The Journey of Grace: My Spiritual Awakening

I was born into a Catholic family where faith was at the centre of everything. Every Sunday, and sometimes during the week, my family and I would attend Mass. By age 9 I became an altar boy, a role that instilled in me a sense of reverence and responsibility in the house of God. By 14, I took what I thought would be my most significant step towards a life of faith—I enrolled in seminary school to prepare to become a priest.

But life, as I would soon learn, had its trials. When my mother, the woman who had been the pillar of my faith passed away, it shattered something inside me. She wasn’t just a devout believer; she was the president of the Catholic Women Organization (CWO), someone deeply devoted to God and her community. I couldn’t understand why a loving God would allow such a righteous woman to die. My grief turned into resentment. I distanced myself from everything related to God. My anger and pain consumed me and I wanted nothing to do with the faith that had once defined my life. I withdrew from the Seminary school.

For years I wrestled with my bitterness, questioning the fairness of God’s plans. But as Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” It took time, but slowly I began to see that even in the darkest of circumstances God was at work.

Reintroduction to Faith

It was my elder brother, Ken, who reintroduced me to the idea of faith. He had started attending a Pentecostal church and invited me to a church event. Out of sheer reluctance I agreed. I wasn’t expecting much; I was still angry with God. But something happened during that service. The Pastor called me out and prayed for me. He told me that God had a purpose for my life. I didn’t know what to think at the time. How could God want anything from me when He had already taken the person I loved the most?

As I continued attending services something in me shifted. I began to see a different side of God. I joined the choir and eventually the youth leadership team. Slowly, my walk with God began to deepen.

I wasn’t just going through the motions anymore; I was seeking a genuine relationship with Him.

In 2008 when I moved to Lagos, Nigeria with my sister I started attending The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Ikeja. I got involved in the choir and later became the Zonal Youth President. One Sunday, during a Sunday School class, the teacher asked if anyone here had not openly confessed Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. I was taken aback. I had grown up in a Christian home, wasn’t that enough? But deep down I felt the Holy Spirit urging me to stand. I wrestled with it—how could a Youth President, someone people looked up to, stand up to confess Christ publicly? But I knew I hadn’t made that public confession. Then, I openly confessed Jesus as the Lord of my life. I knew I was Born Again. That night there was a different sense of peace in my heart.  So in August of that year, at a revival program, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. In November of that same year I was baptized by immersion for the first time. I realized that God wasn’t just a distant being to be revered from afar—He was present, working within me, transforming me from the inside out.

My Journey to Canada

After completing my university education I moved to South Africa briefly and then to Canada in 2018. It was here that my faith would be tested in ways I could never have imagined. In January 2019 I began coughing uncontrollably. I went to a walk-in clinic in Toronto where the doctor, after seeing me, prescribed medication. Three days later the cough worsened; I was coughing up blood. I was rushed to the hospital where I was diagnosed with pneumonia and was admitted into the Toronto East General Hospital. Two days into my hospital stay I lost my speech. I’ve never been more terrified in my life.

I could hear everything around me but I couldn’t speak. The doctors and nurses were just as confused as I was. As they scrambled to find answers I was put into an isolation ward and a specialist was called from Sunnybrook Hospital Toronto. From the look on the specialist face, I knew something was wrong.  I prayed silently in my heart. Though I couldn’t speak I could write. I asked a friend to send a message to my family, friends and brethren across the world to pray for me. We had a prayer chain going and I knew that, even though I was silent, God was listening.

On the sixth day something miraculous happened. I asked the nurse for water and she nearly screamed in shock when she realized I had spoken. My speech wasn’t fully restored but it was the beginning of my healing. By the 11th day I was transferred to Providence Hospital for speech therapy. Within two days the therapist was amazed at my recovery.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 years of practice,” she told me. I smiled and said, “This is God at work.”

I spent 21 days in the hospital. It was a trying time but through it all I felt God’s presence more clearly than ever before. He wasn’t distant. He was right there with me, guiding me through the storm.

The Journey Continues…

After my full recovery I had a role in London Ontario where I attended Royal View Church and I fellowshipped with the brethren. Then the Pandemic hit, we were all home, and I lost my job.  In 2021, I got a new role to work remotely with CIBC. I moved to Ottawa and joined Bethel Pentecostal Church.

Today, I continue to walk this journey of faith, serving in different capacities at Bethel Church where I have found a family of believers who have walked with me through every step. It’s also here where I met my incredible wife, Joy, and together, we are raising our son Neo.

Isaiah 55:8

 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.”.

I now understand that everything happens according to His divine purpose, even when it doesn’t make sense at the time. We are all on a journey, and in the end, it is not about where we started but where God leads us. Let us live our lives as a blessing to others, knowing that in doing so, we fulfill the calling God has placed upon us.

 

As Mother Teresa once said, “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

 

Hebrews 13:14-16 reminds us, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.”