A brief (or not so brief) foreword….
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. Judges 4:4 (KJV).
Hello, my name is Olushola Deborah 😊.
In the year 2009, during one of the baptismal classes in my Nigerian church, I learnt how God releases spiritual gifts to his children for the sole purpose of edifying the body of Christ, and for his glory. Each one has been given one or more gifts to serve! Through the lessons, I realized that part of how I could be of service in the kingdom is through the gift of encouragement. I love to sow seeds of upliftment in people as much as possible. I am that keep-it-going-you-can-do-it girl. Following my move to the United States for graduate school, I started praying and waiting on God to show me the greater purpose and the capacity in which he would want me to keep serving. Sunday school and campus fellowship (shout out to InterVarsity 💝) became my breeding grounds.
To blog or not to blog...?
In the year of 2020, a lot happened.
We started the promising year with such excitement and high hopes for the anticipated year of vision until the COVID-19 pandemic struck. It ravaged the world, made hearts sink, propelled uncertainties and injustice in different forms and introduced the need for social distancing. In the midst of these, a group of people were grossly impacted– international students. I wish I could reach out to every student and pat them on the shoulder with encouraging words of “Hey, you are not alone, God is with you”. This year has been a rollercoaster of happenings to say the least, but the word of God became my anchor and I found comfort in his promises.
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:20 (KJV)
May 2020
As the spring season brings about rebirth in nature, a seed was also dropped in my heart. The blessing of self-isolation cleared our ever-occupied schedule and slowed us down. I had more room for retrospect and meditation. More than ever before, the need to start a blog primarily directed towards international students (especially the graduate students) became more pressing. Sharing the truth with words of encouragement from God’s word was strongly impressed on my spirit. I felt timid and challenged. Now, I guess enough of the closet writing, hence, the birth of www.bedeborah.com (my little space where the reading culture meets Christian fellowship).
Iron sharpeneth iron (Proverbs 27:17).
The word of God is living, powerful, and instructive!
This blog has a tagged Love notes category where we talk about relationships. One of the common “perils” that befall international students (graduate students especially) is long distance relationships. It could be in courtship or even marriage! Few weeks at the start of graduate school, a professor brought up the dreaded topic of evaluating the impacts of graduate school on family and (or) relationships. Yikes! did that spiral down to a whirlwind discourse with emotions?….yes it did! That was my first wake up call on what I just got myself into. I pray each post in this category gives hope and encourage someone that they don’t have to toss their precious relationships down the drain because of graduate school.
Also there is a tagged Psalms and Prayers category where I share poems or what looks like them….lol😅. I am in the STEM field but equally enjoy literature and arts greatly. For the most part, they are conversations with God and with self, muse about this one beautiful life and all things in-between.
The calendar of the blog is to post every other Sunday. I don’t know what the future holds, but small steps of faith taken one after another is a good start. I am the most imperfect for this blog, but I am simply following the prompt of God. I trust God to send me guest writers at some point that will be willing to share their testimonies and wealth of wisdom. I am most excited for this!
I am happy to share bits about my little experiences as a student or outside of that, and hope we share with each other as the Lord ministers to us. As I invite you on this journey with me, I pray we form a generation of D.E.B.O.R.A.H together! While we are at it, I hope we could present our imperfections with meekness, and be ready to be broken and mended by the Potter. Welcome folks!
Special note: Would you give your life to Jesus Christ? He is the way, the truth and the life. If yes, please pray the prayers below:
Lord Jesus, thank you for your death and resurrection for the salvation of my soul. Please forgive all my sins. I choose you today to follow and to obey. May your love and the holy spirit lead and guide my purpose for your glory. Thank you, my Lord and savior. Amen!
Grace and blessings,
Olushola.
