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| Source: Goggle |
Hello everyone!
Thank you so much for visiting this space today.
I am so happy to be alive today after going through and surviving Hurricane Harvey. The last few days have been unexplainable. I will share my experience in a detailed blog post soon.
Today, I will continue my personal testimony on life after my wedding day. In my last post, I shared my wedding day experience. Overall, it was a beautiful day however I allowed myself to be distracted by the things that didn't go according to plan. At the end of the day the most important thing is that I was joined in holy matrimony with God's special gift to me.
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As we drove out of the reception venue, I sighed a sigh of relief. Finally 'it' was over. I was exhausted and famished. We were told that we couldn't eat while in the reception hall; I guess for the sake of pictures or whatever. So we were stuck with drinks and snacks; thankfully I had breakfast that morning.
As our driver continued on the rode, he turned to ask us where we were headed. Imagine my astonishment when I turned to my husband and he didn't have a definite answer. He was responsible for planning the honeymoon...big mistake! Prior to our wedding day, I kept asking if the honeymoon plans were set and he would answer in the affirmative. It didn't take me long to realize that planning such things was not one of his strengths. I was too tired to be upset, I just wanted to eat and sleep.
To top it off, I wasn't comfortable; the driver had a passenger in the front seat that we didn't see earlier. Thankfully, my brother in law brought it to our attention and questioned him before we left the reception venue. However, I still wasn't comfortable with this random stranger.
My husband told the limo driver and his friend to drop us off at the Sheraton hotel after spotting it from a distance. "Good choice" I thought to myself. After unloading our things from the car, we said farewell to the limo driver and the random stranger, would suddenly became friendly when we reached our destination. Of course, his sudden change in attitude was in anticipation of the tip he was expecting. My husband paid his dues and they went their way.
As soon as we walked into the lobby of the hotel, all eyes were on us. From the way we were dressed, It was clear that we were celebrating something. After we told the large crowd that we just got married, congratulatory shouts filled the air from people of various nationalities. In that moment, I felt good. I forgot all about the 'old' and embraced the 'new'....yes!!!! I was really married!!!
My husband proceeded to the reception desk to get our room situated as I sat holding my heavy wedding dress in my lap. The hotel staff proceeded to offer us drinks while we waited. It felt good, I felt like a celebrity; the thought, "I can get used to this" crossed my mind. We finally got a room and it was beautiful. It felt like I was in another country, the hotel facilities were top notch.
The first thing that I did after dropping our belongings, was grab the food that was packed for us. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that the food was cold and their was no microwave in our room; I don't do cold food. Thankfully the hotel management sent us a complementary tray of fruits and some more drinks to celebrate our newly wed status; so that was my dinner.
The telephone in our room rang and my husband was told to come to the reception desk. Although he paid some of the bill already, he was told to put the remaining balance down before we called it a night. When I saw the bill, all the relief that initially felt disappeared; the room was 48 thousand naira (about $250) per night; which was definitely above our budget. We had to start counting our monetary gifts from the wedding, thankfully we had enough for one night.
Needless to say, I couldn't be bothered about anything any longer. I proceeded to take a shower to relieve the stress. And like they say, the rest is history!
You are blessed!
- Bunmi
Wait before you go:
1. If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, life won't make any sense, it will be cold and empty. You deserve more! Take a few minutes and click on the 'Come to Jesus' tab at the top of the page and be saved!
2. Please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!
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| Source: Google |
Hello!
Welcome back to all my faithful readers!
And a special welcome to all those who are new here. Welcome to Destination Destiny...A space where I share my life and testimonies.
Today I am continuing my testimony on how I met my husband and our journey to 'I DO'. To play catch up, please read precious posts by clicking the 'How I Met My Husband' label to the right of this post.
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In my last post I spoke about my challenges with adjusting to my new role as a Pastor and a Pastor's wife. While that was going on, another role was on the horizon. A role that I've prayed for over and over and over again. It was finally happening!!! I was about to become someone's WIFE!!! Now that it was finally happening, I assumed that it would be smooth sailing onward...however, there were a few more hurdles to overcome.
Unfortunately, the excitement that I always envisioned would accompany this moment was minimal. Planning my wedding was so stressful! I thought that I could brave the storm and plan it by myself, but alas I surrendered about three months to my wedding day. I was exhausted and overwhelmed from arguing with my parents about what I wanted at MY wedding!!! It was also very difficult planning a wedding in another city with our hectic schedules. I was on the verge of eloping and forgetting about the ceremonies...I couldn't be bothered.
I am the first born of my family AKA the guinea pig for new endeavors. So everyone had to chip in their two cents...from my wedding colors, to the food, venues, MC, DJ, live band, etc. Everyone had a "better" option than me. In their eyes, I was a little brat that wanted to have things her way. I later discovered that a typical Nigerian wedding isn't primarily about the couple but their parents and other overbearing family members.
I got tired of fighting and crying so I decided to reach out to a wedding planner. Thank God for her, she was my life saver. I can't quite remember how we met, I believe my husband reached out to her; she is a member of our church. She took over and did an amazing job for a small fee. God took control and we kept experiencing favor left-right-and-center. We basically did not pay full price for anything. People would randomly send us money to help out towards the wedding also, God amazed us!
But the devil was not happy with our impending union; he was really on a mission. And he attacked areas that mattered most to me.
At a time there was tension between my husband's family and my family. It really got to me because I always prayed for peace between both families. The tension extend beyond the wedding day and it wasn't pretty (thankfully it is all history now! yay!)
A month before our wedding, our pastors were involved in a house fire. They were still recovering during our wedding time. Hence, they couldn't marry us (officiate the wedding ceremony). I was devastated. I used to always daydream about them marrying us and how much of an honor it would be. They mean a lot to me and it hurt me that they couldn't be there.
To add fuel to the fire, I found out about a week before my wedding that my dad would not be able to make it. That day, I had just come back from getting some grilled fish from one of my favorite fast food restaurants (TFC). My mom called me to the living room, she and my sisters sat before me looking sober, I should have known that something was up.
When my mom gave me the news, I literally ran out of the room and started crying. I ran to my grandma's room while yelling my brother's name. I told my mom that the wedding was cancelled while she responded "God forbid!" Needless to say, I lost my appetite and cried myself to sleep. For the next few days, I barely uttered a word. And I wore sunglasses to conceal my tears when I was out of the house. I was inconsolable.
How could I get married without my dad being there?!?! I am a daddy's girl at heart; my heart shattered into a million pieces. It was painful to know that my dad was alive but wouldn't be able to witness the wedding of his first child. He wouldn't be there to walk me down the aisle, to tell me how beautiful I looked, to pray for me...nope, there was no father and daughter dance neither. I was devastated and angry at the world.
The days leading to my wedding were beyond stressful; things seemed to go from bad to worse. Family members deserted us (my mom, siblings and I) and we had to take taxis everywhere to sort out the finishing touches. Vendors were stalking us for their payments, we didn't have a house to move into after the wedding (God should up a few days before the wedding and we found a place!), there were no honeymoon plans, this list goes on.
Our traditional wedding was on a Thursday, two days before the white wedding. It didn't pass without its own fair share of drama. But, hey at least we got through it.
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The day had finally arrived, the unhappy feelings still lingered but I made up my mind to put the devil to shame. I chose to dance and smile like everything was perfect. God took all the glory, it was a beautiful day. Our guests enjoyed themselves and it was an extravagant wedding...much bigger than I wanted...A dream come true for my parents.
And of course the devil wasn't finished...There were a few glitches here and there...from my wedding planner calling me the morning of to tell me that the decorations wouldn't work for the reception venue to my mom's friend calling me to ask if her friends could get VIP tables since they were "high class" folks to the zipper of my dress being broken...It took forever to 'fix'... to being told that the limo that we paid for was not working that morning... we were given a small unappealing alternative instead... to running late for the wedding ceremony and getting a call from my uncle with him yelling at the top of his lungs that everyone was waiting for me... to praying fervently that tailor who made my husband and the groomsmen's suits would make the necessary adjustments before the wedding ceremony started...to almost having to find a replacement because the best man didn't show up until a couple of hours before the wedding...to my friends not being able to sing during my wedding ceremony because I forgot to inform the pastor in charge... to not being able to have the song that I wrote for my husband performed because the musician had to leave ... to one of our photographers leaving in the middle of the reception because he got irritated...hmmmm
Needless to say, the whole day was a blur. I really couldn't wait for it to be over. But after it was all said and done, I married the bone of my bone and the flesh of my flesh...some people call it their soul mate...I call him the man God kept for me...God's special gift to me!
And that's all that mattered!
Our union is divine, it was much more than the ceremony. Our union is for a purpose so when things seemed to be falling a part around us, the most important thing was that we were joined together as husband and wife before God and well wishers. The devil couldn't stop that, we got the last laugh!
And though one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12 AMP
To be continued...
You are blessed!
- Bunmi
Wait before you go:
1. If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, life won't make any sense, it will be cold and empty. You deserve more! Take a few minutes and click on the 'Come to Jesus' tab at the top of the page and be saved!
2. Please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!
3. You can subscribe to this blog and receive email updates once a new post is published by entering your email address in the 'Follow by email' section located on the right of this post.
4. You can share this post or previous posts by clicking on the respective social media icon on the right.
5. Follow me on twitter @BunmiAdebiyi_
6. Like my page on facebook: Bunmi Adebiyi
7. Follow me on Instagram: destinationdestiny_mlmt
