I just want to thank God for the timely message Hope In God preached by Pastor Sola Akinwale.

On the 2nd of December 2015, I lost a dear friend. It was quite sudden and shocking since we just had a chat two days before his demise, celebrating his new house in Lekki and thanking God for greater things. He had stepped out of his car to cross to the other side of the road, and was hit by an unknown driver on top speed, leaving behind his wife and two sons.

Early the following year, 2016, another dear friend was diagnosed with a progressive breast cancer while breast-feeding her six months old baby, and had to travel to the United Kingdom for treatment. During this time, I had gone through some faith confessions with her and spoken to my FOG leader about it. I tried to send her messages by email but the links wouldn’t open so I got the message on a pen drive and intended to send them to her through DHL. However I wasn’t able to send them because I didn’t get her address because she was in a coma the weekend I got the pen drive and passed on leaving behind her husband and three kids.

This whole history birthed my challenge. I felt God had failed me because when I sat back and looked at the lives of my close friends, I wondered where God was when the devil stole their lives, so I was discouraged. I recalled how faithfully they both served God.

I am someone people would describe as very stable. If I believe in something I am all out to the end no matter the outcome; but I became fearful, withdrawn and lacked passion. I doubted Christianity and the devil gave me good reasons – I wondered why these committed dear friends of mine whom I am sure did not want to die, died like pagans. Great depression crept in and I struggled with a lot of thoughts within me. I lost passion for things I loved, including God but still I came to church and just listened, as I had decided the Word would not favour me and if God was going to fail me, so be it! I wondered if there was actually a God. Listening and studying His Word had always settled things for me but this time it built doubt. I even started doubting my pastors, if they were being sincere and were not open to us about their doubts in their experience with God. Why do some people get healed and some don’t? Why do some serve faithfully yet they go to bed hungry? “Lord, even if they don’t know much, why don’t you hear the prayers of brethren and pastors praying for them?” Does God really exist or is it just luck? The questions and doubt was endless.

That Sunday, on hearing the message titled Hope In God, I laughed and said to myself, “Lord, I’m all ears.” I had believed that week that my ordeal was going to end and I would find reasons to renew my love and trust in God. As the message progressed, I realized that I truly had lost hope. As Pastor Sola was preaching, I felt a healing going on. All those thoughts, weights of my friends’ loss and fears gradually melted. I had cried most of the time during the message and felt a peace in my heart and God reassuring me He could not fail, and He was not angry with me for being disappointed in Him. It was an intimate time as I felt all the heaviness leave me, my peace restored, my doubts disappeared and my passion renewed.

For the first time, I saw another side to all that happened. The devil just wanted to steal my joy and my life too. The devil wanted me to give him permission but no way, thank God he did not get any. Today, I can boldly say my love for God is fired up, greater than it was before and I have peace. I am reassured He loves me dearly and has the best thoughts for me. I was reminded again by Pastor Sola that, “God’s peace is not the absence of the problem but it remains the same in spite of it all. And my hope in God is a cure for depression and discouragement.” My heart is no longer disquieted; I have hope – confident expectations. I have become more confident and daring, taking bold steps and decisions, and I have seen God as always come through and favour me. I believe the devil wanted to steal my joy and life by putting these challenges in my face, and making me take it personal. If I had let him I would have been dead. I thank God for His grace that even in my mess He never left me. God has gone ahead of all that concerns me, conquering the devil and making an open display of him. I have regained my peace and hope in a God who never fails.

Thank you Pastor Sola for yielding to God. My family and I are being blessed. May you continue to flourish in His will for your life.