February 2002 was a definitely a roller coaster month that was full of ups and downs but by the end of the month, it ended A- okay.
The days leading up to the new month (February 2020) started out with series of calls to our agent, who was responsible for clearing our major client’s goods from the sea’s port. The news I kept getting wasn’t a positive one -‘there is congestion at the port, and all the goods coming into the country are stuck; there was no place for them to berth.’
First week, I proceeded on an ‘out of town’ visit to see my first two children in boarding school. I always look forward to seeing my children during ‘family weekends,’ but those trips have a way of wearing out the body especially when the plane ride takes more than 10 hours with a stop over, or sometimes, ‘two.’ On this trip, I had to make a stop-over in one city, rest for a night, and then carried on with my journey to their school, this time in a rental car. On my way there, a car rear- ended me unexpectedly and I found myself on the other side of the highway. My car wasn’t as badly damaged as the other car that was at fault, but both cars had to be towed away. I am so much thankful that the accident didn’t result in the loss of any life. I was shaken up a bit during and after the experience but the joy of seeing my children the following day overshadowed the surreal experience of the previous day. I spent the next couple of days with my teens and took the advantage of ‘teachable’ moments to coach and encourage them to pursue their academic and other goals, just like any mom would do. By the end of my visit, I was glad to have come a long way to be there for them, but i had to return back home, far away, where I still had the responsibilities of managing two businesses with 14 employees, while juggling family responsibilities and my personal upkeep.
By the second and third week, I had become very stressed out by the continued demands and pressure of being an entrepreneur in a bustling and very demanding city like Lagos, Nigeria. Every night, I consistently had a backlog of work that still had to be completed. I was mentally and physically drained by the daily grind of being a ‘working’ mom and couldn’t pinpoint why I had become exasperated but I knew that on top of the list was ‘our uncleared goods at the port.’ Amidst the stress and anxiety, I leaned on ‘family‘ and most importantly God to get me back into his ‘rest.’ As I prayed every day and asked God to show himself faithful, I got specific instructions on what to do or how to manage my time. At this time, I told God that I wanted the ‘port’ issue or anything that was responsible for my ‘drain’ to be behind me and dealt with by the end of ‘February 2020.’
By the fourth week, things began to get better as I took ‘one day at a time.’ On the last day of the month, February 29, 2020, we delivered our products to our major customer and I felt a huge burden on my heart lifted. God granted my wish and showed me that he was still in control of my affairs. Interestingly, despite the challenges that I faced during this month, I was still able to attend a spiritual class, cook for my family, attend a high performance coaching course, finish reading a book that I had started to read, while I balanced the operational demands of my businesses and the daily affairs of my home. I definitely have several takeaways from my ordeal and I am thankful to God for the experience. I take no credit- I was simply holding on to God’s promises, although many times I was anxious and worried. I am so glad that I felt so much better at the end the experience- I experienced an indescribable ‘peace,’ which I cannot describe, at the end of the it. The experience was the ‘testing’ of my faith, which produced ‘perseverance, which completed it work in me so that I could be mature and complete, and not lacking anything’ (James 1:3-4).
Dear reader, when life seems challenging, remember my write up- though my February 2020 was filled with ups and down, at the end of it, it turned out A-okay. Your roller coaster experience will eventually result in ‘calm,’ friend.