1. God Never Fails; Life is in stages and I think that each stage is meant to prepare us for the next. The last two months of my life have been the toughest period of my life. I don't know how I made it through, but God did it. At a point I was ready to give up. 

  I remember wishing that the world would come to an end the night before the exams so that I won't have to write it. But it doesn't work that way. God is faithful and He never fails. Never. He did not fail me, He did not fail my friends and He will not fail you. Only trust in Him and do the right. 

2. Nothing is new under the sun; We had less than a week to prepare for an exam that we should have spent at least two months revising for. I was lamenting and complaining about how the college did not want us to pass until I was told that few years ago, a set had just a weekend to prepare. I comforted myself in the fact that despite the infinitesimal amount of time they had, people still passed. 

  Sometimes we think we are all alone, that no one could possibly understand what we're going through. No matter how difficult or horrible you think your situation might be, someone has been through something similar or even worse. Opening up to someone can help so will trusting God.

3. No man is an island; If there was one thing I really got to understand during that period, it was that we all need somebody. I am not good at studying with people, I used to think it was a waste of time. Well I know better now.
Words of encouragement can go a very long way to help someone. No matter how strong we think we might be, a time comes when we need someone to look beyond our 'I am fine'. I reached that point and beyond and thankfully I was surrounded with love, so much love. It was overwhelming.

4. There is light at the end of the tunnel; The process might be difficult but the joy of success is worth it. When I was told my result, all the aches and stress I was feeling due to the exam disappeared. Whatever pain we go through is for a greater good in the future. Trust God, trust the process, trust yourself.

  

  I hope that these lessons will be of help to you one way or the other. Have a beautiful weekend ahead.

Are there lessons you learnt from a difficult time in your life? Please drop them in the comments. Thanks.

                            Go Chizny it's your birthday 
We gonna party hard
It's your birthday 
Yeeaaahhh!! It's my birthday, forget the party part ( unless you are planning on hosting a surprise party for me then please by all means indulge me ). I am a year older, wiser, better and I wish I could say taller (but His Grace is ever sufficient). This past year has been the most amazing year of my life. I have grown (don't look at my height sha), but I really have grown. I look at myself and I marvel, there used to be a time when all I did was whine, complain and blame the world for everything I felt was wrong with me. I am not perfect, am not even looking for perfection, but I can confidently beat my chest and say I am better. I am still growing, still becoming and I couldn't be more grateful to every one who in one way or the other has contributed to my becoming. I love you all so much.
PS; the door is officially open, you can start sending in your gifts to avoid last minute rush. Have a blessed week ahead. 

                                     
It's been a long time since I posted anything on my blog, this has been due to many things, lack of subscription being chief among other things. Also, I have been busy with school work, my online courses and my projects. It's been hectic. But then I can't complain, God has been faithful. 

   
  The purpose of this post is to let you guys know I have not given up on my blog, I will be posting as regularly as I can. It is also to encourage you to avail yourselves of  online courses, some of them are free (like the one I registered for) and some are paid for (not much though).

  There are tons of things we can learn online, things I am only getting to know and boy am I glad? So brethren and sistrens instead of always going online to watch people's pictures or read BBN updates, try searching for courses online ( I recommend futurelearn.com) you'll be surprised at what you could learn.

  I love you guys so much, keep pushing, don't quit, believe in yourself believe in God, He has great plans for you.
                                                      #peace

   Chimamanda N. Adichie is a widely acclaimed author. At a point in my life she was my role model, I wanted to be like her. When I found out that she was a medical student before she switched to literature I was even more impressed. This to me was one person who was brave enough to follow her heart and for all I and the rest of the world know she's made it.
  
  When I saw her first novel -Purple Hibiscus, I  felt like I had found gold. I was just in JSS3 then and the book was one of the literature books senior students were studying. I begged and begged the senior student that owned the book to let me read it. Then I was a voracious reader, I read everything in print from newspapers to magazines to novels, everything readable and unlike my writing speed I could finish two novels in a day if I decided to. The senior finally agreed to let me have the book on the condition that I would return it the next day. I agreed. I spent the rest of the day on that book, it was intriguing and I was proud. I wouldn't call myself a feminist but whenever I see or hear of a female doing well in any field, a great sense of joy and pride feels my soul and am like -dem go hear am, who talk say we be the weaker sex. (does that make me a feminist?)
      
   As I read the book I had mixed feelings,  as of then I was in a Catholic school and to be honest apart from the hymns which I still sing to this day, I did not and to some extent still do not like anything about the doctrines of the Catholic Church (no offense). The reverend sisters taught us the doctrines and made us recite the rosary but I still did not find it comfortable, this was because I could not find biblical backings to this doctrines. The sisters did not make it any easier, whenever a question was asked they always referred us to books but never the Bible and if you insisted, you were said to be possessed. I stopped asking.

   To read that the reverend father seemed to or would I say had feelings for Kambili made me happy. I thought 'so they are not mechanical eunuchs after all, they have feelings'. I devoured that book but I still clearly remember having a disappointing feeling of unsatisfaction at the end. I don't know how I would have wanted it to end but I did not like the end. But I was still very proud and told all who cared to listen, my parents most especially, of the young igbo woman who could have been a medical doctor but decided to follow her heart in literature. 

   She was almost like a demi-god to me. She was amazing (did I forget to mention that I am a medical student and at one time I wanted to be a world acclaimed author like Chimamanda?). I did not read The Thing Around Your Neck because I couldn't get it, but when I heard she had written another book - Half of a Yellow Sun, I searched for it like American visa and I didn't find it. To hear that the book had been adapted into a movie made me happy. I told my parents about the Igbo lady who's novel had been adapted into a novel (don't call me a tribalist am sure I would have been proud of being Yoruba or Tiv or Fulani -their women are very beautiful, the much I've seen anyway, or any other tribe)

  I got the movie and I watched it and again I was disappointed. I just couldn't understand why Chimamanda could not write a book that would give me that satisfying feeling of a beautiful journey. I am a Christian and trust me not the sanctimonious holier than thou kind, am no saint. Her books to me do not seem to portray Christianity in good light, I do not know of her religious beliefs but at least her book seemed would you mind too much if I used the word -twisted.

  Kambili liked the reverend father and he seemed to like her too, but they couldn't have a relationship because he was a reverend father, her father was some sort of fanatic who could hurt his kids in the name of religion, her mother killed her father and let her son take the fall.

  Olanna loved her boyfriend ( I can't remember his name), no problem with that but then not only was she living with him, she was having sex with him and so was her sister with her own boyfriend.

  Then comes Americanah, Obinze loves Ifem as he fondly calls her, for some reason the drift apart  he gets married to someone else and when she comes back to town, he leaves his wife and kid because he wants her back.

    I have no problem with love, in fact I am a crazy romantic. I believe in true love and all that crap, I want to marry the man of my dreams someday and raise a family. But above all that I am a Christian, I believe in the word of God, in His supremacy. In a world where sexual immorality is on the increase, where divorce is the order of the day, I expected my role model to write to address this ills not to promote them. I expected her to emphasize on the sacredness of marriage and the matrimonial bed but to me she seemed to have fallen short.
 
  Note that I am no critic, I did not even offer literature in secondary school. I am just a young girl who is sick and tired of the way that wrong has been so much practiced that it is now accepted as the norm. A young girl who expected more from her role model. But then I can still make a difference in my own little way.
 
PS: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is still my best female author and I still am very proud of her. Let's just say I expected more. But then who am I to judge.