“Can I be real?”
There is a lady in my church who stirs everyone up with high expectation and interest when she mounts the pulpit. She endears her listeners with what she speaks about and her mannerisms in body language. She goes by a nickname – ‘Can I be real?’ The pic below shows the real me. No make-up. No hair attachments. No dyeing of hair. Just the real me! Today, I want to be real. How many of you check up their posts on this forum –More Than Writers with some form of expectation? Can I be real? I was disappointed about my December post. Just 2 responses [aside my comments]! It felt like when one calls out for a book launch or whatever. Thank God for the faithful few! I can imagine how Lord Jesus must have felt when only one leper out of ten came back to say, ‘Thank you’. There has been so much encouragement given to us writers as Christians and in our writing. I know that many members are not always on face book or able to respond to posts. Still, this 2022, let us encourage each other here. Can I be real? It may seem some posts attract friends of the writer. [Hope not!!!!]. Let us make the extra effort. The other day, a member mentioned her taking time to respond to all the posts she’d missed!! That is commitment. Iron sharpens iron. We owe this to ourselves on this forum. I’m also addressing myself! Sophia Anyanwu is British Nigerian, lives in SE London and is a part time tutor, writer and poet. She is a multi-genre writer but recently writes Christian fiction. Stories for Younger Generations was published in 2017 followed by The Confession, Turning the Clock Hands Backwards and Stories for Older Generations [Stories from the Heart]. Their Journey on Earth to Heaven was released on February 2018. All of Sophia’s books are available from her website: www.olusolasophiaanyanwuauthor.com , Amazon or local bookshops.
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FOR YOU
Thank You for my family Thank You for the strength in my physical body Thank You for the job You have given me Thank You God for the roof over my head Thank You God for being faithful to me in previous exams and challenges Than You God for listening to me when I pray Thank You for forgiving me my sins Thank You for adopting me in to Your family Thank You for making me Your daughter Thank You for erasing my past and setting me free Thank You God for making me a new creature in Christ Jesus Thank You because You have never let me down Thank You because you said that if I ask, I will receive Thank You because all things work for my good Thank You for the good work You have begun in me because You will perfect it Thank You because no weapon formed against me will prosper Thank You because You never fail Thank You God because my victory and honour come from You alone Thank You God because nothing is impossible for You. MAY YOUR GOODNESS,MERCY, LOVE AND TENDER KINDNESS OVERTAKE ME IN THIS EXAM AND OTHER CHALLENGES IN MY LIFE AND HELP ME TO ACHIEVE NEW THINGS IN MY LIFE, TO YOUR GLORY. AMEN. The buzz of excitement!
I’m excited! You might wonder as there is so much pain and conflict in parts of the world like Ukraine as I write! Life still goes on and we can only continue to hold God’s creation in prayers. Back to my excitement. No, to all your thoughts about a published book, a completed manuscript, a compelling review, a contract offer… I’ll give you a clue. It couldn’t have been easy for our Papa God to have created the world in the time He did! He had it all planned out and like us, must have mulled over what things to prioritise. It was hard work and it had to be perfect. What excited God was His doing something new and completely different from all His other works of creation. That was when He created you and I! He said, ‘Let us make man in our image’. Surely, it was the creation of Man that pleased Him the most. He must have been excited. How do we feel when we create new genres and works? Excitement. In November last year, during the NaNoWriMo season, I birthed a new book of 50,395 words - Prophetess but this is not why I am excited. Prophetess was created in 2 weeks and I rested for 14 days compared to our Papa’s one day rest but this isn’t why I’m excited. Like our Papa God, I have done something completely different from what I have done with all my other writings. Prophetess is a Christian Dystopian Fantasy fiction eliminating all the evil arising from war, sickness and unfulfilled dreams. My first attempt at this genre but that’s not my excitement. Here is what excites me. All my other works were edited by me. Yes and I’m proud of the comments some people made in their reviews of my writing as ‘Nigerian English’! No offence taken. It settled an awareness. Now for the first time, I have sought the service of an accomplished renowned editor! Watch the space. God is excited in creating humans every second. The Human species is a multi-genre of Beings, metaphorically! To me, Prophetess is new specie in its genre and created in the image of ‘British English’[for laughs]. Editing in its full entirety. I am so excited. Can you step back a moment and ponder why else Papa God might have been excited in creating you and I? Is He excited when we birth new books as an extension of His creativity? From Egypt to Canaan! Part 1
‘Everything we learn and experience has a purpose; it affects our perspectives and understanding.’ This is the last sentence from Ruth Johnson’s post –Sun, Sand, Sangria for the March 21st blog post. That spoke to me and I decided to share how my life experiences in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s have blessed my writing according to God’s purpose. On 4th February, I had a zoom interview with Brandan Conboy for his Dog in the Pod show. [I’m mesmerised by that ‘Dog’ title and forgot to ask the meaning!] I mentioned what my life in Nigeria was like when the government owed teachers their salaries for months. Imagine if both parents are teachers!! It was like living the hopeless life of the Jews in Egypt. I had remained devoted to God. When a mass of believers are together in their pain, their faith gives a divine strength to hope until God provides a way out. I had continued writing and continued my job as a teacher even when unpaid. Like God heard the cries of His people, mine was also heard. God sent a lady to remind me of my birth land and advised me to relocate to UK to teach! It sounded preposterous. My manuscripts followed me, the way Moses carried his writings of their lives in Egypt over to Canaan. I never thought my writings would ever get published! It is amazing that people read our books and see God’s glory but never imagine the fire we have passed through or are passing through! Some of these experiences are reflected in my writings. In this land of Milk and Honey the Lord has brought us, may our writings continue to help people see God’s plan for their lives and increase their knowledge of God. Amen. Sophia Anyanwu is a multi-genre writer and poet. Her books are available from her website: www.olusolasophiaanyanwuauthor.com , Amazon or local bookshops. ARE YOUR STEPS OF THE GOOD PERSON IS ORDERED BY THE LORD
A TV evangelist I listened to a while ago said that God is the opposite to how a satnav works. It will direct you all the way, step by step. But with God, we don’t audibly hear His directions all the way. He points the way to go and we are left to trust that whatever steps we make is right. This calls for our trusting God. Every book we are writing is an unknown until it is finished and published. Looking back at leaving Nigeria 21 years ago to come to the UK, I ask myself if I am a risk taker. Did I place my faith in luck or God? Was I aware of the scripture above? Certainly not as I do now! God loves people who take bold actions and take the plunge in faith. People were surprised when I came over to the UK in Jan 2003 leaving my family behind. My two youngest were 5 and 7 and the other three were in secondary school. I had no promise of a job, a home of my own or when my family would join me. I had stepped out knowing that God would sort it all out. By June 2004, my family joined me in the UK, by God’s grace!! As writers, we shouldn’t let fear keep us in the boat but like Apostle Peter reach out boldly to whatever God has called us to do in our writing carers. Doors will open to miracles and accomplishment of dreams! Can you take risks in your writing, try that genre you can’t venture into or start a writing group? I urge you to step out of that boat and follow the calling of the Lord in spite of the waves! I prophesy the next step and level in your writing career, more reviews, more books and great inspiration by God’s grace. We trigger God’s favour and blessings when we apply the principle of faith in our writing. When I took the step to write NaNoWriMo in Nov 22, God liked it and in 2 weeks, I completed a 50,000 words novel: Prophetess! My prayer for you all is that God will continue to order your steps and you shall eat the fruit of your labour. May He bless you mentally, emotionally, physically, financially and whatever your needs are. May we all soar in our writing careers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen ACW MAIDEN POST!!
This is my maiden post on getting the go ahead to join the blessed team of More Than Writers in August. When I thought about what to write, I picked on the advice I had gotten from one of the ACW sessions I had attended in July 2020 that no writing should ever go to waste. Just Like our Heavenly Father took a part of Adams rib to create Eve, his wife, it made me think of every part of the human anatomy – no matter how minuscule or large, the Lord God found some use and purpose for their role in the human body. NOTHING IS WASTED. So, welcome to my ‘NOTHING IS WASTED SERIES,’ in which my first episode springs from a writing task I took part in. We were all asked to engage in a ‘freewheeling’ exercise. The topic was ‘Creating amidst Chaos’ - about God’s creation and creativity. He created a magnificent world in the midst of chaos! That tells me that like our Father, we must continue to be creative no matter the ‘chaos’ we are in. Beauty will come out of ashes. Below is that writing exercise raw and undiluted! Just letting my thoughts fly anywhere to no purposeful destination in subject matter is amazing. There is no stopping – just like the invisible wind freely blowing in any direction. As I freely write, I become conscious of my mind – is it empty? What is in there? There is no time to pause or think – my writing like the wind is just blowing whither it wants, not caring about rubbish, mistakes, common sense or not, beauty or not – or like the chaos we have talked today. Well, just as the wind carries up dust particles, objects and anything in its wake so goes my writing in this page picking up anything that my mind throws at it as it scribbles on. The wind gets fast, busy, cold or even hot and sometimes even dangerous. I can think of times when I have felt the teeth of the wind on my skin and inside my nose – These were not pleasant. How about when the wind is still and absent? I felt hot and uncomfortable. And then I remembered those times when the wind was beautiful to feel on my entire body. I thought about the majesty of Abba my Father in Heaven and blew him invisible kisses for sending such feelings of love from the wind caressing my entire being and making my soul at one with Him. At that moment, there was definitely satisfaction, contentment, peace and the feeling to fly and be carried away or to ride with the wind to wherever it would take me!! TESTIMONY TIME!!
#TestimonyTime On October 21st, which was a Saturday, we hosted an author event to celebrate Black History Month in Abbey Wood Library in South East London. Chidi came from the Midlands, Bisi from Kent and Tinuke and I came from South East. We formed a WhatsApp platform to rub our minds together. Closer to the date, we got together in a zoom to know ourselves better and put the finishing touches that would lead to the success of the event, such as who and how we would take charge of Prayers, Photography, Timing, MC, Quiz, Refreshments, Order of events in the program and arranging the hall. We prayed for good weather, attendees, library staff and event success. We came in to the Library to set up two hours before the event. We each had tables that we personalised to suit our book themes and our backgrounds. We arranged the chairs and we took photographs .The event began with Tinuke praying and introducing Black History. We found out that our audience did not know where, why and what year Black History had started or why it is celebrated in October in the UK but February, in the US. The audience was engrossed and engaged and found the quiz session sensational. I have put a few below to give you a run. See how many you know without Google’s help! God was so faithful. The event had begun at exactly at 2pm. Even though it was a rainy afternoon, every seat was filled up by 2.15pm. By 4pm, we had covered the steps of refreshment, author’s presentations, plenary, photographs and sales. God was so good and I felt so grateful because many people had phoned to give their apology for their absence. If all our guests had turned up, there would have been no room to contain them! God went ahead and brought the right number of people in. Thirty. They graced our tables, picked our books, got them signed and we all made fair sales. At the time, I had an annoying cough and worried that I would lose my voice, get ill or even cough during my presentation. God took control and none of my fears was realised! Everyone testified that it was a huge success! The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16b KJV I testify God’s goodness and faithful! He caused us to rejoice, to have success and experience love! Here are some Black History quiz questions. Answers provided by day’s end! Let me know below how many you know [without Google}:
#Testimony #Prayer #AuthorEvent #ACW #Iamwriting #Quiz PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS!
We all love to hear good news! Its bring excitement and joy and in most cases could be life changing like in the cases of a new baby, a new career, a job promotion, a long expected healing or even a new published book! I bring you all the good news of my new book ‘The Captive’s Crown’ which came out on Amazon last night. One week early!! [ It reminds me of a premature baby]. I thank God and I am so grateful to Liz Carter for making the publishing on Amazon possible. I recently thought of the Easter story. Our Lord Jesus Himself had asked his followers to go and proclaim the Good News of His resurrection and that He was the way to the Father through faith in Him, our Lord Jesus. This was going to be done by word of mouth with the Holy Spirit’s help. In our generation, however, I thank God there are so many communication channels. It took angels, shepherds, a star, the three wise men and John the Baptist to proclaim the Good News of the Messiah. As writers, how would our Lord love us to proclaim the gift He has given us? Or the books He has enabled us to write for the benefit of the world? I wonder why I felt afraid to tell the world about my new book. It took some nerves to put it out there on Facebook! It is now available on line! Today also marks the anniversary of ‘Stories from the Heart’. I looked at its progress in terms of reviews and sales and I remembered to thank God. He says, ‘Give thanks in all circumstances.’ 1 Thessalonica 5:18. I also remembered the wisdom to appreciate little beginnings. So, today, I want to encourage us to be bold about our talents and let God know how grateful, proud and privileged we are to be proclaiming good news, no what form this might take. Let us also appreciate each other’s talents by ‘going to tell it on the mountains, the hills and everywhere!’ Some of us are already very good at supporting others but some people still struggle with proclaiming the good news of a newly published book. Some of us too find it so uncomfortable to request for support via reviews. I would like to know below if you are the type that is confident in sharing the good news of your published book and how you canvass for its reviews. Also, I would appreciate if you could share how you link your MTW posts directly to your blog! That’s a good way of proclaiming the good news of your book! Blessings!! To understand success in marriage is to firstly understand the concept of love and sacrifice. Many people marry for convenience, pressure, lust, compatibility, selfish desires and duty. Before you get married, purpose it on your mind to not compare your spouse to be like your parents or anyone else. The feelings of like and love are similar but the difference is that LOVE forgives a multitude of sins – 1 Corinthians 13:5 and will stand stronger in the storms of life. Learn to accept that no one is perfect and that both of you can’t have it all, in terms of your wishes, wants and desires in a spouse. Desire the gift of marriage even when there is no one in your life. Learn to consciously remember what the scriptures say about God granting you the desires of your heart –Psalm 37:4. And always remember that there is an enemy [the devil] who can take various ways, forms etc to bring you down. The devil is looking for whom to destroy. 1 Peter 5:8 Work on your weaknesses. Samson was listening to strange women and they brought him down. David lusted after women in heart and flesh. It got him down. Miriam was envious of Moses and it got her down. Hannah’s co wife, Penninah, was boastful towards Hannah. None of her children was chosen by God. Those who murmured against a prophet of God got killed. Eve and Adam disobeyed God and lost paradise .Some people do not follow in the good steps of their parents patterned for them – Samuel‘s sons in the bible, unlike their father were wayward. Both David and Solomon also had wayward children. These are few biblical examples. Also, Queen Asheri didn’t honour her husband and lost her throne and place as wife to the king, in the story of Queen Esther in the Bible. In our present times today, the major reason why many marriages fail, right from the beginning is the sin of pride. This can come in the form of lacking humility before a spouse. Does a spouse talk down to the other? Does a spouse deliberately ignore the needs of the other? Or does a spouse indirectly show disrespect through the way relatives and family members are treated? Does a spouse continually disregard the personal space of the other? Does a spouse look down on the other’s career, weaknesses or disability? All these and more are labelled offence in the bible –Luke 17:1 because they are ways that tempt a spouse to sin by causing marital conflict. Also, remember that it takes two to quarrel. Purpose it consciously in your heart, body, soul and mind that you will always be a person of peace. Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called children of God - Matthew 5:9. This means loving peace and hating conflict. It means you are ready to forgive , even when you are the victim or the offended party. It means you are willing to be humble enough to say ‘ sorry’, when you are the offending spouse or be ready to say ‘I’m sorry’ for the sake of peace, even when you are the innocent spouse. Understanding the concept of peace, unity, sacrifice and love is wisdom. Wisdom is Key. Proverbs 4:7. Of course, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom –Proverbs 9:10. So having the fear of God will enable a couple ensure that the foundation of their marriage is based on God’s Rock – Jesus. 1Corinthinss 3:11 and Deuteronomy32:4. Talking about Jesus here is the best example because He is the epitome of love and sacrifice. Can a spouse give up or sacrifice something like denying themselves their pleasure, comfort, time, convenience or their leisure, for examples, to grant the need of their spouse? This is where sacrifice comes in. It is tied to love. See I Corinthians 13. It is all about love and sacrifice. It is what LOVE is really about. Are you read to sacrifice? Then you can love!! PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS!
We all love to hear good news! Its bring excitement and joy and in most cases could be life changing like in the cases of a new baby, a new career, a job promotion, a long expected healing or even a new published book! I bring you all the good news of my new book ‘The Captive’s Crown’ which came out on Amazon last night. One week early!! [ It reminds me of a premature baby]. I thank God and I am so grateful to Liz Carter for making the publishing on Amazon possible. I recently thought of the Easter story. Our Lord Jesus Himself had asked his followers to go and proclaim the Good News of His resurrection and that He was the way to the Father through faith in Him, our Lord Jesus. This was going to be done by word of mouth with the Holy Spirit’s help. In our generation, however, I thank God there are so many communication channels. It took angels, shepherds, a star, the three wise men and John the Baptist to proclaim the Good News of the Messiah. As writers, how would our Lord love us to proclaim the gift He has given us? Or the books He has enabled us to write for the benefit of the world? I wonder why I felt afraid to tell the world about my new book. It took some nerves to put it out there on Facebook! It is now available on line! Today also marks the anniversary of ‘Stories from the Heart’. I looked at its progress in terms of reviews and sales and I remembered to thank God. He says, ‘Give thanks in all circumstances.’ 1 Thessalonica 5:18. I also remembered the wisdom to appreciate little beginnings. So, today, I want to encourage us to be bold about our talents and let God know how grateful, proud and privileged we are to be proclaiming good news, no what form this might take. Let us also appreciate each other’s talents by ‘going to tell it on the mountains, the hills and everywhere!’ Some of us are already very good at supporting others but some people still struggle with proclaiming the good news of a newly published book. Some of us too find it so uncomfortable to request for support via reviews. I would like to know below if you are the type that is confident in sharing the good news of your published book and how you canvass for its reviews. Also, I would appreciate if you could share how you link your MTW posts directly to your blog! That’s a good way of proclaiming the good news of your book! Blessings!! |
AuthorOlusola Sophia Anyanwu Archives
April 2024
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