Witness Wednesday - Nonso Okpala - From Nigeria To New Purpose

A polygamous upbringing in Nigeria, a father’s death at age seven, and a stretch of quiet atheism aren’t the usual milestones on the road to church leadership, but that’s exactly why Nonso Okpala’s story is so gripping. We sit down as friends and church family and let him walk us through the moments that shaped his faith, from early Catholic devotion and seminary dreams to the slow, steady way God drew him back through Scripture, conviction, and surrender.

Along the way, we talk honestly about hypocrisy, doubt, and what it feels like to keep showing up outwardly while your heart is drifting. Nonso shares how reading the Bible for himself challenged long-held assumptions, why prayer and fasting became practical tools in his fight for holiness, and how spiritual growth often looks more like a process than a single highlight moment. If you care about discipleship, sanctification, and learning to trust God when life feels complicated, this conversation goes there.

Then the story turns into a true Nigerian immigrant testimony: scholarships, a visa, landing in the US with no safety net, and seasons of real financial hardship. You’ll hear about unexpected provision, a stranger who became family, and the grit it took to excel academically on the way to becoming a CPA and professor. We also get personal about marriage, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, and the joy of twins, plus the health wake-up that led to a passion for nutrition, lifestyle change, and even helping his mom bring down A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

We close with the hard realities of corporate burnout, family medical crises, and the question that reset everything: “What do you have in your hand?” That clarity sparks purpose through ministry, media, and his book Prepare Now: 10 Practical Guides to Thriving and Surviving During Crisis. If you’re encouraged, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these stories of hope.

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Intro music by Joey Blair

Transcript

Welcome And Witness Wednesday

SPEAKER_02 0:11

What's up, Life House family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. We are always excited to be bringing you new content on a regular basis. And today we always love each month bringing you a Witness Wednesday, as we call it, to bring you stories of hope, of God working in amazing ways in different lives, and we pray it always is encouraging. We kind of say regularly, our goal at the Life Talk Podcast was for Lifehouse to Know Life House, helping people to uh just get to know other people within the church and the stories of how God works. And so that's our core purpose, and we want to stay with that. And today I have a very special guest, Nanzo Apala is with us. Nonzo, what's going on, man?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Hey brother Nate. It's a blessing to be here doing pretty good. And thank you for having me on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Now, the only downside is you have like the best like radio voice, like Morgan Freeman. People are gonna be like, that guy should be hosting this, not Nate. Just gonna be like, Nate, you get out. Nanzo, you need to host this.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Um I don't know about that, but I'll probably stick to my day job for now, you know, and until such a time. When you're ready, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Yeah, you're gonna be like, bring that guy back to him host. So but man, it's excited to have you on. I know been here at Lifehouse for a little while and uh recently joining the elder team, which is always, I know, a humbling honor. So but that didn't happen overnight, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

No, it did not. That took quite a while, and of course, in God's time, he made it happen. I wasn't pursuing that, I wasn't actually looking forward to that, but God knows, and he just made it happen. So I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve in that capacity as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

But maybe just start from the beginning.

Growing Up In Nigeria

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Tell us about growing up, where you're from, a little bit of your early family life, and just how it all started out with the non-so story.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Yes, obviously, originally I'm from Nigeria. So I grew up in a family, I was a polygamous family. Really, my dad married uh two wives. I know you hear that in the Bible, but not that the Bible sanctions it, but you know, culturally, at least growing up then, that was some it happened in some homes. In other words, so that means my stepmom was there, my mom was there. So it wasn't like she left and then he married another person. So that was kind of a thing there. And of course, you my dad wasn't really a Christian at the point when that happened. Uh ultimately he got baptized into Christianity. So growing up in a polygamous family was interesting to say the least. I know sometimes you read that in the Bible, for example, David, you know, how did it happen with you know different wives and siblings growing up? It was it wasn't crazy, but at the same time, um, there were sometimes, you know, there were frictions. You know what I mean? And so kind of watching that happen growing up, something just told me this is not the right thing to do. You know what I mean? But I'm grateful that my family was really great. Something else really about about my upbringing, although I vaguely remember, uh, like I said, uh in part of Nigeria, the eastern part of Nigeria where I grew up, before Christianity came, it was really steep in um ancestral worship, if you will, or paganism. So I will remember my dad used to have these tiny uh gods, you know, by the trees, and then sometimes he will make you know like sacrifices, you know. Like I was so little, so this was so vague. But my sisters they knew because they they were a little bit more advanced in age, so they kind of understood that. But an interesting story where I'm going there is usually he will kill like chicken, you know, as part of the blood sacrifice, just to, you know, to see you know, uh under the tree. And then men, only men were allowed to eat the chicken. So that was an opportunity for me to you know uh indulge in that. And sometimes, you know, the girl, the ladies wouldn't be allowed to eat it, you know. And uh I was excited about that because that's not something that I had more uh frequently, you know what I mean. So, but obviously we kind of grew out of that. My dad got baptized, but of course, the predominant uh religion in in that part of uh Nigeria where I grew up was Catholicism. So that was kind of, I would say, the the one of the first European missionary group that brought Christianity to that part of the world. You know what I mean? So I grew up in a Catholic faith.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

About what age? So you kind of grew up, like you say, some ancestral worship and I think interesting, like you say, polygamy. We the Bible doesn't condone everything it documents, right? It documents things, and we actually see it not go well, like you said. So I think that's an important point of we shouldn't think that that's a good thing. It caused David a lot of problems, it was caused Solomon a lot of problems. But so kind of like growing up, what age did your dad kind of make that profession? How did that change you know your family?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, I I I don't I don't know if I can recall specifically, but at least I was probably around five, six because um my dad, as a matter of fact, he passed when I was close to seven years, seven years. So a lot of my memories of him was just when I was young. Okay, it wasn't very well developed because as a seven-year-old person, but I still recall some of these childhood events, you know what I mean? So, but yes, he got baptized, and of course, um he changed his name to Francis. He was his name was Francis, he changed it from the traditional name to Francis. That was the daddy name that I knew growing up. And I think something about certain types of practices, even sometimes it's still kind of prevalent uh today, is sometimes people would turn to Christian faith, but they haven't fully understood the gospel. So they gradually let go of this other fetish or ancestral worship. So I think that was the case with my dad, but subsequently he's kind of he stopped doing all of that. So I do remember that that didn't continue. So I don't know whether that was after baptism or before that, but at least one thing I do know that that didn't continue. Of course, those bunch of trees, you know, like because I'll recall little things, you know, like little images or it wasn't really like crazy-looking idols, but like there will be some little sacrifices, you know, done around the trees. Literally, when you read the Old Testament, and when God rebukes his, you know, the children of Israel for whoring after idols, that was what they would do. They'll go to grooves, and that's where they would make sacrifices. So that was kind of the case growing up, you know. So, but that stopped as far as I could recall. Within that seven years, and at least the time that I do still have a recollection of my dad.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

You get to see some change there in your dad as it moves on.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Yeah, obviously, that's but also he started having a lot of health issues subsequently. So that was another recollection. I say seven, really, I wasn't quite there seven years, but it was around there around seven years. So started having a lot of health issues. It was very interesting. But one thing, because I'm the I'm the last in my home, my family, so I'm the last born.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Okay, how many brothers and sisters?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

We are all together six and five, so all together about there about 10, 11. So I I would I would say this, Nate. Uh, if had my dad been around a little bit longer, he would have spoiled me a lot. You know, because usually, you know, he would have some of this delicious meal whenever he, you know, he has it, then he would um keep some. Later in the day, he will call me and just give it to me. You know, like siblings always don't don't like that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

So he as I kind of like Joseph and the coat of many colors.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

I was gonna say I was gonna say that, but really, you know, like he's like a child of his old age, you know

Losing His Father Early

SPEAKER_00 7:56

what I mean? But he would he was already having some health issues, and one of the things that I would help him when he couldn't really function very well, you know, helping kind of get to the bathroom, you know, maybe kind of help him shower and all of that. So that was as a six to seven-year-old child, I still remember all these, you know, leading up to the night he passed. I I remember it's obvious pretty much the hospitals couldn't do anything else for him. So he was kind of on the conscious state now. I don't even know where I'm going there, and I definitely don't want to be emotional about it. But uh as a seven-year, these are some little pictures that I still remember up to this date. So now they brought him home, just kind of laying on the bed unconscious. But you could tell his breathing, but his breathing was really very, very shallow. I'll remember this now. This is really stuck with me for uh all these years. My mom would say, Hey, let's say non-so is here. You will see some really effort to be there, effort to respond. But I think he was really kind of going down and down, you know what I mean? But anytime someone says, Hey, maybe when other of my siblings, my mom or someone will say that there, you will see the effort he's trying to make to respond, but he couldn't. So this went on, of course. Um, and then um that night, I can't remember me, around 1 a.m. or so, but I was already fast asleep that night he passed. So I remember very early in the morning, one of my sisters, you know, came by and told me that, you know, kind of we woke us up that my dad had already passed. So it was and growing up in that culture too, seeing a dead body is it's is a scary thing. I remember being scared, really, really scared, you know, of all of that. But of course, as I as I matured, of course, I kind of got used to you know seeing a dead person. But that was so I really it was I wasn't like going there to see my dad not like you know, just lifeless body, and it was tough, you know what I mean. But I would at least I do see him one time before he got buried before he got buried. So that was my so you're seven years old.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah, kind of lost your dad. Two moms, how did that kind of then work out, you know, after your dad's passing? Did they go separate ways, remarry? How did that impact you kind of?

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yeah, so that they did not really. I had a great relationship with my stepmom. Like I said, uh growing up, you know, Catholic, she would uh take me in the morning, so we'll have this early morning mass that we'll go to, so she would offer I would tag along with her, even like on Sunday mornings, I would tag along with her with my mother. Maybe my mother sometimes would travel to a different state because she she was a trader, so she would travel to you know when she's buying some goods and all of that. So if she's not around, then my stepmom will be the one taking me along. So really it was it was a very it's just as a it just really to me, I think is just like how you have family feud in in a in a monogamous family, the same way, but polygamous family cannot because some some persons are not your blood, so it kind of creates a unique dynamic. But overall, it wasn't like any of people throwing punches or breaking things, but every now and then that friction came, but they stayed together. And by the way, Nate, and that is something else about uh my culture, it is very communal as opposed to individualistic. So, what that means is even with my dad passing you know, like you have a support system, you're not alone. So they all stay together. My stepmom she passed away many years ago. My mom is still around, so even up until that, we still had great relationships. So there were sometimes there were issues, but at the same time that got resolved. It never led to like family disunity, like disintegration. So, but overall it was good.

Catholic Devotion And Seminary Dreams

SPEAKER_00 12:06

And then, of course, uh as I got a little bit older, maybe I probably talk about because I I was very religious, you know. Like I thought I said, I think my stepmom played a huge role in that because she would take me to church in the mornings and Sunday, you know, Sundays, or like every day, like they call it morning mass. I think that helped me develop interest in religious stuff. So I ended up becoming um an altar boy, a Catholic church. So but I will tell you this. So with that, I became an altar boy, you know, like you serve priests, yeah. I was like an altar boy, like you know, helping to official certain mass or funerals, when I say official supporting, even up to like priest, archbishop, bishop, and all of that. And then there was a time I actually wanted to become a priest, a Catholic priest. That's interesting. So let me tell you this, brother. Aren't we grateful sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers?

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Yeah, very true, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

So just imagine. So I actually went to so then I went to the seminary school and took the exam, intrans exam, but then I failed. I failed that in trans exam. So I was really devastated, and then that's kind of how that journey of becoming a priest pretty much came to a grand hole because I couldn't go past that. But I believe that you know God was orchestrating all of this for his glory, so that failing that because if I had passed and the kind of person I am, I don't give up so easily. I like to see things to the end, so I probably would have gone through all of that and probably ultimately become a Catholic priest. But God had a different plan, but that failure put a stop to that.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Okay. So about what age was that? Was that uh kind of high school? Yeah, high school age.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yeah, yeah, probably around even before uh high school. So I'm talking about now around maybe 12, 13, 14, somewhere around there.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

So now what trajectory? You can't follow that path to Catholic priesthood now. Yeah. Where does God send you?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

So obviously, I I had to now, you know, just regular junior high.

Doubt Hypocrisy And A Quiet Atheism

SPEAKER_00 14:17

You know, I went to another Catholic school, but it was a boarding school. That was a miserable thing for me to do. Like I was so miserable. I never liked it. I I was homesick, and then my my mother pulled me back, and then I was close to home. And then now in my senior high, I went back to another Catholic school, very premier school, by the way, in the eastern part of Nigeria. A lot of well notable people also went to that school. So I think uh it was it it's it's kind of a missionary school, but also they had good programs. So that was where I graduated. So I kind of went through the normal academic process, just want to go to university. So I went there, that was also boarding school. I didn't like that. That is something that I don't know how parents will allow their kids to go to boarding school. As someone who went through that, it was it was a horrible experience, and I don't think it's right for people to do that. That was just my personal opinion. I'm not saying there are not some there are no benefits to that, but I think the the the downs, the downside or the adverse effect outweigh the benefit, the perceived benefit. Because think about being away from your parent, Nate, for months. Think about that. You know, you're not being impacted by your parents in in those months, but also what happens there, a lot of crazy things happen, you know, things that I saw, you know, people really that transformed. Some of some people went into drug, you know, sex, women, and things like that. Nobody to really know about it, even though that is considered Christian school, but nobody was there to guide you, you know. But I thank God that He preserved me throughout those moments. So I was able to finish school and I graduated from finish my high school there. And then I proceeded to a university. Of course, it was a two-year-old so getting into university was a challenge for me. So I ended up spending almost two years without starting my university. So it's slightly different. I know a lot of people will not understand it here because once you finish high school, boom, you're going to college. You know, you take your SAT, you're you're going to college. But I think in in Nigeria, and I think it's still probably the same case now. People, because there are a lot of there are fewer universities, I would think, but more people want to get into the university. So sometimes you don't get admitted. You know, there's this more competitive. Yeah, there's this exam you have to take, almost like SAT or SC uh S S C T kind of a thing. But even at that, you may still not get in. So that affected me. So I went I went the route of a two-year college, but it was still at a university, a premier university in the eastern part of Nigeria. So there, you know, there was a lot of issues also going going on back home, you know, kind of going back again to the whole, you know, kind of my family dynamics, it became it became a huge problem. So it made home kind of very hostile for me to be there. So that was going on at the back of my mind, and also I was struggling spiritually at that point, still in Catholic faith, but also I was seeing hypocrisy of people who claim to be born-again Christians. You know, they will we lived in a dorm or hostel, we call it hostile, not hostile, but hostile, right? Are you familiar with that? Okay, good. Not hostel, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So I wanted to be clear because it's you know, we we are very we are used to what? You know that we're used to dorm or dormitory, but yeah, the hostel, that's what we call it then. You know, like we I would live with maybe I live with a bunch of guys, you know, and then me, I knew where I was in terms of my faith. I wasn't where I needed to be. Then these guys who claim to know Christ, you know, they will talk in tongues, you know, and then next time they're talking about women, they will say a lot of things they did with women the night before, and one of them claimed to be a pastor. And then with my it's almost like I'm beginning to question God's Christian faith. You know what I mean? And I'm like, at a point I came to this con with all everything going on. If God is real, why does he allow all this to happen in my own personal life? Struggling with some some kind of inexplicable migraine at that point, struggling with family situation, struggling spiritually, and struggling financially because of the family situation going on, too. I I had to deal with a lot of financial strain. So all of that created this doubt in my mind to the point that I I ended up becoming a closeted atheist. Really, what I mean is I didn't make it public, but in my heart there's no God. But I would still sometimes attend religious functions just to make people happy. But then I was really no, I wasn't a believer, even though, even though I I wasn't really safe to start with, but I thought I was, you know what I mean? So all of that was all that was going on in my mind, but at the same time there was this voice at the back of my head, keeps I keep thinking, isn't it time to just let go? I keep hearing that voice, just let me surrender it, let me come into your heart. There was this voice, but I was I kept fighting it. But then ultimately, I remember there was this group I joined in in still in on the on campus, and then God started to deal with my heart. So up to today, I can't say, oh, I got saved in a church setting or in a you know, like there was this event that led to my salvation. It was a gradual process. God molding me, squeezing me, uh being stubborn, preparing me, but then I find myself gradually opening up uh to the truth of the gospel, and then ultimately I knew that I was saved, and I haven't looked back since then.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

So kind of grew up religious, quote unquote, but we always say that's dangerous to use the term religious because that's not a relationship. We're just like you say, doing all of these things because it's what I'm supposed to do, yeah, in that sense. And so, yeah, going through that crisis of you know, belief, if you would say, and yeah, walking away and yeah, interesting where some people still outwardly Christmas Easter, you know, those kind of things. But so God working through a campus group sounds like for you to really listen to that voice and ultimately I always say my, you know, I wrestled for several months before I finally gave in. So that sounds like kind of your experience. Is that about right?

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah, that a little that was my

Saved Through Scripture Prayer And Fasting

SPEAKER_00 21:12

experience there. So that campus group became um it was still a Catholic group, by the way. So I got saved in Catholic Church. You know, so kind of my story continues now, right? Like I got saved there because it's called charismatic groups. So if you think about charismatic group, like any other charismatic group that you know, just that they're part of um Catholic Church. Kind of it's it's unique because Catholicism that's kind of not their way mode of worship, but then as a group they consider themselves charismatic, so it still came out of the whole charismatic movement, so they kind of believe in all those you know, spiritual gifts and all of that, and of course, in addition to Catholic stuff, so that was the group I was with. God was preparing me, God was moving in my heart, God. Was doing something in my life. So I uh I I got saved there, but then so for the first time, I kind of started to read the Bible. The very Bible, the very first Bible that I owned, by the way, was required for school, not for personal growth. So basically, so I don't know if it still happens or not. So one of the subjects you're gonna you take at a high school is Christian religious knowledge. So we go through Bibles and read stuff, you know, unlike what happens here. And it by the way, public school or private school that happened. So it was this was actually a public school. So that was the first time I owned a Bible, right? But now as God began to deal with my heart, it wasn't because I went to church, because you know, like not to try to talk down on Catholicism or whatever, but you know, that they have you know liturgical process, right? So you have a portion where scripture is read and the priest would say the thing, but it wasn't a huge part of worship as we do here. Pastor Mark would go like verse by verse, you know what I mean? That wasn't the case. So I never really appreciated the word of God through that means. So now when I got saved, you know, when God has got a hold of my heart, I started to read the Bible. And I remember reading either Exodus or Deuteronomy when it talks about you shall not make a carved image or any likeness in heaven on earth. I'm like, wait a minute, but that's what I do, right? Like I have all these images, and you know, sometimes when I go to church, you know, like you have this statue of Mary or Peter or even Jesus. You know, sometimes I would go in front of this statue and pray and all of that. So I began to question a lot of things, even praying to Mary. It was through reading the scriptures, not anything else. I started to wonder, is this really right? So I had this bead, it's called Rosary in Catholicism. You know, like Muslim kind of has similar type of things, you probably have seen them, but this Catholicism is slightly different. I had that, but I stopped. I'm like, why do I need to go to Mary for intercession as opposed to just chatting with Jesus? I started reading the Bible, you know. Then with all of this, I stopped, you know, going in front of a statue to pray because I read the commandment. The Bible condemns it. You know what I mean? So I believe that God was working in my heart, beginning to expose the truth. So I believe that was a sanctification happening. Another story I want to tell you, Nate, uh, is around now, now that I'm saved, sin becomes a struggle. You know what I mean? Sinners just sin. That's the expectation. You know what I mean? Because when you don't know God, you just do things with no remorse. What because of the environment that I grew up in, like I told you, these guys will come back, you know, talk about I never heard really, I didn't have any girlfriend or whatever. I think a lot of upbringing prepared me for that. My environment, how dare you bring a girl in the house? Whether it's just to chat, friends, that didn't happen. You have a lot to answer. Um you wouldn't even have the fear to do it because of the the strict religious upbringing. So it was a shock for me, even though I wasn't walking with the Lord. When people who claim to be Christians would say all kinds of stuff, but I didn't know that that had developed this spirit of lust in me. But as an unbeliever, you don't call that lost. You pretty much just have fun saying all kinds of stuff. That's what everybody's doing. Exactly. So that was the case. But now that I'm I'm saved, I notice that man, I I read the scriptures. Bible says if you look at someone with their lustful eyes, that's sin. So it became a struggle. But I will find myself now as a believer going through that. It became a burden. You know, so I will pray, but nothing will happen. Then I'm like, I now as I read the scripture, I remember I think Mark 9 29, it says this kind will not come out except by prayer and fasting. I began to pray and fast. Crying out, crying out to God. I was still in college down there back then in Nigeria, crying out to God to remove this lostful spirit from me. So you went on and I will pray and I will fast. I kept praying and I kept fasting, trusting the Lord to sanctify me spiritually. So I do remember one day I was walking to class. It's almost like I don't know if it's just uh my consciousness or the Holy Spirit, like, oh, you don't lost anymore. Little, like I kid you not. Nay, that was a question that popped in my mind. It's almost like light went off, you know. Like in my head, I'm like, oh, that is true. So it wasn't like, oh, one day God said I deliver you, son. I just moved on with my life, but God is already working in my heart. So that was one of the things God did for me. So I always go back there when I struggle with any situation to believe that God has the power to deliver us from whatever struggle that we go through. Seek Him through prayer, through fasting, spending time in the Word of God, He can transform your heart.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

That's the real trick, right? Through prayer, and I think some of the stuff you shared, going to God's Word, whatever church, and you know, obviously we could do whole episodes on Catholicism, but many different denominations. We got to go to God's Word. Yeah. And we would even say that Lifehouse, it's one of our core values, you know, preach, teach all of God's Word. And so if there's anything we're doing that's not in alignment with God's word, we need to question that and potentially flee from that. So that's great. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't even read it. So they just go, and that's a big thing in Catholicism, right? The church is equal to, sometimes even above the Bible. You know, the Pope is superior, and you know, we won't explore all those here, but you know, that's why so many people, unfortunately, in the Catholic faith just go with that rather than going to God's word. Yeah. Some Catholic doctrine will teach and tell you don't even read God's word, just listen to the priest. He knows what he's telling you about and why it can be very dangerous if we're not careful. But awesome that God brought you through that, took you to his word so that you could not follow in those ways. So working through college, God's bringing you through some of those sin struggles. How does college wrap up? Where does non-so go from there now that you have your faith, yeah, finishing your education, working through some sin struggles? Where does God take you from there?

SPEAKER_00 28:43

So all of these, like I said, still part of charismatic group in Catholic Church. So all this, whatever I've been explaining, still happens, and I was there.

Family Pressure And The Road To America

SPEAKER_00 28:53

But because um it's it's a very it has a strong hold in the eastern part of Nigeria, and that was pretty much the only church that I grew up in. But now it's like I I still go there, but a lot of things I've kind of divorced myself of. You know what I mean? Like I stopped saying rosaries, I stopped kneeling before statues and all of that, but I was still going to the church around the same time, and then by the way, there was just a kind of I'm gonna come back to what happened, but also you hear a lot in in Muslim in faith when someone converts, let's say, to Christianity, they get ostracized by their family members. You that you probably have heard of those stories, right? I remember like this is this probably happened like many years before my experience. Now, my sister was the first person in my family because we have very strong entrenched in Catholicism. She was the first person to actually break away from Catholicism. Boy, did she face hell. Did she face persecution? Boy, she suffered because of that. There was a family meeting where she was beretted and pretty much shamed. And she wasn't like ostracized, but basically, support from some family members dried up. She got almost cut, got cut off, and she was in school then. So I saw all of that. I don't know if subconsciously was in my mind, like, you know, if you probably stopped going to Catholic church, perhaps you may go through the same experience. She suffered, she was in college. When I mean suffered, she suffered because she was almost abandoned. Except one of my brothers was still kind of helping her a little bit, but major support from some of my family members pretty much dried up. But so along the along that line, uh, as God was working in my heart, I started to develop, and she was one of the persons. This is my sister and I she she became this, she was the first person to become born again in my family. She had always had this interest, there's something special about me that uh I probably should travel overseas to pursue my education. She didn't have money. Coming over here is very expensive, but I started to research about furthering my education overseas. So she will provide that moral support, encouragement. I will spend a lot of time uh researching schools in America, you know. Usually, by then the internet wasn't on right now. I have internet everywhere, that wasn't the case. So, like a little, I'll go to like Cyber Cafe, maybe like pay for like 30 minutes just to surf because it wasn't very common, it was very expensive. Sounding old here. I know, I know, right? So, uh, what I would do, Nate, but if you it usually they have this all night surfing, they usually serve the internet, right? All night because everyone is already gone now. So the the price they'll bring their price down significantly. So I will pay just to spend all night researching, looking for schools in America. Literally starts at 12 midnight till 6 a.m. I'll be up, you know. So that was long story short, I was able to find some schools Googling on my own, find some schools, and then I started to apply. So one of the first schools that responded was in the South in Louisiana, and then ultimately got opened a door. They offered me admission, I got some presidential scholarship, which kind of removed some, you know, like I got like instead of paying out of state, I paid in-state kind of tuition. So the tuition was much affordable. And then one of my siblings, one of my brothers, he really now financially became the financial backer, really doing everything he could to make sure that this dream came to fruition. So in 26, 2006, I went to the embassy. That's a whole different story. God really did a miracle there. I got a visa, and then in 2007, I came to the US and started my education here, uh, studied my college here. And let me tell you, Nate, because God works in mysterious ways. If I had got normal admission, remember I told you I was just doing a two-year program at a university there. If I had got the admission to my dream course, which was accounting, I probably would not have had the interest to pursue uh education overseas. But that door closed, and that sparked that interest, and God opened a door for me to be here, and the rest is history.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

Very cool. And yeah, I mean, definitely sharing the story about your sister. Like we always had to be careful too, right? Like, we can't be legalistic about things, and it's very prevalent in Islam where they'll cut you off, and I know that's why hard for people to come to faith. And we can see that in legalistic, you know. I remember reading a study, people who leave Christianity often come from a fundamentalist type background that would do that, where it's like very hard, you know, again, legalistic type background. So yeah, interesting you saw that in your family, where Catholicism and not just limited to that, but many denominations can be that way. Yeah. And and how that will be very unfaithful to what God calls us to. But so where in Louisiana, what what school did did God bring you to in this leading and yeah, interesting the circumstances?

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah, so it's it's HBCU Grambling State University. Okay, yeah, uh very popular with uh football, a lot of great people, the Robinson, one of the winning nest coach in the US college history. That's where I went to. So when I got there.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

So was this hard leaving Nigeria? How was that? Did you like leave with the idea of coming to America to stay, or was it just temporary? What kind of mindset and education?

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Well, first was education to get my education, of course, somehow improve or increase my chances of attaining financial freedom. So at least I know I'm committed to four years, right? What happens next is in God's hand. That was kind of my mindset coming

New Church New Country Hard Provision

SPEAKER_00 34:59

here. So I came and then still for I think two months, I was still going to Catholic Church on campus. But then, like I told you, God was already doing something. And then I carried, I think a friend, someone uh invited me to a campus ministry. It's called Kyalpha. It's called Kyalpha. So they had a college ministry there. So I think on Thursdays, they met on Thursday then. So I attended, and it was really cool. I enjoyed it because I was already developing this hunger for God. And then I came again, and so there was a church affiliated with that campus. Well, like the pastor who started the on-campus ministry also had a church. So one of those events, they say, Oh, there was this prophet who was coming to the church for like uh, you know, weekend, whatever, a crusade or something like that. I'm like, okay, let me go. So I went to that particular Sunday, I went to that service, and then they had evening service and so on and so forth. So that was really my end of my Catholicism, like being affiliated with it. Because once I went to that church, it was a non-denominational church, but more of kind of charismatic Pentecostal feel, if you like. So I never went back again to Catholicism. So that was kind of how that journey officially came to an end. So I became and joined that non-denominational church and I started growing from there.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

And so that was in Nigeria or that wasn't. No, here. That was in 2007.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Yeah, 2007. So now that's everything I'm describing now is 2007 when I was chapter God working to bring you to this new place.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

So how did school go? Now you're in kind of this new, you know, chapter of your faith. Like, where did God take you from the time?

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Academic, academic-wise, I was doing great. Financially, I was struggling. So college was a big like I struggled in college. You know, when you use the word struggle, right? Sometimes, you know, I I I'm not trying to be uh dramatic about it, but I think the better term to use is I suffered financially speaking, because you know, like from where I came from, Nigeria originally, you have to raise the money to pay for tuition, you're gonna be spending, you're gonna be really spending a whole lot because of the dollar versus my currency difference. So you're gonna be coming up with a whole lot of money to be able to afford college. So that was a struggle. My brother, like I told you, he helped me for the first year college or first semester, and then there was a few changes left, but then I didn't really expect him to, and he was having some issues too at that point. So a lot of things were still going wrong back back home, so it became a struggle for him to even support. So then I have to figure out how to support myself financially while going to college. In a new country, in a new country that you don't know. Literally, I knew nobody because it's is there's a difference between oh yeah, I have a cousin that I can go to, you know, during spring break, or a cousin like you know, uncle or whatever I can call it. Literally, I have nobody here, so that's what I added to that. So somehow the guy started to bring families to me. You know what I mean? Like people I would call like church family and all of that, but academically I was doing really well. Straight a student, but I was struggling financially. And in one year, I will tell you this one year guy really did a powerful miracle because I didn't have money for tuition for that semester, and school has started, where registration has started, and I think classes have even started, but then they will purge your decision, drop all your classes if you haven't paid by a certain time. And then I had a friend, you know, like he asked me, like, how is it going? I'm like, look, I just don't know how this semester is gonna work, uh how it's gonna work out. And interestingly enough, or miraculously enough, he came back in the afternoon or somewhere and said, Hey, I paid your tuition, you can go to class. I'm like, Really? That was, you know, like even in the midst of those suffering and struggles, Nate, I saw the hand of God. And even when I sometimes, you know, you know what it means when you open your refrigerator and it's white. You know what that means. That means there's nothing there. Sometimes I will eat once a day because that's all I could afford. You know, so those were like some challenges, but then in the midst of it, God was growing me spiritually. The hunger for the Lord was much deeper that I didn't let those struggles or sufferings bring me down. And then God opened a door for I say a perfect stranger. I was just living cafeteria, just walking by, then a lady approached me, and then because she saw I dressed up like I had Thai on. I boy, I mean, I used to dress up pretty good. You know, right now I came to the East Coast, and they're a little bit on the casual side of things. So before, you're probably gonna see me on Thai almost like 90% of the time. Then I guess that caught her attention and she stopped me. She had this kind of online whatever type of business she was promoting, but guy used that to open a door. Long story short, she became my godmother. She adopted me on official as her as her son, and then so now during spring break, during holidays, I'll visit to I visit, I'll visit with them in Shreveport, Louisiana, with my godfather. So they adopted me and they will provide some of this support, sometimes some you know, money for food or clothes. She really blessed me. And up to today, I call her like a check up on her, like she's she's my mother, so godmother. So God used her to help me even in a time of struggles. So that was my college experience. I graduated three and a half years on as the highest graduate of my class, a 4.0 GPA, and that was God's blessing. You know what I mean? And then I went ahead to pursue my uh master's in still in Louisiana, but a different school. Finished that, got a job to teach at my old college, accounting, you know, with just masters, and then while I was doing that, I pursued my CPA as well. It was a hard exam, but you know, God is faithful. I was able to excel, and then of course I became a CPA as well. So that's kind of my college experience, closing that out, and then started working.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

So still single at this point, still single at this point, yeah. Now kind of decided gonna be here in the US and pursue work and you know, moving that direction. So, what is God taking you through? Being a CPA and being good with that, or how did God work work out that?

SPEAKER_00 42:04

So um, I guess, you know, as a CPA, you can work, you know, start your practice industry or whatever, but because I guess I kind of had this appreciation for teaching, so I stayed with I stayed in the academia path. So I became an accounting professor, teaching students, of course, really preparing and helping them to become CPAs, and a lot of them ended up, you know, like in a CPA accounting firm, Fortune 500 companies, you know. As a matter of fact, uh some of my students actually are my colleagues at JP Morgan now. One of them, I had a meeting with him a couple of months back, but so I stayed in that path, right? And then when I kind of guy was getting me already, I feel like I'm I need to know I'm settling down financially, I need to start thinking about marriage.

Marriage Built On Fast Trust

SPEAKER_00 42:53

So I reconnected with uh my now wife, she's in Nigeria. I helped her to secure admission at Grambling State University, and then she came here. So we were kind of having online, you know, a long-distance uh relationship, and then she came here, ultimately we got married. But I'll tell you a story, you know, kind of this is like kind of let the cat let the cat out of the back town of her thing, right? So I'll tell you a story about our marriage. So she came and we were gonna get married in Easter, around Easter, spring break of that year, but then they wouldn't let her off campus because they had these new new dorms and they want to fill it up with people. But I'm like, how are we gonna plan our lives if she's on campus? And I don't want to pay all that extra money. They wouldn't let her. So it was became a battle, and then the lady be like, Well, if she's your fiancee, just get married. I'm like, oh, okay. Well, let's just get married. And then guess what happened after Sunday? You know, like of course I proposed to her, did all that, and then um after Sunday I spoke with my pastor, and she just married us. I mean, he just married us, excuse me. He married us after Sunday service. So we didn't have to do the normal official wedding that we had planned to. And then once that happened, obviously now she's my wife. They can learn her off campus, of course. So that was interesting story.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

How we can a 48-hour engagement is the motherfuckers. You should have gone to Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

I know, right? I kid you now because now they had you know, like Little I had to rush everything. You know, I was waiting to maybe sometime in the month to then you know propose to her, but Little, like you're right, it was kind of 48 hours. Rush grab ring, you know, kind of made it official, and then on Sunday we got married. So but God is good because God knew what he was doing with all of that.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Awesome. So now married, and what year is this? Is this that was 2013? 2013. So been in the States for about six years. Yeah. Was she like a sweetheart from back home, or you guys were just no?

SPEAKER_00 44:54

I knew her, but not like we didn't have any relationship then. But it was once I once I was ready, then we can't Jenna's the one, right?

SPEAKER_02 45:03

There you go. All right. So starting a family on a 48-hour engagement. Yeah, how did that work out? Good struggles?

SPEAKER_00 45:11

How did you definitely good, but also

Infertility Loss And Twins

SPEAKER_00 45:14

struggles. So once we got married, of course, we we knew we wanted to start a family, but we couldn't. So that put a I don't want to say a kink in a marriage, but also you kind of put a kink to the whole plan, right? So it became a struggle because she couldn't get pregnant, she couldn't conceive, and that tested our faith. You know, it really did test our faith, but then I believe that our faith grew stronger because we could have let that become a distraction to God's ultimate plan, and then just start seeing each other as enemies, but then we got on our knees. We got on our knees, we prayed more, and that's when I say that that grew our faith because it really it brought us together and supporting her, encouraging her because it was it was a struggle for her and my culture kids are everything, you know, like having kids, that's what I mean. Like having kids, if you and you know, you know how you used here, like you watch some holy movie Hollywood movies, they promote certain things. So like movies depicted a um uh um a barren woman as someone almost like an outcast. So basically, if you don't if you don't conceive, usually your your mother and the the the husband's mom or father or the family will encourage the husband to either kick her out or go get another woman. You understand? So that was kind of the culture, so or some movies at least, so you can imagine what's going through her mind. I can't even have a kid, you know. Like I I kept reminding her, look, God is faithful, you know. But we prayed and we prayed and we prayed. So we got married in 2013, so almost two years. It took almost more than two years or thereabout. But then finally we started seeing uh a specialist and all of that, and then for the first time she got pregnant. You know, man, that was one of the best days of my life, Nate. You know, like it was in the morning, she showed me that, you know, like the pregnancy kit thing, you know, pregnant boy. Like for the first time, it's like it flashed through my mind. So I'm gonna be a dad. But that didn't last. That did not last, Nate. That joy, that excitement lasted for probably less than 12 hours. Because so we had an event, so we traveled that evening to an event, a function we had, and then she started to notice something was off. She went to the bathroom, she started to notice that it was blood. So boy, I'm like, what is this? You know, I thought, okay, maybe when it was and it wasn't weekend, so we couldn't see a doctor right away. And then but the pain became very excruciating. The pain really became very strong. So by Monday, when we're rushing to the hospital. Long story short, it was ectopic pregnancy. So it was now like her life is at risk, not just the baby, but her life because the baby is green or the baby is growing in the fallopian tube. So we had to do like a quick emergency procedures to really help make sure that that doesn't burst. Because if it did burst, then she could die. So that was a struggle, but that was the genesis of the struggle. You know, you can imagine now you've tested it, but it went away, right? And you can imagine what that did to her mentally, you know, what it did to us uh spiritually. But I remember one of the times, so long story short, here you know, how to figure out what went wrong, and then we got the devastating news from the doctor. This is what she told us. Look, your wife will not be able to have babies. When you hear that, that could be crushing, like so I remember, I remember she so basically where she gave us two options you you either go for adoption or you go for IVF. That was it, because according to her, if Olympian tubes are blocked, you can't have children. But I remember driving home, I could still see we both of us in the car, she's devastated crying. I told her, look, even when she was saying that, not even in my wildest imagination did I even believe her for a second. I don't something was happening in my spirit. It was I'm not trying to be, you know, super spiritual, but something was happening in my spirit name that I didn't even believe, not even an iota of anything she said. And I remember driving home, I told my wife, I said, Look, God has the final say on this matter. And I believe that I will be a father, and it's gonna happen by God's grace. That was just my story. I'm not trying to make it everybody's story, but in my spirit, for some reasons, because even before, before then, Nate, I feel like I was reading the scriptures one of the day uh one time. God, I believed that that was the name of my kids. You know, I wrote it down, and I read it down, and that's why I gave them my twin girls. I gave them the name. You know, Amara, that's grace or God's favor, God's grace, God's favor. I wrote it down. So my faith was very strong, but I knew she was struggling, so I really had to walk with her, help her. It was it was tough, especially like at church or places you see kids running around giving testimony, a woman giving testimony of pregnancy that just messes her up. But long story short, then there was an she got pregnant again, and then there was miscarriage. So it's like you're healing, and then the wound comes back again. But long story short, I remember that faithful day we went to the hospital. The the doctor did ultrasound because now we see we notice that she's pregnant again, and he was doing the ultrasound. I'm like, oh, I see, baby. And then like, oh, it looks like there's another one. I'm like, ah, double for my trouble. But of course, the rest is history. God bless us with twin curves.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Oh, that's awesome. So two miscarriages, but will we be faithful, you know, through those times? And I know you said like dealing with your sin struggles, dealing with these struggles, all by prayer, you know, like going to God in prayer. Will we run or will we be on our knees through those times? And I think I hear in the story of Jason Cradler, also an elder, you know, God really confronting him during the time. Like, will you still worship me if you don't have a child? You know, is that your supreme goal in life, or is it to have a relationship with me and trust me through these times? So amazing story of working through that. So this would be what about 2017, 2018, 2019?

SPEAKER_00 51:56

Yeah, so that was now that was 20. So yeah, it was they were born in 2017, January. So about almost about still in Louisiana or yeah, still in Louisiana. Okay, yeah, sorry, 2015. So we got married in 2013. We had our twin girls in 20 uh 15.

SPEAKER_02 52:13

Okay, so then, all right, awesome. God's blessed you with twins, double trouble, yeah, and now what?

SPEAKER_00 52:20

So obviously we're now expanding as a family, and then we had another one which hit in 2017, so January again in 2017, 2017. So now I have three girls, and then at that point at work, it was like, okay, we're growing, but I I I feel like God was also the one stirring something. But I was I'm like, okay, I've been here now, I don't really think I'm growing. It was gonna be either I go back to go back to school and pursue my PhD or I find jobs somewhere

Career Shifts And A Health Wake Up

SPEAKER_00 52:54

else. So I was studying for GMAD and also trying to figure out okay, what is does God work, or what does God want me to do too? I was also looking for I started looking for jobs just to maybe pause, put a pause on academia. So it was those two things I was praying. I was confused, I wasn't sure what God wanted. And then I attended a conference uh in New Orleans, and um, you know, JP Morgan was there, other companies were there, you know. I had an interview with you know folks from JP Morgan, and a couple of weeks later they got back to me, and long story short, they offered me the job. Okay, that was how I left Louisiana and moved to Delaware.

SPEAKER_02 53:37

Delaware. So God moved you here to Delaware from Louisiana through job opportunity, and that would be what 2017.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

2017.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

So been here about nine years.

SPEAKER_00 53:48

Almost nine years. This year, nine years, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

Now I know somewhere along there you got passionate about health. How did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 53:55

Oh, yeah, I have to go all the way back to 2013.

SPEAKER_02 53:58

Okay, so this was right around.

SPEAKER_00 53:59

Yeah, after after we got married. Okay. So uh after we got married, I started to I started having this weird pain on my right side, on my lower abdomen, and sometimes on the left abdomen as well. I wasn't sure what that was, so it got worse. I went to the hospital, they did all this scan or whatever they did, and they said, Oh, you had you had hernia. I'm gonna do surgery. They called it procedure, so I'm like, oh, okay, procedure didn't sound as terrible as surgery, you know what I mean? Just being ignorant, of course. And then obviously, I had to go through that surgery, you know, and I was not happy, mate. I was not happy, you know. Like, I'm like, I'm not old. Why should I be doing surgery? You know what I mean? So because I've I guess because of interest, you know, being an academia and research, I gotta figure out something. What went wrong, and what do I need to do to make sure that this doesn't happen again? Because I was still the pain on the left side. So it was evident that I have to go for second surgery. It was it was evident that will happen because I was still feeling something there. So I started to research. That was really how that interest, you know, in health came about. So all of that, you know, I really started to transform my health, what I ate, exercise, and everything. And I didn't have to go through that second surgery. You know, I felt great, I felt better by just making those uh changes in my health. So I really became very passionate about it. Sharing the gospel, promoting the message of health, you know, that became almost like two things that two things I was very passionate about. And I think in 2016 my mother came. She like little, she was still on a time bomb. No, God allows us to go through certain things, but sometimes it's not even for us. I don't think, and I don't I don't take any credit for this, what I'm about to say, Nate. I don't think my mother would be alive today if I hadn't gone through that because when she came, everything was high. Her cholesterol was high, blood pressure was high, her A1C was high. The doctor was shocked when he saw her A1C that she was not on dialysis. That's how shocked he was so high. So, with medication, but also the knowledge of health. I started to help her bring things down. She was full-blown diabetic before she left. She was pre-diabetic. So her A1C has come down quite a bit, cholesterol gone, pressure, high blood pressure gone. She she, I don't think she would have made it, you know, because she was already at that point developing some signs of stroke. But God healed her, you know. So that's just another example. But yeah, that was around that the journey started around 2013 after that, after I had that surgery. It was the same year we got married.

SPEAKER_02 56:47

So God used that kind of wake-up calls spiritually, physically, and you know, help other people to help your family.

SPEAKER_00 56:54

Absolutely. So I've helped even my wife, myself, my family, you know, like, you know, even through some struggles, even like the twin girls, you know, they came a little bit early. So that came with some struggles for them. That came with some struggles, and just using leveraging the knowledge of help that has health has really helped. Otherwise, some of them probably ended up being special need. If again, like I I thank God because I give God 100% glory for that. I don't say if it were not me, no, if it were not, if it was not God, you know what I mean? But I became a vessel to really help them because, and that's one of the struggles when a baby is born like a little bit immature, some certain aspects of the body may not have been fully developed, that could end up leading to some struggles. But they're dealt with that. One of them was in hospital for I think about 21 days in NICU, but they are fine now, despite all the struggles they have gone through. But yeah, then um, so when I came here nate in 2017, you know, I'm like, okay, now the American

Burnout Renewed Purpose And Prepare Now

SPEAKER_00 57:58

dream, right? Corporate America, and and then I'm like, after maybe a year, maybe 2018, life got really hard. Life got really hard, Nate. I started to question everything. I'm like, wait a minute, God, you you took me from Louisiana and brought me here in Delaware is just to work, work, and work. Is that all there is? So I didn't really I I didn't I question my purpose. I wasn't I didn't question my salvation, but I was questioning God's goodness. I was questioning God's love. I was questioning because it things got really hard because around that time back home, my mother's health was really getting worse. Like my girls, literally in a in uh in one year, I think we had two surgeries. You know, with my girls, you know, it just imagine it's not just this the surgery, but the multiple hospital visits. You look at this precious angel God puts in your hand, but you're helpless. You can't help them. I watched two of the knate got wheeled to the operating room. That was one of the hardest things to see as a father, and you feel like you failed them, you feel like you're helpless. You can imagine what that's doing to me mentally, you know, and then with work being so crazy, so really I was I didn't know that I was struggling spiritually and mentally, but I knew that I wasn't in a good place. I remember speaking with my manager, I just told him, Look, I'm struggling. That's what I told him. Thank God he said, believer. He told me, Have you talked to your minister? I'm like, ah, okay. I never thought about that. Then I scheduled time with Pastor Mark and then I went over there, by you know, the office used to be down there, right? And literally, I I didn't know I was bottling a lot of things, just really telling him what I'm just saying, the struggles. Boy, I was just crying and a little like I was just crying my heart out, you know, like you know, because I guess all of that, so the stress, I feel like the stress was affecting me also physically. Because I was, you know, I'm like, I hope I'm not having a heart attack or something, because I'll go to the doctor checking, making, you know, like looking up the doing some of this, you know, heart stuff just to make sure that's no doctors is nothing. I'm perfectly healthy. So I didn't know it was all this struggle, you know. So I literally was just crying, sharing my struggle. He was, of course, you know, we chatted and you know, he was, you know, we prayed, and then you know, he gave me a lot of tips, and he was very helpful, even with my oh, my sister too, had cancer then. So it was a lot of struggles. My sister had cancer. So the church was very helpful there with prayer, with support. So that's that's around 2018 now, and then I was questioning God's goodness. I was chatting with a friend. She he reminded me, look, you have a purpose. God gave you a purpose, you know, to be a dad, to to take care of your family. But it was around that time I went into my wife and I decided to go into three days prayer, three-day prayer and fasting. Remember that was that happened many years ago. Lord, show me why I am here. I remember first day, you know, you're praying and you're listening. Trying to say, What is God saying? But nothing. Second day, nothing. Third day, we're wrapping off fasting. I remember when the best man praying, and then it's um it's like almost like God began to bring his word to me, and the words he used was what do you have in your hand? What do you have in your house? Little, he was bringing the the story of Elisha. Remember the the widow, that was what he was putting at the widow who only had this jar of oil she thought was insignificant. You know what I mean? And then, but God multiplied it. So God has little, and as as I was praying, it's like I wasn't just he wasn't uh reminding me his word, but he was bringing images of what his children helped me see. It was passion for health, it was passion for media because I've always had this interest back in college. I know I didn't tell you that story in that same campus ministry. I wrote a story when we made a movie, you know, back in college with that, you know, like it was really just you know for for my for my campus ministry. I've always had this interest. How God sometimes interviewed people while I was a student, you know what I mean? God started to show me uh that's uh that's what he has, that's what he has put in me, has given me those gifts, use it for his glory. So I started to uh create a YouTube channel, social media trying to promote message of health, you know, like how where do you find them? Social media, you know, doing some of this little stuff. But what came out of out of that uh by the way, after that, it's almost like I became a different person spiritually, so I there was clarity in my understanding my purpose because when you feel like you're living a life just work and then you die, it's a miserable thing. But now God gives me I have a reason to be here, you know. So I started to push out on those, you know, encouraging people to eat healthy, what I do, and sharing the message of, of course, the gospel. But then what came as a result of that question? What do you have in your house? What talent have I given you? Was in around COVID time I wrote a book called Prepare Now, 10 practical guides to thriving and surviving during crisis. So kind of you know, went through some of the things that will help you deal with crisis. So that was what came as a result of that, basically, because I remember going on a whiteboard, I bought a whiteboard from Amazon, I wrote down everything God was learning my heart to do. So that was part of it, of course. You know, starting a YouTube channel and so on and so forth. So, and of course, really, really being involved in a life house, a life house, I kept growing, of course, huge part of men's ministry. I've I've I've plugged myself in, kept growing. So all of that, God used all of that to really strengthen me spiritually, help me to remember that I have purpose and to worship him, use whatever he has given me to serve him.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

I think, yeah, just like you were saying, community is so important, like when you're just working and you know, being apart, you know, being isolated takes you to that place of where you're feeling that kind of purposelessness, meaninglessness, depression. So getting back in community, and then the calling, right? So God calls us to community where we find our calling to serve Him through whatever gifted ways, whether it's YouTube channel or health, or obviously so many people we're blessed with that have unique gifts. But God doesn't just save you to just chill or to abandon you, but to truly live out a purpose. So that's really awesome. So you've been here since 2017, and God's kind of really turned you around, showed you the purpose. He doesn't take us anywhere for no reason. I know that's part of our story. Every time we've moved, God has taken us deeper and further. And sounds like that's been your story

Final Encouragement And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02 1:05:24

too. Yeah. But man, that's an awesome story. It's been so great to get to know you here at Lifehouse and uh just hear more. Man, just all God's brought you through your upbringing to coming to America, financial struggles, uh, family struggles, health struggles. You know, but God's been faithful through it all to even give you that purpose. So man, it's great to get to know you. Thanks so much for taking this time, Lifehouse Family. Uh, we pray these stories really encourage you. Donzo's an elder here, so you can see him on Sundays. If you have questions about his story, or if you got any questions about health, he can hook you up. Sugar is The enemy, right? Nonzo.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:01

So you already know.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:02

Yep. So he teaches a biblical health class for us here as well this year. And so if you got any questions, man, hit him up in the lobby, talk to him, or you can reach out to us through the podcast with questions, comments. We always love to get those. But Nonzo, man, so awesome. Blessing to know you and the family, and thanks for taking some time for us today.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:21

Thank you. It's a blessing.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:23

And Life House Family, we'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.