💡 SEEK WITH ALL YOUR HEART

Yesterday, the anchor scripture on the YouVersion app was Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

In our home, Saturdays are usually our rest days. We don’t insist on a family prayer time because everyone deserves to sleep in after a long week of early mornings. But since it was the first day of November, I requested a general devotion once everyone was awake.

We began by exploring what it truly means to seek God with all our heart. Each of us shared experiences of times when we desperately called on God for help. The children spoke honestly, and soon the conversation shifted to our daily lives and the things we want to achieve.

My daughter started by sharing her battle with mathematics, a subject that once terrified her. She laughed as she confessed that she used to cry whenever the maths teacher entered the class because everything sounded like gibberish. Thankfully, at Anglican Girls' Grammar School, Abuja where she studies, there’s a support system for students who struggle with certain subjects. They offer extra lessons and buffer classes to help them catch up.

Then came the announcement of a maths test. Determined not to fail again, she studied as though mathematics was the only thing that mattered. When the results came, she scored 22 out of 30. Her joy was beyond words.

As I listened to their stories, I quietly reminded them, and myself, that nothing is truly beyond our reach if we seek it with all our heart. If we can find our Creator when we search sincerely for Him, then how much more the other things we pursue, success, peace, progress, or even building our country, Nigeria, if only we chase them with genuine focus and effort.

Later in the day, I found myself reflecting deeply: could it be that some of the things I didn’t achieve were the ones I never truly sought with my whole heart?

It’s a question worth pondering.

Have a blessed Sunday.
Shalom ✌🏾

Comments

DEBT IS A VERY BAD THING

You may not know me personally, but take this from me: DEBT COULD BE A TERRIBLE THING. As long as you owe someone, you remain their servant, no matter how talented or respected you are. Yesterday, while driving to work and enjoying my heavenly sandwich, I spotted Emeka in traffic and nearly lost my appetite. Why? I remembered how badly I suffered in his hands after I was duped of the money I had borrowed from him to fund a certain business opportunity. Let me gist you. When I went back to Emeka to explain what had happened, he empathised with me and even offered a payment plan since it was clear I couldn't return the money all at once. Sometime after, we were both invited to serve as panellists at a supply chain management event. I was the first to share my thoughts on a topic, which Emeka later disagreed with. But my take must have sounded more compelling, because I was asked to expand further. Crazy me (forgetting that my oga at the top was seated beside me), I took a whiteboar...

DO NOT LET ANYONE LOOK DOWN ON YOUR BUSINESS

DO NOT LET ANYONE LOOK DOWN ON YOUR BUSINESS A few years ago, at my friend's grocery shop, I witnessed a heated altercation between him and one of his sales staff. The scene was unpleasant, with harsh words flying back and forth. When I inquired, I discovered that he had audited the shop's accounts and deducted the cost of missing items from the staff member's salary, per their prior agreement. Upset by this, the staff member decided to resign, demanding a refund of the deductions. My friend responded, "We'll need to inform your guarantor about the missing items before I can process a refund." This remark caused the staff member to angrily exclaim, "This small, nonsense shop is asking for a guarantor—how much is the entire business even worth?" I noticed those words hit my friend hard. He felt his business wasn’t being respected because it was seen as “too small” to deserve proper structure. To every business owner out there, running a business is a ...

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER PRISON ?

A few years ago, I listened to a message by Bishop T.D. Jakes where he spoke about the high likelihood of ex-convicts returning to prison. This, he said, was largely due to the difficulty they face reintegrating into society. One major challenge is public acceptance. Many employers don’t want individuals with criminal records associated with their brand. Others fear that the ex-convict might relapse into old behaviours, potentially causing harm or bringing trouble to their organisation. While these concerns are understandable, Bishop Jakes advocated for meaningful reform during incarceration. He suggested that churches, manufacturers, and other businesses should create training programmes for inmates—equipping them with skills that will help them survive once they are released. The goal? To reduce the temptation to return to crime. A few days ago, while scrolling through social media, I came across a photo with a caption that caught my attention: President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina F...

Ask Chuka

Search This Blog