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CHRONICLES OF LADY AVA: THIS THING CALLED SALVATION

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Long time, no Ava abi? Let’s gooooo! Me and Ava were having a conversation some days ago, and I casually mentioned that I’ve never spoken in tongues before. This girl was genuinely shocked. “Favour, seriously??” And I’m like, “Yeah na… what’s up?” Then she said something that made me laugh, because it sounded so dramatic. She said, and I quote: “It’s still a mystery to me how I’m able to speak in tongues and some people like you can’t, with all my bad thoughts.” And I just started laughing because… people like me ke? But honestly, her statement is the reality of many believers. A lot of us don’t feel worthy of salvation, or worthy of the gifts of the Spirit, so we assume that if we’re not “holy enough” or “clean enough,” God won’t use us or bless us. But this is what I told Ava. The thing about gifts is that you don’t have to deserve them before you receive them. A gift is not something you earn, it’s something you’re given. And spiritual gifts are not rewards for good beha...
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TO BE A WRITER… (7)

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Funny how I started this series as something simple, and ended up unravelling parts of me, and what I feel about writing. This series has made me realise something, being a writer is not just about writing, it is about everything that happens before the writing even begins. It is about the becoming.  In this series, we've gone over;  To be a writer is to bleed on paper, yes, but it is also to heal on paper. It is to take what could have destroyed you and turn it into something that makes sense, something that speaks, something that lives. It is to pour your anger into words instead of into people, to turn your pain into poetry, and your confusion into clarity. To be a writer is also to be misunderstood. People assume writing is writing, that a writer can write anything, anytime, anyhow, but the truth is that writing has niches, styles, voices, and growth. And the real beauty is not in sounding like everyone else, but in sounding like yourself, even when you are try...
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TO BE A WRITER… (6)

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To be a writer is to become... And I don’t mean become in the motivational speaker way, I mean the real thing, the gradual, everyday transformation into the kind of person that writing naturally flows from. Because writing is not just an action, it is a product, a product of who you are becoming. Sometimes people ask me, “Favour, how do you write? What are your steps?” And honestly, I never know what to say. Not because I’m trying to gatekeep, but because I didn’t exactly follow a step by step process. I didn’t sit down one day and say, “Okay, step one brainstorm, step two outline, step three write.”  No. I became first. Then writing started coming out of me like something that had always been there, like software that finally finished installing, and once it installed, boom, I could write. That is the truth about writing, it doesn’t start with your fingers, it doesn’t even start with your pen, it starts with the becoming. There’s this popular quote that says, “You don’...
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TO BE A WRITER… (5)

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There’s a way a writer lives. And I don’t mean the aesthetic. Not the coffee, not the books, not the “soft life writer” vibe people post on Instagram. I mean the actual lifestyle. The one that happens quietly. The one that happens in the mind, in the heart, in the way you move through life. Because writing isn’t just what I do. It is who I am. It is the way I process the world. Sometimes, I’ll be in a place and everyone is present, laughing, gist-ing, living normally… but my mind is somewhere else, collecting details. I’m watching the way someone’s eyes change when they mention a name. I’m noticing how somebody smiles but their voice doesn’t match it. I’m hearing words, but I’m also hearing what is not being said. And I don’t even do it on purpose. It’s just the way my mind works. To be a writer is to never fully rest. Even in moments that seem ordinary, something in you is always paying attention. Your heart is always taking notes, your brain is always recording, your spirit is always...
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TO BE A WRITER… (4)

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Someone once told me they wonder what my mind looks like. And I laughed out loud, because trust me… you don’t want to see the state of a writer’s mind. You see, the place where beautiful writing comes from isn’t always as calm as people imagine. Sometimes, my mind is scattered chaos. A clash of cultures, thought patterns, random ideas, content angles, story plots, conversations I haven’t even had, and emotions I don’t yet understand… all trying to spill out of me at the same time. The way I process things is messy. But maybe that’s the point. Because writing doesn’t start from my fingertips. It doesn’t even start from my pen or my keyboard. Writing starts from the mind. From that chaotic, overactive space where everything is always happening at once. That is what makes a writer. The way we think, the way we see things, the way our minds pull invisible strings together and find words to match images people can actually picture. And it makes me ask myself sometimes… How do I ...
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TO BE A WRITER… (3)

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“Writing is writing.” A friend of mine reached out to me today, complaining. The moment her church people found out she’s a writer, they gave her a task to write a poem for an upcoming program. Meanwhile, the kind of writing she does is ghostwriting foreign stories. When she tried to explain, they were like, “All is writing jhoor.” I couldn’t even help but laugh because if only they had read the things she writes, they wouldn’t ask her for that. But I understood her frustration, because I’ve been there too. I think people forget that writing has different niches. You say you’re a writer and the next thing you hear is, “Oh my God, how many books have you written?” I’m always like, calm down first… I haven’t written any. There are storytellers, poets, content writers, essayists, researchers, novelists, script writers, copywriters… so many branches. Yes, they are connected, but they are not the same thing. And the truth is, your niche is usually the one that flows for you with...
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TO BE A WRITER… (2)

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You know how people get angry and just… explode? Raise their voice, say things, pour everything out in the heat of the moment? Yeah… I do that too, just not with my mouth, I do it with words, i do it in writing, and that’s one thing about being a writer, you get to feel everything fully without necessarily destroying everything around you. Because if I’m being honest, I can be very emotional. And when I’m angry, I’m not just angry… I’m angry. There was this day, a course mate did something that really got to me. I could feel the rage building, like something sitting hot in my chest, waiting to spill. I wanted to react, I wanted to say something. But I knew… if I opened my mouth, my words would be laced with venom, so I didn’t. I instead walked away, found a quiet corner, and sat on a staircase. Next thing, I was typing fast. Almost like my fingers were trying to outrun my emotions, I was infact pouring everything out. Every single thing I wanted to say, i said it there. On that page. A...
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