“When I saw our MD walk in and begin to distribute white papers, I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. I looked at the questions. They looked back at me. We weren’t smiling at each other. I heard a voice say, “Just write down something.”
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How God Ordered My Steps to Uyo
One day, while in my room in Lagos, where I was undergoing my internship as a pharmacist, I yearned for fellowship with the brethren in Uyo so deeply. I uttered a prayer that God should give me an opportunity to return to Uyo and fellowship with them, even if it was just for a week.
Shortly after, I heard that my graduating class would be convocating on November 7, 2024. I saw that as an opportunity to apply for a week’s leave for the convocation—not that being physically present was so important, but I just wanted to use that opportunity to go to Uyo and be with brethren. I told my team leader at work, and he said I would have to look for someone to stand in for me during that time. That was going to be difficult because the company was already short-staffed.
I also thought of the transport fare and realised that even travelling by road was very expensive. I decided to leave it to God. Then it became a wish; during work hours, I would often find myself saying, “How I wish I could go back to Uyo and fellowship with brethren for at least a week.”
Fast forward to the third week of September: my phone’s charging port stopped working, and I couldn’t power my phone. I didn’t have enough money to fix it at that time, so I spoke to the leader in the Lagos church about it, and she gave me money to fix it. However, I didn’t have time to do so as I was working from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
In the midst of this, they announced the third-quarter assessment at my workplace. Since my phone was bad, I had no access to study materials and therefore couldn’t prepare. Also, I didn’t believe it would hold because how could such an assessment with serious implications be announced just two days before?
For context, our company holds assessments every three months, and there are attractive prizes for 1st and 2nd place. Usually, it’s announced two weeks in advance so everyone can prepare. But this wasn’t the case this time.
The first prize for this third quarter included a free round-trip flight to Uyo for the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) Conference, free registration, accommodation, feeding, and a ₦30,000 cash prize. Second prize was ₦20,000, which was still very generous.
I had planned—spirit, soul, and body—to burn the midnight oil, read, and prepare for this exam three months ago, and even started studying a bit back then. It was not because of the money, but for the opportunity to go to the PSN Conference in Uyo. But with time, due to my busy work schedule and the mindset that the exam was still three months away, I stopped.
Now here we were, the third week of September, and the exam was announced to take place in two days. I didn’t have any device to study with, so I convinced myself it was a joke. I thought the exam would be rescheduled to the following week, when I would be free to fix my phone and read at least ten presentations.
On the scheduled day for the assessment, I was shocked to see our MD walk in and begin to distribute white papers. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. I had been reading Joyce Meyer’s Battlefield of the Mind, and in it she described responsibility as “responding to the opportunities God offers you.” I couldn’t stop blaming myself. “Look at me, I want to go to Uyo, and here is the opportunity God brought, but I allowed procrastination to set in and I missed it.”
I looked at the questions. They looked back at me. We weren’t smiling at each other. This wasn’t an exam you could aim to just scrape a 50%. You had to be the best of all. But I wasn’t prepared. Then I began to pray and ask God for mercy and to give me another opportunity and help me respond rightly to it. I already felt I had missed this one.
I wanted to submit a blank sheet, walk out of the conference room, and go cry to God. But I heard a voice say, “Just write down something.” I had already lost faith because I felt I had disappointed God by not preparing. But the Holy Spirit did a lot to encourage me and rouse me to begin writing. I realised I had things to write when I started, or rather, the Holy Spirit gave me what to write. Out of ten questions, I answered seven and a half, and I was only sure of six.
When I got to my room, I cried. During that time of crying to God, He showed me many things I needed to repent of, which I might share in another testimony. He showed me how certain behaviours, like negative speaking and mental laziness, had caused me to act that way many times. I often refused to engage my intellect to brainstorm and solve problems. I would say to myself, “I have physical strength. Let the thinkers think, then I will execute.” This mindset affected my studies, both academic and spiritual. When I hit a complex topic, I would just skip it even if the Holy Spirit was giving me clues. Instead of asking questions, brainstorming, or researching further, I would move on. I didn’t want mental stress.
The next day at work, I saw the result on the office phone. I was alone on duty. I was shocked. Second position? From where? I hoped it wasn’t a mistake. Was it really my result? Then I remembered—what God cannot do does not exist. There were two teams. My roommate took first in her team, and I took second in mine.
I screamed. I sang. I danced. I praised. I worshipped. I was so joyful. At a time I had been hopeless and humbled, God showed up for me. Can you imagine if I had disobeyed and submitted a blank sheet? God is so good. Shortly after, I received my ₦20,000 and used it to get my basic needs at the time.
Then it crossed my mind to still ask for an opportunity to go to Uyo based on my second position. “It’s possible that my roommate, who has lots of fears, including fear of travelling, might say she isn’t going to accept the offer, and the HR could then consider the next person after the first position… and find me,” I thought.
The idea sounded really crazy, because in my mind, “Who doesn’t like good things and an opportunity to rest from the busy schedule of this company in the name of a Conference?
But I still prayed: “Father, thank You for the second position when I didn’t expect to even carry tenth. This 20k has served me a great deal. I ask that if it pleases You, still give me an opportunity to go to Uyo. I don’t know how You will do it, but just do it in Your own way.”
I kept praying that prayer throughout the day because I had this impression that God wasn’t done yet. The next morning, while preparing to go to work, my roommate, still half-asleep, told me that the person who took first position in my team had applied for a leave from the 1st to the 4th of November, and that she wanted to tell our HR that I will be the one to go and not her, and asked if was okay by me.
“Omorr… if what is okay by me? Have you seen the colour of incense that has been going to heaven from my rooftop this season? It’s exactly that colour! In fact, it’s more than okay by me!” Of course, I didn’t say all this out loud, but I was jumping for joy in my heart.
I just answered, “Yes, it’s okay by me. She can go ahead and inform him.”
I believe the Lord allowed things to go this way so that I wouldn’t say it was my bow that brought me victory (Psalm 44:6), that staying up to study so hard granted me first position, and first position granted me the opportunity to go to Uyo. God wanted to teach me that He can get me to Uyo without staying up to study, and without writing the exams so well that I’d feel confident in taking first position. He disabled me ahead of time by taking my phone away from me, and made sure I didn’t read as I had planned to.
Everything happening was too good to be true, but I realised it was true. I then understood the part of the song “So Will I” that says, “If the sum of all our praises still falls shy…” I was really ashamed before God, for doubting Him, and for trying to win by my own method. I felt like a child whose father said he wanted to handle the construction of the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge—and I went to pack the sand I used to build mud houses with my playmates in the backyard and brought it to my father, then bragged about how that alone was enough to build the bridge.
God indeed isn’t our mate. When He wants to do something, don’t stand too much in His way. Because He likes using the most ignored and laughed-at method just to humble the wise.
I’m here to return all glory to Him. May God’s name be praised.
© GAM 2025
