The Late Bloomer

He seriously considered committing
suicide about three times
The first time was the day his immediate
younger sister graduated from University
at the age of 20
He was 22 at the time and he had written
JAMB seven times
He never cracked the 200 average cut
off expected of him
His parents continued to invest in
extramural lessons and private tutors
He saved up to pay someone with a
reputation for arranging results to
help him out
The person was arrested and his result
was withheld that year
It was as if his life had been pegged to
be one of failure.
His secondary school journey was not
any easier
He attended Baptist Boys High School
for a while
A school that has produced presidents
and governors and leaders at every level
He didn’t thrive there
He was plucked out and placed in a
private secondary school in Lagos
He wilted
He didn’t have any friend influencing
him
He never smoked or drank or
experimented with drugs
He would lock himself in the room and
read day and night
He really wanted to make something of
his life but when it was time to write
examinations, he would go blank
Blank like a headless
chicken
Nobody knew why his journey was
so tough
His younger sister by contrast cleared
her WAEC and JAMB in one sitting and
was admitted into the University to study
Communications and Language Arts at
the age of 16
The news threw him into depression
He wasn’t unhappy that his
sister was making progress
He was unhappy that his life was not
moving in any direction
The next heavy blow was his sister
getting a job while still in 100 level
He had searched for a job for several
months just to occupy himself without
any success and she was offered a
job by
an engineering firm without any stress
He would have gladly earned a quarter
of what her sister was offered and he
would have counted the experience
as a breakthrough in his life
His sister bought her first car at the
age of 18, it was a Toyota Corolla
and he was the one vested
with the task of teaching her how
to drive
He was happy for her but his situation
was quite unpalatable
All the guys he grew up within the same
estate moved on in life according to
the normal progression of all people,
he was the only one that was stuck
in one spot
It was hell!
The last child of his parents was born
when he was eight years old
She was very brilliant
She sped through primary and secondary
school
She cleared her Jamb and WAEC at the
age of fifteen and was placed in a private
university the same year his immediate
younger sister graduated
She was admitted to study law and her
educated was fully funded by a
government scholarship
He was 23 years old by this time and he
was still writing WAEC and JAMB
The only other skills he had was driving
and managing his father’s piggery farm
He cried sorrowfully for many days
He just couldn’t fathom why he was so
unfortunate
He was eventually saved by NECO
when he enrolled for the examination as
one of the pioneer enrolees
He cleared all his papers and by stroke
of luck also scored 201 in Jamb
He wasn’t offered admission but he got
the part-time form to study at LASU and
was offered admission
He got the admission at the age of 24
When he got to the lecture room he
realized he was still blanking out after
studying
He knew he wouldn’t pass one course
if it continued
His parents had taken him to so many
places for prayers and
spiritual intervention to no avail
That was the second time he considered
suicide
Having crossed the hurdle of admission,
he didn’t want to linger on only to turn
out as a failure again
The day he was planning out to carry out
his plans, he walked into a pharmacy
store to buy the
pills he wanted to take and met her
She was an undergraduate who worked
part-time at the pharmacy store
They got talking and he ended up
spending the whole day with her in
the store
They took to each other like fish to water
She was playing the game of LUDO by
herself when he
walked into the store
He asked if he could play a game with
her and that was it
They played on and on while she paused
intermittently to attend to customers
He fell in love that day
She was the one that told him about
JESUS and the gift of the Holy Spirit in
the course of that
week
They had been sharing the past as they
grew familiar with each other and he
mentioned to her that he had contemplated
suicide twice
When she asked him why he told her
about his past and current struggles
She told him what the Holy Spirit can
do in the life of a believer and
she gave him examples of people around
her whose life courses were righted after
they had an encounter with the Holy Spirit
He didn’t really believe her words but his
heart was glad he had a potential girlfriend
and he would have given her his head if she
asked for it
Even though he was born into an orthodox
church where the closest he got to the
Holy Spirit was looking at the artwork of
a dove descending upon Jesus while he
was getting baptized which was painted
at the back of the altar in the church he
grew up in
He followed her to a pentecostal church the
following Sunday and gave his life to Christ
After the service, he was prayed for and he
received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with
the evidence of speaking and praying in
tongues
He did everything just to please her
They had become close friends and he was
sure she would go out with him if he asked
The only reason she could say No was the
Born Again thing and he had taken care of
it and also received the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit
He believed the table was set for them to
court and probably get married
When he got home that Sunday, he got into the
shower and suddenly felt a strong sensation
all over his body
He began to pray in the spirit in a way that
he couldn’t describe
It was as if he was taken over in the bathroom
By the time he came out of the bathroom,
he felt a strong urge to read the Bible
He picked the one on his
bed and he began to read from Genesis
chapter 1.
For the first time, his imagination was
opened and he could visualize what he
was reading
It was an alien experience to him
He couldn’t put the Bible down, he read
on and on both day and night until he
finished the whole Bible in
21 days
By the time he finished the whole scripture,
something had happened to him
He couldn’t explain it but he was no longer
blanking out
He had “understanding” & a retentive memory
He also had an idea
A business idea that came to him when he
was reading about the construction
of the Ark of the covenant and the ark of
Noah
The idea was burning in his heart
He went to Lagos Island and made the
necessary inquiries
When he got the needed information, he
went to his father and told him what he
needed
His father didn’t ask any question, his
father gave him what he needed
He started his wallpaper sales and services
business on campus and it was an instant
success
He was so successful that he began to
take orders for customized wall papers at
a special fee and he had paying customers
who were willing to wait for weeks before
getting their orders
Within a year after meeting the Holy Spirit,
he was swimming in money
He also excelled in his academics
It was a glorious turn around.
By the time he graduated in 2013, his
wallpaper outfit was operational in six
states of Nigeria
He was a made man
He got married to his sweetheart right
after she finished her NYSC in 2015
The third time he contemplated suicide
was when a business associate duped
him of 25 million Naira in 2016 but by
the grace of God, he recovered most of
the money with the intervention of the
police and was able to bounce
back.
He had grown in the knowledge of the
Word and his walk with the Holy Spirit
that he no longer considers suicide as
an alternative under any circumstances.
His marriage was blessed with two children
Kiitan, age 4 and Kayo age 1

PS: Dont be short sighted
Looking at your bleak present and using
it to judge your glorious future is foolishness
I know a man who at the age of 38 could
barely pay his rent but had become the
proud owner of three houses by the age of
40 through very legal means
An encounter is all it takes for you to blow
Stay with the Holy Spirit
He is the secret of Jesus’ success and
if you let Him, He will make you a success
too
Your path in Him will only shine brighter
and brighter
Walk with the Holy Spirit and desire the
sincere milk of the Word
Grow and you will have good success in
Jesus name