Blessings in Disguise

Quick post here...

I woke up bright and early this morning, after snoozing only twice instead of three times. I had already gotten my stuff ready the night before - clothes, shoes, gym bag, food packs - so that I wouldn't spend too much time trying to figure out everything. So I was ready!

Unfortunately the person who usually brings to the gym next door to my office was running way late, 

Berry Smokey Weekend

Hello loverly ladies and lads!

How was your weekend? Pretty good, I hope. After my crazy busy weekend last week, my plan was to sit at home from Friday evening until Sunday morning for church and then a makeup class at Stella's Addiction makeup studio. I already had y'all blessing to stay home the whole weekend, but me and my restless feet!

Berry Dakara x Naija Nomads take INAGBE GRAND RESORT

FIRST OF ALL, INTRODUCTION!

NAIJANOMADS: So my travel writer buddy, Demola Ojo, buzzed me last Friday around noon inviting me on an all expense paid trip to INAGBE GRAND RESORT alongside travel bloggers and journalists. The resort is launching a new product called “THE EXPLORE CARD” and we were scheduled to leave at 2.30pm and spend the night there. I was just like, “Dude, I have a husband and a day job, I really can’t up and leave for some resort on such short notice.” He kindly arranged another trip for the next day and I was to help him recruit travel and lifestyle bloggers.  I bet when I sent Berry that message on Friday afternoon she must have thought “How last minute can Nigerians be???”

BERRY DAKARA: Lastminute.com much?!?! When I got the message on Twitter on Friday afternoon, I was like “YES! Woot woot, what’s the date so I can plan my calendar for July?” Then the bomb drops: “The excursion is TOMORROW MORNING!” Let me not lie, I almost did the GbogboBigz Girls act like, “Oh, so am I now a desperado that doesn’t have things to do?” But my Saturday plans were for evening, so I was 100% on board!

Welcome to the Second Half of 2015

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

How do you feel about the year already being half gone? It feels like yesterday that Cakes and I were on the way to church on December 31st, then decided to make a brief stop at home first, and I woke up around 3am while he slept through all the knockouts and fireworks - we completely missed crossing over into 2015. Anyways, after the first quarter of the year passed, I promised I would do an update post of both my Blogging and Personal Goals. I procrastinated until kingdom come, so here I am doing the updates now :D

Are you following me on Instagram yet? @berrydakara

When You Lose A Loved One - Peace

This was not my intended post for today. I was going to write about being in the second half of the year and checking up on any goals you had at the start of 2015. But this morning, I felt something in my heart to write some encouraging words to people who have lost a loved one. I actually feel inadequate to write about it because I haven't lost someone extremely close to me. Also I'm not holier-than-thou and I struggle daily with being a Christian. But if I can share a word, that will help at least one person, then that's alright enough for me.

When my uncle died in November 2013, I was distraught. It's not like we were close or anything - I hadn't seen him in years until the September before his death. Before he got sick, he had been telling my mum that he was going to be at my wedding. The whole family was praying for months and months. I specifically used Bible verses to pray, because I was scared and thought that if I could read God's words back to Him, He didn't have a choice but to answer my prayers. (FACT: My Ogoni name means God Answers Prayers).

Anyway, my uncle died and it shook me to my core. For one thing, it hurt to see my mum, her siblings and my grandparents heartbroken. Secondly, I couldn't understand why God didn't answer our prayers. I mean, didn't He say "Ask and it will be given?" My faith and belief in God was shaken!

I stopped praying. I couldn't open my Bible to read anything. Going to church became a chore, and one that I didn't want to do. I was angry at God - and then feeling guilty at being angry at Him.

Eventually though, I remembered the verse about PEACE THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING. I was going through a time where I didn't UNDERSTAND why my uncle died, why his family and friends had to be grief-stricken, and most especially why God didn't answer our prayers. I didn't UNDERSTAND. But that verse, Philippians 4:7 says,

7Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. [NLT]

I finally prayed. It wasn't a long prayer, but it was what I needed for that season: "God, I'm angry and I'm hurting and I don't understand why. But your peace is above understanding. So please please please, I beg of you, just give me peace. I'm losing my belief, I'm losing my trust. I don't want to, but I am. So you have to give me peace to make it through. Just give me peace."

I prayed this prayer for a long time, and even still do. Whenever someone I know loses a loved one, I pray for comfort, grace and above all, peace to help them hang on. And if you're in that position, that same prayer goes up for you.

Okay, so that's what I wanted to share.