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Food for Living: The Power of Faith
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Destiny Friends,
“Sorrow looks back, Worry looks around, Faith looks up” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every journey of life undertaken without faith will surely end in frustration; nothing is guaranteed and there’s nothing worthwhile that can ever be achieved without faith. The reason is obvious; no one sees the end place before they begin a project. For instance, in business, one can never tell how far they can go if they do not begin; it is faith that makes a student believe a 4.0 or 5.O GPA on graduation is possible. It’s with faith an employee believes he will get to the managerial or topmost position in his field of endeavour.
Faith, ordinarily, is the capital to begin any enterprise, endeavour or life’s journey.
Let me make this disclosure, I’m nor referring to the spiritual kind of ‘faith’ in this article, rather I’m referring to the inspirational faith which progressive minds use to achieve the extraordinary.
It’s instructive to note that faith is a powerful force that can transform our lives and help us overcome obstacles. If you have a project or vision in mind you would like to accomplish, if you don’t have extraordinary faith, it will be hard to achieve your dreams.
Great and visionary leaders had absolute faith and believe in themselves and their projects. They were not deterred by the vicissitudes of life. As a matter of fact, they were inspired by their challenges because it enabled them to work hard.
According to NapoleonHill, in his book, Think and Grow Rich, “whatsoever the mind can conceive, believe, it can achieve it”. This tells you how powerful the mind is. It should be noted, success and failure start from the mind. If you believe you can do something, you will do it and if you believe you can’t do anything, trust me, you can’t do it. Even the Book of life states 1 John 4:4 that “…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”.
What is faith? Faith is the confident belief in something that is not yet seen or fully understood. As mentioned earlier, without faith, it’s impossible to achieve any commendable feat. Uninformed minds think faith is having everything ready before they begin a project. They have this mindset, if all the t’s are crossed, and i’s are dotted, what’s left is do the necessary. They fail to understand that done is better than perfect when perfect is not done. Sometimes in life, you don’t wait for the coast to be clear before you can soar.
Just imagine the ship thriving despite waves in the ocean and the plane flying the wind in the air. That’s simply how life works. We don’t give up due to the challenges of life. Sometimes, it’s through the challenges we are fashioned. It’s just like the gold and petroleum which must be processed before they become refined products. So also, we must pass through some challenges in order to be processed, refined and appreciated.
Furthermore, when one has faith and believes in a project, the universe has a way of bringing interested minds, who are either passionate about the project or cause to support the being.
One may be wondering how faith works, imagine being hungry as a student, one will not feel the hunger too much if one knows he has food in his refrigerator. Now compare that scenario to when there’s no food. My late mother will always say, the most painful part of being poor is, if one does not have money and doesn’t know anyone to borrow from. Trust me, it can be heartbreaking.
The importance of faith cannot be overemphasized, faith gives us hope, it strengthens us, it brings blessings, and it inspires hope and confidence.
The power of faith can enrich one’s life in many ways. Here are some of the ways faith improves our work and life.
1. Faith Improves Your Daily Work
When you love what you do, you will be inspired to spend some time developing your project. Faith impacts what you do, how you do it and how you live your life. With faith, you will be intentional. Faith keeps you going. If you want to do any task, you need to have faith that you will accomplish it. If you have faith, you feel motivated to get things done because the faith will serve as a propeller.
2. Faith Helps You in Difficult Times
There is a popular phrase, “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” If you have faith, you will have hope, and hope will help you endure difficult times and uncertainties in life. Times can be bad, and you may find yourself drowning in despair. But never lose hope. Even when you lose your job, suffer the pain of losing a beloved, don’t have enough money, or face any other challenge, having faith means to release control to a greater power, the universe or God.
3. Faith Encourages Others
Do you know your faith can inspire and encourage others? Have you wondered how creative-minded people come up with new ideas or directions to take after failing multiple times? They have faith that they can achieve their goal. No matter what comes their way, they remain focused and motivated, even after facing backlash from people. Their example can encourage others to follow the same path. You too can be the same way by having faith. People around you will learn from you. They will follow your lead. When you have absolute faith and believe in a project, people will notice.
4. Faith Gives You Courage
Courage helps you do the things that scare you. It plays a significant role in motivating you to act on something despite the risks or dangers involved. If you have courage, you show more strength in times of pain or grief. Courage comes directly from faith. For instance, you gather the courage to go on a job interview. You think you won’t get the job, but there is always a chance you will. You have faith in yourself and your abilities and take a bold step in going after the job, which can lead you to success.
5. Faith Helps you Discover Purpose
The ups and downs of life can take a toll on you. In some cases, it leads you to question why you’re here. But when you do, faith can save you from falling. It guides you to move in the right direction and helps you discover your purpose in life.
In conclusion, we all travel by air and trust the pilot to take us to our destination safely, we all use the sea and trust the captains to arrive safely, we all have faith that when we turn on the light, it will lighten up, why can’t we trust the creator we have not seen? When you trust the creator, believe in your project and believe in yourself, trust me, you will not only get to the promised land, but you will also exceed expectations. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
UK police named a 14-year-old boy killed in a sword attack in London this week as Daniel Anjorin, as officers released more details about how the violent rampage unfolded.
Anjorin, a British-Nigerian pupil attended Bancroft’s private school in Woodford Green – also attended by Nottingham attack victim Grace O’Malley-Kumar.
He died on Tuesday morning as he walked to school in Hainault, in the east of Britain’s capital, when he was attacked by a man wielding what appeared to be a Samurai-type sword.
Police tasered and arrested the suspect, a 36-year-old man who remains in custody on suspicion of murder. He has not been named and was not previously known to police.
The independent school attended by Anjorin said in a statement Wednesday that they had been left in “profound shock and sorrow” at the pupil’s death.
“He was a true scholar, demonstrating commendable dedication to his academic pursuits. His positive nature and gentle character will leave a lasting impact on us,” Bancroft’s, in Woodford Green, near Hainault, said.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said Tuesday’s horror unfolded just before 7:00 am (0600 GMT) when the accused crashed a van into a house fence, hitting a 33-year-old man before stabbing him in the neck.
A 35-year-old man was then attacked inside a nearby property, causing lacerations to his arm, before Anjorin was killed.
Police arrived on the scene 12 minutes after the first emergency call and attempted to neutralise the suspect with incapacitant spray and a Taser gun but these had little effect.
The suspect seriously injured two police officers, both of whom required surgery on Tuesday and remain in hospital.
One, a woman, suffered severe injuries to her arm and nearly lost a hand, the Met said.
The man fled again as terrified witnesses took cover in houses before police used a Taser to overpower him, detaining him 22 minutes after the initial call.
Police have said the attack was not terror-related.
It came amid a rise in stabbings in the United Kingdom and shortly before voters decide whether to re-elect London mayor Sadiq Khan for a record third term in local elections Thursday.
Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has criticised the opposition Labour Party’s Khan for his record on crime.
Anjorin’s death is the second recent tragedy to hit Bancroft’s, after a former pupil, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, was killed in Nottingham last year as she tried to save her friend from a knife attacker.
Valdo Calocane was sentenced to indefinite detention in a psychiatric hospital for stabbing to death 19-year-old O’Malley-Kumar, fellow student Barnaby Webber and 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.
The Federal government has approved a salary increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent for civil servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures.
The Head of Press, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Mr. Emmanuel Njoku, disclosed this through a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said: “The Federal Government has approved an increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent in salary increase for civil servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures.
“They include Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS), and Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS).
“Others are Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure (CONICCS), and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).
“The increases will take effect from January 1.”
Njoku revealed that the Federal government has also approved increase pension increase of between 20 percent and 28 percent for pensioners on the Defined Benefits Scheme.
He added that the increase is on the six consolidated salary structures and would also take effect from January 1.
The move, according to him, is in line with the provisions of Section 173(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The official recalled that those in the tertiary education and health sectors had already received their increases.
“This involves Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS) for universities.
“For Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it involves the Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Educational Institutions Salary Structure (CONTEDISS).
“The Health Sector also benefitted through the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Sector Salary Structure (CONHESS),” Njoku added.,,
By Eric Elezuo
The Nigeria Head of National Office, West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut, has sounded a note of warning to schools in the habit of extortiing money from their students in the name of paying for certificates, to desist from the act henceforth, or face repercussions.
The HNO gave the warning while addressing members of the media on the conduct of the 2024 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) due to kick-start on April 30, 2024 in four member countries of the Council including Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
He noted that the public and the media have not been coming forward with reports of School indulging in the act, and that explains why the hammer has not fallen on some erring schools.
“The more you fail to report the schools involved, the more the act continues, so we encourage you to name schools involved in the act,” he said.
The HNO further noted that the examination, which will last a duration of seven weeks and six days will test a total of One Million, Eight Hundred and Fourteen Thousand, Three Hundred and Forty-Four (1, 814, 344) candidates from Twenty-Two Thousand Two Hundred and Twenty-Nine ( 22,229) schools, whose entries were received. Candidates will be tested in 76 subjects, spread into 197 papers during the period of the examination.
Of much importance, the HNO announced that the results of the SSCE will be released 45 days after the last paper, while the certificates for the students will be printed, and released to the schools 90 days after the release of the results, urging schools to release the certificates to the students-owners without any charges as their registration fees has already accommodated the charges for the certificates.
While advising parents and guardians to encourage their wards to study diligently and desist from engaging in any form of examination malpractice, Mr. Dangut tasks students to take advantage of all the educational platforms created by WAEC to ensure their success, such as the e-learning portal.
