Stories of Faith: A Girl’s Walk With Her Lord (4)

Heb 11: 1 KJV 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  

Heb 11: 1 AMP 

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. 

Heb 11: 1 EASY 

This is what it means to trust God: We will be sure about the things that we hope for. We will be sure in our minds about things that we cannot even see.

Divine Provision

It's so easy to sing, "Jireh, You're enough", but when push comes to shove, do we really believe it, and can we press in for provision? God knows His children, and He will take you through training in phases so that you're able to move when He asks you to. The training is in phases because God wants you to have a track record of achievements, so you are encouraged to obey the next "crazy" instruction.

June 2022 was summer, and I wanted to buy a few clothes to spice up my wardrobe. I had a budget. However, as I walked through JFK on my return from the Dominican Republic, I heard, “You'll live in houses you didn't build,” to which I retorted something like, “That's a good plan because this girl has gone through a lot.” I checked my phone and saw that the money I was expecting had come in. After a quick calculation, I realized that I had to reduce the amount I budgeted for shopping. In fact, I would have preferred to cancel the shopping plan, but I had already informed the lady from whom I was supposed to purchase that I was coming. So, instead of canceling, I reduced the budget.

On D-Day, I went to her place. She served me refreshments and we got talking. That was how I found out that while I came to buy clothes, I was about to be gifted a whole wardrobe of clothes. Listen, I was gifted a whole wardrobe that covered the clothing needs of the four seasons - summer, fall, winter, and spring. Formal wear, informal wear, coats, shoes, boots, everything.

Another shocker was that they were all in my size, as if I were in mind when the purchases were made. I was so shocked. I had to take an Uber home because I had too much to carry on a train. When I got home, I called my younger sister because this was a surprise. She reminded me that I had done the same for others, too, and even did it in 2021 before traveling out, so this was my turn to receive. As it happened, I was going into a season of events and conferences, and the Lord did not want me worried about what to wear because He always needed me to show up a certain way. 

Second Semester

During summer, I had an email situation that sort of seemed like my scholarship wasn't going to be applied. I responded and left it in God’s hands. After a few weeks, my scholarship was applied to my tuition bill. This meant I resumed school in September with some confidence. I paid a little deposit, and the tuition fee faith journey continued. I got another on-campus job with the Senior Vice President, Office of Global Inclusion. Through this role, God secured my personal finances and also provided lots of experiential learning at leadership levels throughout my time in school.

Then people started making plans to come to New York for UNGA. I initially ignored it, but one day I got upset because I remembered some of the promises the Lord had made to me. I was about to take a nap that day, but I sat up in bed, brought out my prophetic journal, and I said, “All of you in Heaven, please come down, we need to have a meeting because I don’t know what you people are doing. Everything I have been asked to do, I have done. I don’t know what you people are doing, so please come down.” 

Honestly, I don’t know what came over me that day to make such a demand, lol. But God is not afraid of our questions or concerns, and He also knows when we are serious. In that moment, my phone rang. A spiritual mentor who hadn’t spoken to me in a while was on the phone. We did all the initial greetings, and he asked how I was. I responded that I was fine.

After a few seconds, he asked again how I was, and I said, “Well, before your call came in, I was about to have a meeting with the people in Heaven because I don't know what they are doing”. He asked for an explanation, and I provided it. That led to a session of teaching and answering my questions. He reminded me of some of the things God had said and pointed out significant milestones. I took notes. When I was good, he mentioned the real reason he called, which technically to me, was just the ruse God used to get him to call me.

Beyond getting him to speak to me, God did only what God can do and shook the system so His girl could get an international speaking engagement. A few weeks later, on a Friday, I received a message on LinkedIn saying that there would be a panel in Brussels organised by the European Commission and UNCTAD (EC-UNCTAD) and if I honoured their invitation, they would cover everything. I thought it was a scam, lol. I did some research and eventually shared my email with them.

When I woke up on Monday morning, I received a comprehensive email with all parties copied, and things were set in motion. Going through the whole travel prep and visa process felt like a dream. Several times, my dad had to say, “They will give you the visa because they are the ones who invited you.” One day, my brother said to me, “Do you remember how you always told us that you would be invited internationally to speak? Do you realise that that has just happened to you?”

Next Generation Panel for EC-UNCTAD in Brussels

In November, I travelled for the first time to Europe as a guest of EC-UNCTAD. I was to speak on the Next Generation panel of the International Product Safety Week. Before travelling, I had said to the Lord, “We have not finished paying this semester’s school fees, are we supposed to be travelling? If people see me travelling and then I have to ask them to support my tuition later, won’t it be somehow?” He said, “Enjoy!”

As is my practice, I needed to find out how this miracle happened. On ground in Brussels, I asked a team member, “How did your team find me?” He said since it was the year of youth, it occurred to them that maybe they should have a youth panel. So they did a LinkedIn search for young people working in this area, and only my name kept coming up even after they sent different people to check. So they put down my name and reached out to a Consumer Protection Association and said, since they had Next Gen ambassadors, they should provide 3 young people to represent Europe, Asia, and Latin America, because they already had someone from Africa. I was mindblown. Only God could have done that. Brussels was a really beautiful travel experience for me, and I’m thankful that God did that.

December came around, and I received some of those calls from the Bursar's office about fee payment. I refused to be intimidated and let them know they will get their money before the due date. I was no longer afraid, I mean, the Lord already dealt with that in January. I reached out to a few people to get a loan, and no one could provide it.

The challenge here was that if I couldn’t sort this out before a certain time frame, I’d miss the next semester and lose my on-campus job. In the nick of time, just like a line in one of my confessions says, “God will help Ugochi right on time”, God turned it around. I woke up one morning to my dad saying that someone who had been owing him suddenly paid, and he had transferred the money to me. Same day, Dr. W also loaned me $8,000. In one day, I went from incomplete fees to having enough to sort that out and having some deposit for my third semester. I paid off $2,000 over time, and in April 2025, Dr. W canceled $6,000 and said God already paid it. He said, "If you beg people to do something for you, you're indebted to them, but if God commands them to do something for you, it is an honour to do it." The story of Elijah being fed by the ravens and the widow buttressed his point (1 Kings 17).

I have to say here that the faith walk is a water walking experience. It is not easy. It is uncertain in the sense that you know God will come through, but you do not know how, so you have to follow closely. You have to fix your gaze on God alone because if you start looking at everything around, fear will engulf you, and you will go down. I did not set out to be strong. I only set out to follow, no matter the cost. I didn’t really have much choice. I took one day at a time. I was honest with God about my feelings each time a situation came up. He ensured I was fully covered and nurtured.

Certain spiritual disciplines were a constant part of my life - praying, studying the Word, declaring the Words God had released over my life at the watches, praising and dancing (I did this a lot that heaven recognized my zip code), listening to my assigned spiritual leaders and teachers, and joining several corporate spiritual efforts. 

The International Student Experience

In the midst of all these, I had become President of the African Graduate Students Association (AGSA). I remember that when I had come to school initially, because of my situation, I didn't want to lead anything; I just wanted to be a floor member because I had issues to sort out. I eventually accepted low-lift roles, but when AGSA would not have survived if there was no one to take on the President role, I agreed to do it because it didn’t seem fair that the work started by my friend Laiza, which had been so impactful to the community, would just die like that. I was elected and got into planning community activities that would meet the needs of others.

This was what threw me into the real plight of international students who didn’t have all the funds for their education. It wasn't just my personal problem anymore. I began to hear the stories. During the winter break, an international student from another school had finally lost hope and was going to be returning to her country because she was now in shelters or sleeping over at the homes of friends. She called me towards the end of the year and asked if she could sleep on my couch for a few days before her return home, as no one else from her country was taking her calls or willing to help.

Because I’m a really private person, I do not like to open my home to anyone except my friends. I didn’t really know this lady except that she had attended a few of our events. But I was genuinely worried about this sleeping on the couch business, even though I was about to turn her away, and as I thought about it, the Lord asked me, “If you were in this situation, what would you prefer that someone do for you?” I said, “I’d prefer they open the door for me”.

I allowed her to come over, and she didn’t sleep on the couch. She was my guest for Christmas 2022, and we got talking about the international student experience. Her story was not pretty. She had been resilient. She had shown grit, yet it wasn't working out, and she had decided to quit. This lady was a “big woman” in her country before she decided to come to school for another degree. She had to uproot her life to come this far and was leaving without achieving her desire.

By now, I had begun to discover the real point where international students needed help in their desire to get a degree abroad. This was why God put me on this path. He trusted that I would see it and be willing to do something. I’d say more about that in the next blog post.  Anyway, a few days ago, on the 12th anniversary of my mum’s death, the lady replied to my WhatsApp status on how that short stay played a role in transforming her life.

This made me cry as I added it to this blog post

All glory to God!

To be continued.

Key Lessons

1. God is not afraid of what you have to say. If there is a man to ask a genuine question, there is God to answer if the man is available and willing to listen and learn.

2. Sometimes the blessing earmarked for you can pass you by if you do not stand on business to collect it. The Christian walk is not always a case of whatever will be, will be. Faith is active and not passive. You’ve got to take action to collect the inheritance allocated to you.

3. Serve others, do not be too self-absorbed in your own issues that you miss the opportunity to serve. Yes, you are going through something, but who isn't going through something? Service lays the groundwork for a future you will not see coming. Today, I’m living in some things because the Lord pointed out how previous service, when it was inconvenient, made it happen.

4. Share your faith with others. I know this seems uncomfortable to some people in the diaspora because you really don't know who is who. There’s wisdom for every situation. Alignment with God lets you know when to share a testimony, share a song, scripture, preach, or invite to a faith-based event. Your obedience will plant the seed, and God will work out the rest.