God Works in Mysterious Ways

In 2010, I was in my late twenties, working an okay job in Atlanta and wondering whether I should move back to Nigeria. You see, I left Nigeria at 15 years old and I didn't know what it was like to experience Nigeria as an adult. Lots of young Nigerians like me had moved back and seemed to be having these great, awesome lives. I really wanted to find out what opportunities there were out there for me, so after praying for a bit, I made the decision to move back right after my sister's wedding and my birthday in 2011.

Part of my reason for moving back was to sign up for and complete the NYSC program. Because it seemed like such a hassle trying to find out easy and pertinent information about the process, I decided to start a blog about the whole experience at The Aje-Butters Guide to NYSC. I had never blogged before, but I thought it would be a good way to share information and give snippets of NYSC to my family and friends outside Nigeria.

Chei, see body goals :(

When that year was up, I had fallen in love with blogging and couldn't see myself without a blog. Hence, this blog was born. Through the Berry Dakara blog, I have met a lot of people I call friends. One such friend is Atilola, who owns the brand, African Naturalistas. I commented on her blog a lot, when she was the only person blogging there. Eventually we grew a rapport and she asked if I wouldn't mind writing for her blog on a regular basis. It's been maybe 4 years now since I've been a contributor on the African Naturalistas website.

See when I used to be HAWT!!!!

Early last year, Atilola told me she was getting married or wanted to get married by the end of 2016. I'm all, "Yeah, sure, whatever, congratulations." Then she tells me I have to help her. ME? HELP? HOW? She said if I couldn't hook her up, I could at least help her be more outgoing and have a fuller social calendar. I kinda begrudgingly agreed and asked one of Cakes' friends if he wouldn't mind meeting a friend of mine. We went on a double date, where they were both late, and long story short... they got married in December!

I've joked about how God used me as a vessel for this awesome work, and demanded they name all their children Berry. But jokes aside though, every now and then, I wonder - what if I hadn't moved back to Nigeria? What if I hadn't decided to blog about NYSC? What if Atilola had never blogged about natural hair? What if I went to a different church in Lagos, instead of the one where I met Cakes? This marriage would most likely never have happened! We think our lives are just being lived on a whim. But in retrospect, different things happen to you because God is working something out - either in your life or in someone else's life.

He works in mysterious ways, innit?

For Atilola's very detailed, but mostly unreal chronicles about the whole saga, click here. Okay, it's not mostly unreal - just the parts where she said I gave up on them, and left her to her own devices.

P.S. They are the second couple to meet through me that got married. 200% success rate (my sister and her hubby are the first)! And it might be 300% if things work out between a certain blog reader and Cakes' friend. *my lips are sealed*

P.P.S Oh yes, and I wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about Successful Matchmaking on Bella Naija. Unfortunately, quite a few people thought I was serious and reached out to me about my fake matchmaking business. I was too embarrassed to respond to any of them *hides face and runs to Jupter*