One Sunday afternoon, I got home from church, tired about my situation. I had listened to people share testimonies of the same kind of blessings I was looking for; the same kind of miracles. I had prayed. I was pretty much a good person. I helped people as much as I could. Yet, it seemed like every time God wanted to give miracles to people, I was passed over.
I cried like never before that Sunday afternoon. I was angry about everything and screamed at God to give me my own miracle or else…. (or else I wee come back and cry and beg again). Truth is, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. While others seemed to be getting exactly what they wanted, my whole life was falling apart. I was tired of being where I was and God wasn’t gonna hear word until He did something.
You know the saying that “Once the student is ready, the teacher appears”. Sometimes, you have to be ready to shut up from complaining and be silent and listen, then it will all come to you. No, God did not appear from heaven to me. No, I did not hear that loud and thunderous voice speaking to me. I didn’t even hear the still small voice sef. All that happened was me being silent enough to take a trip down memory lane.
I realized that all my life, the “miracles” I prayed for, God had already deposited in me the ability to work them myself. The greatest miracle was Him making me human, with a brain, and the ability to think and solve problems. That was all the miracle I needed. When I struggled with Allergies for 13 years and prayed for a miracle everyday, nothing happened. But when I stopped asking for miracles and freebies and used my brain, I was able to do what Doctors couldn’t do – find the cause of the allergies and simply avoid it. Allergies, gone.
When I kept praying for a job and applying to all the job openings I could find, I forgot I was also praying to be in His will and find my purpose in life. I applied 502 times to everything from a Safety Officer in Shell to Secretary at a pop-up shoe shop. With my amazing degree and countless professional certifications, I couldn’t even get a job as a Secretary, but I failed miserably and excelled exceptionally in business.
The one thing I did right was to not just sit around waiting for job but get out and help myself. I didn’t sit around waiting for uncles and aunties to epp me. I started several businesses to support myself. I did businesses from as little cost as just buying red and blue biro to teach home lessons to Primary School pupils, to investing over half a million in another business.
Back to that Sunday afternoon. I realized I had been given the ability to work my own miracle but I had been so lazy sitting on my hands and waiting for one miracle to happen and magically transform my life, I had forgotten how to work for it. I wanted my situation to change, as did billions of other people, but what separates those who successfully change their situations from the rest, is MINDSET.
Successful people know that for things to change, they have to change. For things to become better, they have to become better. For them to have more, they have to become more. For them to get what they dream of, they have to first see themselves already living their dreams and then take action to achieve them.
If you do nothing, nothing will change. If you sit around expecting a miracle from heaven, you may end up waiting for the rest of your life. But if you change your mindset from that of a person who waits for things to happen to them, to a person who goes out and happens to things, then your life will change.
Get over your limiting beliefs that you are incapable of creating your own amazing life. Get over the doubts from people who tell you it can’t be done. Get off your “spiritual high horse” sitting around waiting for manna from heaven. Get over your fear of failure, you will fail at something anyway. It’s all a learning process. Get off your ass and go do something. It may not be your purpose, but the simple act of taking action will bring you one step closer to living your purpose.
Today, I have found purpose helping people get over limiting mindsets, gain clarity and achieve results in their businesses and I do it very well because I have failed and succeeded in business and in life, and I recognized that I alone have the power to create my own destiny.
*This post was originally written and published by Edirin Edewor, Founder of The Online Publishers and Entrepreneurs Network (OPEN).
