NO BLESSING GOES UNCONTESTED

Even though I’ve read about the journey of the Israelites to the Promised Land many times, it remains fascinating to me whether I hear it in church or stumble across it during my annual Bible reading plan.

What strikes me most is how an 11 day journey turned into a 40 year delay, all because the Israelites developed a wilderness mentality.

They gave in to fear, discouragement, grumbling, and unbelief.

These were people who stood just 11 days away from a land God Himself promised, but they were too afraid of the giants they saw when they surveyed the land.

They had expected the Promised Land to be an empty gift, a peaceful paradise waiting to be occupied, with no fight required.

But they forgot that every progress they had made so far came through contests and battles they won, not gifts they were handed.

Recently, I watched a film on Netflix titled Mad Unicorn.

I’ve seen other inspiring stories like The Underdog Millionaire showcasing profiles of men like Grant Cardone, but I’ve never seen anyone face opposition like the protagonist, Santi.

He went through intense resistance just because he wanted to succeed.

While watching, I found myself reflecting…, and connecting the dots in my own journey.

I saw the very things that had slowed me down from stepping into the things I believed I was ready for, things like:

The fear of reaching out because “Nigeria is already too marred by nepotism.”
The excuse that “We’re too small; they won’t consider us.”
The lack of funds or proof of funds, causing me to abandon good projects.

And in something as simple as swimming — the fear of drowning, despite having taken more than 30 lessons! (E Shock you abi? 😂😂😂)

But the truth is this:

Everything we want is often sitting on the other side of fear.

If we look back at our lives, most of our blessings came not because things were easy, but because we dared to move forward in spite of fear.

So, here’s a note to myself (and maybe to you too):

👉🏾 Chuka, don’t let an 11-day journey turn into 40 years just because you’re too afraid to join the contest.

NO BLESSING GOES UNCONTESTED

Shalom.

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