#BN2015Epilogues: Caleb’s Highs & Lows Included Failure, Friends, Favour, Family & Faith!

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 and Rita.

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’re almost halfway through the series and it has been delightful to read the experiences of our readers. 

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“18. The LORD is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

• Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
• He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.…” Psalm 34

2014 came with its many trials, knocked me down and tossed me round a bit but God’s outstretched hands of love and grace held me tight and family and very few friends nurtured me back to my feet. I grew in strength as I crossed over to the New Year 2015.

I had such high hopes and plans for the year that I couldn’t wait to kick start them all. January was great. It was my birthday and I was wowed by my family and friends and even people I barely knew. After bugging my friend and birthday mate for days to pen down something on our special day, she surprised me with her writing skills and humbled me with her thought provoking piece –‘The tale of a different Kind of Feminist’- which was published on my blog. The month held for me a bunch of blessings that gave me a false insight to want lay ahead of me in the months to come.

February- November: These were months that held surprises at every turn for me. A family I had never met welcomed me to their Victoria Island home when I had to leave Ibadan for an examination in Lagos.

It has been my home since then as I wrote part of this piece in my room here. They made sure I lacked nothing and well cared for. They said, “you are now family”. I never saw this coming as I had worried myself sick about where I was going to put when I got to Lagos.

I wrote the examination. It was my third attempt at writing the examination. Fear overwhelmed me at some point but I held on to God believing Him for success this time.

While waiting for the result, I set out to get a job but not just any job. I had my eyes set on top firms in my profession but the question that kept ringing in my head was, “who will ever open their door to a very toxic me? “

However, I got a referral to a top firm where all I was told was to resume in two weeks’ time. This felt like a dream. No firm would want to touch me with a nine-inch rod, yet this firm did not bat their eyelid in ushering me into their fold without any formal interview. I knew it was only God’s favour that had worked for me. I was given all the privilege and respect accorded to every other person in the firm. I wasn’t reduced to a mere ‘boy-boy’. I had my own space and the best and coolest colleagues I would normally hear people pray for. I was earning a huge salary many of my colleagues that were better qualified only dreamt of.

Oh! The result was released. I failed again. My spirit was crushed. Depression set in and uncertainty waited by the corner to knock me off. I was in shock. I remember sitting in the conference room and crying for hours asking God “why?” “This is the end of the road for me” I thought to myself but the firm won’t let me go. They became my pillar, my strength. My family and my few friends had my back and loved me through their words of faith and hope.

I was plunged into an identity crisis. How to fit in became a problem for me. Once more, the firm helped address this issue. They took me through a new self-discovery by building my self-confidence to discover purpose. A new identity was birthed. My story-that I am not what people see today, that I am going through this because of where God has placed me for tomorrow.

I have grown to know, love and serve God more. Not because of what I want or believe He can do for me but because He cannot be defined by all the happenstance around me. I know He loves me still. I may have been broken-hearted, crushed in spirit but God delivered me from them all. He has kept all my bones, not one of them is broken.

In summary, my 2015 comprises of failure, depression, Favour-Grace-Glory, Friends and Family, Renewed faith and hope, love set ablaze, thankful for the strength to face the battles of the year, the little things/

Photo Credit: Dreamstime | Flashon Studio