Tribute to a most dearly beloved brother
I had a nick name for Pastor Babatunde Afensimi Adebayo, my beloved brother. I called him ‘Patriarch’ and he called me ‘Matriarch’ mostly, and sometimes he called me, Wordsworth, and beautiful daughter of the Most High God. We frequently chatted on WhatsApp and occasionally did video calls. In the years of 2017 and 2020, my beloved Brother Tunde would read and give feedbacks on each of my published books through WhatsApp! He prayed for my writing career and blessed me. He became inspired to start writing his memoir, which is uncompleted due to his health challenges. We shared a very unique relationship and had a deep fondness for one another. I came to realise that Bro Tunde was a most private man treading the earth with caution, following God painstakingly with undivided attention and unflinching loyalty. His last text to me was on 27th December 2022. He informed me that he was hospitalised and could not take calls. He never mentioned the nature and details of his ailment. He never wanted anyone to get anxious about his health. His faith in God endeared my brother towards me over the years. He would always end his text messages with, ‘God has been my strength and Shepherd. Glory to him.’ His sudden transition to glory was a huge shock to me and all our family members because he had always put up a strong front. He was a father figure on our A Adebayo Forum. He would always declare Christmas and New Year blessings. He constantly prayed for all his siblings. A great encourager he was. When we lost one of our beloved sisters in May 2022, he had said, ‘We serve a God before whom there is no impossibility.’ He always sent out such hopeful messages to siblings who were facing challenges in their lives and prayed with intensity. Brother Tunde was someone who would generously respond to my ‘Happy New Month’ with prayers and blessings in return. I also received his prayers and blessings for each new week. He was a man who loved his mother so much and would always share quotes from her such as, ‘Not to ever eat poison out of shyness!’ Due to his health challenge, he expressed deep regret at not being able to attend most weddings of his nieces and nephews. He once expressed concern that our youngest sister had not responded to his text. Five days later, he texted me saying, ‘Sister Funke has just called me and we spoke. Thank you our beloved Mother Hen.” Bro Tunde was so grateful to God for miracles in his life. He proudly shared some with me, like how a befitting 70th birthday celebration party in January 2020 was organised for him after 20 years of his retiring from the university! In November 26, 2021, the university formally named a very big hall, in perpetuity after him as: Babatunde Afen Adebayo Multipurpose Hall and in December that same year, he received a Meritorious Service to FUTA [Federal University of Technology, Akure] back dated to 1999. He said he was the 6th Registrar of the university and none had received such great respect and appreciation as he had! To him, God had ‘qualified the unqualified’ and deserved ‘his reason to praise, worship and thank God Almighty’. He said he never mentioned his health issue at FUTA. He mentioned how God sent him Dr Bamgboye, a kidney transplant specialist, a friend and brother to bless his life. It was through Brother Tunde that I learnt of his pride in his children’s careers. He said they were a source of joy and happiness to him in particular. He mentioned the unique and blessed relationship of over 55 years with a friend and ‘brother from another mother’, a dentist, a doctor and retired naval commodore - Brother Bola Sanni. He mentioned late Uncle Rufus Adebayo whom our dad connected him to in 1973 who became like a second father to him. I enjoyed Brother Tunde’s humour, witty expressions and proverbs. When in August 2021, he was telling me about his progress in his writing, he wrote, ‘When a lady has not seen danger, she runs holding her breasts but when she confronts real danger, she forgets she has any breasts! This was him explaining about his health. When I sent him the platinum jubilee booklet for my husband, in 2020, he had said, ‘ I will comb it with an eagle eye.’ He read English and majored in Literary Appreciation and Criticism. One of his responses to encourage my writing when I had asked whether Lord Jesus would be angry with me for imagining His life not mentioned in the bible, he had quoted Revelation 22: 18 – 19, then said that ‘he did NOT think writers of Biblical fiction were adding or subtracting from the Bible, if they did not sin against the Holy Spirit, which includes the denial that Jesus was born by the virgin Mary, died on the cross for our sins and resurrected on the 3rd day or blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.’ That birthed my new book yet to be published. He described the years of 2011 -2013 as the “good years” when he passed through the shadows of death. He said this period features greatly in his book. He blessed our Uncle, Chief Alex Adebayo, who visited him often to pray for him. He considered the part of his life when he did not grow up with our dad as ‘painful, ugly and bitter’ and had asked the Lord to ‘put the past behind’ him for the rest of his life. ”I have put my hand on the plough and I pray not to look back – Luke 9:62. I have given my life and my ALL to Him. My past is gone forever and I hold no grudge against anyone.” He was a loving brother and family man. He surprised me when he sought me out at Unife in 1979 when he was doing his masters. He also paid me a visit in Port Harcourt in 1993! It was a joyous reunion. When we lost our father in 2004, he gathered us all, his siblings, and he and his wife feasted us with a reunion luncheon. Occasionally, when we spoke on phone he mentioned how grateful he was to God for his wife, his children and siblings. I will deeply miss him and our fellowship. May his soul continue to rest in eternal peace and glory. I will end with a praise verse I composed for him in 2020 after he had just sent me a photograph of himself: “My handsome princely Patriarch. The man himself!! Deep as deep is mysterious with wisdom that is fascinating as complexity. A lover of God and totally dependent on His mercy. A man who has known and experienced the goodness and mercy of God. A poet at heart. A passionate man in his intelligence and reasoning. A very cautious man from Sabon Gidda. He x-rays first with his sight and measures words with an invisible scale. You are a wonderful man that beholds the world with a serene face that masks a contemplative and benevolent spirit.” From me Olusola Sophia Anyanwu.
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ELIZABETH ADEBAYO
I called her ‘Mummy Lizzy’. As wife to my junior brother, Femi[Soupie], I noticed that Mummy Lizzy never called me by my name or even used the ‘Sister’ title used by Christians and Africans alike to indicate seniority or respect. She had her own name coined for me which was, ‘Auntiiiiiiiiiii’ - in text messages, phone calls and in person, I would hear the ring tone of her voice; it always brought a smile. It is a name that symbolised her love, fondness, friendship and a special bond between us that showed the uniqueness of how she valued me in the family. A special intimacy. I truly cherished it. I first took an immediate liking to Mummy Lizzy the day she brought a delicacy I had never tasted in my life. Plantain wrapped in egg and then fried – like a ‘ pig in blanket’ kind of meal. On hearing my compliments, she brought it for me during each visit to our home then in Bodija, Ibadan. Her beauty, loveliness, charming personality, elegance, and easy to please nature drew her to the Adebayo family. Soupie knew he had indeed found his better half from God. Even his NYSC posting to Sokoto couldn’t put them asunder and they eventually served together in Ogun State, Nigeria. When I relocated to the UK, with my children without my husband, we lived with Mummy Lizzy and family. Her sterling qualities became even more apparent. We were absorbed with no feelings of awkwardness, inconvenience, partiality or disapproval. She became the senior sister I never had. She and her family made her home the nursery bed I needed before being transplanted to the UK world on my own. I was nourished, educated, groomed, pampered, pruned, and cultivated as you would read in the ensuing paragraphs. You will agree with me that there is no sister in law like her kind! I came into her home with a full Nigerian mentality. I hadn’t found a job and so I busied myself. Without her permission, I rearranged her fridge several times when I was ‘tidying up’ the house. If I saw bread and snacks thrown in the bin, I would bring them out and restore in the fridge. I did not understand the ‘Best before’ dates. I did the same to toilet rolls, bathing soaps and toothpaste. I picked them up from the thrash can and restored them because these were items that were used till completely depleted. Not once did she ever frown or complain. She and her husband let me be! Whenever my husband phoned from Nigeria, she would rush with the phone to meet me upstairs where my children and I had taken over my niece’s room. She always gave me my privacy as I spoke with my husband for hours. She it was who would bring the phone and say, ‘phone your husband. He must be missing you!’ When I moved to my first home in Gravesend, my first rude shock was the telephone bill for the month that came to £400! I had lived a whole year in Mummy Lizzy’s home using the phone and never realised the cost incurred. She and her husband never complained! While in Nigeria, I remember practising with my family how to speak ‘in tongues’ - the acceptable English language to be spoken in the UK. It did not go well. Mummy Lizzy was present when I was speaking to an employer and her amusement caused me to lose control. I ended the call and we both laughed till tears came out of our eyes. She followed me to interviews and helped ‘interpret’ questions when I was confused by the British accent then. By God’s grace, she was instrumental in my getting appointed as a supply teacher with Link Education and other agencies. Mummy Lizzy sacrificed time, devotion and attention in settling the children in schools, considering they came to the UK in August. She helped place Sharon and Philomina in school. When I told her I had found a school for Augustus, she insisted it had to be a grammar school, despite my mentioning the exotic facilities which had so impressed me. Mummy Lizzy still went ahead and eventually by God’s grace, Augustus was placed in Wilmington Grammar school and Stephen in St Columbus. I remember those train trips she accompanied us for university options for Augustus. When my children and I were given a home in Gravesend a year later, we were so touched and flabbergasted. It was a furnished home!! Even as I write, I do not know who or how it was funded. When I asked Mummy Lizzy, she said, ‘Auntiiiiii’. She never went further than that. For the first one month, she and her husband came to ensure we knew how gas, electricity and electronics worked. She sorted out the kitchen and dining room. The beautiful wooden stand for knives and the tall eye catching triangular wooden décor in our home testify that she was a woman of taste. At family gatherings, I remember her salads. She was an excellent cook and I had the privilege to taste ‘Edikankong soup’ several times. I remember those Saturdays when she and her husband went to the market to buy plenty of fish and meat. They said, ‘Your children need to eat plenty of meat! Mummy Lizzy modelled unity in marriage. I lived in that one year seeing her modesty, respect, honour and devotion to my brother, her husband. My family was introduced to the larger family of the Brethren Fellowship, where she was Mother to all. Over my one year stay in my brother’s home, Mummy Lizzy was the perfect hostess. Family from Nigeria came and their home was their home. Cousins bonded and we adults all told our tales of life in Nigeria, UK, our careers etc. It was during such times that Mummy Lizzy knew about my manuscripts and encouraged me to get them typed. She was willing to help as she usually typed up my CVs and personal statements for jobs. She was the first person to read my ’Stories for Younger Generations’ and gave me confidence about my writing. Mummy Lizzy had a generous heart - always looking to the need of others. She was my praying partner. She always prayed for others. Not once did she mention to me her health challenge. She reminds me of my mother in this respect - not wanting to create a burden in my heart. Even though her health situation was not perfect towards the end of her life, yet she praised God and said, ‘what God cannot do does not exist.’ She continued to sing and worship the Lord like nothing was happening to her. Mummy Lizzy had grace from God to bear whatever season she went through. She would tell me how she went for chemo and radiotherapy like she just went to the post office. She never mentioned to me in words or in name what it was that was ravaging her body system. Up till her last conscious breath, she vowed that she would write a book about how God had healed her and gave her the grace to hold her faith in him. I could go on and on about my darling Mummy Lizzy; my praying partner, adviser, helper, my sister and friend combined and this booklet will not be able to take other people’s tributes. As this is just a tribute to her memory, I cannot fit in all the years up to her last moments on Earth with me. I cannot here fit in the full impact of my loss of her. By the grace of God, I am writing a poetry booklet about Mummy Lizzy as a wife, mother, sister and Matriarch of the Brethren Fellowship. It will be dedicated to her memory and her graceful life in Christ. It will be titled, ‘UNLESS A SEED FALLS.’ The name ‘Elizabeth’ means ’pledged to God’ or ‘God is my oath’ Below is my acronym of the letters that spell [ELIZABETH]: E – EMBODIMENT OF FAITH AND EVANGELIST OF GOD L - LOYAL AND LOVING TO THE CORE FOR GOD I – INSPIRING AND INTERCESSOR FOR GOD Z – ZEALOUS WITH ZEST AND ZEAL FOR GOD A – APPRECIATIVE AND ANNOINTED SAINT OF GOD B –BEAUTIFUL AND BLESSED OF GOD E – ENCOURAGER, ENERGISED AND EAGER FOR GOD T – TRUTHFUL AND TRIUMPHANT TO THE END FOR GOD H – HUMBLE SERVANT AND HELPER OF GOD Mummy Lizzy knows perfect peace that passeth human understanding. She has joined the triumphant and celestial Saints above. She rests in the bosom of Him who called her. She is in her perfect form. She lives in glory. She fought the good fight with all her might and wears the victor’s crown in Heaven. I see her every day and all the time smiling at me from her pictures in my family gallery. What a valiant soldier of Christ, you were!! Good bye Mummy Lizzy my darling sister. Sarah. I will see you again. There will be no pain of parting but the promise of our future in eternity. By Olusola Sophia Anyanwu. June 2022, UK. “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. 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 THAT 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!! |
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July 2024
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