Reassignment

It’s been a long time coming, but I kept postponing it, praying that you would pick up the cue and desist from thrusting my heart with your harsh words. Yet, your egotistic self, which hides a complex by the way and must be assuaged, continues. I felt like a prey, which must be hunted and subjected to verbal torture and systematic tearing down.

E do!
I no gree again!

Hence, I’m reassigning you and the likes of you lot to another compartment. My late mentor, Ubong King, taught me in one of his classes to compartmentalise and don’t get too excited or cocky about it. You are a step away out of the entire cycle.

If I put you in the ‘avoid’ category, it’s not healthy for me either. Nah another level this year, and I’m not dragging rubbish along with me. We have the waste management system to handle that. In other words, shape up or hit the road, Jack!

When will people learn speech boundaries and open their mouth up in wisdom. The good Book says, “Even a fool who is silent is thought to be wise” (My paraphrase) – Proverbs17:28. So, shut up sometimes. Silence is not only golden. It is priceless!

NB: There’s a time to SHOUT o… and I mean it. I’m not referring to those circumstances here.

I choose Joy!

I Am IMAN – I Manifest Adonai’s Nature
#UnapologeticallyMe
#Iman
#imaninspires
#imanwrites
#imaniking

@imanikel 09022024 Frances Kelvin Otung (c)

And My Faith Grew…

Today, I had an interesting conversation with one of my very dear friends. She was in a dilemma of some sort and honestly, as of today, I couldn’t offer her the assistance she needed (she knew, but still came to me). I thought about it and as we spoke, I knew why.

You see, we have different friends that play several and differing roles in our lives. She has her role in mine and it is a balanced one. Today, she needed to unburden her heart and ensure that I knew where she was at. Beyond that, she needed sound counsel from me. By the way, I have friends we gist and laugh a lot, but at some other times, I just call them up to rant and talk endlessly. They would sit quietly and let me unburden and then pray with me. Cool right? You should have one or two of those I tell you. Before you run off, you should be one of those to someone too!

As we spoke, I could feel her tend towards hopelessness and I remembered that a few months back, we had a conversation and after that we prayed and I said to God after the call, “don’t embarrass Yourself o! I’ve told her she will get an answer from You!” I won’t lie, she needed that answer in a few days and though I promised her on His behalf that it will happen. I had my own questions. Hmmm.

Why? You ask, ‘did I do that?’
Because I know I had spoken His Word and His Word is who He is.
I knew He would respond to His Word
I had faith in her faith…the way she said the ‘amen’ was something else, so I believed more than I prayed. That’s why I told Him, I had done my part, He should do His.
And oh yes, HE DID!

As we spoke today, I reminded her that the God who did that then isn’t bankrupt and doesn’t need an account, so we can’t say He’s run out of money. I shared how we are told that ‘you reap what you sow, but in many folds’. Then the Holy Spirit said to me “If you sow beans and you don’t need beans, you will get what you need”. The scriptures in Philippians 4:19 jumped at me “And my God shall fulfill every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” I said to her, “Yes, I may have sowed a bean seed, but if I need a house, that’s what I will get as long as my faith is in place” and I never thought about it till we had today’s discussion.

We gisted about my Shoe-Faith. What is “Shoe-Faith”? Whenever I need shoes (whatever kind), I simply just say to God (no formality to it), I need a pair of shoe (or shoes), state the height of the heel, the kind (canvas or work shoe or flats etc) and the quantity and He gives me more! I also noticed that the same goes for phones, I’ve never bought myself a phone (definitely for the Heritage – my children, and the house) but I’m always given a phone. My last phone had been begging to be changed because the memory was always full. So I told Him about it and viola! It came. So with phones and shoes, all I need do is ask Him. Once, He said to me, why don’t you use that Shoe-Faith for every other thing you need. I wish I could, it’s so easy with shoes (or so I think), but it just faith at work. And it works all the time.

After all these *tory. We prayed and by the time the call ended, even the walls knew a different person was on the other end of the line. Her voice sounded lighter and I could feel her faith tangibly!

My pastor says it all the time, “Faith is Rest” and I’m resting and enjoying the fruit of the labour Christ finished on the Cross, how about you?

*tory means gist

@imanikel 12042023 (c) Frances Kelvin Otung

#MyLagos – The Comical Driver

One thing I’d miss when I stop my daily commute with commercial vehicles, will be the stories from drivers/passengers and their different perspectives to life. Everyone has an opinion and in my Lagos, the one with the loudest voice and knowledge (whether it’s true or false) gets an audience. But, the beautiful thing is, people are aware, so you’d want to be careful with the information you trade or you will be ridiculed even in my Lagos and amongst the agberos (area boys) sef.

I happened to be in this vehicle with a very comical driver. He said so many things that had me in stitches:
1) He picked a guy along the way, gave him a price for his destination and the guy beat down the price. The driver asked him if it was his first time in Lekki, because the price he was negotiating for didn’t sound like someone who had been to Lekki before. 🙈😳

2) My comical driver, received a call and from the tone of the conversation, he was supposed to remit money to the caller. The driver explained that he had lost his phone and had been praying that the caller would contact him. He promised to pay him at the end of the month (this was 26th January o). The caller was confused and asked him, “this month or next month?” The driver replied, “when is month-end?” The passengers erupted with laughter, as the conversation was not a silent one (though peaceful). It then occurred to the driver that the month had ended already.

3) I happened to sit in front with a young-lady between us. Apparently, the driver had been teasing her throughout the journey, he even bought water for her and they were in a conversation of some sort. I noticed someone kept interrupting their conversation with his call and she would say “I’m almost there”. During one of the calls, she told the guy who had been waiting, that she was near to his location. But this was about 5 bus-stops away 😮(she was at Igbuefon, but told him she was almost near Mega Chicken).
At this the driver stopped teasing her and said to her, “God said I should tell you, if you change your ways, He will bless you this year!”
She scoffed at him and his declaration, but he continued, “If I was a General Overseer or Pastor, you would believe me and shout ‘amen!’ don’t ignore me because I’m a Danfo driver”.
Her ‘man’ called again (by this time we were at Chevron and the traffic was not smiling) and she said she could almost see Mega Chicken 😮. At this point, the driver shook his head, and informed her that it would take another hour + to get there. I was bemused at such bold lies and suggested she better get down and fly a bike rather than tell lies. She got off and that ended her chapter.

4) Still in traffic, as we drove past the Chevron tollgate, into a sea of slowly-driven cars, one of the lady passengers enquired about his conductor and the driver asked if she wanted to leave a message for him, she responded that he was owing her a balance for her fare.
Uncle driver, told her that she could alight from the bus, that he will pass on the message to the conductor, when he picked him up down the road. after a while, Uncle driver asked her where her destination was and it was the last stop, to which he responded, “so why are you disturbing us?”

5) Further down the road, he picked someone he had been looking for and couldn’t reach. Another tale of missing phones and contact came from the fellow. Also, he recounted the drama that led to his abandoning his place of work. He mentioned how his employer accused him of stealing a client’s phone, only for the phone to be found in his employer’s brother’s bag; and the matter was killed without any drama.
According to him, that his name had been tarnished and until his former employer corrected this misdeed to his name, he wouldn’t have anything to do with him. The driver asked him if he wanted his employer to write his name in crayon.

This is just an evening on my way home. How has your day been in #MyLagos or your city? Do share.

@imanikel 280122 (c) Frances Kelvin Otung

#ThankfulThursday – People

Listening to my friend and colleague Vaso talk about people on his podcast this morning, I could totally relate. But I won’t ask like McReynolds to be delivered from people, but that I will be able to help people recognise their best selves daily as much as I can. Sometimes, it’s truly difficult to do that, but the power of the tongue doesn’t permit me to say some things my tongue desires to, cause I’m afraid I’ll just birth or bring into existence what I don’t want to see. 🙈

Well, the trick lately is to look at me and see, what part of me still needs working on, and I work it. So it seems my patience has been pulled in all directions lately, my mind attacked, my self-esteem tugged out…but the funny thing about my self-esteem is I had dealt with this one when I was a lot younger. So the attacks don’t reach there, they simply reinforce me!

How?
Since you asked, let me share…
So at an early age, I heard things like, “you are too chubby, too fat (for heaven’s sake I was a fat baby and fat babies are cute 😌, though heavy to carry and I didn’t like been carried while sitting, do the maths! LOL), your head is big, your …is big, your …is flat, are you Chinese – no disrespect, my people, but I heard a lot? Once, I took a tape and measured someone’s head and his was bigger than mine and yet he said I had a big head!
So whenever, someone mentioned my head, I told them that’s why I was wiser than them.😋
As for the big …, I see most of them now doing surgery to enlarge theirs…rolling my painted eyes at those memories. 👀

Well, people will always be people, but you have to determine the access you give them, the access into your space and mind to the point that they begin to matter or not.

When I wake in the morning, it’s refreshing to see people, even those who are outright annoying, at least they bring you back to reality that you are not yet a Spirit and there are still more for you to work on in this side of eternity. Beyond that, they form my daily interesting characters for #MyLagos Series.

Whatever you are thankful for today, be thankful for people!

@imanikel 041121 (c) Frances Kelvin Otung

Celebrating Pastor Paul

He has been called many names and Pastor

And because he speaks mighty well, an Orator

Listening to him, you can’t be satisfied with status quo

That results in time-wasting and unnecessary fiasco

It would seem his waking moments beckon with much action

Trying to capture it, he Calls for a Performing Generation

One known to have fought many battles to be here

Constantly says Something is About To Happen, don’t fear!

Yesterday, the accolades poured and I wondered

Should such a one be celebrated but once I pondered.

Today, I acknowledge him as one who bares himself

As he works the call upon his life, taking others from the shelf

I dwell in awe of one who truly loves his Asaba-Ijebu Princess

And misses no opportunity to let us know this essence.

As we appreciate you again soon,

May you hold the words we say (though not often), as true.

For indeed… you have not just been a Mentor, Life-Coach, Father

But also a Prophet, Priest, Leader, Transformer and we seek no other!

©2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

 

 

The Queen is back!

Needing respite and more inspiration, I quickly grabbed the opportunity by my colleague to follow him to an art Gallery just around the corner. Of course I know I’m going to an Art Gallery, so by default, I’m expecting to see Artworks and more Artworks and probably some ‘crazy looking Artwork!’

But nothing…NOTHING prepares you for the world you are about to step into!

I was blown away!

I felt like a child in her favourite toy shop…I went from one section to the other.

I’m told (and I also noticed) that I hadn’t even gone to the other levels yet.

I’m sure you are already itching to know what happened…hold it!

You see, it’s one thing to walk in somewhere and all you get is that ‘nose-in-the-air’, ‘the-animals-with-horns-were-called-for-a-meeting-and-the-snail-went-also‘ attitude. After being weighed, scaled and found wanting on their faulty scale, no one gives you the attention that should be given to a guest. But not so here. It was all warmth and colours and dress-change. You will understand in a moment as I let the pictures speak.

1st outing

I’ve forgotten the Prof’s name…not good

I love these beads

I felt at peace in this corner

All hail the Queen!

Mama and I…she’s such a joy!

Kingsley, my colleague

Kingsley, I and Victor (inspirator)

Oti, I and Victor…a tale of 2 shots

Mama Nike and I

The fingers have it!

I love this clock and we took a pix 2gether

Selfie things

The stool was the Nigerian shape

Mama dressed me up!

Infront of the Forest pix with hidden faces

A kaleidoscope of colours!

Pouting things

By the way, I went to Nike’s Art Gallery and meet MAMA! So cool abi? We had a little chat, and she shared great joys in simple things. You could see her love for Arts shine through. She talked about how you could easily create art, whilst showing us Artwork from Bicyle tyres, disposable cups and paper etc. I left there deciding not to throw broken wares away but create beauty and more inspired than when I got there.

I met a Prof or Dr. but sadly I can’t remember his name. He stays in Colombia (I think), Oh my goodness, why didn’t I just write this down. I guess I was too overwhelmed with all the beauty. I met an elderly man, I think it’s Mama’s hubby but I didn’t ask him. We had an interesting conversation and I told him I was married to an artist too. He wanted to know if it was the ‘dada-kind’, told him the ‘afro-pops-kind’ and by the time I showed him King’s picture with his afro and suit looking dapper, he exclaimed “Now that’s a proper artist, I’d like to meet him”. So King got an appointment without seeking one! LOL. Yet to go there though.

Did I mention? She signed my book which I bought there (at a discount) and offered us drinks! Who does that?! I’ll be visiting her shortly for a proper interview and to see the other levels of beauty I had missed out on. I think you should go see things for yourself.

© 2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved.

What’s your story?

Every one has a story to tell. The “Once-upon-a-time-stories” always end with “and they lived happily ever after” but that’s in the kiddies books you know! In life, it sometimes starts bad, middle good and end bad. Other times its simply yummy…and I love those yummy seasons. Though I won’t deny that the rough times, groom me and toughen me up while increasing my faith. Loving on you Jesus!

But in all the different episodes that life gives you, I will always encourage you to look for the lesson, learn it well and fast and move on to the next page. There’s so much joy to discover, don’t get stuck in the rut and live your whole life on Act 1 Scene 1 alone. Move on! Explore! LIVE!

Today, I’ll post a link to a friend’s story and how it has made her view life differently and decide to help people she meets and also improve herself. Kash, (I call her ‘Cheque’, don’t tell her I said so. LOL. But she knows that already) is one person you want as a member of your crew. She is a willing help/helper. Always follows-up to see if you have concluded on the assignment. Is she all yummy like that? Nope, she is a people-reader and so tries to relate with you accordingly, though still showing her sweet nature until you intentionally ‘push’ her away with your bad attitude.

Was she always this nice? I guess not! Would you like to know how she got changed? I bet you do! What are you waiting for? Go read and if you want me to hear what you have to say, please share your story. https://fidelitybank.ng/mytoughjobstory/index.php/miss-kashimana-ichaver/

Please don’t forget to vote for her by clicking on the ❤ sign, if you love what you read and I’m hoping you will like I did!

Enjoy your evening!

Picture source: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leadership-supervisory-skills/six-keys-to-crafting-your-story/

©2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

#911 – 14 years later

14 years later

September 11th is here again
14 years later with its reminders of pain!
It’s been easier to bear as the years roll
Because we have seen worse tragedies untold
But nothing prepares one for the pain of loss
Nor can one its emptiness afford
You’ve been gone all this while
And time has taken flights in miles.
I’ve met FK because of you
And had some sort of closure even if few
Remembering you and others today
In a somewhat sad happy way.

© 2015. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

Bring it back Lucile!

The first time I met Lucile was because of a post she wrote on telling the truth to a friend and the cost of it (that’s was not the topic but basically the content). Actually, I met two bloggers that day, the other one delighted in being bad and that brought him readship, after a while of seeing nothing interesting again, I unfollowed him and that was my first and only. But Lucile maintained her sweet nature all through the months and later confessed she wasn’t much of a writer, I didn’t believe her. Now I know she writes very well by that I mean – says it the way it is and at the same time tries not to hurt her readers by her sincerity.

Lucile is 😦 … why?

Because she just realised that some of our readers actually don’t read our post and that includes our Facebook friends, they just ‘like’ and move on. So to sift the wheat from the chaff she took off the LIKE button! And typical of Lucile to graciously explain why she did what she did. It is quite annoying to notice that people can ‘like’ a blank page. You will have to read her post to understand but it’s okay. At least she is srrounded by just people that want to be part of her world.

So what’s my point? I l ❤ ve Lucile’s page and she has amazing pictures and post. Occasionally, I like some pictures and comment on the ones that I can’t resist and now she’s made me 😦 by taking that away! I will respect her choice, while pleading for her to bring it back after a while though.

Hope you are much better Lucile. LOL and a big Hug.

© 2015. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved.

Ayus 4 sure

…and the song goes “who do you love?” we replied “Ayus 4 sure” and we all giggled.

Dear Ebony,

Funny how we met and became close over 22 years now…how times flies. Ours was not one of those planned meetings, maybe Divinity designed it that way before the foundations of the Earth, but somehow we struck a cord that has been difficult to break…who wants to break or spoil a good thing anyway?

Life and love has done its bit to put distance between us, so have other friends and ‘fiends’; but somehow we know the truth. You are one of those people I don’t have to dress up for (with you, I’m just me). Back then you were not the chatty type, but those who knew us thought I knew the fabric your dreams were made up of. Over the years, we have grown and have spoken…the things you didn’t tell me in school, my ‘concerns’ about your silence, have found answers. In one day you told me everything I needed to know from across 7 seas…and encouraged me to ask you about anything, which I did. Now I lay claims to knowing things others don’t 🙂 In that one conversation, you asked your own questions, stated your ‘fears’ and got your answers.

Strange how I started out being friends with your sister Ebikela whom I call ‘PC’ aka ‘Partners-in-Crime/Partners-in-Christ’, and ended up with you. Now my family and yours acknowledge me as your friend rather than hers. Other friends have come into my life like Darlene (Uche), Bola, Otibhor, etc. and for every one of them, I’m thankful for the part each play in my life…in your present absence.

Why do I love you?

For always knowing when I needed a good word, a rebuke, a hug…you can be such a Mummy, though I’m a year older…and you have a HEART!

For the poems, that said “I care and my shoulder is strong enough to carry that burden you bear,” I still have most of those poems you know…

You even wrote me a song …just for my birthday. Do you still remember the tune?

For the prayers, when my pains were beyond words and tears were all you got (especially in love matters…more like broken-heart issues),

For watching my back and wanting me to embrace peace at all cost.

For always remembering my birthday and I yours…you said to me some years ago when I made all attempts and couldn’t reach you on your birth date “that the jinx was broken”. God knows I tried, but hey…life happens. LOL

You taught me how to rhyme my poetry lines, now writing without rhymes is so difficult…sometimes I miss that! Also showing action via words in my poems, allowing my mind to run wild and free. It’s been a wonder-filled ride in that genre, all because you pointed the way *wink*

I know you know I love you but how much is what you are yet to grasp, and while you are still thinking about that, I ask again “who do you love?”

Always your Ivory.

* Challenge for My Dear Watson