#BN2015Epilogues: 2015 Was the Year Yinka Had No Choice But to Trust

Last year BellaNaija Features put together an inspiring feature series to round off the year. The 2014 Epilogues featured 10 real people who took an introspective look at their year and wrote about it. This year, we decided to make the call public to our readers. {Click here if you missed it} It is our hope and desire that we will have enough entries to have a story up every day from the 1st to the 31st of December. We have received an impressive number of entries and we hope that you will share yours with us.

We kicked off the series and so far we’ve had the following entries: Jennifer G , Morountodun , Victory, Mayowa ,  Harmony ,Dekky , OJ , Busola , Modupe, The Prodigal Daughter , Adetola, Ayomikun , Omami Jojo , Kehinde , Iember ,  Hadiza , Florence , Amaha , Vanessa , Winifred , Anne-Rose, Edie ,  Chidi ,  Rita and Caleb.

We have had an overwhelming response to the call for Epilogues and we’re grateful to everyone who has sent in an entry. We will do our best to share every story we received before the deadline (even if it runs into the new year. Because BellaNaijarians are so awesome!) We continue this inspiring series with Yinka‘s story. A year of trusting means, letting go and letting the chips fall into place.  We are encouraged by Yinka’s experience and hope you are too!

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The year I had no option but to trust. I had to trust, that leaving home for NYSC and transitioning into a long distance relationship with my dear one would not result in the demise of our relationship. I had to trust – on the days I smiled ruefully thinking about him, and the days I ugly-cried – that we would only become better through this.

I had to trust that, as per my agreement with Him, I would not come upon a live snake in my room or work; even though my room was on next to a mini-forest, and snakes had been seen occasionally within the compound, and there were assurances by my colleague that I would see at least one before my time there elapsed. There were many close calls, but He kept His word.

I had to trust that I wasn’t going to lose it when my generator refused to start, five minutes after being repaired, after it took the repairman two days to ‘find time’ to come and take a look at it; in an area where there had been no PHCN light for five straight months, and my phone had become so much more than just a phone to me.

I had to trust that my presence meant something, when it seemed like a cop-out defending my unwillingness to leave the hospital premises for longer than a few minutes; knowing that an emergency could come at any time. And when one did come, too late, I had to trust, as I wept alone after the child passed, that I would be comforted.

I had to trust, as I watched dear friends get married, that they would be fine, and I would be fine; and even though I wasn’t by their sides as much as I would have liked, because of the distance, that everything would still come together well.

I had to trust, that as I travelled multiple times, I would be safe, and my loved ones would be safe too. And, that day in the state capital when the okada I was on fell onto the major road because of a passing goat, and I escaped with a scrape on my shoe, I was reminded that He was keeping me, like He said he would.

I am back home now. My relationship is adjusting to this, and the answer to the ‘what next?’ question, especially regarding my career, is playing out. It will be a tad unexpected by my family, and I hardly have all the answers, but I am still trusting, and I believe I won’t regret it.

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