hope

The Female Child. by @Anubabyy

paintings-2
Her parents knew she was meant for great things.
As a child the birds were drawn to her
Leaves grew greener on paths which she walked.
The air always seemed fresher where ever she stepped
And her smile… Oh yes! her smile made flowers blossom.

As a teenager she made fresh water rush
The flowers bloomed around her
The butterflies fluttered
She was springs queen.

In Autumn she would watch the leaves fall with tears in her eyes…
She would whisper words as she said goodbye
It confused her parents, but still they believed she had a kind heart.

She became a woman
The most kind hearted and free spirited woman ever
She would dance with the wind and sway her hips

The gods came down and told her they had waited for her to grow and become a woman,
they had long awaited for her arrival,
The day she was given birth to beautiful snow fell
The softest snow that was ever felt.
They told her she was mother nature
A queen of seasons who would birth a child of hope.

Anuoluwapo Kalejaiye.
@Anubabyy

Her Story, XXXVIII by @ladyingenous

Thanks for waiting. In case you missed the preview, find it here, so you know what to expect. If you are not sure what Beneath the Smile is about, please check the preview out.

The project aims at looking beyond the smiles of the next person, to see what’s really beneath, what’s really going on? How people really need help and won’t bother saying anything about it but would rather cover it up with a façade of strength, with a smile.
It’s time to look beneath the smile and lend a helping hand. People are going through real things, these are their stories.

We hope that you’d be kind enough to leave a comment. Your feedback is important to us.

Today’s story was sent in by one of our readers @ladyingenous

This is her story.

Please Read.

The ‘Beneath the Smile’ Project.

behind the smile

Ever felt like you’re alone in your own world? Ever felt like no one would understand no matter how much they tried?
Ever felt like something is wrong?
Ever felt you haven’t done enough?
Ever felt like giving up cause you think you can’t do it, you have given your best already?
Ever get this empty feeling like you don’t matter?
Ever felt like no matter how much you try it doesn’t get better?
Ever felt like losing hope because no matter which way you go it’s not working?
Ever felt like you’re not living you just exist. Ever felt like your dreams are more than you?
Ever felt like time is running out and nothing is happening?
Ever felt like you’re only talking it and never living it?

Well I felt all of these and much more. I felt I didn’t know which way to go cause no matter which way I went I just got stuck. I try my hands on so many things yet none gave me joy. I was confused cause my life no longer made sense to me. It felt like I was losing it and there was no one to turn to. It felt like there was absolutely no one to share this with. It felt like my troubles were eating me up. It felt like I had so many people around yet no one. It felt like everyone was running and I was standing wondering which way to go. It felt like this and it felt like that. I couldn’t even find the words to describe those feelings. They just came and when they did I just felt numb. I felt empty. I felt down. I felt indifferent. I felt lifeless.

All of those emotions and more were things I felt at a stage in my life that I couldn’t explain. I am sure you might be wondering why all of these emotions for a young girl like me. Well this is the story behind all of those emotions.

I am the second child and the first girl in my family. I lost my mum when I was ten. It was the worst thing that could have happened to me because I was not even with her when she died. I didn’t get to spend her last days with her. Prior to her death I had spent the whole of my jss1 first term holiday with her. It was horrendous having to see her in the condition she was. My mum went through a lot of pain and I had to watch all this without being able to do anything. She was diagnosed with a lot of diseases, some of which I didn’t even understand. She died while I was in school. Immediately after her death, my dad fell ill. It was like he couldn’t be strong for us so we had to be strong for him.

I lost my dad exactly 55 days after I lost my mum. When this happened, I felt so much pain that I couldn’t even cry. The pain was beyond tears so I just bottled up all of the tears. I did not cry and the tears were transformed to bitterness in me. I was bitter for as long as I could remember. I did not understand life anymore. I had lost my best friend in the whole of the world (my mum) and then I lost my dad too. It was just too much to bear.

I never talked much about it. I kept all of the bitterness in me. I was always sad though I always smiled (how ironic). The devil used it as a tool many times to keep me depressed. I would just be playing with my friends, then we would start talking about our parents and then I would just be saying “my uncle this and my uncle that” never “mum or dad”. It was very sad. It was really eating into me. I kept asking God why he had to take them. I used to feel unloved and I was always looking for love. It was always a battle to believe someone would ever love me for me. I just felt like there was no love for me anywhere. I used to feel rejected.

But then something changed. I no longer feel all of those things. I am now a hundred percent sure that someone cares. Someone greater than my imaginations. Someone my mind can’t understand or comprehend. Someone my mind drifts to when I feel all of these. He said to me I will stand by you when no one’s there. I will love you till the end of time. It might not seem like it but I am working out something great in you and through you.

You are perfect, He says. You are the most precious amongst my treasures. The very hairs on your head I know. You are engraved on my palm. I know your very make up. Those days when I’m down, I lay on my bed cover myself up and have a good cry but at the end I smile ’cause I know this person cares. I smile knowing there is hope. I smile knowing I have a friend who is greater than even a brother. I smile knowing I’m not alone.

He didn’t promise that I won’t fall but he said he will be there to catch me when I fall. He dint promise that it will be easy but He said, He will be by my side through the tough times.
He didn’t promise me a smooth road, but He said He’ll carry me through the rough ones. He didn’t promise me the whole world, but He gave me Him who owns the whole world.

Sometimes I cry at the thought of the love He has for me because I don’t understand it. Sometimes I’m afraid I can never love Him like He loves me.
Sometimes I’m afraid I will always let him down.
Sometimes I’m afraid I’m not up to the standard.

But at the end I remember,
He is not looking for a perfect person,
He is not looking for the person who has no wrong,
He is not looking for the person who has a hold of everything. All he asks is for a heart to believe Him and then trust Him. A heart to love Him not by itself but by His own love.

That’s all he asks.

That He, is God(father, son and spirit) and He is the smile beneath my smile.

• • •

Don’t just read, say a prayer.

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS?

N.B. The project goes on with Tomorrow’s ’Her Story, XXXVIII’ by An Anonymous writer

You can still send in your own true stories to obafuntay@gmail.com

You can subscribe to the blog (at the right column to follow the project, if you are viewing with your mobile, just scroll to the end of this page to subscribe)

True Story {VIDEO}

Hello Beautiful People.

So it’s a Wednesday, and we are starting what I like to call, “Video Wednesday”. Yes, simply because I think Wednesday is an awesome day to watch awesome videos. Agree? No? O well. :p So every Wednesday, I find a video that will either inspire you, make you laugh, make you cry… anything to make you have an awesome Wednesday. Be sure to check here every Wednesday for a short clip that will make your day.

Last week, we had “The Stool” . Today, here is another awesome video for an awesome Wednesday.

Note Before: This Video is liable to make you cry.

Everything i had worked for was finished. I hated everybody. I hated the world. I hated it all. I felt bitter. But i told myself I had to finish. I kept hopping round. Then, with 100 metres to go, I felt a hand on my shoulder, it was my old man – Derek

“Never give up, come what may… You’ll never walk alone.”

Believe in your someone, give someone hope… make some other person’s dream, come through.

…and as for you reading this, never give up. Keep going, yes, even with that torn hamstring.

We only fail, when we stop… when we give up.

But then, this is what I think, what do I know?

What If?

I honestly did not want to write this before, but not wanting to write about this, were all for the wrong reasons.

Running away from reliving an experience I had days back, Saturday precisely with my group of friends yet again (@SmileCare). This time, we visited LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital) the Paediatric wards.

You see, immediately the Outreach rounded up, I hurriedly went out with friends, laughed and laughed even more at the funny and the not so funny jokes, found any and every way to amuse myself, got my head occupied not thinking about the things I just saw, by any means.

But there’s been this incessant urge to reach out to someone, even if it’s just one reader of this post, anyone out there, to read these pressing words. So I thought I’d share this on my blog, a few of you may have seen me rant about this on twitter.

I remember seeing a pregnant woman crying, shouting and literally losing it at Luth… She had just lost her Husband.
She kept screaming his name, for him to come back… He wasn’t going to come.

He was gone.

Thinking about last Saturday just gets me sober and thoughtful.

I mean, why will a few days old baby’s life depend on the oxygen tube? Something we have so freely, take so lightly. Why?
Or the Boy who has to let urine out through his skin? ‘Cause the hole of his penis was blocked? The smell of urine had become his perfume? Why? There was 2 months old Kemi, who has a Bad spinal cord.

See, these things I don’t get… these things, have me thinking. Why do they have to go through all that? Why?

I think we have to realize that life isn’t just about us, not just about You or Me.
It’s also about the role we have to play in the stories of others.
How we have to act here and there.
How we have to see a problem and try to fix it, not look away.
How when we say and mean those little words of encouragements, go a long way.
“You’ll be fine” “You’ll make it” “You can do this” “You are not alone”

I don’t think I ever want to go for a hospital outreach anymore. But you see, that is what is really out there.
The hurt. The pain. The misery. The agony.

Where is the Hope?
What if that’s your role? To give just that to them. What if?
There was this mother, who hadn’t smiled for ages, even the doctor was complaining. Seeing her son on the sick-bed for long couldn’t have been a pleasurable sight. Could it?
We thank God for Hope, she smiled that day, even laughed.

We made a difference there.

Please get the message clearly, Yes, we have a lot to thank God for, that we are alive, not reading this from a sick bed and many other things. But then, what about the ones going through these things? Are you going to see how you can help and actually help? or just look away? What if, that was you?

I can only hope this isn’t regarded as a trifling rant, I can only hope that someone out there is reading and is inspired to help… To give Hope.

Make a difference. Do something. Act.

I shared this with you, share it with another, use any of the buttons below.

It goes a long way.

But then, this is what I think, what do I know?

#iWish

Stop, and think…

loads of things you wish never happened…

I remember catching myself making a wish one time when I saw what I thought to be a shooting star.

Do wishes really come to be reality??? …

here is a list of wishes i think you could relate to:

 

Have you ever rushed into something and wanted out?

Ever said something you wish you could take back?

A mistake/memory you just wish you could wipe off?

A choice made that you wish you could “unchoose”

A “friend” you wish you never knew?

A habit you wish you never started?

A good thing you could have done but just dint do?

But if we keep wishing, what then does that change?

fairy tales only happen in fairyland, in reality we can’t make a wish whenever we see a shooting star. We have no other choice but to learn, observe and avoid that ditch lest we fall again, drive with caution and look ahead.

No need for a rear mirror because on this journey, there’s no looking back, no regrets just one highway to heaven.