Showing posts with label America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label America. Show all posts

Friday, July 06, 2018

Our Family: Redefined

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Hello!

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Becoming a mother, bestowed so much responsibility on me. After giving birth to my first child, it dawned on me that I was responsible for how her life turned out. I must admit that I was afraid initially; I often wondered if I had it in me to lead her aright...thank God for the Holy Spirit. I wanted to do my best so that she could be her best. After I became a Christian, I realized that most of the issues that I struggled with over time stemmed from my childhood. It is a beautiful miracle when we become born again; we become brand new, our past being inexistent. However, I had major issues that I had to deal with by God’s help; and it took time. I believe that every good parent wouldn’t want their children to go through the bad things that they did...I didn't for sure!

               So here I was in my parent’s house, hogging my child all to myself. At this point, I have set up certain boundaries for myself. I was cautious about what I watched on TV, the music that I listened to, etc. In my own home in Akure, there was an atmosphere that myself and my husband had cultivated and it worked for us. Naturally, I wanted to recreate that atmosphere for my daughter. I was mindful about the power of exposure; every show, movie, song, etc. has some sort of inspiration behind it. Even though my daughter was a new born, I knew that it was possible for her to absorb many things. However, it was a bit tough because it wasn’t my house; the best that I could do was control the bedroom that I slept in. My parents and siblings started to complain about not being able to spend time with their granddaughter/niece outside of my bedroom. And to be sincere, I needed a break from time to time. It was hard for me to explain why I was keeping her in the room; I didn’t want to sound or seem super-spiritual. I eventually allowed them to spend time with her outside the bedroom while I did other things (i.e. exercise, pray, relax, etc.).

                   I was slowly learning to make the best of the situation as I awaited my husband’s arrival. I was seriously looking forward to having him around and raising our daughter together as we’ve planned. Fast forward to three months later, my husband finally arrived in the United States! I couldn’t contain my excitement. I spent most of the day cooking and preparing for his arrival. His flight was delayed for some time but the time had finally come! He was going to meet his daughter for the first time!!! And we were going to be back together after being a part for six months! When we locked eyes at the airport, we were both all smiles. My daughter….our daughter, naturally warmed up to him; it was a beautiful sight to behold. After all the prayers, sleepless nights, tears from missing him and countdowns we were together as a family! It was freezing cold as we exited the airport because it was winter time in NY; but in my heart it felt like Spring and Summer time all at once; I was beyond happy.

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After spending all day cooking, you would think that my husband would want to eat what I cooked. Instead, he requested for a burger…he wanted an American meal. For the rest of the evening, we were playing catch up; as he and his daughter bonded, she couldn’t keep her eyes off of him. It was official! She was a Daddy’s girl! A few weeks prior to my husband’s arrival, the youth ministry of the church that I attended before returning to Nigeria invited us to come and be a part of a panel for a Valentine’s Day event that they were hosting. We gladly obliged. When I was single, I always hosted a Valentine’s Day event for the teenage church; I was a teacher and eventually became a leader. It amazed me how I was doing the same thing after marriage; it felt good to be doing it with my husband. I’ve always loved to talk about every LOVE: relationships, marriage, etc.

               Off we went a few days after his arrival, going about our father’s business with our three month old baby. Getting from NY to Maryland was not a walk in the park. We had to pack extra bags because of the baby (it was our first time traveling with a baby); it was extremely cold outside, getting from point A to B was a pain (we were obviously not prepared for the weather); we almost missed our bus, we found ourselves running with luggage and a car seat in tow…it was not fun. The bus ride was smooth over all; our baby was well behaved throughout the trip. When we arrived in Maryland, it took us a while to locate our ride, for some reason we couldn’t seem to find one another. When we eventually located our ride, we were relieved. I couldn’t wait to get into our hotel room, I was exhausted!

               We finally arrived at our hotel room and it was beautiful. We awaited my sister’s arrival as she was to bring us dinner. Dinner took longer than expected and we were hungry but we tried to focus on enjoying the moment; it felt good to be alone (just the three of us). When dinner arrived, we ate so fast! And it was good! Afterwards, we proceeded to make plans for the rest of our stay; we would only be there for the weekend. But we had so many people that we wanted to spend time with us. The next day was also Valentine’s Day! Our first as parents! My sister volunteered to watch our daughter while we went out for lunch. The weekend went so fast, we had lunch together on Valentine’s day, I went to go see a friend in the evening; the next day was church service and then we had the ministration shortly after (which went well); afterwards we were invited to dinner by one of the church members…we could barely eat as we were stuffed from eating all day. The following morning, we were on our way back to NY. And that’s how our journey of doing life and ministry together began in this part of the world. It was indeed a new experience! 

With lots of love,



- Bunmi Adebiyi


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Monday, June 29, 2015

My Thoughts

Over the pass few days I've heard and read numerous comments on the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage. Intially I was stunned and unsettled but now I am rejoicing. As I spent some time thinking about the potential consequences of this ruling, a number of scriptures kept coming to my mind. The Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart. 

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:2 KJV)

There is no denying that this are times of gross darkness, with the likes of ISIS, Police brutality, Religious/Racial-hate crimes, etc. As that scripture came to my heart, I remembered the words of my husband a few weeks ago as he taught on it. He said that "In the times of darkness, light shines the brightest". Those words echo through my being and I was encouraged, I was reminded that I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Therefore in these times, I will not loose hope, I will not be discouraged, I will not comprise, instead I will position myself to shine!

I heard people make statements such as, "This is the beginning of America's downfall", "When God is done with America, Soddom and Gomorrah will be nothing", etc. I laugh to myself, because I know that America is preserved because we the righteous are here. I will not be moved because God's mercy will prevail over judgement as we believers arise and begin to intercede for our rulers and nation (1Timothy 2:1-4). We serve a God who knows the end from the beginning, this is not news to him. It reminds me of the portion of scripture that says the lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world. God provided a solution to the sin problem ages ago, it still applies. The enemy thinks that he has won, but it is being turned for good. 

It is a critical time for America, a time of revival. Don't get it twisted, the Lord is always in control. 

All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence. (Ephesians 1:20-23 MSG)

Indeed the church is not peripheral to the world, it's the other way around! I refuse to allow the enemy to use this ruling to turn us against each other. This is not a homosexual vs. church issue. I am not mad at what lifestyle you choose. I will not look down on you or condemn you, a sin is sin; whether it's lying, stealing, being angry, being fearful, murder, etc. The truth is I was once in your shoes I just chose a different set of sins, as a matter of we (believers) all were. If we were never sinners, we wouldn't have needed to be saved. Sin is not just an act, it's a nature. You can't expect a person to behave contrary to their nature, it's all they know.

I'll love you, I'll pray for you and I'll love you and pray for you and love you and pray for you....I won't give up because love is patient, I won't be mean because love is kind, I will be gentle with you because love doesn't force itself on others, I will not have an holy-than-thou attitude because love is not puffed up, I will never looked down on you because love always believes the best. I will love you! I will pray that you will discover what true freedom, like I did. I will pray that the scales will fall off of your eyes so that you can see the light and be enlightened.

So fellow believers, this is the time that the world has been waiting for. It is the time of manifestation for  us (the sons of God). It's time to love others absolutely regardless of their sexual orientation, color of their skin, their occupation, etc. it's our time to arise and shine as the light of the world. We are the salt of this nation, it will be preserved because of us. 

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
The foundation of America is built on God, I prophesy that America will not fall, instead America will stand. America will be restored and receive mercy, this nation will return to God. The glory of the Lord is upon America. It's a new dawn for us.

God BLESS America!
And God bless you also!


- 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