No one in my family has been a member of a greek-lettered organization before so i knew like this was something i wanted to wear on my back with pride little did i know the fruits of this lifestyle started to manifest quickly my drinking increased a lot
My smoking increased a lot fornication increased a lot and i guess being on a college campus too that environment is just it’s heavy in that lifestyle so every time we would be like oh where’s the next function where’s the next party we’re going to this bar we’re going we’re going to hang with
These guys and it’s like for this to be christian based we’re doing a lot of non-christian things my mom and dad took us to church um again i’m nigerian so religion is a big thing in our um
Culture but none of us were actually saved so there wasn’t really the guiding light of christ in our household and how to behave in things i wasn’t super rebellious i wasn’t um like a big troublemaker but yeah i just kind of lived like a lukewarm life so then things got crazy when i
Got to college college i started making different kinds of friends they started introducing me to smoking partying and liquor and all that stuff and like fornication and things like that even with all that going on i still would try to live righteous and go to church and just be good but i
Still didn’t care truly about jesus and in my college experience i went to two universities i started off for two years at one school and i ended up two years at another school in baltimore city and once i transferred to that school that’s when things really got intense and that’s where
The sorority life came in and just as a educational piece fraternities and sororities are usually like college campus organizations where people join them for various reasons organizations they have missions and visions and activities and things of that nature coming into this college campus i didn’t really have friends
Because i transferred my sophomore i transferred my junior year so i started off junior year at this university everyone’s already in their friend groups they have their clicks their clubs and everything and i was just a loner i picked up a job so i would go to class
Go to work and then come home and then i think one day i was sitting in my apartment like i’m about to finish college in a year i need to do something impactful i need to become i need to be a part of
Something impactful i can’t keep doing this the rest of my college life so honestly it may have just been like the pride in me that was looking to do something that i knew would bring me attention
I knew would put my name out there i knew would get my face out there the first thought that crossed my mind was um sga which is the student government association and at the school i went to
If you were on sga that was it was not like a big deal like you were part of homecoming planning committee you were part of the groups that planned the campus parties and stuff like that so i joined
Sga but i felt like it still wasn’t enough and i was like i need another thing to really boost my collegiate career so i had a friend who i went to middle school with and she told me about this
Sorority that um was having i think she called it like an interest meeting she was like yeah they’re having an interest meeting and i’m gonna do it and i think you should like join too and i was like
Sure like i guess this is what i was looking for so i went with her and um we went to the meetings we went through some of like the pre-preliminary processing with like getting people’s numbers and staying in contact with certain like big sisters and that’s kind of how the process started with
Joining and entering into the sorority but even outside of that i was still living just doing what i wanted to do i had more freedom so and my mom gave me a car so i would drive
To virginia i’d drive to dc i would just drive to all these places for what to like party and to you know just live a little reckless but it really got intense once the sorority lies started to kick in
Now before you move on to uh talking a little bit more about that sorority life were you hearing god at all in this time as you’re starting to explore more into the world or was it just like your heart was completely closed off no i wasn’t hearing god at all my heart
Was very closed off um i was a very carnal i was a very worldly girl i was very into like trends and things so i’ve always had this um this compass inside of me like this moral compass that would
Say that’s good that’s bad like don’t do this you should probably do that or stay away from this but not necessarily the voice of the lord where it was like discerning good and evil so a lot of what i did was just my own version of righteousness not necessarily the voice of
God yeah so talk to us about uh uh lead us into that sorority life and and and what you begin to experience in that life yeah so um upon entering and this was in fall 2016 the fall yeah it was
It started the process started over the summer but once school started i started to hit the ground running with that process it was really a lot of it was very secretive it was a lot of hush hush and you’re not allowed to say this people aren’t allowed to see you past this time
You have to be at this location you have to wear these clothes you have to do this with all of your there were pledges at the time but now they were like oh you’re sisters it was a really
Dark process but i knew that the lord wasn’t in it because my drive to complete the process regardless of what was done to me and what i experienced my drive was notoriety my drive was not necessarily fame but you know that inner elitism i guess is the word to be known and
To have the paraphernalia which is like the clothing that has the letters and the colors on it so um the process itself was it was just dark and i knew god wasn’t in it because
A lot of it was very ritualistic a lot of what i found myself doing and what they had us do was symbolic of occultic practices and idol worship and just to shed light on just one example
There was this one night where um my sister my former sisters and i we were in this room and we were kind of in a circle and in this circle we had candles and there was like golden bowls like
Doggy bowls by the way like in front of all of our faces and we were saying we’re repeating a lot of like chants and um it was just a lot of chanting and repeating this and saying that again and one of my old line sisters at the time she jokingly said
Oh my god this feels like a seance and in my head i was like yeah this feels like we’re summoning like summoning some spirits or whatever but being again veiled ignorant not saved none of us really cared because we just wanted to complete the process to be in the organization so badly so
You know we shook that off but that was a common thing that would happen you know we would do certain rituals and practices and kneeling and i’m like looking back i’m like wow how did i not see
This but at the time i was just driven by pride and all the earthly gain that came from it so after i finished the process and became a member of the organization there’s something called a
Probate which is the campus ceremony of the people coming out and what they mean by coming out is because during the process you kind of go into hiding like people don’t see you on campus for a while you go straight to class you come home you’re just encouraged to be hidden and then
During the probate which is like the revealing that’s where you come out and during a probate it’s like there’s flyers that go out people get really excited and then what happens is the big sisters of the organization are now revealing who the new members or the little sisters or the neos
Are and the neo is a neophyte which is someone who is newly like a baby member of the organization and um during a probate basically they’re revealing who the newest members are that just joined this fall or this spring whatever the semester was after my probate that’s when i was
Officially a member i wore i had the jacket i had the line number i had like 13 or so line sisters and at the time it was very celebratory it was um like oh wow congratulations and people were so
Happy for me and i felt it like i was like yeah i just accomplished something i did something great no one in my family has been a member of a greek letter organization before so i knew like this was
Something i wanted to wear on my back with pride little did i know the fruits of this lifestyle started to manifest quickly my drinking increased a lot my smoking increased a lot fornication increased a lot and i guess being on a college campus too that environment is just it’s heavy in
That lifestyle so every time we would be like oh where’s the next function where’s the next party we’re going to this bar we’re going we’re going to hang with these guys and it’s like for this to be
Christian based we’re doing a lot of non-christian things and when i say christian based i mean the organization that i joined is considered a d9 organization d9 stands for divine nine meaning that in in another historical piece so the nation’s history with sororities and fraternities
It dates back a long way but a lot of them were exclusive of um african americans so then along the 1900s there were nine different sororities that sororities and fraternities that kind of came together for this purpose of including african americans and they became the
Divine nine so the organization i joined was considered a d9 organization so the lifestyle that came with this organization it it just wasn’t of god and i thought it was ironic because a lot of the d9 organizations they would they would call themselves christian based a lot of them
Would say oh all of our organizations are founded on christian principles and that’s what i used to soothe myself with when saying yes this is of god this is okay because the practice books and the rituals and things they would always talk about god and they would mention something about an
Eternal spirit but me being ignorant i’m like okay yeah sure so jesus has to be in this so but to kind of fast forward the fruits of the organization and the lifestyle that came from it there’s no way that eternal spirit was the holy spirit so
That’s kind of the life that i lived after joining yeah now you went through a process uh where one the lord began to draw you in god began to draw you in and begin to reveal to you
What was happening in these organizations yeah but there was also a fighting that you had to do in yourself because you were so involved with this life and you believed that this was okay can you just take us to that process of god encountering you and really just beginning to
Lead you into into the light essentially yeah so my encounter actually happened once i graduated college and moved back home it was an encounter where god showed started to show me things but it was also the ultimate encounter that also led to my salvation so it’s kind of a backtrack i
Graduated college in spring of 2017 and then the first time i felt a conviction was around december of that same year i remember it was a saturday night and i was at one of my
Old pro fights house and there was a sleepover oh and sorry a pro fight is like one of the big sisters that bring you into the organization i was at her house with some of my line sisters at
The time and we were having a sleepover and it was very ratchet like we were drinking again smoking eating just being ridiculous so then that sunday i come to church and it’s the same childhood church i’ve grown up in same pastor i’ve had never was convicted with anything before
But this time he says in the midst of his preaching he was talking about how there’s people who don’t know god he was like and you know some of you guys in here you think you know god and
I don’t know why but that made my heart i was like oh my god i think i’m one of those people who don’t know god and if i did know god instantly i started thinking about what i did last night at
The sleepover so i made the decision in my mind like okay god i’m gonna be intentional to know you and i did it to the best of my ability still not having the holy spirit to help me i was like
Okay i think getting to know god is like going to church on time so i started going to church on time i was like okay it made me feel better but i’m like i don’t know if that’s it
So between the month of december 20 2017 to about april 2018 i was doing a lot of earthly works of trying to be good and trying to make sure i knew god um i started watching more youtube sermons
I started trying to read my bible a bit yeah i started listening to more gospel music i just tried to do good i tried to be righteous on my own strength so that kind of what now let up i
Guess god saw me being serious and then he was ready for what i call the big bang encounter and this big bang encounter was in may and in may i remember um it was the lord so i have a
Friend she’s a friend now um at my the first school i went to she was my ra at the time which is a i think a resident assistant because i lived in the college dorm and she was basically the one
Who made sure you know we kept the bathrooms clean we took out the trash and things so when i left my former university i hadn’t talked to her since so then i see her on instagram this one random day
In may and she’s posting a flyer about how she’s gonna do an instagram live on how god took her out of a sorority and how god set her free from bondage and all of this stuff now i remember her
Probate as well i remember when she crossed into the organization and i was like happy for her i was excited i knew it and i just loved it so then when i saw this flyer i was so confused i’m like
God delivered you you were in bondage i’m like but i’m in a sorority does i mean i’m in bondage but i knew something i knew god was moving because the flyer made me very uncomfortable it made me i didn’t know what i was feeling at the time was called it was a conviction
But my heart just kept like i felt nervous i was like whoa and i would just scroll past the flyer and like you know everything would go back to normal but she shared this post on instagram
For over a week and the fly was very um it was very interesting to me because on the flyer it had a picture of a man’s arms like this as if it was chained and there was ropes around his arms
And in the flyer like the ropes were releasing his arm and that image too was it kept jumping out to me and i’m like there’s no way i’m in bondage though like this flyer is really bothering me so
Every day i mean it was literally monday to saturday i kept seeing the flyer and it it started making me angry because i’m like leave me alone but still i was like you know whatever i’m not gonna watch that instagram live because maybe she just had a really bad experience so on
Saturday she now drops the date and time she’s like i’m gonna go live on sunday at 7 00 pm and i’m gonna share my story so i was like okay she’s gonna go live at seven i’m gonna go to sleep
And take a nap at seven so i’m not tempted to watch this so i did that and i wake up around like i woke up around like 9 00 10 p.m and i remember just being relieved because i don’t think
Instagram had the save your live feature at that time so i knew it was going to be deleted and gone but then i wake up and apparently they made the update while i was sleeping and like oh you can
Now save your instagram live i was like no way i get on instagram and her life is the first thing that i see and i’m like feeling just that pressure again but even greater and i think it was the
First time i heard the voice of god but something i kept calling it the voice because i didn’t know it was god at the time kept telling me to watch her video and i was like no i don’t want to watch
This video and then i felt something again tell me to watch it and i’m like who am i talking to i didn’t know who i was talking to i was just like no i don’t want to watch it please i don’t want to
Watch it so then eventually after wrestling i’m like okay fine i’ll watch it and i go click the video to watch it but like it kept freezing so i told the voice i said hey i tried to watch it and
It’s freezing so i’m gonna go back to sleep now i did the obedient thing and then i went back to sleep and then around like three a.m around three a.m i felt a hand like squeeze my heart and i
Jumped out of my bed and i thought i lied to you now i thought i was either having a heart attack or i thought i was dying or something i just remember like laying in my bed going like this
Trying to check for a pulse and i’m like my heart was at this point beating out of my chest and the only thing i kept hearing as i was awake was go watch her video go watch her video and at
This point i’m talking back i’m physically talking back i’m like no no i’m not gonna watch the video no you’re not gonna make me do it so i’m tossing and turning and i forced myself to go back to
Sleep thinking that i could sleep this thing away part of me still thinking i’m crazy part of me not sure if this is god or some thing up there in the atmosphere but whatever it was i told it no
And i eventually forced myself back to sleep and then this was all on a sunday night breaking into monday morning so then that monday morning i wake up and i thought everything was gonna be peaceful
I wake up and what felt like a hand at first on my chest turned into an entire presence sitting on my bed and at this point it’s like i couldn’t see anything with my physical eyes but i’m like
Someone is sitting here on this bed and the only thing this person kept saying was so are you gonna watch her video are you gonna go watch her i’m like what is in this video that’s so
That you whatever whoever you are you want me to watch this video so bad and i i just remember um my heart just kept feeling heavy and was pounding so hard and i’m like okay if watching this video
Will make you like leave me alone and let my body go back to normal i will watch this video so i watch the video and lo and behold she’s just telling everything about her testimony
About how she joined a sorority and how it was in ignorance she realized it was not of the lord how god had opened her eyes to the truth and a lot of the spiritual things behind like the oaths and the
Covenants and the history i remember in the end of the video she says if any of you watching this are in the sorority or fraternity and you you say you love god but you are just ignorant she says the
Lord is going to forgive you if you just repent and walk away and right when she’s about to go into the prayer i remember i cut off the video and i cut off the video and i just i sat in my room in
Silence for a long time and then the voice spoke again and it was like so what are you gonna do i was like what am i gonna do you just put all this information in my face i’m in a sorority
Right now you’re just you basically just told me this thing i’m doing is not from you what am i supposed to do i knew in my head i had to leave but it was just a lot going on this is
My first real encounter with god and god and it wasn’t those like sweet testimonies or people like you know jesus like swept in and took me off my feet it was like jesus confronted me about
This membership thing that i’m in and i thought i knew jesus all along but i didn’t so um the whole day i was like my hand was like this my whole body was trembling because i’m like i just never
Felt god this close this real before so um immediately i texted two of my close um former line sisters at the time and i said to them i said hey guys what do you think what would you say if i
Told you that um i was renouncing the organization and educational piece to renounce the org means to declare that you are no longer a member and to not have anything to do with them anymore
So i remember when i texted them in the group chat i said to the lord i said all right god this is when i started to think like i think this is probably god now so um i said god depending
On their response if they’re if they’re fine with it i’ll take it as a sign from you that this is you and that i will leave but if they’re like what no way this is not god like what are you
Doing i said that i’m just gonna brush this off as best as i can i’m gonna stay and surprisingly the first one who responded she was like valerie i know you’ve been on this journey with god
I know you’ve been trying to walk with the lord i completely understand if you want to leave um like i just hope that we can stay good friends i was like wow okay cool the other one she responded she
Didn’t want me to leave like me and her we were good friends too but um she too was understanding so i took that as a sign from god like all right lord i guess this is what we should do
The rest of that monday mind you this is all still happening on one day this is now monday morning um the rest of that day i was just racking my brain on like still trying to fathom and understand and
Comprehend what’s happening i’m like am i really leaving this organization i spent a lot of money i spent a lot of time i spent a lot of sacrifices to be in this thing and one night of an encounter
I was just ready to walk away but i’m like i need to god you have to make this make sense to me so i spent the day just seeking counsel i wasn’t really well versed in scriptures i didn’t
Really have spiritual leaders like that in my life to reach out to for help but this just needs to make sense to me lord so i reached out to um one of my pro fights who was also in it and she
Was also nigerian and she was also a christian so i was like this is perfect because i knew if anyone could help me make sense of this she would understand but she was also in the organization so
Ironically i went to church to meet with her she was on the choir at her church and when i told her this thing i was like yeah girl this is the encounter i had this is what the lord is
Showing me i think god is telling me i need to leave because i have not had peace since that encounter i had and i need i came to you to give me counsel am i crazy am i out of my mind or like
What do you have to say to me and as she begins to speak and give justification all of a sudden it was like i couldn’t hear her anymore and we were sitting side by side i remember i looked and
I’m like god why can’t i hear her and then like the lord now starts speaking to my ear on this side and he says don’t listen to her because she’s been deceived too and i was just like
Lord i i think i was just so i was so i don’t even know the words i just remember being so shocked because i’m like god you followed me here you know i came here to get some counsel from
This woman that helped me in the journey and you followed me here you told me not to listen to her so at that moment i knew all i had was god i was like the lord is not allowing me to have peace
From anyone’s counsel that’s telling me to stay people were like valerie are you sure you’re not overthinking are you sure like this are you sure that i’m like i only have peace in what this voice
Well now god is telling me to do so um and before you move on from there uh this voice that you were hearing was it an audible voice was it something that was just in your in inside of you that you
Couldn’t explain how were you hearing this voice so it was it was more so inside that i couldn’t explain it was so sharp internally though that it could have been audible but if it was audible i definitely probably would like jumped out and like gone crazy but it was just such a sharp
Voice on the inside that i knew it couldn’t be me because i wanted to stay but like the reasoning and justification and the voice of the other was telling me just no you cannot stay i’m calling you out i’m calling you out and i’m like but why so i remember um
After i left meeting with um the girl at church i came home and i ran into my sister my younger sister and i was telling her i said girl you won’t believe what just happened to me today and this
Is your actual sister yeah it is my actual my blood sister so i’m telling her oh my god you can’t you won’t believe what just happened so i’m telling her what happened and she too she wasn’t
Saved at the time but i learned that you have to be cautious of the counsel that you get because not all counsel that makes sense is from god and my sister said something to me she was like maybe
What you’re doing is just adopting the convictions of someone else this probably isn’t even you valerie you’re fine being in the organization you were fine before you watched the video this is just someone else’s conviction and for two seconds i felt peace i was like you’re so right i was like
Oh my god i’m so happy i love my sister like thank you so much but then it came back it was like no i was like wait why did why didn’t why where’s the piece where’d the piece go
And i knew god was saying that’s not it and that’s not true so i remember um i went to my kitchen and i’m just like pacing back and forth i’m like you know what i’m not living like this anymore
I’m gonna put an end to this today i was like you know what fine i was like i’ll leave i’ll leave that’s okay i’ll go but then i started thinking in my mind i’m like what will i lose if
I leave like okay god i spent all this money this and that i’m basically trying to like outweigh the the pros and the cons you know okay i’ll lose friends i’ll lose this i’ll lose that okay but
What do i have to gain and i’m just going back and forth with myself in the kitchen trying to think and then the holy spirit interrupts my thought and says what do you have to lose and i started
I stopped and i started thinking i’m like what do i have to lose and it was like in that moment when god asked me that question everything i thought that was valuable in the organization and that
Came with that lifestyle became nothing to me i was like wow i have nothing to lose so all all of a sudden this joy came on me because i thought out what i was about to do was such a heavy and hard
And difficult thing but when god asked me what do i have to lose everything that seemed important or that seemed to hold weight just be it was just vapor you know just became nothing so it made it
So much more easier for me to renounce so i went back to instagram and i went back to the live that the girl did and i went to go watch the prayer of renunciation she said at the end and i remember i
Went to the my mom’s basement to say i don’t know why i went there actually but i just felt led to go to my mom’s basement and i said the prayer and odd enough when i finished the prayer i broke down
Crying and i was like why am i crying so much but then it started to cry as if like someone had died like you ever grieved over a loved one or something it’s like i’m crying and i’m crying
And then what kept coming to my mind was like lord i’m so sorry i remember i kept apologizing i kept saying god i’m sorry i’m sorry and i didn’t really know um what i was apologizing for at the time i
Just knew like something in me knew what i was a part of was not pleasing to god and i just kept saying lord i’m sorry i’m sorry so after maybe i was down there for like an hour saying i’m sorry
Uncontrollably i got back on my feet and i felt so light i felt so i felt free honestly i just i don’t know what took place in the moment of that prayer and that crying and
Just the apologizing but i got up and i felt free and then after that the rest of may it might you again this all was in one day this all happened on a monday after um i finished crying i got it from my mom’s basement and i just started planning how i was
Gonna tell the rest of my former line sisters and just whoever else was involved that yeah i’m not in this anymore the lord is calling me out this is not where he wants me to be he’s not pleased with
Me in this so i’m just gonna leave that’s when the lord started to open my eyes and dreams started to happen and like at the time i was telling people um when they would ask me they’re like
Valerie why are you leaving why are you leaving i’m like i’m leaving because god is telling me to i really don’t have the scriptural language and the spiritual knowledge to explain all of this even with what the girl shared with me um through her video i didn’t have like the capacity
To understand the language and she thinks she was using i just knew the conviction i knew the lord was telling me leave but it was after you know i surrendered and you know did what the lord wanted
Me to do that’s when um i guess he saw fit to start teaching me and showing me like this is what i was saving you from and this is what you were part of so after i had renounced and told
My former line sisters and all parties involved that i was leaving that’s when the the growth and the revelation started to just pour in like a flood so that’s kind of how that process went
Yeah talk to us a little bit about that of your life after jesus right how did jesus come into your life begin to impact your life it was rough at first because i was also facing now backlash
From leaving people who were saying like oh we’re sisters for life and we’ll be down forever and blah blah blah because i made a decision to forsake the old and go follow christ there was like some people were calling my phone or like texting my phone like cussing me out and stuff
And i’m like all i had was jesus now i’m looking at him like jesus you you were the one that told me to do this and now i’m you know experiencing all this backlash i need you now more than ever to
Be your friend that sticks closer than a brother because i didn’t have anyone most of the friends that i had came through or the connections or whatever i had came through my association with the organization so in that moment jesus more so introduced himself to me as first my deliverer but
Then also my friend because i didn’t have anyone else to be my friend at that time i didn’t have anyone else to really explain this to and talk this through with so um that’s definitely how
Jesus kind of started off with me and then when it now came into like the space of revelation and just opening my eyes to things i started to dream a lot more and a lot of my dreams were um
Basically guys showing me the spiritual aspect of what i was doing and what was going on so i would have dreams of myself pledging and things um there would be moments not in the dream but in real life
When we were going through our pledge process where we had to do this like armed gesture with our arms like kind of locked up like this and i remember i had god had gave me a dream after um
I had left where in this dream i see some girl who looks like me but her skin had looked like she’d been set on fire all of her look like she had just been like burned in flames but
In the dream she’s going and holding her arms like this and then on the other side there’s um three women who look like prophytes who again are the big sisters in the organization they too their skin were like set up on fire and they were burned and in this dream they were yelling
At the one whose arms were like this and it was representative of um kind of what would happen during our pledge process because in reality we would you know have our arms like this and then
Some there will be nights where our pro fights or big sisters or whatever would be yelling at us and it would be chaos and craziness and confusion all like in the dark so one thing god showed
Me through that dream was like this stuff that you were doing it had spiritual implications it wasn’t just um you know what for fun thing that you see on tv this thing is real life in the spirit realm
So that was definitely one of the revelations that god showed me that it kind of calmed me down and made me not feel so crazy because i would think about um just the different people who also claim
Christ that are in these organizations and how they justify it and say it’s okay and i’m like well lord then what is it about me so then when god started to show me dreams and start leading me
In scripture i said okay it just was a test of how much do i believe in the word of the lord versus other people’s opinions and the opinions of man so once that started to come in i felt more i felt
More closer to god honestly because it’s like he’s sharing with me his heart he’s sharing with me his mind and his opinion and when he would share these things it made sense as to why i cried so hard
When i said the repentance prayer because when the lord started showing me um scriptures in like ezekiel and jeremiah about how israel dabbled in idolatry and how they went to serve other gods and one thing god highlighted to me was his response you know he would tell israel you know i before
Like i formed you in your mother’s womb before i knew you i did all these things for you i took care of you i saw you laying about in blood and i said live and just all these things where god did
For people who didn’t really care for him and went to go serve other gods but he’s like all i wanted was to be your only god so when i think about um just life in this sorority that’s why i cried
Because i finally understood like god was saying to me like valerie i wanted to be your only god i didn’t want you to go find gods in organizations and sororities and fraternities i am your all
In all so it was in those moments through the revelation of what god would show me after that i just felt more closer to him i felt more like in his heart so yeah that’s kind of how that went
Yeah valerie as now you begin to walk with jesus how did that affect your relationship with your parents i know you said that uh um you guys were go to church but it wasn’t you kind of just knew of jesus but you didn’t really know him so as they begin to see
Uh you know their daughter essentially walk in this different way and and now you’re obviously receiving all this revelation that may they may or may not know how did that affect your relationship with your parents and what did they think about everything that was happening it helped with my
Relationship with my mom because having the heart of christ helped me to see her as just another human being who had you know her own issues and things growing up sometimes i used to have this like animosity towards her and towards my dad just because of you know parenting things but
After you know coming to christ it made me more patient with her i was more understanding i tried my best to be loving regardless of her flaws and shortcomings and in that god was actually really great and he started to mend our relationship more so my mom
Than with my dad my dad wasn’t really with us for most of the time growing up but really with my mom it’s like she would see the way i would behave she would ask me where are you going and every time
She asked me i was either going to like church or a bible study or a worship concert and she i guess she didn’t really understand why all of a sudden i was doing this but she wasn’t against
It she and i really think this was the lord because um she allowed me to she rarely ever questioned me when it came to these things even when i would come home late from revival nights
And stuff she would ask me every now and then like you’re not going to the club or you’re not going to a party i’m like no man i’m not going to any of that so even with coming home late she never
I honestly think it was just the lord just breathing on our relationship because it made it so much easier from as compared to before christ like we used to fight a lot we used to yell at each other and i was really dishonorable towards her even though i said
Earlier i wasn’t a rebellious child which i wasn’t for the most part but i didn’t honor my mom as i should have and the way i do now so um coming across really helped my relationship with her
My dad on the other hand because he wasn’t as present growing up he didn’t really get to see a lot of me in the flesh walking again with the lord but more so virtually or digitally like he we’re friends on facebook we’ll talk on facebook or um we’ll talk on whatsapp and things
And i’ll send him scriptures to encourage him but i know he noticed a change because before when i would call him i would just always yell at him for his shortcomings and you did this and you were
Never there and blah blah just all this stuff and now it’s like now having the heart of god for him it’s like you know i’m praying for you i understand you tried i understand you know this and that but even right now with him i’m believing for his salvation but
What god has taught me about spiritual things i can see the hindrances and the ungodly things that’s been kind of navigating his life and how he was just a victim of circumstance not really someone that had a free will but more so you know the enemy doing what the enemy does so
Yeah valerie who is jesus to you jesus is truly my savior like the true definition of save your saving me from myself saving me from the curse of the law saving me from not just hell but just
He saves me he saved me and he continues to save me like i wish i could put more words to how i feel it but jesus is truly my savior when you see a lot of things around you that
Should have swallowed you up and should have taken your life it’s like whoa jesus you are my savior even dating back to um my naming ceremony situation jesus you were my savior like i wasn’t i didn’t have to be named in the living room on some you know apartment but
You saved me and you gave me just he’s just my savior so yeah for anybody that’s watching your testimony valerie who are currently in that battle that you were at some point of they were in a sorority and now some things are starting to shift if they feel there’s conviction
What can you say to um to those people watching if there’s one thing i could say i would encourage i would encourage them to follow the voice of truth um the there’s many voices that try that tried to
Counsel me this way tried to counsel me that way even me of myself but it was the voice of truth the holy spirit that led me in the direction that i should that i was supposed to go and he gave
Me peace about it so not to worry about you know what you’re going to lose or what are people going to say or you know what family line you come from like oh your mom was one your dad was one and all
These people but just following the holy spirit who guides us into all truth and also gives us peace for our obedience so that’s what i’ll leave them with now valerie for people who know people who are in a sorority and maybe those friends don’t know about the darkness behind this life
To those friends who are worried for their friends and who are watching your testimony right now what can you what is the word of encouragement or word of advice that you can give to those friends
I would tell them to pray prayer works prayer works prayer works um little did i know it was actually someone praying for me that led to that whole encounter i didn’t know until after but i would encourage them to pray for god to open their eyes pray just become the intercessor on
Their behalf and um the lord will answer the lord will honor those prayers and you’ll start to see a shift in your friend’s heart about you know their membership in that organization yeah any last words last thing i just want to mention is the things of this earth are very
Temporary nothing all the glory that’s on this earth that is promised to us and the beauty of things it’s very vain and it’s very temporary the only things that matter are the things of the kingdom of heaven which are eternal so that’s where all of our efforts should be put towards you
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