Hello Beloved, Welcome to this post.

It is not by accident that you are on this page. The Almighty GOD brought you here for a purpose, so please read on to the end.

We give GOD all the Glory for the opportunity of being alive, fine and well. It is the month of double Grace. All Glory be to GOD. Hallelujah. GOD has indeed been Faithful.

In the heat of the pandemic some organizations, churches, etc., gave out welfare packages to relieve people who were financially affected by the pandemic. At the time, I noticed the concern of a young man to help those who were in need. He did not limit himself to the items given by the church but gave freely from his own personal resources. He even continued to check on those in need and make provisions for them to ensure they do not lack.

He is so dedicated to this task of taking care of families in need even though he is still single. He constantly deprives himself to satisfy others and is always available for the LORD’s work 24/7.

Naturally, I was curious to know more about him. So, I asked him to share about himself and why he is so dedicated to loving people practically. Below is his personal story as written by him and the topic is, as stated, his true-life story.

(All the names used have been changed to protect their identity.)

My name is Joseph, the 7th born of a family of 7 children. Actually, we were 8, but we lost the last born.

In December 1981, tragedy struck my family (the Michel family), as the breadwinner was taken away by the cold hands of death – a suspicious one.

My mother, the matriarch of the Michel family of eight, by name Anita, was a young lady in her early thirties and was pregnant for her last child at the time when the tragedy struck. She was left alone to bear the burden of giving birth to another baby boy without the father and no support. She was also saddled with overseeing her young family of seven (7) across the vicissitudes of the sea of life.

God Almighty set the ball rolling, as the extended family of my late father descended heavily on the young Anita, stripping her practically naked, as properties, monies, both in cash and in the bank accounts, cars and landed properties were taken over. This was the end of the life of a silver spoon, and the beginning of a long-lasting life of struggle.

Take away the accommodation of a man and then you have taken away every other means of livelihood. It is when you have a home, that you can cook and eat, wash and dry clothes, keep books etc, but the deprivation of the first need of man – accommodation – is the greatest form of deprivation ever known to man.

The accommodation deprivation experience came about when my late father’s younger brother showed up one day after and before we could put two and two together, we were driven out of our home and became homeless. The struggle continued as we left the high-brow area of Festac Town, Lagos State, Nigeria, to live in the desert, a close-by slum at the back of Festac Town.

As a child, there was deprivation as to the regular childhood activities, while other children were playing freely in the neighbourhood, we would have to hawk wares around the streets to make ends meet.

It was a period of scarcity and want. All thanks to God that education was free in those days, if not, one would have ended up as an illiterate.

As the heat mounted on, the last born of the house passed on at a tender age of about 3 or 4 years as a result of illness, by this time, I was about the age of 6 years.

Feeding was very difficult as our situation was mainly from hand to mouth and there were no reserves. Scarcity of food in the house had become the norm, as we settled down in our new abode in the slum having been chased out of our family house in Festac.

Allegations and counter allegations went back and forth as my mother was deprived of daily upkeep from the family of my late father, who were only concerned about gathering and distributing my late father’s wealth and estate which they saw as a family cake for them to share.

This brought us to usually go ‘cap in hand’ to our late father’s younger brother, who had taken over our apartment at Festac Town and was living comfortably there with his immediate family. He gave us meagre amounts for monthly upkeep.

One thing led to another since we had moved from living a life of affluence in Festac Town, to a life of struggling to survive at the expense of the streets.

Daily hawking of wares was the only means of livelihood at that time. No hawking, no food, was the order of the day.

This was disheartening as other little children of my age would litter the streets, playing with numerous bicycles and other electronic games, only for me to be hawking wares to survive in trying times.

Driven out of the family house and left in the cold, my Mum was left with scars as she received divers kinds of slaps whenever she requested to know the state of her late husband’s estate.

Eating was extremely difficult, and on several occasions, I was ordered, as the new last born of the family, to carry out my most demeaning task as a child – going to shops to collect food items on credit. This was my most difficult ordeal as a child, it was so shameful for me, but I always had to obey the last order.

Being unable to meet up with daily upkeep, as is the norm when a breadwinner is lost to the cold hands of death, the family is usually scattered in order to reduce the burden that results from the aftermath of the death. Some of my siblings relocated back to the village, while some went to live with close relatives in order to cushion the effect of the household expenses on my Mum at that time.

However, my Mum did not give up the struggle. We delved into small scale production of children’s hats which we sold at the weekly Aswani market every Tuesday. This meant, no school for me at times on Tuesdays, as we had to wake up early, by 5 a.m. or thereabout to set off in order to secure a vantage free space on the streets of the market, as there was no fund to rent a shop or store at that time.

Common place was the dearth of food in the household generally, we practically lived from hand to mouth. Countless times as a child, one would go without food for several hours, and if at all food showed up, it was in a limited and rationed quantity, and was barely enough to fill one.

We seldom had 3 square meals, there was so much imbalance in our meals etc. Nothing like balanced diet, one would be glad if one could get any food to eat at all, not to talk of a balanced diet. Whatever we could fix on the plate, we shared in love and this brought joy to the household.

Growing up, we didn’t know what hospital (medical) care was like. Whenever any of us fell ill, there was no recourse to the hospital. If anyone fell sick, we had no thought of hospital, because in actual words of my Mum, she would tell us in our native language ‘I don’t know the road that leads to the hospital oooooo’. So, as a child, I had registered it at the back of my mind that my mum had no knowledge about hospitals. Therefore, whoever fell ill, it was either you get well naturally or took traditional herbs.

Despite the dearth & scarcity of funds in the family, academic excellence was not negotiable. Pursuit of academic excellence was at the front burner. In the entire household, everyone took education very seriously.

Days crystallized into months and months metamorphosed into years, and the sufferings went on, but God had a plan. Time and space will deprive me the capacity to express myself and write extensively about the challenges encountered during this time in the Divine Plans of God Almighty.

As we journeyed with God from the late eighties and early nineties, things began to look up as we experienced the love of God as well as that of men, in the Redeemed Christian Church of GOD. Things took a new turn, when God stepped in and we came in contact with the only True God, via the auspices of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, which was then a house fellowship centre in our neighbourhood.

Things were still very tough, but with the eyes of faith, we could face each day knowing that we had encountered the grace of God, and there was a glimmer of hope and victory at last.

From then on, we began to receive financial, spiritual support from the church authorities thereby ameliorating the hardship experienced at that time. This brought about the closeness to God and service to God, which has remained in the family till date.

All thanks be to God Almighty who is too faithful to fail.

Above is the story of the young man concerning his family. All Glory be to GOD the family has been transformed. This family could have gone into oblivion forever but the FATHER of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17) stepped into their situation and turned their shame to Glory, their mess into Ministry.

Thank you, JESUS. All Glory be to GOD, Hallelujah, Amen.

The young man here is a Masters’ degree holder, and his siblings are doing great too. Their home which was forcefully taken from them was miraculously restored through the LORD’s Divine intervention when they surrendered their lives to JESUS. They went to ask for their monthly stipends from their uncle then when they discovered that he and his family had packed out from the house and never returned again. JESUS is LORD. HE is Wonderful.

Furthermore, this young man, who had tasted and known poverty and lack, is now a partaker of the goodness of GOD. So, in expressing his gratitude, he is zealous to help families in need and to be of service to the LORD’s cause.

Beloved, no matter what you are going through, JESUS is here right now to change your story to Glory. Only if you can believe.

‘Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”’
‭‭Mark‬ ‭9:23‬.

Who is JESUS to us? I saw this and will like to share it with us.

JESUS is my KING, my WAY, my TRUTH, my, SAVIOUR, my HEALER, my FATHER, my MASTER, my TEACHER, my SHEPHERD, my EVERYTHING

Let me add: JESUS is my LORD; JESUS is my burden Bearer.

Beloved, no matter what you are going through, just trust and have Faith in GOD because HE is too Faithful to fail.

“He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
‭‭I Thessalonians‬ ‭5:24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Beloved, if you have come this far but you do not have a personal relationship with our LORD and Saviour JESUS Christ, now is the appointed time to do so. Now is the time of Salvation, please don’t procrastinate as tomorrow may be too late.

What you need to do:
1. Acknowledge that you are a sinner.
2. Ask for forgiveness of your sins.
3. Accept JESUS as your LORD and Saviour.
4. Fellowship with your new LORD.
5. Please attend a Bible believing Church. If there is still a lock down in your area, please join a Bible believing Church online.

The Almighty GOD guide and guard you in your journey of life. Surely your life can never be the same. Congratulations!

To all our beloved contributors, thank you so very much. The Almighty GOD bless you and the work of your hands. Amen. The LORD enlarge your coasts and bless your families and Ministries. Amen. I do implore us to kindly share. Thank YOU, JESUS. All Glory to JESUS.

GOD keep us all.

Shalom,

Myrtle