Up till then, I had lived an averagely normal life. The nearest I had come to going 'Abroad' was Jos. Even Ghana, I never see. But I knew something was going to happen to my life. Afterall,'he who marries a wife obtains favour from the Lord', and there was no limit to the Lord's favour. So I prayed and asked God for help. If only I could manage to marry her, I was convinced that my life would enter another dimension.
I had told many people at different times how God sometimes answers men's prayers by sending men to them. However if your prayers and needs are complex and your life is a bit scattered, occasionally God sends a woman. A wife is the shortest cut to obtaining massive favour from God and putting your life in perspective.
God answered me! He led me to the Word and showed me a scripture I always thought I knew.
Proverbs 18:22
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. (ESV)
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord....
'He who finds...', not 'He who marries..'.
The favour is in the finding!
Even the favour required to unlock the resources for the 'marrying' is in the finding.
Suddenly the heavens above me opened. The clouds which had been full of rain started emptying themselves on my land. They haven't stopped even till now. (They are not going to stop)
First I got another job and had to relocate to Ebonyi which also happens to be where I had found the wife. Perhaps proximity to the 'found wife' has something to do with the 'obtained favour'.
In the same month, I was chosen to accompany pilgrims to Israel as part of the fully sponsored Federal Government's medical team. What better way to start my 'abroad' ministry than to travel to the beautiful land on which our Lord Himself lived and walked?
By the time I got back, I was paid in my former office for the month, paid in my new office for the same month, and paid an equivalent of my salary for being in the medical team!
So in one month, I received triple! (Did I hear 'Shmita'? Yes.. I was entering into my 'Rest')
I didn't have a house in the new city with the new job. Well, I didn't want 'any house'. So I took time and wrote out all I wanted in the house I sought. I remember showing the list to a couple of people, and after looking at it, they told me without mincing words, 'The house you seek is not in this state'. I replied, 'If truly it is not, then it is presently being built for me'.
No need for stories, because we live presently in a house that fits to the letter,the description I wrote.
When God asks you what you want, always be specific. That way, when He does it, there won't be room for 'chance'. He requires all the glory!
Few months after moving into the house, I got a call from this highly revered man, who wanted to know if I could come occasionally to check his blood pressure. To me, it was an honor. To God, it was a setup.
Now you need to understand that I didn't 'diagnose' him ; I wasn't the one that 'prescribed' drugs for him. I just came to check his blood pressure every few days.
Then one day he looked at me and said,'Em.. Dr Oje, Do you have a car?'.
I said 'Not yet sir'.
The next statement put me into a dropped-jaw state of shock.
'I have two Jeeps. I'd love you to have one of them'.
My mouth was still open when the wife brought the keys and placed them in my hands!
Okay.. so enough of my ramblings, but here lies the crux of the matter.
In one year, I got a job, got paid triple, travelled to an 'abroad' I never dreamed about without spending a dime, got the house of my dream, and received a car that I did not buy.....
All because I found A Wife!
(Who knows what will happen now that I am married to her)
Today, I'd like to thank God as I celebrate my sister, my friend, my professional colleague, my partner in mischief, the mother of my children and my wife.. Uzy-darling Ikenna Oje . When I found you, Truly I found a good thing and obtained favor from God.
Today being the 4th of January makes it exactly one year since the day I 'waka' alone (backed by family) from one part of Uburu, the salt of Ebonyi State which is the salt of the nation, to another part of Uburu, to drink the special wine from the hands of a woman God gave me, having fulfilled the traditional marriage rites.
I used to be a 'Manchester United' fan and she was an 'Arsenal' fan, but that moment when I took that palm wine communion with her and received the blessing, we both automatically joined 'Liverpool'(We will never walk alone)!
I Love you babe. Happy anniversary!
Oje Ikenna Valentine
4th January 2015
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