Maintaining Godly Composure in Business

"And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them". Luke 6:31

           As many of you might know, I have several online stores where I sell customized gifts on a platform called Zazzle.  Well I have started to promote my products using YouTube as well as making tutorials to teach other people how to be successful on Zazzle.  So far, 99% of the feedback has been positive, but there is always that 1% that is negative.  Yesterday, I received a negative comment on a video that I made celebrating one of my Zazzle achievements.  Instead of just congratulating, two individuals left negative comments.  One of the comments really got under my skin and I wanted to track the person down and tell them off.  However, I just quietly deleted the comment because 1) I do not want to do anything that will affect my brand or my Youtube channel.  2)  It is not Godly to conduct myself in this matter and that will negatively affect my brand.  So sometimes you just have to hold your peace and display a character of Godliness.  

Life and Death is in the Power of the Tongue

 While over in Nigeria, I am learning how life and death is truly in the power of the tongue.  We have to be so careful of what we say out of our mouths, especially when we are frustrated.  

Back in June, out of frustration I made some negative confessions about my health when I noticed a tingle in my throat.  Over the next month that little tingle in my throat turned into 3 weeks of tropical sickness.

Thank goodness I have recovered but it was like that negative confession caused a domino effect in my life concerning my health.  So I have learned to be very careful of what you say especially out of frustrated.  Sometimes you may even have the habit of repeating those negative confessions because you have become frustrated and discourage.  However, always confess good things. 

Black American Woman Discovers Igbo Roots and Marries an Igbo man in Owerri

My name is Rhonda Nwosu (nee Jones). I am a native of Petersburg Virginia, born in 1981. I have been working as an educator for over 15 years. Growing up, I was always interested in knowing my ancestral roots. I took an Ancestry DNA test in 2019 and discovered a 4th cousin match named Tochi, living in Houston Texas from Imo State Nigeria. I reached out to him, and we quickly formed a friendship. I learned that I was an Igbo, a nation of people indigenous to southeast Nigeria. 

My Introduction to Uche 

One day I asked Tochi if he could connect me to a good Igbo man and about a month later in September 2019, he introduced me to Uche in a WhatsApp video conference. I learned that Uche was 3 years older than me and worked in the commercial transportation industry. Most importantly, we are both Sabbath worshippers sharing the same Messianic Hebrew faith. We quickly began a friendship, and he discussed plans to visit the US in the spring of 2020 and finally meeting face to face. However, the pandemic arrived and greatly delayed those plans. As our relationship grew, Uche began to discuss plans of marriage with me. We began to seriously talk about marriage around February 2020. He always wanted me to marry in Igboland and I wanted to marry in the States where my family was. However, because of travel bans it was impossible for him to come into the U.S., so I agreed to marry in Nigeria. 

Finally Meeting Face to Face 

After a long year and a half engagement period, I ventured to Nigeria with my mother to meet Uche for the first time. This happened August 9, 2021, a few days before our wedding. My first impressions of him were that he was handsome, well dressed, and had a huge personality. 

Our Wedding 

Our wedding took part in three stages: the court wedding, the religious ceremony, and the traditional Igbo rites. The date of our court registry marriage was August 12, 2021. It took place on a Thursday around noon. It was very beautiful and hot. I wore a white one shoulder ruffled mermaid styled wedding gown and Uche had on a gray suit with royal blue tie.

 On August 22, 2021, we had our religious ceremony and traditional rites in Owerri at the Geoprobe Estate. For the religious ceremony, I wore a white floor-length ballroom gown with a beaded lace bodice. Uche wore a light gray three piece suit with a royal blue tie and pants.

Hours later, Uche and I changed our clothes for the traditional Igbo ceremony. I wore a red velvet traditional dress and my husband wore a matching red velvet outfit. We took pictures with our wedding cake and set on 

our thrones. 

 The wedding party wore white dresses and red headwraps. After that, I was directed into the house were I changed into another dress, a purple and

turquoise off the shoulder floor length gown ensemble. Here I performed the wine carrying tradition, a traditional Igbo marriage rite. It was a time to remember.

I'm back in Nigeria

As you may know, I got married last year in Nigeria.  This time I am back, spending two months June through August here in Nigeria.  I am currently in Lagos but I will also be visiting Benin.  I will be documenting my time spent over here.   

                                               

My New Year's Prayer for 2022

 As we step into this New Year, I pray for all of us to draw closer to God.  I pray that we will see medical breakthroughs like never before and an end to this pandemic.  I pray that as this world enters into a new stage, that we will keep our eyes focused on God. I pray that we can begin to spend time with our families and vacation without fear of sickness in death.  In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen. 

My trip to Nkwerre

These are some pictures from my time spent in Igboland.   This is my husband's parents (far right), my mother (in brown) brother (in red), and his cousin in green on the second picture.  We were in Nkwerre, Nigeria.  It was a very hot day and we just finished eating some chicken and rice dish.  We drove from Owerri and I think it took us about 90 minutes.  It was so interesting driving through Igboland.  So many of the villages are within walking distance and along the same road. 

Does God instruct us to "Wait on Him" for mates?

  Does God instruct us to "Wait on Him" for mates?  As you may know I recently got married and I now have a different opinion on the whole "Waiting on God for a mate" narrative.  Let me share my story.

In 2019 I was just fed up with being single.  I had been waiting and waiting patiently for years on God to "send someone" to me.  On New Year's Day I vowed within myself to at least meet the man that I would marry by the end of the year.  

I have to admit, I have said things like that before and nothing would happen.  But this year was different.  Instead of me just praying and fasting and waiting, I decided to step outside of the box and meet people.

I started by going to outings and events where men would attend.  And lo and behold, within weeks I have met someone.   I talked to this person for months, however, things did not go anywhere.  But I valued the experience.

Fast forward to August, I didn't let the fact that things did not work out with that one guy deter me. I asked my cousin (who is like a big brother to me) did he know of any good Godly men.  He told me that he will look.  By September he gave my phone number to the man who would become my husband; a man my cousin had been knowing for over 10 years.  

In conclusion I do not believe God wants us to passively sit back and wait on Him for mates.  I think that we should pray, but also take action.  We have to go out there and meet new people.  

We also cannot put God in a box and expect Him to answer our prayer in a certain way.  I was expecting to meet my husband at church, I never knew it would be through my cousin.  However, God and His wisdom was still guiding the process.