March 2022 in Review: A Season of Suffering and Learning

You’re probably wondering why a season of suffering is appearing in my March review.

Well, I’ll tell you.

Earlier this month, I stumbled on a video about this.

At the time, I was getting tired of my consistent prayers because I felt it was not really doing much for me.

How can I be praying everyday and still be facing financial difficulties? How can I pray everyday and still be battling with my emotions?

That day I was really concerned, then I stumbled on the video of this lady talking about why we should pray.

One thing that I couldn’t seem to forget (it felt like God was speaking to me) was when she said when we pray, we are able to tell what season we are; whether it’s the season of suffering or the season of plenty (I think. I wasn’t really paying attention to the rest).

When I heard this, suddenly everything made sense. I’ve never been the one to fault God for not answering my prayers because I’ve learned overtime that it’s not God’s fault most times.

But this month, I was really losing hope and faith.

And if you come from the part of Christianity I grew up in, whenever things weren’t working out the way you wanted it, you were often told that some powers were out to get you and they are the ones not making things work for you (a christian doctrine I no longer believe in).

The reason I couldn’t believe such an outrageous thing was because I have a relationship with God and God never told me any of this.

I am also very confident that no power can work against me when I have God on my side. So, I wasn’t bothered about that.

But what bothered me most was why things weren’t going the way I had planned.

Then this video changed the whole outlook for me…

A Season of Suffering

I came to understand that it was not like God was making me suffer but it was more like a phase in my life I had to pass through. I had always been this person who ran from discomfort. I loved my comfort zone more than anything.

I loved things going my way and if it didn’t, I ran.

Then all of a sudden, towards the end of last year, things started to change.

I had a shift in my mindset. I became oddly consistent, resilient, and tenacious.

I began to trust in myself. I began to believe in myself. I began to talk to people about myself. I felt an odd confidence I never had before.

Now, I will stand in places and speak confidently; drawing the attention of everyone and I would not be shy. I liked it (unlike before that I felt inferior or anxious).

Now, I have become bold and I realized later that God has been doing all these behind the scene.

I began to realize that when I thought my prayers had been in vain, infact, God was hard at work.

He was working in me… Changing me…

Helping me… Grooming me…

Because he knew if he gave me all the comfort I needed, I would never grow to the measure he wants me to.

He knew if he allowed me to thrive in my weaknesses. I would never become the woman He saw in me.

I’M AWED BY GOD’S GRACIOUSNESS

I hope you also get words for yourself in these words I have written.

Now, at the beginning or middle of March, I had an interesting vision and God gave me a word: REST.

I was so happy when I received this because I thought it meant everything will start working for me.

But, Alas! Nothing changed.

Again I got confused.

Some opportunities came in the middle of March that got me excited but I knew what God told me (about the season of suffering and I was wondering if it was over so soon?) So, instead of thanking God for the opportunities, I was mostly praying that I won’t lose them.

Well I later did.

Because I knew it was not yet time to get anything yet. It was strange. But I am led by the spirit so it wasn’t strange for me.

I later asked God what he meant by REST if things were not changing for me.

And I realized he was comforting me ahead of time because He knew how sad and tired I would be towards the end of March.

What a Father!!

Rest!! Matt 11:28-30

March was a funny month. I can say that now because it’s about to end.

But one constant thing is that God has been here.

One day I finished praying and I went online and the first image that popped on my phone was this:

An Image of Hope

It made me wonder how great God is and how he speaks to us through everything.

It’s been a crazy month but some good things came out of it.

Learning and Hopeful

One thing freelancers are always advised during the times when there are no jobs is to learn, develop, and sharpen their skills and this was what I did.

I learned how to use Pinterest to promote and increase my blog traffic (I’m still learning) and it has been fun to learn.

I’ve always loved Pinterest but I never knew it could be this useful for blogs and websites (even YouTube).

I also learned something profound that will stick with me for a long time, which is; the journey to success is not a one year, two years journey. It usually takes a while. Yes! It does. And only if you’re ready will you go on that journey and conquer.

I also wrote a blog post on daily faith confessions and one of my readers suggested that I make them into downloadable images and I had it done. It felt really good.

This month too, traffic on my blog has been really impressive. I’ve gotten organic readers from my search-engine-ranked blog posts and it felt so good.

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen my posts on the first pages of search result pages.

I also learned how to get my blog approved for google ads.

You will notice those little ads around my blog. If you click them, I will get paid.

So, endeavor to click them for me with love. Thank you. Lol.

One thing I’m also grateful for is Consistency.

For the first time in my life, I have been consistent for three good months. Consistent with my brand. Consistent with my relationship with God.

It feels so good and rewarding too.

My blog has grown tremendously and I’m so proud to say since I started my blog, this is the first time I’d write 36 blog posts in 3 months. I’m proud of myself.

I’ve also had the best relationship with God. My faith has grown and is still growing. God has also been working on my inside.

It’s beautiful!!