Giving Thanks When Things Go The Way That Is Obviously A Blessing To Us.
There are many things in our lives in which God has intervened miraculously, which can be called the special events of our lives.
That is where we ought to begin to carry out the Ministry of Praise and Thanksgiving. Some time ago I wrote down some such events in my life; so that I could give thanks specially to the Lord. I will put out my own list for you to see and then you can follow suit for your life.
- An exceptional father.
- An exceptional mother.
- An elder brother radically committed to my academic success.
- An unusual environment for the first four years of my Primary School life.
- Being first in class at the end of the first year in Primary School.
- Mr Esombe, my teacher in the second year in Primary School, who loved me exceptionally and caused me to study unusually.
- Lambert Eteng Ebot who became my friend in the second year in Primary School.
- An exceptional performance at the end of the second year in Primary School with 598 marks out of a total of 600. The two marks were lost because I gave the names of ten of the disciples of the Lord Jesus instead of twelve.
- A price of three pence won during the second year in Primary School for being able to answer Arithmetic questions that some boys in the 6th year could not answer.
- Two shillings earned for working on one man’s coffee farm every week for eight weeks without anyone noticing my absence from home, and the joy of being congratulated and carried shoulder high by my darling father when I gave him the money and told him how I had earned it.
- That day in 1955, at the age of ten, when my darling father gave me that evangelistic tract, “Someone Died For You,” and I understood for the first time that the Lord Jesus died for me as an individual, and thus I was led to invite Him to come into my heart as my Lord and Saviour.
- That same day in 1955 when, after I received the Lord Jesus, I ran without stopping to the next village which was two kilometres away in order to tell my friend Reuben Unota Mbah that Someone died for him. (He did not understand. I was too excited and too full of joy because of my discovery to have explained things clearly to him).
- December 1955 when I was the general second in a competitive examination for all the Schools in Ngie, even though I had changed schools from Nyasoso to Andek, Ngie that June.
- 1957 when my darling father made me his friend following my demonstration of unusual financial responsibility.
- 1959 when I passed the entrance examination into Cameroon Protestant College, Bali.
- 16th January 1960 when I went to Secondary School.
- April 1960 when I won a government scholarship for secondary education through success in the scholarship examination. Without this scholarship, it would have been impossible for me to continue with secondary education, as my pastor father did not have the funds that could see me through Secondary School.
- February 1960 when I was introduced to the group that went out on Sundays for evangelism by John Gwan. I went out with him and others for evangelism in the villages of Bali. This was a most serious step; for it introduced me into the group of spiritually-minded students. It was a step that had profound effects on my spiritual life in every way.
- 1962 when I met a girl called Agnes. She said I was a king; that I was her king. Those words made me believe myself. They also made me determine that I would never do anything that was not worthy of a king.
- 1962 when I was second as the junior librarian of Cameroon Protestant College.
- 1963 when I was elected prefect in charge of the library, evening studies and information in the college. This was a serious step because it brought heavy leadership responsibilities upon me.
- 1963 when I was elected President of the Moghamo Students’ Association.
- 1963 when I was elected Secretary General of the North West Students’ Association.
- 1964 when I passed the entrance examination into Cameroon College of Arts, Science and Technology. I was the 13th by order of merit of the nearly 100 students who were admitted. The miracle of God in it was that the first 13 students were given Federal Government Scholarships of 30.000 francs per year plus other privileges. The year before, the first ten were given Federal Scholarships, but the Scholarship Board chose to give 13 Scholarships in my year because I was the 13th! The year that followed, no Federal Scholarships were given!
- 1964 when a girl on the Campus in Bambili came to me and said, “Is it because you are handsome that you snob all the girls and would not talk to any?” This comment encouraged me to accept myself because, with slightly curved legs, I thought I was considered ugly. In fact, I used to pray and ask God to make my legs straight. Because they were not straight, I thought I was ugly. So this girl’s complement had healing and assuring influence on me.
- December 21st 1964 when I met Prisca …
- January 26th 1965 when I received the first letter from Prisca.
- April 1965 when there was an accident on the Bambili-Bamenda road. A woman died in it. A number of us saw the corpse and vowed that we would never sin again; that we would walk with God and prepare for heaven.
- April 1966 when I was admitted into Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, to do a degree course in Science.
- April 1966 when I was selected by the Cameroon government for a Canadian scholarship to study medicine in Canada. Everything was set for the trip – medical examination, and all else. I did not go because the General Certificate of Education, Advanced Level, results for Cameroon came from London one week too late for me to go to Canada for that year. I was asked to wait for one year. I did not wait to go to Canada the next year. I left for Sierra Leone on September 27th 1966, to study for a Bachelor of Science degree.
- 1st October 1966 when I met the Lord Jesus and my life was transformed. I gave Him my heart and my life and promised to serve Him with all my spirit, soul and body. I also made it my goal to labour to ensure that all Africa is saved from the colonialism of sin and the neocolonialism of self.
I will stop my list here at my encounter with the Lord Jesus and my surrender and consecration to Him, so that you too may begin to work on the list of the important positive events of your life. My list goes up to 250 events, right up to December 1991.