Adapt And Advance: Faith-Based Tools For Hardship With Dr. Oluwole Babatunde

Today, I sit down with Dr. Oluwole Babatunde to explore how faith, hardship, and intentional growth shape our ability to adapt and advance in life. Dr. Babatunde begins by sharing the defining tragedies of his childhood—losing his mother at seven and his father at thirteen. He explains how these early experiences forced him to confront grief long before he understood it, and how they later became the foundation for his empathy as a psychiatrist. Growing up in Nigeria, he navigated cultural expectations, educational limitations, and a tightly knit family structure, all while developing a resilience that would carry him into adulthood.

As our conversation moves forward, Dr. Babatunde discusses his transition to the United States to pursue a PhD, eventually becoming a U.S. board-certified psychiatrist. We examine the cultural misconceptions surrounding Nigeria, the realities of faith practice in different regions of the country, and his personal experience with American culture and perceptions of racism. He describes the blend of opportunity, struggle, and community support that guided his path and ultimately strengthened his commitment to using his pain to serve others.

We then dive into his book, which introduces the MAP-LAMP framework—a step-by-step guide for finding meaning, taking action, forming alliances, maintaining mission, and anchoring life in prayer. Dr. Babatunde walks through how he integrates scripture, daily Bible study, and intentional reflection to help individuals navigate suffering without losing themselves in the process. We discuss spiritual warfare, false prophets, pornography addiction, and the urgency of grounding oneself in the Word of God as culture becomes increasingly chaotic. His emphasis on purpose, discipline, and faith-driven identity offers a practical and powerful roadmap for anyone struggling to understand their circumstances.

To close the episode, Dr. Babatunde shares who his book is written for—primarily young adults seeking purpose but applicable to anyone facing hardship. He explains how adversity becomes a teacher, how God uses suffering to bless others, and why adapting and advancing is a daily decision made through prayer and intentionality. This conversation is a deep, faith-centered reminder that every challenge we face can be transformed into someone else’s hope if we allow God to direct our steps.

https://oluwolebabatunde.com/

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*Couple O' Nukes LLC and Mr. Whiskey are not licensed medical entities, nor do they take responsibility for any advice or information put forth by guests. Take all advice at your own risk.

Transcript

 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey. And how many of y'all would like to learn how to adapt in advance with face based tools? How many of us we love the story of hardship, overcoming hardship, educating ourselves, learning, pursuing.

The MB embedment of ourselves to face what we've been through and then paying it back forward to help others. That's really the biggest mission of this show is that we take our look back and make it someone else's look forward so they don't have to go through what we went through so they can go through the expediated process without all the hiccups and hopefully do even better than us.

I think that is our ultimate goal as people is mentorship and parenting, is to lead better and better generations. We don't always do the best job at it, as we've seen, but we're trying. We're trying. And today we are here with Dr. Wolley Babatunde and he is a man who has been through quite a bit as we'll get into and has an impressive journey, and I'm so excited to talk to him.

Dr. Babatunde, it's so great to have you here, and could you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Thank you so much, Mr. Whiskey. It's a privilege for me to be here with you today and I'm really excited to be here today to talk about my story. And I love the way you said it, that, we take our own look back to be somebody else's look forward, and I just love that I've not had it like that before.

So it's, it's really exciting for me to be here to be able to. Take my look back to be somebody else's look forward, and to also take, even to be my own look forward too because I believe we can always learn from the past. There's so much we can do about the past, but the biggest thing is we can learn from it and use the lessons to inform future decisions and to do better in the future.

So my story, 360 degree view is that I, I was born in Nigeria. Lost my mom when I was seven years old and my dad when I was 13. Those were the most defining thing as a young adult growing up. But went through it, been through it, and I'm really grateful that today I'm the US Board certified psychiatrist and I'm able to use my story on every front, everywhere.

To be a blessing to other people. Even when I don't mention the story, when I, like, I don't have to do that when I'm talking with my patients all the time. The empathy and the connection, it's always there. And I can feel some of the pains, of course not all because every pain is unique, but I can relate with people because I've been through some very tough situations myself.

Mm-hmm. Right. So you talk about you losing your parents at a young age seven and 13. Close enough I would say to say back to back, especially during that vital age of seven to 13, right before you, hit your teenage years. If you don't mind me asking, what was the cause of those passing aways?

Yeah, so for my mom she was pregnant. By yeah, that was our fourth pregnancy. We were three boys already on ground, so she wanted my, the story was like, she wanted a girl originally. They wanted, they wanted three kids, but since we were all boys, they wanted to just give it the, try to have a girl and, truth to it, she was pregnant with a girl, but unfortunately both of them died.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it, it was a very, one of the roughest things that ever happened to me. I remember going to school in the morning, then I was in elementary school, we wore pink, uniform checked and school. And I remember they just came to grab us from school and they didn't even take us home right from school, in the car.

We drove straight to our hometown to bury my mom the same day. I was too young. Nobody really even sat me down to explain what was going on, but I just knew something was wrong. And I was the oldest of the three boys. But I knew something was wrong. I knew people were crying and people were, all of that's going on.

I knew my dad was devastated and dejected. I knew in the, in the car the way from, it was about four hours drive. I knew people were, crying silently in the car. People were really touched, were really feeling bad, that it's so, she died from. She was heavily pregnant. She was close to being due, but honestly, I don't know the full details, but I knew she was, all I know is she was heavily pregnant.

And the more story I had was she came home during her break time, called my dad to come due to an emergency before they could get out to the hospital. She was gone. So I really don't know the details of what happened. Mm-hmm. And unfortunately, by the time I was wise enough to ask a lot of questions, my dad was gone to, so, by the time, I really had really a lot of questions. There were just very few people I could talk to and plus I just had to face my life and move forward and not let that hold me down. My dad died in a road traffic accident when I was 13. I was in a, in high school. I remember seeing him that last night.

He normally travels regularly. High school was in a bigger city than where he was living or where we were living. So he comes regularly to buy pharmaceutical goods for his, he has a private pharmacy and so he came, bought the goods and was going back, had an accident, and he died. So one from more maternal complications, the other from more trauma or road traffic accidents.

Yeah. Right. And I want to get into the country you were born and raised in. Just a little bit of background because I think a lot of people listening in America and and across the world kind of had this preconceived conception of where you grew up. Might, might be like, and I, I believe it's probably different than what we picture and, and unfortunately.

What, we kind of had this image in our head of, so could you kind of give us a little bit of the cultural background and also what influence that had in your life that is still with you today? Yeah. And that reminds me, one funny thing that happened to my kids when we first came to the us then we, when we came, they were just clocking six.

So they started elementary school then, and one of the questions they got from people was like, have they seen a lion before? Right. So they're like, no, we don't. Lions walk on the streets in Nigeria like that. People are times I've, right. People have, I've not seen one in my own life, maybe in a zoo, but at least I've seen one in like life before.

So it's not like it's completely a jungle like that. Like people think. Moderately. We have big cities that maybe not as big as like New York, but at least we have cities as big as a good, like where I live right now, Greenwood, South Carolina, we have cities bigger than that. And even the suburbs and the villages is not like you see wild animals roaming the streets like that.

Right. So it's kind of similar in a lot of things. It's just that fine in terms of development, of course the US is much more developed in terms of, high rising buildings and things like that. It's much, much more compared to what we have at, we have high rising buildings too, like yeah, party story building, 40 story building of houses.

Not sure if we have like some of those very tall buildings in California or things like that, but yeah. We have some. So, but in terms of cultural, I think one big thing, I've lived in the US 11 years and I lived the first 30 plus years of my life in Nigeria. So, I've tested like good chunk of both places culturally, I, I believe it's human beings are honestly similar everywhere.

The biggest difference I would think is just over time. The development in here it has is much more advanced. But culturally a little bit still, maybe the family tie is still a little bit on the higher side, I would say maybe in Nigeria. And then the social system is not as well developed as we have here.

You get a lot of government assistance for things and stuff like that. There's not, not so much back over there. So most of people's assistance back home will be maybe when you grow up. It'll be your kids, coming to help you. Extended family members rallying around you and stuff. I'm sure that also happens here too, but maybe because we don't have a lot of sophisticated social support friends and family might be how you have at times.

So it's still a little bit more knitted together in terms of family. Like, although, the world is a village now everywhere, so. Right. A lot of development is happening over there too. And people, the culture here is mixing up, but there too, so hundred percent. Things are changing. Things are changing very quickly over there too now.

But overall, I think families are still a little bit monitored together there not that they are not here, but. That is more pronounced there because that, that might be all you've got. And would you say part of it is due to, in the US a lot of people move away from their family, but where you're from, it's a lot more local, like you kind of stay where you are?

Or would you say people still move out throughout the country? Yeah, people move some, but I would say the opportunities here maybe are a lot more. That might necessitate moving, that might make moving much easier, right? Compared to over there. So moving around, like changing jobs, changing cities is not as frequent as we will have it here because here, you could wake up and just say you want to go live in another part of the country, and it's not extremely complicated.

But over there maybe, the opportunities are not that many one. So moving around is not as frequent as we have here, right? So that's also part of what makes maybe the families to stay together compared to over there. And your children. They were born and raised here in America. No, no, no.

They were born in Nigeria, but we moved together. They were five when we came. Now five when they came, I lost 11. They are like 17 now. Yeah. Okay. The reason I ask that is because to me you have an accent, I'm sure to you I have an accent, so, there's that. But do your children, because of the age they moved here, do they, would you say they talk more like you or do they talk more quote unquote American?

Like what influence kind of took over. So they, they can switch in between both places, both world. Oh, okay. So, it's funny to me when I hear them talk to their friends, like it's strange how they were able to like pick that up. But of course, even at their best Americans around them still know they have an accent.

But they are still far better compared to where I am in terms of being able to switch and talk a little bit like the American way. If I would say on a scale of one to 10, speaking the American, like an American, if for me it's. Let's say two for them. It's like a six or so. So people can still tell, but they can still, they can still talk a little bit in a way that it's easier for people to hear.

Of course, people will hear them better than they hear me. Right. And then one thing I do want to bring up is because America, like every country around the world, there, because of all the different cultures living together, a lot of people have painted America as racist. And I know there's definitely are some issues with that.

Do you feel like as an immigrant from Africa, do you feel like you have dealt with a lot of racism or do you feel like the image that is portrayed by the news and the media and on social media is a lot more dramatic and violent than what is actually real? That's a political question and I've got to be careful here now.

Okay, great. But honestly I would say, I always tell people that everybody's experience is different. And what we all experience is different, and I'm always very careful to say this personally I've not experienced, or maybe I've not perceived it as much as it's been talked about, just like you said.

Okay. Let me give you an example. So for, I was in Nigeria I left in 2014. So I applied for my, I left to start my PhD in the us. That was the first thing I did. So I, and I got a scholarship to University of South Carolina while I was still back in Nigeria. And a particular professor took interest in me in the university who happened to be my advisor for the five years of my PhD.

I'm still in touch. I still meet with her every month now. That's despite, I've done, I'm was done with my PhD since 2019. We still publish paper together. She still advises me because we have a very good relationship and she's white. So, for me, she didn't know me. Right. Maybe she just saw my CV and, saw that I wanted to study PhD in epidemiology.

She felt she had what it takes to be my mentor and to support me as much as she could. I was working with her as a graduate assistant. She was able to pay me, for my grant and stuff like that. And she gave all the support she could and I, so I didn't, at least that was my very first encounter, she was like the face of America to me, and she still is.

She's a kindhearted woman and. She's nice. But of course I've dealt with many other people apart from that, from her since I've been here. But overall, I think, like I said at the beginning, there are good people everywhere. And also there are mean people everywhere. Whether it's Nigeria is Africa, is Asia and everywhere.

But I would say I've had the best of both places. In terms of, not that I've not met people that were not nice, that may be a little bit nicer too. But I don't think I've had extreme situations. Kind of some of the things that at times we see on the news, and I hope I won't. But overall. Things went relatively smoothly for me.

Not that I didn't have challenges, but of course I had had challenges in Nigeria. My parents died, maybe it was there, maybe a nine one one call would have saved both of them. I don't know, which we don't have in Nigeria. So, overall, I strongly, I would say, just like you said, it's maybe what we hear on the news and everything is not really as bad as it is.

But again, that's my own experience, so somebody else might experience it differently and somebody else. Just like, not everybody lost their parents as kids. So, if I give my own dramatic negative story growing up because of losing my parents, some people had it smooth and nice, growing up with their parents.

So for, I think overall it's, everybody will be able to talk for themselves, but for me. I had it smooth. Things went well and everything I had planned one after the other. I've been able to complete them so far. Of course, I have many other things I still want to do with my life which I'm still working on every day.

But overall, the big ones like finishing my PhD, finishing my residency to become a board certified psychiatrist. All of that has been computed. At least I'm done with schooling. So yeah, so overall I think. It's not, it's for me as a person, I wouldn't want to talk for everybody. Right. It was a relatively smooth ride with challenges, but the challenges were manageable, which I could have anywhere in the world.

Right. You're perfect. You're not canceled. Don't worry. You, you said it perfectly. And I think, of course, we never speak in generalizations because everyone's experience is different and I think, you did also. South Carolina is one of the most American places in America to be. So you got a pretty good taste of the culture being in South Carolina.

I lived there for a while near Charleston, if you're familiar with the area, if you've ever been over there. So you know, I've in Charleston for two years. Yeah. So South, South Carolina is very well, definitely one of the most patriotic states, and they're a state that's very proud of their own state.

You got the palmetto tree everywhere and the Palmetto moon symbol. And and I actually share all the time on this podcast and in some of my writing doom, Spiro Sparrow, which is the Latin form of what's on the license plate in South Carolina, which is while I breathe, I hope. I actually really like that saying, and I, I've had a lot of great conversations about that in terms of suicide prevention.

So, South Carolina is a pretty good state. Not to say I haven't had some bad times there. I'm sure you've had some bad times in South Carolina as much as the good times, and that's, that's in where you'll be anywhere. Yeah. One, one of the things I wanna talk about in terms of culture from, where you were born and raised to here.

Specifically the religion because in the beginning I mentioned your book talks about faith-based tools. So what would you say? Obviously like any country, there's a diverse makeup of different religions, but in certain places it may dominate more than another religion. And so what was like the religious influence you had growing up?

So in Nigeria kind of we are up to the two big religions Christianity and Islam. Mm-hmm. Kind of like 50 50 depending on who gives you the statistics of 45. 55, right. Or 49 51. Kind of like that. So overall Nigeria is Christian and then most of it is Muslim. Then the other half is like Muslims.

I would think. Maybe the example, the closest I would example I could say in terms of that would be the way we have kind of like the Democrats and the Republicans split almost half African elect big elections. That's almost the way, Christianity and Islam is, and yeah. Is there persecution against either side in that country?

So there's a lot on the news right now about the persecution piece of it is not new. And most of what we are just the world is saying right now have been on even before I left in 2014. And in fact, I remember the former, the president that was there like, is it 20? The one before like maybe 20 12, 20 10.

I remember when there was the very first abduction of about 200 students from a school. It was very traumatic and all of that thing. And so Nigeria has been battling all of that. But overall, there's the religious piece of it. I would, I would not say that there is, it has a form of Islam.

Trying to persecute Christian, but there's more to it than that. The bigger picture for those of us who know deterrent of Nigeria very well, we know it's bigger than just saying that, but definitely there's a piece of it that is that and that piece of it that is, that might not even necessarily be from inside of Nigeria.

You know those, oh, it's a global issue. A hundred percent. These, this goes back to ancient times, the the war between religions and I guess mm-hmm. My biggest question in, in terms of this episode in you was, were you raised Christian and freely allowed to, to be that, or was it like you had to keep it hidden?

Oh, no, no. I was raised Christian. It was easy to, it, there was, I never had experienced persecution because I was a Christian in Nigeria, so, okay. So it's not really, and that's why it's also, it's could also be a struggle for people to completely understand what is going on right now. Like. In, in the very big cities, like the church I attended in Nigeria Living Faith Church, they call it Winners Chapel.

I still watch the services like every Sunday, once a week I still hook up. And what their services, they have like. Close to 50 to a hundred thousand people gather every Sunday. Even right now, they're preparing for a program that will start tomorrow. The, at the annual convention or annual annual shilo event, which gathers people in hundreds of thousand in person there in Nigeria and millions all over the world.

So, is, and that is in the middle of everything going on right now. That's just one of many other churches where we have very large followings like that. Okay. I think so. But there are some parts where it's more difficult, like in the northern parts where we have more Muslims than Christians, most of the problems are really there.

Although the problem is coming down south slowly. So I was, I'm from the south, so Euro bars is my language. So the upper half, which is the northern part. It's more Muslim dominated. The lower half is more Christian dominated. Okay. So all of this, but even in the northern part, there are also big churches that are doing great too over there.

But maybe most of what happened in terms of persecution wise was more in the northern part than it is in the southern part. But for me, growing up as a person, it wasn't like I had persecution because I was a Christian. I was freely able to practice my religion, go to church. Yeah. Okay, whatever. Yeah, no, I'm just and people are still able to right now.

Okay. Yeah, I know. And it seems, historically, even looking at the world now, it does become a geographical divide. You look at the Philippines in, in terms of the Islamic nations and, and cultures there and in the Middle East as well, and it does become their own. They get their own almost territory for lack of better words.

And it does become a battle of expanding that. And so I think that, and that's something that will go on until the end times, there's always going to be the religious tugs of war and, and persecution, and people don't realize it. But even in the music and social media, there is. Spiritual warfare going on at tremendous levels, and, and people are oblivious to the false gods and worships that are being put into our children's mind, and they don't realize it because it's disguised.

It's, it's made catchy, it's made trendy. There's been a, a lot of recent stuff that people don't realize it's related to, satanic worship and traces back to ball, and we need to be on guard for this. And part of the issue is all our generations need to get back to reading the Bible. I know so many people who are believers and have never read the Bible and they just, I agree.

Whatever their, and, and there's a lot of false prophets rising. And Jesus warned one of his last sermons was actually warning about false profits because as we approach the end times, they're going to be popping up more and more. And technology has given them the ability to create a following and a foundation wherever they go.

And so it is more dangerous now than ever before to be careful about. Who we're following and, and what we are partaking in. And, and so all I can say is scripture is your anchor for what is true and right, and what is wrong and false. And so as long as you stay anchored in that, I don't want you to be paranoid.

Like every church you go to, it might be evil. Every pastor you watch online might be, as long as you have the scripture as your guide, it will show you what is true and what is right. So lean into that and study that. I agree with you and t you just said it the perfect way. We just need to all continue to learn every day and learn directly from God's word.

And of course it's good to be a part of a fellowship, I try to be stable so that, I don't just keep hopping from, but of course I've changed churches in the past. But overall I think the biggest things still comes to. Every one of us needs to create some time, every single day to know what God is saying, to learn from God and to hear his word.

And let him direct our steps. And I love the way you put it. As Christians, we have to, to falsehood to deal with we are false profits that are deceiving, Christians and then we also have the world itself. Mm-hmm. Like you said, there are a lot of things going on that, which is so sought to and could be easily disguised.

And we might not even know that, things are going on in the spirit realm. And overall, I still strongly believe a lot of things are come true from the spirit realm. And and that's why we have to be on guard, study the word for ourselves, and also be prayerful so that we can be able to discern and leave the right.

The spiritual warfare is getting even more intense and difficult because children are being exposed to it at a younger and younger age, the average age of exposure for pornographic content is eight to nine years old. That is a young age. Mm-hmm. Be thrown into what I would say is one of the most difficult battles, of which is the spirit versus the flesh.

And, and lust is definitely something that, in fact, I would say it is the number one destroyer of man in the Bible. You look at, like, if Satan can't get you in the battlefield, he will get you in the bedroom. You look at the downfall of King Solomon, king David of Samson mm-hmm. Of many other men in the Bible.

It has been because of lust. That is, I think, the greatest tactic of the enemy. That's why you see there's so much pornography and in these music videos, especially in the rapping industry, there's so much of the twerking of the wearing, revealing clothing of the sexualization is freed of movements that like.

All this sexual content and the creation of it and the influence of it on our children in their TV shows, in their movies, I believe that is the number one and the most effective tactic of the enemy. And people are just blind to, it's getting to the point now where sexualization is the equivalent to your maturity.

So if you're a young woman and you wanna be, seen as an adult, you're gonna start wearing makeup and start showing more skin because you want people to perceive you as more independent and an adult and it leads to a lot of terrible, terrible things that I won't get into. But it is such a shame.

We look around at the sexual violence and, harassment and assault in the world, and it is tremendously high. And that is because of the, childhood influence of all this. Like it is statistically proven that people who engage in pornographic content are more likely to be a, a sexual offender of some kind, because they get numb to it and it is a gateway.

They get a tolerance built and they get into more and more extreme stuff. That is why the more extreme you go into the, sexual culture, you get into. Dare I say pornographic content with animals, with children, with all this content because they get this buildup of more and more what I, I believe is.

A build of a, of really a demonic spirit that just gets stronger and stronger, it gets more power over you. Now, that's not to put forward a, a message of hopelessness. Jesus does save. And if you are struggling with lust, I, I highly encourage you to pray and to have accountability partners with one another and to be checking in on one another.

And there, and this is for women too. I've done episodes dedicated on women's pornographic addiction. People always think about men, men are pigs. Men just love, swinging around and all that. There are a lot of women who are addicted to pornography and you would never know.

They're mothers, they're wives, there's, sisters. And so I really encourage everyone to check on women. We always check on our daughters for sexual harassment and assault and not our sons. And then we always check on our sons for a sexual addiction and not our women. We need to be checking in on each other regardless of gender and age and culture.

On that exposure to that world because it is the biggest part of the spiritual warfare that we are in. I agree a hundred percent. And that's why the Bible says we should watch and pray less. We fall into temptation. I believe the biggest part for us to win this, but to prevent it if it's not started, whenever it, if that started, is for us to watch and pray and be consistent.

Stand strong to make sure that at every phase of our life, we don't let the enemy have a way in. Mm-hmm. And the way I always talk about this with people overall is, it's not you replacing bad with good is you. The more you stay in God's presence, the more it's just impossible for. These things to remain in our lives.

So I think the biggest thing, which personally has helped me over the years is staying intentionally in God's presence. To learn from him, to learn his world. And all those things begin to go away slowly, slowly, slowly, that it becomes a no issue to you. So it's not so much of trying. Of course there's the element of we can make efforts, of course, to do what is right.

We should in every area of life. But beyond that, we need to be spiritually sensitive, watch and pray in prayers, and also make sure that we spend intentionally quality times both in the world and in prayers, and that's. It's like you are filling up, the, it's like a bucket that has, for example, let's say a lot of balloons in it.

The more water you put into the bucket, the more the balloons go up and onto the water. Fills on all the balloons, get out. I think that's one analogy I would like to say might be one of the best ways to explain this, the more of God we have in house. The more, all of these things go slowly to the surface and get out of our lives so we don't have to struggle so much or so hard, but we need to spend quality, intentional time in his presence.

Of course, be willing to learn, be willing to pray, be willing to study God's word, and I believe. God will give us discernment and we're able to overcome all these battles. I completely agree. When I got saved and got more into the faith, I started to develop this natural just distaste for anything that was sin for or against God's word.

Like it, it just, you start to. You, you almost have new eyes, and, and, and that's what it is written that you, you will see differently. And I wanna say, you mentioned the world and I'm gonna paraphrase the quote here, but it's, do not conform to this world, the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind continually.

So I think that's so important. Yeah. And we. Bring up the faith to talk about your book. So you talk about faith-based tools. So what kind of inspired this book and the incorporation of faith into it? So when I was writing a book so the biggest inspiration for this writing the book is just to be a blessing to people and to inspire people.

I've been through a lot because of the loss of my parents and other things that happened. Because of it and some things that are not even related to it. And I've always wanted to just use my story to be a blessing to people. I want able to read it, be inspired. I'm able to read it, be able to pick something that they can use.

And one framework that kept coming to me as I was writing the book was the map lamp, which I used in the book. M-A-P-L-A-M-P-M is meaning making. A is action. P is planning. L is learning. A is alliance form. Mission M is having a mission statement, and then the last one is P, which is prayers. I struggled with adding faith into it so hard, but I just realized taking faith out of my very first book would not work because personally faith has defined me a lot.

Faith helped me to cope with the loss of my parents. I was, we were, I was born and raised Christian, so part of my coping skills personally might be different for everybody, but my whole coping skill a large portion of it is because I was a Christian and the child of God. By the time I got to middle school, I received Christ for the first time at the age of 11 before my father died.

By the time my father died, I know. I already knew God some and I was able to go to him in prayers. I was able to, connect at that level, to get me through things. Was it difficult? Yes, but I could say comfortably that God saw me through at every stage of it. So taking faith out of it, I felt I would be being very unreal, and I just decided to leave it and be able to share the faith part of it.

So the map lamp and for me, like meaning making, which is the first MI basically used, three main models from the book by Viktor Franco, who happened to also be a psychiatrist in the concentration camp where you said three main ways to make meaning. One of them is your attitude towards the problem.

The second one, apart from your attitude towards the problem, is experiencing someone or something. It could be music, it could be podcasts, it could be your wife, it could be your friend, whatever it is, whatever is important to you. And the third one is looking at the big picture. Meaning even in the middle of your problem, you can still use your story to be a blessing to other people.

So that's the three main model you used for meaning making. I now, I didn't want to eat, I said I also make meaning from God's word. That is talking about the faith part. And that I think the very first chapter in the book. I think it is not just those three things alone, but I will hard on upon, upon it studying God's work.

Personally, I spend some time every morning to read God's work and I make sure every single day. I get one unique Bible verse that, stands out to me from the Bible and I write it down, in my notebook every day. I believe that practice has been very, very fine. It has changed over the years, has gone through different methods, different styles, but I have reached my, I've s stabilized on what I currently do now for, for some time.

And it's been very, very helpful. I make meaning from God's word, and whenever I read it, I'm able to think through it and see how it applies to my modern day life today. So that's meaning making a action. Action anywhere is, taking action and moving forward irrespective of whatever is going on in our lives.

So after we've made meaning we have to move forward, we should not let problems grind us to a hal. I always believe that, I always say that we have the pain in our hands, our stories still being written, and we can decide the outcomes. And one of the things we can use is action, take actions, move forward.

Don't. Problems keep you in bondage no matter what. Let's keep it going forward. Let's keep moving forward. Number three for is the, the P, which is planning. I thought I used the cos model for that one. Capture clarify, organize, prioritize, and simplify. Then L is learning which is very important and for me.

One of the things that has helped me most growing up in Nigeria, going through all those suffering or pain was learning in at the age of 20 ish. 2021, was when I decided to be reading one book every week. That has been tremendously helpful. And at the beginning it was only Christian books, but slowly, I read other motivational books with it now, but my foundation is Christian.

In fact, my reading habits was from my Nigerian pastor. We wrote a book then towards mental exploits and he, he, he said, there are two things I do. I read and I think. So reading became something I then, I was reading physical books. Now I listen to audio. I have seven hours commute to work every week whenever I'm working.

And that is, I either listen to music or I'm listening to books. I have three and a half hours, about 30 minutes every night I spend shaving and doing all of that. I either listen to books or I. I listen to music, so I kind of do in between that, it's just easy for me to finish more. It most, an average audio audio book is about seven hours, so it just makes it easy for me to do that.

So I would, I always encourage people do at least one book every month. One a week might be too much if you are not like Right, into it before and they are new to it. But I would encourage at least one book every month. And as a Christian, I would recommend, via Christian spiritual books first.

I remember reading, PAs driven library, Warren, long time ago. It was very helpful for, in my Monroe about pops there, he wrote three books about PAs there and I read all of them. All of that were very helpful for me, my growing mind at that time. Then that's l learning then map lamp A is alliance formation.

You can do live with other people. Other people in your world and in your life to help you fulfill your purpose. And I, said so many stories there. Then Amy's mission statement, everybody needs to have a mission statement. My own mission statement, which I say every morning to myself mm-hmm.

Is to fulfill God's purpose. And be the best version of myself is, is in three parts. The first part is to fulfill God's purpose and be the best version of myself. And second part is as I move from one level of success and value to a greater level. Of success and value and what that means is I don't want to be static.

I don't want to have a better, yesterday, Proverbs four 18 says that, would said it, paraphrase that the part of it just shines brighter. I'm brighter to the glory. So I believe strongly that God wants our path to shine brighter. Wherever you are today is the least you ever be. That's what I believe that from that Bible verse.

And then the last one is prayers. Prayers is always key, and that's where I talked about reading the Bible, praising God and prayers itself. I believe the biggest prayer we can pray is praying, using God's word. I pray using the Bible verses a lot, and that's where I was trained, even from my church in Nigeria.

I say God's word back to him. Your word says this and I pray it to him. So I think those, that was the seven ways, that's how faith helped me. And I have seven core Bible verses one for every day. And I said to myself every day, Matthew 6 33 is the first one. Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness.

Every other thing shall be added onto you. That's my Bible verse for Mondays. And it's really helps me to focus on God first in my life. My money, God, first, title and everything like that. My time. I intentionally give a title of my time directly or indirectly to the things that are of God every single day.

So. But to 6 33. Then number two, Tuesdays is Philippians four 13. I can do all things through Christ will strengthen me. I strongly believe I can do all things and all things include suffering and pain. I always tell people Paul said that Bible was. When he was going through pain. I like that. So it is not all about, I can do it, motivational kind of thing.

Of course, that's also a piece of it, but I can do all things, meaning even when I have to go through pain, God is going to strengthen me to go through it because there's a purpose in it. And when I overcome it, I can use my story to be a blessing to others. There's a Bible verse that says that with the same suffering with which you have suffered, you can bless other people.

I can't remember where exactly that one is. Then I have the third one Psalm Nights one 16 on Wednesdays, which tells me with long life goals satisfy me because my parents died very early. I always I love life and I want to live long, so I always tell myself I'm going to live at least 90 years old in good health, fulfilling God's purpose.

Right? Number four is the one I already studied before, which is proves chapter four was usually the path of the just shines brighter and brighter onto the glorious day. Number five is Romans 8 28. I love it so much, which says that all things work together for good to them, that love God and a accord according to his purpose.

And then number six would be Jeremiah 29 11, which I think they said is the most quoted by both in the world. I don't know if that's true. That's, I know the plans are up for your plans of good, not of able to give the future. And the last one is Genesis 50 20. I love this one too. That's where I got the names for my two voice from Ziba, from Joseph Story.

He says, though you meant evil for me. God meant it for good. To save many people our lives. When I go through things, I put it in perspective. I say, God means this for good for me. You might have meant it for evil, but God is good to turn it to good. So faith that our faith has really been the foundation for me.

Yeah, that's actually one of my favorite quotes right there. When they find Joseph in Egypt and they think he's gonna extract revenge, that's what he replies with. It's, he could have extracted revenge. He was at a position of power where he could have said, do that. Yeah, throw, throw them in a well, but what he says is, as, as you mentioned, you know what, you intended to harm me, God intended for good, for the salvation of many people. And I've always loved that. Quote as well as I just want to go back to, you talked about purpose and for anyone, I would recommend if you are feeling intimidated by reading the whole Bible.

If you wanna focus in on purpose, read Ecclesiastes. It is. It can be a very depressing read, a very slap in the face reality check. But basically it goes through life and ends with, this is the conclusion of the matter. There is, but one purpose in life to serve and glorify God. And this comes from the wise teacher, often accredited as King Solomon, who had seen everything under the sun, had lived many life cycles and had experienced all the great, all the bad, and said at the end of the day.

And I, I really like one of my pastors that I follow, he said, it is theorized that King Solomon wrote that as one of his final pieces. And so what we see that maybe is implied, we can't assume, but it almost. Looks like Solomon repented at the end of his life after all the Pagan women and stuff. We don't know that for a fact, but that would be awesome if it was true.

And I, I always keep that in mind and I think that is so important, just being focused on that. And you talked about time and intentionality. If you have time to scroll on social media for an hour, you have time to read one Bible verse. The allotment of our time is how we use it. I'm very much like you when I am doing stuff that allows me to also listen to something audible.

I will listen to sermons and scripture and audio books in the background. Sometimes at two times speed, sometimes that 0.75 depends how much I want to digest, and sometimes I listen to them more than once. Mm-hmm. I think that, the word is alive and what you read today. What it means to you a few years from now when you read it will have a different impact.

Because sometimes a Bible quote they're, they're all great. Sometimes what we've been through in life, we can't appreciate it to its full extent until later in life. That quote really speaks to us. So I always encourage, never stop reading the Bible. Even if you've read it end to end, go through it again and you, you will see it with a new set of eyes after each, each cycle under the sun, so to speak. I think it's great to always go back to it. I recommend if you're struggling to find a verse a day, there are so many apps for it. I actually have two on my phone, so I get one in the morning, one at night. That way I get two a day, one in the morning, one at night.

And if you don't know how to pray, you could pray using that verse. I really like how you talked about just reciting his own word back to him and, and that's part of it. Mm-hmm. We remind God of his promises to us. That's in the Bible too. When a major, a lot of the people in the Bible would say, God, it is written or you promised.

And that's how Jesus fought against the devil. He could have, he could have just disintegrated the devil for, for all we know. But what he did is he said, it is written. It is written. And this goes back to, I'm gonna tie it all together with the false prophets. Yeah. What does Satan use against people Twisted scripture.

He'll say, isn't it written? And he will take it outta context. And that's what a lot of these false prophets do. That's why Jesus says, look for their fruit. And he even talks about the Pharisees. He says if they are speaking the truth about scripture, then follow it, but don't do as they do if they are saying one thing in doing another.

So it's so important to look at what does this scripture say and, and is what PE someone is saying in alignment with that. And so your book, I just want you to share, I mean, you told us kind of the, the overview of it. I think it's a great book. Who do you think would really benefit from it? I strongly believe this book will be best for young people that are still trying to find their faith in the faith.

And I also, I believe we all go through challenges. It, it might just be different, for some people it's more dramatic like mine. Some people, it's not necessarily as know. Most people won't go through such dramatic things, but the truth is we all go through something or we are going through something.

So it's important. It's a book that will guide us to go through whatever we are going through in a successful manner. One, when you're going through challenges, maybe like you're going through a difficult class in school, like most people will. Or maybe relationship challenges or, like most of us will at some point there will always be one thing or financial challenges, which, you know, yeah, some people will at some point too.

It helps us to put things in concept. So the book is great, but is great for, I would say everybody, but particularly the young people that are still trying to find their faith in the faith and are still trying to navigate. Finding your fit in the faith versus, how do I make a sense of this? One of the things that people deal with at times is.

If God is true, if God is real, why am I going through this? So my book helps put that in perspective that although God is true, although God is real, although God is loving, that does not exclude Christians or people that are trusting him from going through a difficult situations. So my book will help you make meaning and teach you step by step, and that's why I call it a step by step faith guide.

It'll help you take actions. I've seen, I'm a psychiatrist and I see people every day. Some people let situations or challenges of life make it impossible for them to make progress. For example, my book, our definition of adapt is accepting a difficult situation, but not losing yourself in the process.

If you're a Christian, not losing your faith in the process that's what adapt is, whereas Advance is going forward. Despite everything. So what the book teaches us is no matter what you are going through, you can take that one step forward and it's a daily thing. It's not like, and that's why one of the my best values prove us for it thing, which is the part of the John Shine brighter and brighter.

Even if you are successful already, there's still one more step to think. Something more so long you are still alive that God wants you to do, to be a blessing to other people. So the book is going to be for young people and even middle aged people, even older people at times might be helpful for us just to navigate the challenges of life.

So it's about using faith based method to go through difficult situations in a successful way. Amen. I, I always love having faith-based episodes is a great conversation and energy always when it stat topic, it's something I'm very passionate about. And we're gonna have the link and description below for people to check out your book.

And I, I. Like you said, I highly encourage it for people who don't know where to start and it will be a compass pointing them toward the Bible. So I think that's amazing because sometimes people need that intermediate step. And so I really appreciate all the work that you do. And, you said you've got a lot, you're still trying to achieve.

You're a like me, you're a lifelong learner. So even when you're outta school, you're still in school. It's just the world now. You know it. There's so much to learn every day. I look forward to seeing you mention Living to 90, and I'd love to interview you again when you're 90 to look back on life.

I think that would be an awesome, episode to do so. I look forward to connecting with you and seeing what God does in your life and how he uses you. I'll remind you about when we talked about this, but most likely we myself be talking again. I'm working on my second book, so maybe when it's out too, we might have another time opportunity to talk about that one too.

All righty. I look forward to that. Thank you so much for your time today. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you Mr. Whiskey, and hopefully get to know you more later. I.