Faith In Action

What if the season you’re trying hardest to escape is the place where your character is forged and your joy deepens? Today we share a lived‑in story of practical faith: long visa delays that split a new marriage across continents, a miscarriage and a high‑risk pregnancy that ended with a healthy baby, a six‑year immigration battle that reshaped community, and a cancer diagnosis that closed with the words “cancer free.” None of it felt tidy. All of it became a classroom for service, scripture, and stubborn hope.

We talk about moving to a small church in Newcastle and asking the simplest question,how can we help? then finding purpose in driving a bus, cooking for students, and showing up first and leaving last. Scarcity met unexpected provision: a neighbour at the door with a new microwave the day ours died, diapers stacked to the ceiling from grateful friends, and an envelope at Christmas that shifted us from anxiety to generosity. Along the way, three separate confirmations promised “you will laugh,” and that promise landed in a reunited home and a child whose test results defied fear. We unpack the difference between a good offer and a godly one, how to “faith not fear” when the wait drags on, and why serving keeps bitterness from taking root.

There’s more: education doors once shut swung open, a master’s in social work arrived without the price tag, and career steps came faster than expected. Secondary infertility fears met healing, and the cancer chapter became another marker of God’s presence through community and scripture. If you’re navigating immigration uncertainty, health scares, or the ache of delay, you’ll find practical handles here one verse to hold, one person to tell, one simple act of service to start today. If this story lifted you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review with the line you’re taking into your week. Your words might be the confirmation someone else is waiting to hear.

Chapters

• 0:00 Relocation, Service, And A Small Church
• 3:28 Host Introduction And Guest Bio
• 5:45 What Practical Faith Really Means
• 9:21 Marriage, Separation, And Visa Setbacks
• 14:30 Prophetic Promises And A Year Of Laughter
• 18:37 Pregnancy Fears, Test Results, And A Healthy Child
• 22:34 Lessons From Waiting: Serve, Share, Stand On Scripture
• 27:22 Sponsor Message And Community Encouragement
• 30:12 Sowing, Celebration, And Radical Generosity
• 34:30 Protocols Broken And A Six‑Year Immigration Trial
• 39:10 Provision Stories: The Microwave And Daily Joy
• 43:20 Education Restored, Career Advanced, God Provides
• 47:05 More Trials: Secondary Infertility And Healing
• 50:20 Cancer Diagnosis To Cancer Free Testimony
• 54:30 Faithing Not Fearing: Scriptures That Anchored Us
• 58:20 Takeaways, Self‑Care, And Support Networks
• 1:04:40 Closing Blessings And Listener Requests

Transcript

SPEAKER_09: 0:00

In that trip, it was all about what do we do while we were waiting for the session in the home office and all that. And uh we they have to relocate us from where we have support, our church, our family involved in, and we end up finding ourselves in a new terrain in a place called Newcastle. And when we came to Newcastle, we were our focus was to look for a church to serve. We're like, if we can't do physical, but we can work for God. And we came to this church, uh we we prayed where we wanted because they had a couple of with them, and God instructed us to go to this very church. And when we got to that church, it was just a small church, majority were just students, and it was only the pastor and the wife that, you know, it was just the pastor that drives in the church. So he will bring his family, he will go back and go and bring students, you know. It was really ethic. And uh we were like, ah, what can we do here? And we started serving immediately. We served in this church, and it was a beautiful and wonderful place. My husband started driving the church bus, we'll leave home by eight o'clock, we'll go and pick students sometimes, two times, three times, bring them to church. We are the first to come, we are the last to go home. You know, when people will want to do anything, whatever they can do, I'll buy pastry, do meat pie, give to them, I'll cook. We don't, we don't have we don't what do we have? We don't have anything, we're not working. And the government was giving my daughter, giving us something for my daughter, and that was just about 35 pounds a week. You know, we were on that, and we were just my but we were so content, we're so joyful, and we keep serving. There was a day we were going to church in the uh evening Bible study, and we needed a ticket to go to church. We didn't have them. We have not started driving church bus. A neighbor promised that they were going to give us tickets, and we were waiting for them at the bus station. It was cold, it was in winter, it was so cold. We were shaken, and this man did not come. We started, I started crying. Why was I crying? Because I couldn't go to Bible study, and we went back home. And the pastor was like, No, it's unlike us not to be in church. What happened? My sorry, we couldn't come. No, it's since you can drive, come and take my husband. If you don't mind, don't mind. And that was how we started driving the church bus. You know, we went through that faith journey. We the the key reason why I keep saying serve. When you are so overwhelmed with what you are going through, you'll not be able to see others around you. You know, Joseph, when he was in the prison, still noticed that the other people were not smiling. That's to show that Joseph was really aware of his environment and ghost still facilitated him through that process.

SPEAKER_10: 3:15

And Joseph was serving, you know. The yes, even the um the the others in the in the in the yes, in the prison.

SPEAKER_09: 3:22

Yes, he was still serving, and we continued serving, we did not stop, he didn't stop us.

SPEAKER_10: 3:28

Hello everyone, and we are back here again on the authentic driving podcast. For those that don't know me, my name is Abia Sonia, and today I've got a very special guest with me. Like I always say, all my guests are absolutely wonderful and special. So, can you please introduce yourself to my audience?

SPEAKER_09: 3:54

Good evening, thank you, Abia Sonia, and for thank you for having me. My name is Adisua Akachiku Okurunko. I'm a daughter of the most high God. I love God, that is my identity. I'm a child of God, and um, I am a sister to lots of siblings. Uh I'm a daughter to a mother, and I am a wife to my wonderful husband and a mother of two beautiful children. Ministerially, I serve as an assistant pastor, uh, ordained minister from the Redin Christian Church, and um professionally I am a trained uh social worker. I'm into business as well. I'm an international recruitment uh consultant for international recruitment for students, and I'm accredited by the British Council. I love to do things for the kingdom, I love to sow into lives. That is my passion, and that comes in the form of encouragement. I will say the Lord has blessed me with a gift of encouragement and counseling, and I am passionate about building thriving relationship and homes, marriages that represent Christ. So in a nutshell, I love to smile, so that's me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10: 5:33

All right, okay, okay, okay. So you are a lady that wears so many ads, that is so interesting. So this episode is about to get even more interesting. So we're just discussing before about faith. You know, faith is a word that is being thrown around a lot. I have faith, I have faith. But one thing that I've come to realize that it's easy to say a lot of things verbally, however, to put it into action, that is where it becomes really challenging. We use faith a lot. I believe something is going to happen. I have faith is going to happen, I receive it by faith. But when you say you receive it by faith, one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, and then a month, one year, two years, three years, and then it just goes on and on. Or it comes in different form. You are waiting for one in faith, and another challenge comes saying you're waiting for something else in faith, and then it doesn't really happen. They begin to see that faith to put into practice is not something that is for the faint-hearted. You need divine help. Faith is the believing in the things that are not seen, but you believe that is it is in existence anyway, even though you don't get seed as a tangible thing. So, for you, I would like to talk about your journey in practical faith. I use that word practical faith, not just the word we say by mouths. What has your journey been so far when it comes to that word practical faith or faith in action?

SPEAKER_09: 7:12

Thank you very much. Um, that is a very uh will I say is a broad statement because faith most times, like you said, will define it as you know something that you offer evidence of things not saying, we go to Hebrew, one will recite it and all that. And I remember when I just got married because I believe I love God, I trust God so much, and I just pride myself. I'm a woman of faith, and I did not understand what that really means. And until um the journey of life begins to unfold, then I realize that faith is personal, it's very personal, is all about the level that you are working with God. When I mean walking with God, now it's not you doing W-O-R-O-K for God, but W-A-L-K. Because the amount of faith that you are able to exercise depends on how much of Him you have encountered and you know. Because for you to trust someone, for you to believe in a God that you feel that okay, I've not seen this God personally, but every day yet I it is closer than those that I see, because it begins to make sense to you, and I think I'll just take you through uh if God every day for me is the faith work, because for me to wake up in the morning and to think about tomorrow what I will do or what I'm going to do is the fact that I believe that God will wake me up, that is faith itself, but there are different dimensions. Uh I think it's this just I will cast my mind back to the year 2005 when I got married. And you know, before you get you've got your dreams and things and all that. And um, I was just in United Kingdom, I was just two, two years, you know, barely two years in the United Kingdom. Met my husband here, but it wasn't settled here. He goes and he comes, and and after the marriage, I was okay, it needs to be settled to apply for him to come as a dependent. And then the struggles started, and he applied. We felt we have everything we needed for him to make this application. And he went home, that was 2006, 2006 April, and we were thinking, oh, roughly before our first anniversary, we'll be back. And it didn't happen like that. It went the first time, it was refused, and I couldn't understand it. Why? Because I've submitted everything I needed to, and the second time he was refused. Meanwhile, we just nearly married, I'm still in school, have not graduated yet. You know, I'm waiting for him to come. He's in the other side of the world, and I'm here, and we're just trusting God, and we try different ways, we made other applications, it was refused again. Become so consigned and worried. 2020, 2006. I have to go and see him in um Africa and came back. I was about to start uh my dissertations and all that, so there was a lot of workload, uh, school, everything that has to fall in. And uh my husband have done some investment with some people, that the money was nowhere to be sent. It was like a new phase, you know. All the excitement, all the dreams, everything that you have just planned went just like that. And before we got married, we've just started a church where we actually had our blessing that we have committed that we're going to serve God no matter what, irrespective. And the pastors we encouraged me, he would tell me, don't worry, he will soon be back, and all that. And 2005 was gone. 2006, 2006 was when he traveled. Then 2006 was gone. I went for Christmas, came back. 2007 we started, and it was not stayed. And 2007, midway, he had his visa, something happened, they gave him that visa, and it was cancelled. He had to stay back, and I was like, Lord Jesus, all do I do? Meanwhile, when I went to visit in 2006, I came back. I was pregnant 200 uh 6 December. That I went to see him. I came by, I was running, I had a miscarriage. I was by myself and I had that first miscarriage, it wasn't nice at all. Then I began to want to know more of God because I was like, how can I be a child of God? I'm in church and this is happening. I don't miss a service, I serve, I give, you know, why is this happening? I was in the welfare then, and I remember lots of people in uh in church were majority were students, so I was just wondering, but I didn't have a lot of like friends apart from I'll speak to my sister, speak to my pastor, and it just continued. 2007 or through my husband was tenor. Yeah, I was by myself doing my work, school, and all that. Then 2007 December, we had a guest minister in church that came and he started preaching. It was a Wednesday service, and as he was preaching, he said, There is somebody here. People call you, or you even call yourself that you're a woman of faith, but you have not demonstrated faith yet, you've not seen God yet, but God has decided that he's going to make you laugh. You know, when he said that word, when he said woman of our life, oh, but when he said God is going to I was like, No, it can't be me. I cannot be laughing with what is going on around me. So when he said my posture, the posture of my heart shifted because I just said it can't be me. Oh God knew. Because immediately I did that, nobody knew what I did. He he raised up you know his head and said, She's saying it can't be her. Then he looked towards my direction and he said, You, the Lord said you are going to laugh. And I looked back, thinking it's just somebody behind me because I just couldn't see the laughter in all of this. And I looked and he said, Oh, she's looking back, you and I laughed. I laughed because I was like, not the kind of laugh that you're like, what do they say? I'm going to laugh. Meaning, what? What kind of laugh with all this? My husband is stuck back in Africa. I've got school fees to pay, I've got you know, exams to write, dissertation to do, I've got rent to pay, I've got everything on my head. And this man is saying laugh, I don't know what that means. And that service, you know, that was Bible study, it was gone. Then on Sunday, I came to uh I was serving as usual in welfare. And this minister that was invited to our church then in in Bolton came and he ministered so heavily, God used him so much. And at the end of the service, I went to serve him in the office. So immediately I entered the office, he looked at me and he said, Dear sister, God said it's going to make you laugh. I said, Jesus, not in the day, this mother has come again. Yeah, make me laugh, you know. Um, that's why you know he wasn't, oh, she's very dead, girl. She's yeah, she has faith, and I don't have faith because I'm already kind of what's going on, I'm already tired. And he said that word again, and I just I just mind. Thank you, sir. God bless you. And he prayed, he said, I will share your testimony. That was what he told me. And uh we left it at that. So in 2028, we entered a new year. Uh in 20 2008. No, 2008, we entered a new year. Then um, uh the pastor that planted that parish came from Nigeria. We call him Daddy. He came and he was like, Ah, I just saw where is your husband? I said, That is the number. Where did you see him last? I said I went to say 2006, December, and Chris said, So you didn't see your husband through out 2007? I said, No, sir. He said, Why? And God used him. I got a ticket and I went to see my husband in February 2008. While I was going, my pastor gave me some things to take to the minister that came that said I was going to laugh. He told me to give him to go and give him those things. So I went with my husband and we went to his office as we were entering his office. He said, Ah, daughter Uzion, the Lord said you are going to laugh. I say, I said, Jesus Christ. You need different locations, and he did not recognize me. So I said, Good morning, sir. I'm so sorry. After greeting him and everything, I said, sir, this is the daughter you are telling me. I will say, ah, he said, Mommy, do I know you? I said, sir, you know me. He said, No, you can't recognize. I said, Ah, I'm from Breakthrough Church. And he's like, What? So I have to tell him. I said, You told me you I will laugh in beginning. You told me when I came to save you that, and now you are telling me in Nigeria. Ah, the man, he said, that means if God has spoken, he's speaking not just once, twice, three times. He said, This is your year of laughter. Wow. I said, I believe it, I receive it in Jesus' name. Then he asked and he prayed with us and he said, Do you believe? I said, Yes, I believed. And you know, he made some declaration that God instructed him when my husband was meant to apply and things like that. And you know, and he just prayed. He said, I'll hear your testimony. And to the glory of God, that same year, 2008, my husband came to back to the UK in June. He went to apply and God favored him. But before he went to apply, we prayed, we fasted, and we had scriptures that we stood on that he gave up. We were standing on those scriptures, and God indeed proved himself because it looked as if it was seemingly not impossible, but God did it. That even the day went for his uh uh interview, there was nothing much, you know. God gave him and we knew that it was God, and he came. And that same year I became pregnant as well, you know, and I just know that God was not done with us yet. Yeah, God actually kind of, and when that happened, now this is what is interesting. When that happened, I've always known that God is God, God within, but my working with God became personal because I know that God knows me, He calls me by my name, yeah. He knows every fiber of me, He knows my intents, He knows my thoughts, He knows what I need part time, He sees. Me, he is mindful of me, and a scripture that I lost so much, the Lord will perfect all that concerns me, and his promises will come to pass in my life. That scripture became life because I could see how wow. So God knew me, even in the UK, in Nigeria, and He was and He was telling me because He knew that I needed to hear those words because my heart was fainting. It keeps telling me that I will laugh. And indeed, with my Osma coming, yes, certainly I laughed. Maybe pregnant, I laughed. And then the journey from there, it was a journey of just knowing God. You know where we pray this prayer, Father, show me your glory, reveal yourself to me. For God to reveal yourself to you, sometimes you need to go through some situations so that you can see the bigness of God, you can see the almightiness of God. Yeah, you can experience the authenticity of God and how God can come through and true, how God can do things that you look at and you say, No, no man can do this. Because when I was pregnant, at uh uh I think 12 weeks, they will do the general check, they will take all your blogs and all that, and he came back and they said, Oh, your your genotype is AS that you a sickle security. I'm like, no, that can be true. I did my genotype. Me and my sister, we did it in when I was in Nigeria, University of Bene. I went to Uniben, and I said, I did my genotype, and they said I'm AA. And they said, No, you are AA. I said, No, they need to do it again. So they repeated it, and they said, You are AS. I said, Wow. So, and they're like, Oh, what about my husband? I said, My husband is AS as well. I'm like, but I knew it was AS, but I thought I was AA. So I went on because God really indeed has a plan for us. Because when they just said the next thing my file was that they put on was uh high risk, and they wanted me to do a test at 15 weights, and I have to go to Manchester to do that test, and they want to find out if the child is a carrier, and there is a percentage that that child might be aborted if you do that test. And I said, No, I know where this child is coming from. You could say I will laugh when God blesses, He had no sorrow.

SPEAKER_10: 22:48

Never.

SPEAKER_09: 22:49

This is a child of testimony. I know where this child is coming from, and I refused. They sent a lot of life said, I'm not going to do it, and at the long run, the day I had my baby in 2009, they went straight, they went to test, and behold, she was A. Again, yes, my child is my child was AA. Wow, and I that that kind of took my faith level. You know, they say faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. As you hear, whether by testimony or you are listening to me today, as you hear the word of God, because this is God in action, this is the testament, the volume of the book that was written about me that I'm telling you in the audio form, you know, as uh uh uh the the more they were just shocked. She came back, she was AA, and indeed the child was perfect. She was indeed the good work, and that was why we knew her name before she was born. Because while those things we are saying, we keep saying this is the good work of God, it's God that started it. The good work of God, God had no sorrow, and when she was born, we gave her the good work of God because indeed she is a perfect child, you know, and we we started that, and the devil was mad because he could see that testimony encouraged a lot of people. The devil was really, really mad.

SPEAKER_10: 24:30

So you had waited for for how long by this time?

SPEAKER_09: 24:33

So by this time, because got married 2005, so I had my baby, so it was a four years, four years, four years.

SPEAKER_10: 24:39

So, as you were talking, I was just trying to extract the main things. So, for people that are waiting, please, you know, please listen attentively and extract learning. It's good to hear stories, but when you just hear it and you get motivated, get hyped up, you will leave with nothing. It is better you listen and be transformed. And how do you transform your mind by extracting the lessons, the key points from that story, and then trying to apply it in your own life. What I hear you say from what you've said, regardless of the situations that was going on in your life, that were you know, you is not something that you can just swish and swish on, swish off and swish on, and then you have your way. You needed divine intervention, and what I hear you say there is that you kept on seven in the church. Yes, you kept on seven, even as outside of church as well. That was my life. Right? Because then that will help you take your eyes off the situation that looks insurmountable, and then you stood on the word of God. You had Bible verses that you've quoted today, you stood on that word because it said the word of God is spiritual life. When you keep on speaking the word, it takes it comes alive in you, get activated, believe in it as well. And then you were able to be vulnerable because I remember you said the man of God came and he asked you where was your husband. You could have just said he went to work. So for people out there that when you are going through things, you will keep it to yourself. Nobody is an island of itself. You need to remember that, be vulnerable to the right people. Now you may say, Sonia, how will I know this person is the right person? Be vulnerable. If they want to laugh, let them laugh. But you never know who God will place in front of you to help you to hold your hands in that right time. Because God walked through people. So, thanks to him, you were able to then get a ticket to go home. And it was in that journey you met the man of God that had given you his word. And also, when his word comes, regardless of how it looks like, it does not look like where you are at. When the word will come, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge will come, and you're like, hmm, it does not look like the way it is. Hold on to it anyway. Because his word will never go back to a void. Hold on to it with your two hands, even if the hands are shaking, hold on to it very close to your chest and believe because God will take you to where you're supposed to be. It is so important. Those are the key points that I've written down. So, for anybody that is listening, you want to bring faith alive in your life. Try and practice these things, implement it in your life. So, please carry on.

SPEAKER_09: 27:19

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_10: 27:22

This episode is sponsored by ACEF Consultancy, a hope of personal transformation for the mind, body, and soul. If you are ready to write and burn out, move away from depression, healed anxiety, take food from traumatic emotional pain, and live with confidence in order for you to gain clarity, for you to move from surviving to thriving. Why don't you visit our website www.asebconsultancy.com. We'll support you through counseling, life coaching, and other trauma recovery programs, grief courses, and we even offer one at a time therapy. All of these services is available virtually, so you do not even have any excuse of saying you do not want to leave your home. You have everything from the comfort of your home will support you to move from surviving to thriving. Before you go, have you subscribed yet? Like, share, and comment on what resonates with you so far on this episode. If you have not done so, why don't you just click that button now? Thank you. Back to the program now.

SPEAKER_09: 28:32

And again, to just add to that, because some when you look at Peter, when God told Peter to throw the net, and you know, it as there was a time just like he just wanted to do it because Christ said it, because you could see the darts. I think I was like that. Because when you know the reality of what is facing you, and someone is speaking what does it what doesn't look like a reality, you're going to want to question, you know, does this person know what they are saying? But at the end of the day, God proved Himself. And there were other things that you know really helped me through that period. And it would be good for me to mention that I was never worried. I was never worried, but I I was hungry for God. I wanted to know more of God, I wanted God to show me, to tell me that it leads. I think the time that man gave me, the the man of God gave me that word. God knew that I was, I wanted to hear his voice because then when Paul said they heard God, or I'll listen to that IJO message most of the time, that's Pastor E A D Boy, the Jerry of Self Redeemed Christian Church. I was listening to him constantly, and he would say, Yeah, God. You just hear God. I wanted to know, I'm like, is God actually hearing me? And he was showing to me that he is hearing me. You know, I fail, I surrounded my life with testimonies. I will listen to these messages, I will listen to testimony of others, and now sometimes I'll be listening to this testimony, I will cry, I will just you know, dance, I'll be so saying God, God that did this, he will do mine. And then people started having babies in church. When I need for everyone that had a child that season, I will visit, I will buy gifts, I will visit, I'll buy and people, someone actually asked me, Why are you spending so much money buying gifts like this? They didn't know I was sowing my own seed because it was an opportunity for me to sow, and anyone that sow, you will you will expect an harvest. I was sowing, I was seven, I was sowing, I was seven, and those seed that I sowed, after I had my baby, the day I had my baby, it was a Friday night. On Sunday, when it was announced that I have had a baby, the old church, it was a celebration mood. People were so joyful, they were so happy that they all came to the hospital. They're not a lot of people in that can imagine what the nurses are we had over 50 people in the hospital at a time that the nurses have to come. They said, Please, who are the baby? What happened? Can we know you people? Who is who are these people? As the the nurses have to start taking at as they take people too. They will go in, they will say, Okay, you in your own two minutes is over, you'll bring in another badge. It was something they've never seen before. When I mean the seed that I've sung, imagine if I was bitter, I was angry saying others are like, then you cannot attract what you don't appreciate. And you know, they all keep coming, they were coming. The babe as if we didn't buy pampas for two years. We had a room that pampas was stuck, it was stuck to the cellar of the room. The baby clothes that we had, we had two baby clothes. We did not buy clothes for my baby until she was two years and a half. We were changing our clothes every two months. We'll remove the clothes, we'll put it, bring out another one. Gifts, not to talk of other things. As in when I was sowing this thing, know when the Bible talks about in Psalm 1 through 6, it talks about when you are sowing your seed with tears, that you'll come back rejoicing. That was what happened to me. When the Lord indeed turned the captivity of Zion, they were like them that God indeed proved Himself. So, waiting season is no morning season, it's not complaining season, it's a time to serve. Every waiter in the restaurant will serve. If you are waiting in the restaurants of God, please serve and serve with cheerfulness, serve with a smile, serve with courtesy, and you will attract the blessing, the very best from God. And that was what God did for us. That was what God did for us, and like I told you, the devil was mad because we now became like a point of reference. The devil was so mad, and uh, because I was still a student, I've done my uh um international uh the one post study. Yeah, so I've applied for my post study that in self was another testimony when I applied for my post study. I finished my course in April. My this because my visa was going, because I was a February start, my visa was going to you know come to an end, and I will be graduating in June. And normally they will say until the Senate seats, they won't give you the final resort for you to go and apply for your post study. Yeah, but somehow God really wanted my husband to come because my husband came in June and my visa was dying in April before he would come. So I was like, What am I going to do? I need to apply for that post study. And I went to my lecturer and he said, Ah, you know, it can't be because he has already marked my dissertation and he could see that I passed. He said he will write a letter to cover that, but I will need to get a letter from the school to confirm that I finished and I am good to go. I said they might not give me because I'm still owning some money. He followed me downstairs, asked them, they did the letter there, stamped around and gave it to me. And that was how I applied. And somebody has heard my testimony in church and went to try, and they said no. Uh huh. So I knew that God that said he wants to make me laugh, he really put everything in place, he broke protocol for me to laugh. Then I had that post up study that was what I now used to apply my husband's came. So this God is not a God of waste, is he's an awesome God, is all doing, all knowing God. He knows how to do what he wants to do. Yeah, you know, by the time I we were finishing postgot, the plan was that I'm going to do my master's for me to do my master's in social worlds. And I got my master's uh offer. I remember when I applied, I got an offer from Suffolk, I got offer from UCLAN. And I'm like, okay, which one will I go? Let me go with Yuklan. By the time I applied for them to for my visa, they came back with rejection and said, because I have applied three months before the start of the course, which because my uh uh they said, you know, because of that, they're going to say no, because the course is starting in September. I applied in April, and they said no, it's too highly, and that was the reason. By the time they said that, okay, I we're going to meet a lawyer, and the lawyer was meant to appeal so that that right of state will still continue. It did not, he said, get a short admission for another course that is starting now, and I will put in another, and he went to put in another application. That was the beginning of my immigration challenge. Because when he put in a new application, for you know, they were like, No, your former right to remain is gone, so you don't have right to be here anymore. That was how a mistake from a lawyer became a story, a journey of faith. That by faith we were living and surviving every day. You know, that journey was so long, and this started in 2010. 2010 April till 2016, 2016 July from that April 2010 to 2016 July. It was a story of grace, it was a story of divine provation, it was a story of God showing himself over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_10: 37:50

Give us a snapshot of that journey in a like a summary of it, giving us the key points of the faith journey, and you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_09: 38:02

As we started in that trip, it was all about what do we do while we were waiting for the session with the home office and all that, and uh we they have to relocate us from where we have support, our church, our family in Bolton, and we end up finding ourselves in a new terrain in a place called Newcastle. And when we came to Newcastle, we were our focus was to look for a church to serve. We're like, if we can't do physical, but we can work for God, and we came to this church. Uh we prayed where we wanted because they had a couple of with them, and God instructed us to go to this very church. And when we got to that church, it was just a small church, majority were just students, and it was only the pastor and the wife that, you know, it was just the pastor that that drives in the church, so he will bring his family, he will go back and go and bring students, you know. It was really ethic, and uh, we we were like, ah, what can we do? Yeah, and we started serving immediately. We served in this church, and it was a beautiful and wonderful place. My husband started driving the church bus, we'll leave home by eight o'clock, we'll go and pick students sometimes, two times, three times, bring them to church. We are the first to come, we are the last to go home. You know, when people will want to do anything, whatever they can do, I'll buy pastry, do meat pie, give to them, I'll cook. We don't, we don't have we don't what do we have? We don't have anything, we're not working. And the government was giving my daughter, giving us something for my daughter, and that was just about 35 pounds a week. You know, we were on that, and we were just my butt, we're so content, we're so Joyful and we keep serving. There was a day we were going to church in the uh evening, Bible study, and we needed a ticket to go to church. We did have them. We have not started driving church bus. A neighbor promised that they were going to give us tickets and we were waiting for them at the bus station. It was cold, it was in winter, it was so cold. We were shaken, and this man did not come. I started crying. Why was I crying? Because I couldn't go to Bible study, and we went back home. And the pastor was like, No, it's unlike us not to be in church. What happened? My sorry, we couldn't cover yes to tell him. I'm like, oh no, it's since you can drive, come and take my husband. If you don't mind, don't mind. And that was how we started driving the church bus. You know, we went through that faith journey. We the the key reason why I keep saying serve. When you are so overwhelmed with what you are going through, you'll not be able to see others around you. You know, Joseph, when he was in the prison, still noticed that the other people were not smiling. That's to show that Joseph was really aware of his environment and God still facilitated him through that process.

SPEAKER_10: 41:18

And Joseph was serving, you know, the yes, even the um the the others and the in the in the yes, it was serving.

SPEAKER_09: 41:25

Yes, he was still serving, and we continued serving. We did not stop, it didn't stop us. We did not, even the pastor then that we did nothing, nothing could stop us. We just could continue to serve God with the all of our heart. And the thing is, this if you are coming to church, you want someone to share you up, come to us, we'll share you up. And we we continued like that. I remember a Christmas that I will never forget, that was 2013. Uh uh, I think it was in October that the jail have mentioned that you know, someone trusting God for a breakthrough, that if God is going to give you something, you will give one part. The first part, I think you share it into uh to to give one part to the Joe and one part, then the second one. There was a way he said it. All I knew is that we got what we were meant to get, allowance for that month. And we took it to our pastor and said, Please, can you say it to the Joe? And he knew our situation was like, No, how do you want us to sing this one? I said, You have to, it is our fate. And we sent it to him. And the the November one came, we did the same thing. So December was the one that will come that is yours. We were not expecting where the money was going to come, but all I knew is that it was Christmas and we didn't have anything. We had just uh we uh our rice, we we had rice, we have oil, we have whatever, you know what they called oil uh um contial rice. That was what I did. But we we love to before all these things happened. We normally, like when we celebrate Christmas, we invite students to our house to come and do Christmas with us because of the loneliness I experienced the first year I came to England as a student. So I was able to relate with that. I didn't want any other person to go through what I went through. So that year we're like, ah, we can't invite the student to our house, you know, but we can buy cards. And we bought cards, you know, the small card you give to your children to take to school. That was all and we gave it out to the student in the church, and one of the students was so touched, he said nobody has ever given him a card before he called us and he said, Auntie, thank you for my Christmas card. But Auntie, I want to come and see you. I'm going to London. I said, Ah, you want to come and see her? He said, Yes. He said, I want to do Christmas for Olomachi. I said, Okay, that's fine. And he came. I sent him out there and I told him, I said, I have concoction rights, so I hope you will eat. And he laughed, he said, Auntie, whatever you give me, I'll eat. So he came and I actually gave him that rice. And he ate, you know, no meat, just fish scattered inside and whatever. And ate, and after everything, he said, uh, have a good Christmas. As it was good, he gave me an email. He said, Auntie, don't open it yet. And he left when I opened it 2013. I opened that envelope, it was a thousand pounds. I was like, What? One thousand pounds. What am I going to do? I just I fell to the ground. My husband was like, Jesus, Jesus, God, what are we going to do with this? Why did you give us this? What do we do? We were afraid to touch it. We called this boy, he refused to pick. It was later he sent a message saying, Enjoy your prison. That was what I was led to do. I could not believe it. We were afraid to even say to even touch the money. At the end, we were asking God. We're not like, who can we bless? We started thinking of God. Who can we bless? Well, people back up, those that will need money that don't have money for Christmas. We should say something. We're just like thinking about others, but we're able to go out to get something for my daughter, able to cook something, and we're able to invite one or two students to come and join us, you know, to do Christmas. But this God is a God that is mindful of us. When you are serving God, don't serve God for what God will give to you. If you do that, you will crash out. You have to serve God for who He is. He is the King of Kings, He's the author and finisher of your faith. He's the one that bought you with a price. And there is nothing He cannot do for His own. Just save God because you love God. Just serve Him and let God do through you what He alone can do. Don't let your focus be on what you can receive. Because if our focus was what we can receive, we would have stopped going to church. We would have like, how can we do all these things? And God did not know. We kept on going. We kept on going.

SPEAKER_10: 46:27

And God kept on going.

SPEAKER_09: 46:28

Those six years, there were a lot of temptation, a lot of offers that were not godly, that we could not accept. And we kept our eyes gaze on God. And God proved Himself over and over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_10: 46:46

You know, I always tell people, I said, the fact that an offer is good does not mean it's godly. And for people out there, I just want you to please just sit down and reflect. Are you serving God out of fear? Are you serving God out of transaction? If I do this, then God I'm expecting you to do this. Are you serving God because you saw other people doing it? So you're just following, following, following. Why are you serving God? Are you serving God so that you can have an emergency button to press when the pressures of life become too much? The way I always explain this to my children is how would you feel if I always call you and I always ask for things of you? And I never call you to genuinely check on you, to genuinely just talk with you and also check on you and say, How are you doing? Well, every time I call you, say, Oh, go and get me this, or do this for me, or do that for me. How would you feel? And my children always tell me, I will feel used, I will feel like you are always taking and get to a point that might not take your call. I said, This is how it is with you and God. If the only time you pray to God is when you need things or when you are expressing something, then you are also using God. I know people say you cannot use God, but that's the way that's the posture of your heart as at that time. Call God because you love him. If it's all about love, whether or not he does the things you are expecting him to do, it doesn't matter because those things now become a bonus. But a relationship is based on love. Serve God because you love him. For those of you that are wondering how deep is this, go and study the book of 1 King or 2nd King or any book where there is David, King David. King David, upon everything that he did, is the only man in the Bible that God said, the man after my heart. And if you want to know about that, it was all about love. David loved God. No matter how I prefer the words, the core of his relationship with God was love. So if you want to study this, you go and study the book where you I think first, second kings, they have it. David, read about it, and then you understand what it means to love God. So, yeah, over to you.

SPEAKER_09: 49:21

God is a good God. That journey of six years, I will say, and without missing words, was the best year of my life so far. Because that six years, God used our life to impact people more than ever before. It wasn't only bad what is in your pockets, you know, the service that God, the opportunity gave us to serve that year, those years, it was just awesome. And God was showing to even while we were waiting for this document, we were doing other things for us to know that I'm with you. I'm with you.

SPEAKER_10: 50:00

It was just and that was when you had your second child as well.

SPEAKER_09: 50:03

Yes, it was nudging us, nudging us that I'm with you, I'm with you. You know, things will happen while we're waiting because we know that God was in it, and we know that God will do it. It was nothing for God to do, so it was not my primary, I'll not put my head and say, No, this enough, no, no, God will bring it at his own time because he gave me a word that he said when he turned the captivity, they were like that. I knew that when God would do it, when no one is there, he will flip it. I remember as we were waiting, there was a time that uh microwave packed up. We didn't have money to buy a new microwave, and me and my husband will laugh and say, Ah, this thank God that my my mom taught me well. We'll get the pan, we'll use the pan, put water to eat what we want to do. We'll use, you know, that was now our microwave. And as we're doing it, we are calling things that were not as if they were to come, and we are just laughing. We were having the time of our life. You will not see us sad, we're laughing, we'll play, we'll go to park, we'll go to the beach, we'll carry all my children. It was just fun. You know, we had time to study the word, we will not miss uh Oligo service, we'll listen to that geo, we'll listen. It was just a wonderful time to study in depth the word of God. Then this microwave packed up, and we're like, God, God, you know. Do you know what happened? A neighbor of mine came to knock with a brand new microwave. Did you ask him? And he knocked, we didn't ask him, we didn't tell him, didn't know anything about a microwave. He came to knock and he said, Ah, hello Aka. I was just wondering, my brother's chubby used to say, and he's closing the shop, and I picked a couple of things, and I was just wondering if you need a microwave, in what in how many no, how do you begin to stand that? And my husband took down my crown and he said, Gods, you just want us to know that you are you are watching us, God is full of evil, and that was how we got that micro where you're just like, No, do you know what every other thing doesn't matter? God was showing us, showing us. I know we don't have much time, but my journey of faith, I experienced primary infertility, but I went on to experience secondary infertility, and it was within that six years that God still came through for me through his word, through his word, and by a touch with that geo, that that that God brought his word to pass. You know, all the things happened, and today the admission that was denied in 2009, that I couldn't start, that that visa was denied in 2010. For the masters, yes, yeah. Today I am a graduate. I I have I've done my master's in social work, I'm a social worker, and God has given me rapid promotion even as I'm practicing, and the way I got that admission is another testimony, you know. The what was meant to cost me nothing less than 20,000 pounds, I end up not paying a cobble. I was even paid to do it, you know. God did what he alone can do. So, my today, what I will use to encourage anyone, if you know you have given your life to Jesus as your Lord and personal savior, please don't take it back when challenges arise. Leave your life with him. Before he formed you, he knows you and he called you by your name. His thoughts towards you are thought of good and not of evil, but to give you an expected end. Just leave him, he knows what he is doing, he knows every fiber in your body, everything that concerns you, he knows. If you can trust him, just serve him unashamedly, love him, love him, love him, love him, study his word, pray with that season, worship, be grateful. Whether the big ones have come or not, just be grateful. The course you have, like this bread that is in your vein. Just keep thanking God, just keep thanking him and just know him and serve him for who he is, know what you can get. Because God indeed is not a taskmaster, he rewards, and he would definitely reward those that diligently serve him.

SPEAKER_10: 54:58

Thank you very much, and he restores as well, it restores because he says what started the journey six years ago, a roller coaster of a journey of immigration issue. God restored it, what's supposed to cost you 20,000 plus pounds, ended up being nothing as a zero is like God gave you.

SPEAKER_09: 55:18

He restored, and he used that season to build our faith because we're able to study, we were able to pray, we were able to serve selflessly, we were able to just really just serve God, and it was amazing. It was just amazing.

SPEAKER_10: 55:40

Wow, thank you so so much. Is there any more journey of it you want to share?

SPEAKER_09: 55:49

There is that one. There is more, there is more of the yes, there is more, and probably I will come again. I'm going to write a book soon, and it's going to be a a kind of a collection of God's faithfulness, a testament of our desire, you know, what God has done in our life. There is more.

SPEAKER_10: 56:13

Give us some snapshot snapshots of those more so that we can anticipate this book when it comes. Snapshots, snapshots.

SPEAKER_09: 56:21

Well, I'm going to be talking about how they told me that my eggs were no longer very viable, and I can't have a child anymore. And they closed my five in NHS. Even when we requested that, okay, we'll go for IVS. They said, Well, there is no guarantee. We can, if we want, is up to us. How God turned that story around and gave us the goodness of God, and as if the devil was not mad enough, he was like, uh, what is going on with this person? I go with this, and God just gives you know something really big. And when it looked as if the enemy didn't want me to be a social worker because when I got my program, I got into it, I shared my testimony in the hallelujah challenge. God was just, you know, awesome. He did what he alone can do. I think it was my last time in my placement. When it was my first placement, the last month in my first placement, I got a diagnosis. This is someone that's never sick, never among this, you know, since I was born. I don't drink, I don't smoke, nothing whatsoever, out of nowhere. They said, Oh, you've got breast cancer, you've got stage four, breast cancer, and well, I'm like, what? And God again took me through that journey, sent cancer to hell, healed me, and made me whole. Amen. And this is me, you know, testifying November 3rd, 2021. I got the news, you're cancer free. You know, that's God doing what he alone can do. Got the diagnosis in April 2021, but God gave me that oakler in November 3rd. That journey alone was another journey that indeed God's name was glorified. God's name was glorified. Whatever you go through as a child of God, you can be doing two things. One thing, but is either of this, either you are faithing or you are fearing. If you are faithing, you have the word of God, and you can see you will be like the Hebrew boys that went through the fire, but there was no thing. It said there was no even an Africa even sent it that they have been in the fire. You will go, you will not be burnt, you will come out. But if you are fearing, then it's another thing because then the spirit of God cannot be there when you are fearing, so you need to stand in faith and stand in the word. Exodus 23 26 says, You will serve the Lord your God, he will bless your bread, he will bless your water. He said it will break every yoke of barrenness, and with long life, it will satisfy you. That was the word God and I studied on it. I have words that I was taking as medication, and God came true. God came true, so it is uh it has been a journey of faith, and it's still a journey of faith. But one thing I will say God is faithful, amen. God is good, God is kind. I judge him for. Faithful, no matter what, no matter what I go through, my God is good, my God is kind, and my God is faithful. And He is He has always been with me, and He has never left me or forsaken me. Wow.

SPEAKER_10: 1:00:19

So that title that I gave you, I said, Woman of faith, God showed you what it means to be a woman of faith. It's not by professing it. You have lived it, you have seen God walk with you, you have seen God work in you, you have seen God walk through you. And He will continue to do that. I just want to thank you for your time and for the key lessons for those of you that are going to be listening to this. Please listen again. There are words there for each person, regardless of your is it immigration, there's a word there for you. Is it marital separation in terms of um you don't even have a choice due to immigration? One is leaving the spouse, one spouse is in the south, the one is in the east, is right there. Is it um secondary or primary infertility? It is there. Is it miraculous intervention when God's make his supplies for you? It is there. Now, is it a big one whereby all of them are big? It doesn't matter. There's so many things in there, so many nuggets. So it's not to do a replay and do me a favor, do us a favor, share with as many people as possible. This was not a podcast today. Like I always tell people my podcast is not a podcast, it is a message, it is a message to our generation to transform, to renew, to restore everything that you need in this work of life. Before you go, anybody that comes on this podcast knows always ask about what are the things that you do to rejuvenate your mind, your body, and your spirit. What are your key self-care tools that you like us that you like to share with us today?

SPEAKER_09: 1:02:01

I love to pray. So when you pray, you get refreshed. Right. And um, I love to listen to the word of God. So the audio Bible I read, but the audio Bible has a way when I plug it in, even when I'm sleeping, I plug it in. It has a way of keeping myself very strong when I wake up in the morning. And um, I love my massage and I love my shower. I love to shower. I had my shower morning and evening, and when I'm in my shower, it's my meantime. You know, praise God. I just do things in the shower. I can be there for some time, go time. So if you know that you want to don't don't go after me, go before me because yeah, I love my shower. And I can I I I do listen to my body. I know when I'm tired and I know when I take a I need to take a rest. So when I want to take a rest, I take a rest. And it might not cost me anything for me to promote my well-being and just chill and have my shower and just lay on my bed. And I can be doing my prayers, I can be doing every other thing I'm doing. But again, I love good love. I love to have a good talk with my sisters. And um, I think this week someone was asking me that who do I talk to the most? I said, apart from my husband and my children, my sisters, because uh she was asking, how do you manage trace? I said, when I'm stressed at work and I feel that I've had enough, I I close the laptop and I get my phone. Either I speak to my sister, I speak to one of them because my husband is busy. I said, once I speak to her, I will be okay. I said, then I just go back to whatever I want to do. So I don't have a large circle of friends, but I've got friends that are sisters. So God has been very mindful of me, has given me people that are really, really, really wonderful. You know, when he was giving me people, it was it really pampered and spoiled me. Ah, he gave me friends that are really wonderful. My friends are not much, but they are really, really excellent and wonderful people. So I am grateful for my network, I am grateful for the people that are in my life, and uh, I am grateful for my church, it's a wonderful place, you know, and my children and my family. My family is a close need to one, even my extended family. So, yes, these are the things that even going. I don't like negativity, I don't like fitness, and I don't like anything that is not authentic. So I stay away from things like that and try as much as possible to keep it real.

SPEAKER_10: 1:04:55

Wow, thank you very, very much. You are in the right place. That's why we call it authentic thriving podcast. Okay, we keep it real every time. Thank you so much for your time. May God bless you, may God honor you, may God call you to preserve you and use your story to transform impacts lives in Jesus' name. Thank you. It's been an awesome time having you today, and um, thank you so much for joining us today. I remain your own Sonia. Please keep sharing, keep following, keep liking for your story to us for those of you that keep coming back. Thank you so much. I see you on the economy. Once you come your way again, take her now and God bless.