A Fresher’s welcome

...Story 😊

”how time flies… first semester is almost over, just a few weeks left”.  I remember vividly touching down Benin Kingdom at about 6:08pm on Thursday, the 23^rd of November 2016 to start a whole new life as an undergraduate student here in the heart beat of Nigeria, Edo state.

My dream has always been to become a Medical doctor and it still is. When the University of Benin offered me a provisional admission to study for a degree at a great school like theirs I was really thrilled but my joy and excitement overturned when I saw that I was offered a total different course of study from what I applied for it broke my heart I was now left with the choice of accepting or declining, it was a tough decision owing to the fact my parents never wanted to impose their decision or infringe on my decision I prayed and spoke to a lot of friends, uncles and aunties about the decision I was about to take for the next course of my life, of course I got different opinions which even made it a little more difficult, deep down I knew God had already spoken but because I wasn’t offered Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) I was rejecting, refuting  and repudiating that voice I did all I could to suppress it but the more I tried the more restless I became… I finally made up my mind to come down with the plan of still studying Medicine in the nearest future!

           

You know, our God is such a big God He holds time and season in His hands, He holds the balance of our days, Heaven is His throne and the earth is his foot stool and the best of’em all He is our father! This is my fourth month away from home; it’s been a learning filled one. I felt nostalgic in the early stages but I’m sure it was all part of the buildup of the man Itofa is becoming… this is my fresher’s story if you are already wondering how this write-up applies to you.

It’s so easy to forget God when everything starts going well, I mean, what’s there to pray for? I almost got caught up in this web. As a fresher I was told only three things count for me to be successful which were my books, my class and my goals, nobody ever added God to it and guess what? For my first month on campus I was running with that crazy mantra it was all books, books and more books. The fact was I had no inner peace I knew something was lacking, I was quickly reminded by the Holy spirit and found my way back…Life in the University is multi cultural you’ll have to deal with a lot, part of my goal has always been to affect those that come around me positively & just etch a mark that’ll keep pointing them to Jesus, currently I have more friends than I came in and the plan is to ‘etch Jesus’ mark on their hearts’. This is a piece I’m writing straight from my heart and I hope it stirs something in you, it might just be a ‘fresher’s story’ but beneath it lies the story of a young man whose only goal in life is to see as many people open up their hearts to Jesus!

Are you a mom reading now, or an uncle whose just thrilled by this my fresher’s story, an aunty or a dad or even a fresher like myself 😃😄, first I need you to know God’s got us all. The greatest gift you can ever give any child or get for yourself is Jesus- you get Jesus you get everything! As a mom, dad an uncle or an aunt, please don’t stop speaking Jesus over that little one you’ll be blown away at the mighty things God has planned out for that child. I personally don’t feel it’s a coincidence you are in that child’s life at a time as this…

In wrapping my story up, you only get to be a fresher once! What’s better than been a fresher who represents Jesus? I don’t know. I’ve got three more years to go hopefully the next article will be my ‘Uniben Odyssey’ when I graduate.

Thank you for reading through my story-filled piece.

God bless you

Itofa