I Made It Through 12 Chapter Ten: Honouring God's Servants

One such invitation to minister in songs came in the summer of 1993 from the choir master of a newly founded Redeemed Christian Church of G.o.d (RCCG) local a.s.sembly, Angel Parish, in Islington London. The event was on a weekend in July, and included a summer concert. Their services were being held at the St Marks Church, Myddelton Square, London EC1 off Mylne Street, and many guests and ministers were on their program. I was at the time heavily pregnant with our second child who would be born in early October of that year. The pregnancy did not prevent the Lord from blessing me with this and so many other wonderful opportunities. After this event, I believe it was the following year in 1994 the same parish hosted a special visit from their General Overseer Pastor E. A. Adeboye from Nigeria. At the time, he would be visiting London with one of his spiritual sons who was trained as a medical doctor and was now one of their pastors.

Their choirmaster reached out to me again, but this time asked that I sing a very special song that I was completely unfamiliar with and that their choir would be my backing singers. The song was t.i.tled "My Tribute" w ritten by an ar tist I had al so never heard of before—Andrae Crouch! Yes! I was again one of the two people left on earth who had been singing all of his songs in church but had never noticed the name of this legendary gospel artist and songwriter at the end of all those songs.

More of this amazing tapestry woven by G.o.d continued to unfold. I at ftrst resisted the idea; yup, that's me again always quickly hearing and obeying G.o.d's voice (Lol!), but the choirmaster gently and persistently persuaded me to sing this song. I now believe it was the precious Holy Spirit who nudged him on to help me accomplish G.o.d's purpose. I ftnally agreed to do the event and rehea.r.s.ed with their choir for the special visit from their founder. Very nervous, I prayed that I would not make any mistakes during the performance before this great servant of G.o.d, and all went gloriously well.

I have, over the two decades since that event, heard hundreds of sermons, but I have never forgotten the me ssage Pasto r A de boye preache d fro m I saiah 60:1—"Arise, s.h.i.+ne, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you (NIV). This precious servant of Christ imparted the word of G.o.d to all in a gentle, humble, and low key style of preaching, delivering his very powerful and life— transforming message quite differently from the affectionately loud and boisterous

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Pentecostal way that I had become accustomed to. As a young Christian, I was impressed and was also curious as to why a man who appeared to have all that he needed would leave a warm sunny country like Nigeria to brave the dark, cold London winter nights for the difficult task of church planting. He had been a former professor of mathematics with a successful academic career. I now understand as a more mature believer that a genuine love for the Lord Jesus Christ supplies grace to our hearts to give our all to and for Him.

After the service, it was arranged for me to meet with and receive prayers from him. He prayed some prophetic words over my life, and also blessed me with an honorarium, the most generous I had received up until that point. Our G.o.d truly is an amazing G.o.d because some months after singing Andrae Crouch's song at that event, in the following year 1995, I would meet and have a lasting friends.h.i.+p with that famous songwriter until his pa.s.sing in 2015 through his twin sister, Evangelist Sandra Crouch. They are two of gospel music's greatest servants. Additionally, as an update of G.o.d's continuing wonders as only He could perform them, in December of the year 2014, over twenty years after that 1994 event, though so many years had gone by, I would again be blessed to meet with and receive prayers from the General Overseer.

It was in another of G.o.d' s many miraculous interruptions. Due to a change in flight arrangements in December 2014, I had flown to and arrived in Lagos, Nigeria a few days early for some ministry invitations. One of the events was to be at the Christ Life Church in Ibadan, Nigeria. I was in town early and happened to be in Lagos. The special speaker for the Redeemed Christian Church of G.o.d year end Great Shepherd Conference, Bishop Francis Wale Oke unexpectedly invited me to minister in special songs at the event. Millions tuned in live worldwide through their many media outlets as the RCCG, as it is now known, had exploded in ma.s.sive growth since the overseer endured those cold winter days that I remembered way back in London. The church sponsors some of the largest Christian gatherings and audiences worldwide and had planted parishes in almost every nation. This conference was not on my schedule, but it was on G.o.d's schedule for me in another one of His many amazing surprises. Something wonderful occurred at the time without my noticing.

In attendance at the RCCG camp was their usual crowd of multiple thousands, with millions more tuning in online and through television. There was more than one master of ceremonies during that evening's event, but I was especially blessed to be introduced and receive appreciation for my ministry from a man that, unbeknown to me, would in just a few days become renowned all over the nation of Nigeria and around the world: Professor Yemi Osinbajo. A few days after I sang at the event, all the world media announced Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the vice presidential running mate for the current Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. He is the current Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, upon their winning the historic elections. I was again blessed on May 30, 2015 to be invited to celebrate the presidential inaugurations on the team to travel with Bishop Francis Wale Oke, who was one of the main speakers during the National Cathedral services. Seated right across from the new vice president and his family at the cathedral, I rejoiced as my youngest brother Bolaji nicknamed "Big B" led part of the wors.h.i.+p and all I could say was "Lord, thank you so very much for bringing us through." My other brother Muyiwa also got to interview the new vice president for his television program. But G.o.d was not yet done!

Again, unexpectedly and by divine arrangement on the following day, I was the beneftciary of a second invitation to the Aso Rock (Nigeria's White House equivalent) presidential villa chapel, completing the very special services. I received all these blessings from the Lord without any effort on my part. I have no words to express my grat.i.tude to Him. I had not asked the Lord for any of the experiences I am privileged to recount, nor did I know, during the great struggle to keep my family intact, what G.o.d would do. I had simply trusted and sought Him with all my heart and might, entrusting our family's circ.u.mstances to Him.

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what G.o.d has prepared for those who love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT)