True love waits

In my darkest moments
When I was knee-deep in sin
Oblivious to my fallen state
Your love chased me

Even when my lips rejected you
You just chased me some more 
You despised the shame of unrequited love 
And waited… 

You knew the scales would fall
You knew the pain of regret would almost consume me
That I would need new eyes and a new heart 
You gave me You

Like a little child,
May my eyes always light up with wonder when you speak.

Ours is an eternal dance
To a never-ending song
You will never let go
This is your eternal promise

©Olamide Oti 
30-03-18

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A place called love

Shame stripped us and we lay bare
Naked, shivering in the cold
Until Love found us,
Cut our hearts open and ripped out every trace of fear
Every wound received His touch Our bodies received new life
Our eyes are glazed over with love
Our hearts are full of joy
His glory shines upon our faces
Filling us with us with His light

Beneath His shadow, we are kept
He is our firm foundation,
Our peace
Our place of safety
In Him we have
Freedom,
Rest,
Hope.

At last, our wandering souls have found rest,
We have found a home
Love is our home.

©Olamide Oti, 2018

For Abba

My eyes strain to see the end from the beginning
Something only Yours were meant to do
You watch as I go round in circles
Turning to everything and everyone except You
Trying to carry burdens my shoulders are too frail to bear

Fear stares me in the face,
Daring me to step out in faith
Certain of my downfall when you promised to catch me
I say a resounding ‘yes’ to this life of reckless abandon
Like a child, I’ll live on every word that proceeds from your mouth
Obeying your every command
Joyfully carrying out your instructions

You are good.
Darkness gives way to Your light
You are powerful, all-knowing, intentional
You are love

My life is in your hands
Your hands drip with provision
Your mouth overflows with blessings
I say a resounding ‘yes’ to this life of abundance.

Google Images

You are everything I need
You are the answer to all my questions
You fill in every void gracefully
I say a resounding ‘yes’ to this life of peace
As you still the storms raging within my heart…
© Olamide Oti

 

Interview with Sparkle Writers Hub

She’s a lady of few but powerful words! Olamide Oti speaks from a place of wisdom and this interveiw is a must read. This is #WriterSpotlight. Enjoy! Hello Olamide. Can you please describe yourself in a few words? Passionate When did you discover that you had a passion for writing and why did you decide […]

via #WriterSpotlight – “With a few words carefully strung together, a broken spirit is uplifted.” Olamide Oti — thesparklewritershub

Stalemate

Lord this one is for You

I feel like we’ve reached a fork in the road of our relationship.

One road is the narrow, dirt path designed to be the agonizing path upon which my pride dies a slow and horrible death.

The other is the wide and generous easy way out. Paved with dangers that need not advertise themselves. Subtlety is the name of the game. Mystery is everything. 

I can’t shake off the fact that you want me to participate in my miracle. I’ve got to want to get into the pool of your promises. Unrestricted by the ghosts of memories past and my disobedient and stubborn evil twin- Pride.

Every time you pinch me with reminders. I cringe inside. I have done the unthinkable.

I have allowed the experiences of the past to shape my expectation of the future.

Why do I have so little faith, You ask?

Why do I care so much about the responses of people if a Sovereign God who holds the hearts of kings can turn any situation to work in my favour?

So why do I care so much about falling when His hand is never too short to catch me?

Father, tonight I lay down every fruit of self and clothe myself with love, long-suffering, bowels of mercy and grace. Bathe me in grace untill my skin is a reflection of Your glory. Let your light illuminate and shape my thinking, until my will is conformed to Yours.

 Lord forgive me for being so stubborn. Thank you for giving me a pliable new heart and a new Spirit within. Let a breath from You be wind enough to catch my attention.

In every stalemate there are two options; something has to give or those who wrestle must walk away as losers. Perhaps there’s one more, the stronger one breaks the tie. Jacob’s hip testifies to this day that no one can wrestle with You and win, I dare not carry this on for much longer.

So Lord I give! You win.

Instruct me and show me the right path.

Brand me with Your love.

Your wildest and most reckless daughter,
Olamide.

The Wait

It’s been a long time, Lover
Since my pen met paper to sing Your praises
Apologies…
But I’ve been too busy waiting,
For You.
I’ve been waiting for ages
To see Your word become flesh

You said the doors were open to me
Yet it seems I’m stuck just at the entrance,
Unable to step in

I’ve waited quite patiently too I might add,
Still. Quietly rocking back and forth
Occasionally pacing and peering through the windows
Marking the dates and wondering which one would
Bring home the job and the king you promised
Alas! I had been missing the whole point

I’ve barely listened for Your voice
So eager to leave this season of waiting
That I forgot just how patiently You can wait
To drive home Your point—Sigh!

You made me sit
And washed me with the water of Your word
Until I found contentment afresh in You
That nothing else could bring

I’ve occasionally lapsed into fits of anger and resentment
Wondering how You—Father, Lover, Friend could
Keep me waiting for so long and still say
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on Your own understanding…”
It made no sense even when You whispered,
“For I know the plans I have towards you, declares the Lord, “they are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.”

What?!
While I still waited at home as my friends moved on with their lives?
The only way this made sense was when You hit me over the head with ‘Isaiah 55:8’
“My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways My ways”
At this point I was begging to see the whole master plan
Of course, there was no way You could show me all of it

The one thing that keeps me going is Your love;
Higher than the heavens
Deeper than the deep blue sea
Wider than the oceans
Your love;
Indescribable,
Amazing
Wild

Your love empowers me,
Enables me to trust You more each day
And answer “yes Papa”, with child-like awe each time You call
And so I’ll wait for You

You are all my eggs and my only basket
In You alone will I trust
Saviour, Lover, Friend
You complete me
And satisfy me deeply.
I marvel at You Jesus
As I wait,
All I want to see is Your face.

© Olamide Oti, April 2017

BRIDGE TO HEAVEN

At the garden of gethsemane,
It became real to me,
Three times, I asked that the cup be taken away
Yet that his will be done

I tasted and felt the darkness encircling me
And their sins becoming one with me
Yet I looked beyond and saw the glory ahead
Darkness truly had no clue

Today, the atonement would be seen in time,
Typified by death on a tree – a man
Condemned to die by the ones whose
Pardon I now seek

For a moment in eternity,
Three hours in time,
Because of their sins,
Abba turned away

Time stopped,
The unseen and seen
Became one on the cross
The battle had reached a climax

Sin was me,
Death was the wage,
I was the price
For your freedom

Just when they thought they had won,
A new order was birthed,
A new man was conceived by His Spirit
Once for all

Do you not see?
Do you not perceive?
Or do you choose to ignore the Message?

(c)Olamide Oti, 2015

The message of the cross is eternal. I pray for a revelation of God’s amazing love to you as you read this.
Happy Easter to you!

The Long Road Home

It’s dark here.
The curtains are masks
Protecting me from the mess in this place
The bed smells of sex and cheap wine
The floor is strewn with dirty clothes
Last night’s meal found solace on the bathroom floor
A bible, long forgotten lay in the corner

Ghosts of memories past filter through
Cracks in carefully constructed barriers
Announcing the charges
And stating the punishment with finality
I was caged in a prison with no walls,
Told that there was no way out
The warden was a merciless task master

One day I
Heard a whisper,
Heart racing, I answered,
I saw Him, running to me in the distance
My steps were hesitant and suspicious
I wondered what manner of man this was
He stood up for me
Silenced my accusers
And gave me a beginning
With an end in eternity

He satisfies me completely, wholly, deeply,
He is Father, Lover, Friend
My heart rejoices for He has made me glad
He redeemed me and called me ‘His own’
What I feel for Him is far beyond words
Yet it is incomparable to how much He loves me
His love brought me home
(c) Olamide Oti, 2016

Of Birthdays and Reflections

A few weeks to my 21st birthday. I met my Lord. It wasn’t until months later that I began to understand what this new life meant. Then words broke through the dam of self righteousness and flowed like a river. The beginning of my pen and paper romance.
For many months after that I still played around with the world. Drifting between two opinions, trying hard to merge light and darkness and fit unequal yokes together. Flirting with the sons of Belial, barely seeing through the foggy lens of my foolishness.
Until something happened that forced my eyes to see the futility of my unblessed efforts. I saw the darkness for what it truly was. Then I heard His voice calling me deeper. His word broke me away from the ties that bind and entangle.
Just when I thought I was doing great and communing with Abba in Eden, a stranger tried to undo what God had sealed…thank God for His mercy! He said “no way, she is Mine”. And so I was shielded and hidden in the palm of His hand.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 3:12-14
I owe Him my life, now I urge you to partake of His goodness; to taste and see that the Lord is good. I invite you to meet my Lover and Saviour. His name is Jesus. He is the reason for my joyous hope, the story behind my flowing ink and the anchor that secures my glorious future.
The message is simple, only believe!
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Olamide