OPERATION RETURN TO YOUR FIRST LOVE #JESUS-SQUAD-2022

First day experience in the year 2022!

Hello everyone! It's a new year, obviously. And I'm excited for sure.

And it feels so good to be here again, though it's been ages since I came here to give any post. 

Anyways, 2022 comes with new goals and resolutions and I guess reviving this blog is one of the things that the Holy Spirit has been pressing upon my heart. 

I can't promise, because my life is so thronged with many engagements, but I hope by the grace of God to make posts regularly.

As I was telling my sister, on the 1st, the sun wasn't purple, neither was the sky green, neither were we floating through the air. 

Everything was normal. Just the way it has always been. Normal. 

It's only that we humans have tagged some days 'special' and some days 'usual'. What makes the 1st of January special is because we say so. 

In this blog post, I'll share a bit if my first day experience. *Inserts crying emojis on one side and laughing emojis on the other. A big contrast, I know. You'll see why soon enough.*

So, the cross over vigil was a blast, though hectic. (A big shout out to all PK's out there. We deserve a royal award. And someday soon, maybe I'll do a little post about what life as a pastor's child is like. Let me know if you'd want that in the comments below). 

2022 was announced our year of SUPERNATURAL PROGRESS! #GLMI

However, shocking things happened within the first few hours of the birth of 2022, one of which I'll narrate here.

I got home around 1:30am, tired from all the activities, but not too tired to say no when my dad said we could all have some warm cocoa and cake to snack on. *Winks!*

Went off to sleep. When I awoke, NEPA was in good spirits, meaning there was light. I switched on my laptop to open a novel and read. 

Now, if you know me, you'll know I'm a crazy addict to reading. *Hides and blushes as I see some of my peers hooting* 

I read, a lot, especially Christian fiction (supernatural fiction is my best genre). And my laptop has a truck load of books that could take an average human being the whole of eternity to read (intended as an hyperbole, but you get the gist). I'd have been more content to have my e-book library on my phone, but I'm managing the small storage space on my phone. 

Back to my gist, I put on my PC, went over to my documents. To my dread and shock, there was no folder tagged "Christian Novels" there! I stifled the urge to scream and searched every single place on my PC—I even went as far as checking the recycle bin. It was just gone. Poof!

I didn't know what I was feeling. Loss? Anger? Pain? Frustration? How could this happen ok the first day of the year for Christ's sake? 

I asked my siblings (I used my laptop to play music in the church and they were the ones in charge) about it but they had no clue about what could have caused the disappearance. 

Then, in the midst of all my panicking, I could almost hear my bestie (HS, short for Holy Spirit) smirking and telling me , " Yup! You asked for it baby. And all I did was give you an answer, wholesale!" 

Yeah, yeah, I had prayed in my closet and also as a new year request that whatever was taking God's place in my life should be removed. 

Thing was, my love for reading was eating up into my relationship with the Lord and I could feel His jealousy already. So I prayed about it. 

Seriously, if I say it didn't hurt I'd be lying. I felt like crying. Instead, I didn't. I picked up my Bible and studied a big dose of Psalms. It was so refreshing that I actually cried. 

Gosh, I've missed this! (Don't get me wrong. Bible study is a daily routine for me. But then, it felt like I was reading it under a new light!)  

The challenge of reading the entire Bible, courtesy my daddy, was how Jesus captured my heart and I fell hard in love. As time moved on, I guess I kinda forsook my first love and played the harlot with other seemingly Christian books (which by the way are good. But I made an idol out of them so that made it bad for me.) 

All in all, here are my take-home lessons for you:

Lesson number one: if you have anything of high value, don't bank on keeping it in one source. Duplicate it and store it in a cloud storage e.g google drive. So your case won't be like me. What if it has been super important stuff? This is also helpful for unforseen circumstances like if your phone is stolen or destroyed in an accident. 

Lesson number two: be careful what you ask God for. You just might get it. *Looks back to see bestie HS behind me smirking and nodding.*

Lesson number three: Never, ever. I repeat, never, ever, ever, forsake your first love. 

And by this I don't mean that dude that comes to fill your head with those sweet nonsense. That's gross. 

I mean, Jesus Christ (for those who have been bethrothed to Him. And if you haven't, here's your chance. His love is sweeter than wine, I tell you.)

Lesson number four: New beginnings will require pruning from the husbandman so that you can grow and bear much fruit. Might hurt. Bear it. In due time, you'll see the results. 

Oh and by the way, if I ever find my folder again, I'll hint you guys about it. However, my case by then will be like when God gave Isaac back to Abraham after he passed the test of slaughtering his son. 

In the next post, coming later this week, I'll share with you how on this same 1st day of 2022, my church was burgled and all our really expensive media instruments were carted away. (*Sighs and rolls eyes.* I know you're like WHAAAAATTTT!!! 2022 is sure pulling big test of this little girl here) 

PS: For the doubting Thomses, this stuff isn't made up. It happened to yours truly. 

There's huge lessons to be grabbed from this experience. So stay tuned. You can as well subscribe to this blog so that you'll receive a notification email once it drops. 

In the mean time, leave comments and share this blog post if it blessed you in any way. 

I love you all. (✿ ♡‿♡)

God loves you more.

Cheers to a fantastic year ahead.

Yours eternally in Christ,

PeculiarPraise.