I moved to Springfield, Ohio!

In May of this year, I packed my belongings and moved to Springfield, OH. The past year has been a time of transition and change in many dimensions. As some of you may or may not know, I owned and operated my daycare "Foundations Solid Rock Center" in Maryland last year. Based on the Lord's instruction He asked me to lay down my business for a season. Since closing down September 2019, I cancelled the LLC and turned Foundations into a nonprofit 501c3 organization. For now, I will not proceed with my nonprofit until I receive direction from the Lord.

When I reflect on my life and the decisions I have made, I have no regrets. I will share snippets on what the past year meant to me but unfortunately I will not be able to share everything or I could write for days and I don't want to bore you. The Holy Spirit named 2019 as a year of "Favor" for me. I interpreted that word to mean that everything would be so great, perfect, and blessings upon blessings but I lacked understanding. To work with God we must ask for understanding when He speaks. In the human sense, it may seem like failure or disappointment when I closed down but I truly saw God's hand favoring me because the things He taught me I would not have attained if I did not let certain things go. The Lord told me the beginning of 2019 "This year is going to be a BIG year for you" and "I will place you in situations that you will not have an answer to". As the first couple of months went by the Holy Spirit would continue to speak to me over and over again "Tola, you will not be in the classroom much longer". This statement confused me because in that moment I did not see the evidence of that happening so I kept living my best life with my babies (students) as I called them. LOL

Continuously the Holy Spirit would speak to me to the point when He told me clearly "You don't think anything is going to happen this year" then He told me the specific month change was coming. Again, I'll save specific details out for another time. And surely a shift occurred last July which confused me at first but then I realized that God allowed everything to happen, but still I had no answers. I remember the day when I completely surrendered the situation before God after many frustrations praying and asking Him what He was saying in the midst of my shakings. He did not waste time in responding when He asked me "What is the thing that you are afraid of letting go?" I knew the answer....my babies (students). The Lord went on requesting me to lay everything down for a season.

Anyone that knew me then knew that I loved my babies so much I would do anything to make them happy, their parents proud, and carry out the vision God gave me for Foundations with excellence. Foundations was my everything and precious to my heart. I told the Lord I will close my business down and although I love my babies, I loved Him more, after all Foundations never "belonged" to me in the first place but to Him. I said to myself God forbid I choose them over you. My response will be "Yes" to you. The peace of God that I've never experienced came over me that I just could not understand why I was okay with letting go of my business. The truth is if I was in my flesh, the natural Tola would do anything to hold on but the spirit of God in me moved me to do what I thought I could not. I understood in that moment that anything we can't release or give up for God has automatically become an idol in our lives. (Don't hold anything too tight...He's God that gives and takes away)

From that time everything in my life became so quiet, I was stripped of everything I've ever known, the Lord also told me to not even think about getting a job somewhere after I shutdown which I was like huh God? My assignment was to stay at home and minister before Him, that was my only job in that season. No Foundations, no more students, no job, no money and broke, no nothing but me and Jesus. I went from running up and down, doing this and that to the Lord sitting me down alone. The Lord broke me during this period, I experienced true brokenness. It was a time of death but also where God began to renew my spirit, refine me, and breathed new life into me. My mindset started changing, the Lord exposed my weaknesses like never before. He showed me that without Him I'm truly nothing, all I need was Him and through the Holy Spirit I am made strong.

I am so thankful to God because although I went through tough times, just being alone pouring out to Him was the best thing, I have come to know Him in ways I never known before and grew spiritually. It was like falling in love with Him all over again and getting to know God from a different perspective.

New things started to birth concerning 2020. The Lord spoke to me that He was going to bring new opportunities and responsibilities my way. He showed me a vision concerning Springfield, Ohio weeks before I knew anything concerning the opportunity. Suddenly, the Lord brought it forth and after seeking Him concerning the move, I had no doubt making my transition to this unknown place. I really did not know what was ahead of me but I just knew I had to go.

I am currently the Youth Director for a Christian nonprofit organization Inside Out Youth working with at-risk impoverished youth and their families in the low-income community of Springfield. The mission is "Creating positive change from the inside out through Jesus Christ". In the coming weeks/months, I will keep you updated on my journey and the work I'm doing with Inside Out!

As always I love you and appreciate your support!