So, I saw a story today…
Maybe you've seen it too.
A man...once stable, working, respected
lost everything.
He had made some bad decision. Trusted the wrong folks...and life unraveled quickly.
He had to move into his younger sister’s BQ.
A big change...
from “Boss” to “Yakubu manage”...
from a life of comfort to barely surviving.
At first, they welcomed him.
Then slowly… the dynamics changed.
At a point, they started to lock the refrigerator.
Conversations reduced....and it was more like they were simply tolerating his presence.
Then one day, it was the last straw, and it broke him.
They locked him inside the room where he was staying.
Not just out of cruelty… but out of embarrassment.
The host had visitors coming...
And this guy didn’t “fit the picture.”
So he sat there like a prisoner…
And somewhere between the shame and isolation… he prayed.
The heavy kind of prayer...
The kind that comes when everything in you is stripped.
That same evening, help found him.
A call from someone he had helped in the past.
A seed he had sown years ago… speaking back.
And with one phone call...everything changed.
Not sure if it's fiction, but it's a beautiful and powerful story.
But I couldn’t move past one thing.
When the breakthrough came…
his posture shifted immediately.
His sister wanted to hug him and he refused.
And I get it...pain was real.
What they did was not right.
But let’s not edit the full story.
Because before the door was locked…
that same house was opened.
Before the silence…
They provided shelter.
Before the embarrassment…
there was accommodation.
We are quick to celebrate divine turnaround.
But we are slower to acknowledge human participation.
Sometimes we act like people must play their role flawlessly
for it to count in our story.
But God doesn’t work that way.
Think about it...
A raven fed Elijah. (1 Kings 17:6)
When the brook dried up, and the widow of Zarephath took over the assignment, that didn't invalidate what the Raven did.
So who are we to dismiss vessels…
just because they were imperfect?
That sister may not have handled it well.
But she carried him when others wouldn’t.
And sometimes… people help you to the level of their capacity,
not your expectation.
Here’s the dichotomy we need to sit with:
The same place that hurt you
may have also held you.
The same people who embarrassed you
may have also sustained you.
Both can be true.
There’s a saying in Yoruba language that translates:
the shelter that covered you in the rain
may still matter when the storm passes.
Because not every help looks honorable.
But it was still help.
Joseph had every reason to discard his brothers.
But when he spoke, he said,
“You meant it for evil… but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20)
He didn’t deny what they did.
But he didn’t erase their place in the story either.
So yes...celebrate the “₦10M alert.”
Celebrate divine turnaround.
But don’t let breakthrough make you forget process.
Don’t let the new door make you despise the old room.
Because sometimes…
God uses imperfect people to keep you alive
until perfect timing arrives.
And no help...
no matter how small, flawed, or uncomfortable...
is ever irrelevant.
👣 Be Better. 💛 Love Better. 🙌🏾 Do Better...
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