songwriter once said, “Count your blessings, name them one by one”. And I began to wonder how realistic this was. His blessings are innumerable…how could I name them all? Well, thank God for another songwriter who also said, “What the Lord has done for me, I cannot tell it all.”

One of the songs that rocked my vocal playlist this morning was “Storyteller” by Morgan Harper Nichols feat. Jamie Grace. And for the record, that song is PHENOMENAL. She sang my heart EXACTLY. You can figure what the melons she was singing here.

Your constant love reaches above the heavens; your faithfulness touches the skies. (Psalm 108:4 - GNB).

Then there was the poem I wrote (a while back) in a feeble attempt to express God’s love in verses. I thought it was only fitting:

LOVE SONG
The cadence builds in soft rhythms
Undulating melodies gently stirring
Curl round my weary stone
Crimson is she who had been battered
Torn and scraped till she bled crimson
This stone, my bleeding heart
So, the tunes continue to rise
Building into a sweet song

The first verse is a soft whisper
It’s sonority gushing over polished pews
Flowing to dark, lonely hours
Resonating in the corners of my heart
Calling in an rousingly sweet sing-song
“Come, my love!”
I sway in almost hypnotic dances
Until I find myself at your feet
Kneeling and weeping, “Here I am.”
How I love this verse!
The one where you found me [or I, You?]
Beating drums on a resonant cross
Cooing to this infantile lass
Drawing me with your piper’s tune
To that place where only you can heal
And wrap me in your arms.

The second verse is a soft voice
Breezing gently like mild wind on a summer day
Lifting my heart to planes of passion
Awakening a hunger for more of you
“Arise, my love!”
I rise, staggering as though in a stupor
Struggling to steady feeble knees
But you remind me of your love still
How I love this verse!
The one where you find me [or I, you?]
Side by side you on a resonant cross
Pleasured by your presence on a solitary hill
Romance and intimacy that intoxicates
A place where music lacks not a voice
And you call me beautiful.

The third verse is a loud call
Yet one I oft miss for it is quiet
Stirring my feet to move in rhythm to you
A bitter-sweet melody to my heart
“Go, my love!”
I hesitantly move my heavy feet
Will I leave this hill to the crowded square?
I fear for myself yet go still
How I love this verse
The one where you find me [or I, you?]
Cut with whips of pain and love
Beaten to pulp on your resonant cross
Like fluttering birds in a hedged nest
My heart struggles to break free
As your song stirs and draws me
To that place where you are sufficient
And I am enough to be used.

The chorus is a simple, unending melody
Weaving itself through every verse
Lacing intricately in soft and loud tunes
“Your banner over me is love!”
How I love this chorus
The one where you find me [or I, you?]
It spills resonantly for all to hear
This very perfect love song.

*************************************

Side Note:
I kid you not when I tell you I literally breathed a sigh of relief this morning when I thought: I AM 20 YEARS OLD. FINALLY! 

Y’all, be not deceived, 19 is such an AWKWARD age. You are legally an adult but not really an adult when people don’t hesitate to remind you that you are after all, still a teenager. That look!

I am just reaallyy grateful I finally pulled it through the teen phase and with a story too. A colourful one, if you will. This past year was actually one of my best, and chief among the numerous things God blessed me with this year was CLARITY; at least to a considerable degree. 

I have laughed. Cried. Stood. Fallen. Won. Failed. Grown. There were times of silence. There were times of sorrow and unbelievable joy. There were times of aloneness (and maybe loneliness). And there was always Love. He was ALWAYS there. This may sound trite but I literally did NOTHING to deserve Him. I did nothing but suck and generally be an idiot. He is be-awesome (beyond awesome).

Then there were the people. Those super beautiful souls, my personal angels who God deliberately surrounded me with. Y’all are awesome. Don’t give me that look; you know yourself!

And I am sooo looking forward to this new year. I am looking forward to another year to prepare for my glorious eternity. Another year to add more stars to my crown. Another year to pant to behold His face. Another year to dream.

Hope.

Cry.

Laugh.
 
Die.
 
Live.
 
Fail.
 
Win.
 
Love.
 
See.
 
Believe.
 
Grow.
 
Be.

P.S: My birthday was yesterday.

P.P.S: A big shout-out to all who made it memorable. God bless y'all.

I HAD A DREAM

I had a dream two days ago. It was very vivid and chillingly real. I can still remember if I try.

The smell.

The sounds.

The palpable fear eating into my heart.

It sucked the very air out of my lungs and left me thoroughly deflated.

It was about the Rapture.

It had started with some flash occurrences I cannot quite place now. But after some of those events, I remember someone telling me the rapture had taken place. And all of a sudden its implication dawned on me.

I had been left behind.

I remember feeling so deflated. So incredibly sad. It was as though no ocean could carry the depth of my fear mixed with sadness and a great level of disappointment. Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing else made sense. After all, I had missed the one event my life revolved around.

The pain was so awful. I thrashed in hysterics but could not find tears. Surprisingly, I saw some other people I did not expect still left behind. This did little to comfort me as I rolled on the floor asking God just one simple, agonized question.

Why?

Not why He come so soon but why I had not gone with him. 

Why?

I woke with a jolt and a tangible fear that made me second guess my current reality washed over me. Was it actually a dream? It was as though I had crossed the bridge between reality and illusion and was struggling to find a safe landing port back.

After that morning, I became really sober. This type of dream wasn’t the first this year and I realized that maybe I was on to something. Maybe I should not keep it in anymore.

I’m not usually one to go around spouting dramatic prophesies, but I just had to let this one out. After considering also what is going on around right now, I felt it was expedient. And in my waking moments, one thing became obvious to me;

Jesus is coming SOON.

Of course, most of us know this, we even sing it in melodic and offhanded tunes but I wonder how much of this we REALLY believe. I wonder how many of us really give this a serious thought as we go about our daily activities. 

I kept wondering why I had been left behind. Of course it was a dream but I knew i my heart it was no ordinary dream. That morning, in my QT, I kept asking. Kept praying and I got this:

"Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."(Colossians 3:1-4. AMP).

Somehow, we seem to have gotten so carried away with what is going on around us.We hardly ever talk about Christ's coming again. Even if we do, it would be in stilted words, and with hands fumbling over invisible threads as we try to surmount this awkward topic. And all of a sudden the initiator of such conversations get more stigma than an HIV patient. You seem like a 'kill-joy' for spouting such things.

But should this be so?

Should the thought of having our Saviour and Lord coming back for us not cause an outrageous delight in our hearts? Should we not view the things of this world with contempt in light of his inexplicable glory? Are we scared to believe? Are we scared to hope?

But hope shields.

Hope purifies.

"My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure." (1 John 3:2-3. GNB)

I realized in that dream that although I did not get an answer to my "why", I knew I had failed the 'hope test'. The truth is that you cannot expect to just disappear into the sky when you are being carried away by something else. You cannot be raptured by Christ when you are enraptured by the world. It doesn't work that way. You have to believe. You have to live with a consciousness of His coming. You have to hope.

 

Hope shields.

Hope purifies. 

Side Note:
As part of getting ready for His coming, we need to tell every ear that cares to hear and even those who don't that Jesus is coming soon. 

Call the sinner, wake the saint, Jesus is coming soon. 

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