Zimpapers Logo

Dr Nick Ohizu The Voice of God

In the previous episode, I wrote about “The best job in the world” where focus was on the joys and challenges of parenting. This segment is a sequel to our last article.

I recently lost my mother and in preparation for the funeral, I had the role of supervising the digging and construction of my mother’s grave.

Doing this task gave me the opportunity to have a personal evaluation of my relationship with my mother and how some of the decisions she made worked out to be the catalyst for my success.

In life, especially when it comes to parenting, we find ourselves having to make exceedingly tough decisions which we believe will be for the betterment of our children.

The most difficult position is saying no to your child, especially when you know that they really deserve what they were asking for, but you do not have the capacity to provide.

In my evaluation of my relationship with my mum, I got to consider the decisions she made concerning my life and how some of the painful ones turned out to work together for my good. The best way to pass this message is by telling you the story.

When I was in form three, our class was scheduled to go for a tour to Lever Brothers to see how some toiletries were made.

Every student was supposed to pay $2 to cover transport from our village school to the city where the factory was situated. Every student paid the $2 within the 30 days we were given except me.

Not that I did not tell my mum, but she had promised that she will give me before the date.

When the day finally arrived, she told me that she had no money.

I had smartly dressed up in my uniform with the expectation that I was going to get the money.

When she told me that there was no money, I summed the courage to go to school and beg our form master to allow me to travel and I will find the money and pay later.

When I got to school, the bus was waiting and after assembly the form three students were told not to go to class.

We got to the bus and the form master started a roll call of students that paid and as they heard their names, they boarded the bus.

When all had entered the bus, I was left standing face to face with my form master, who looked at me and said “Ohizu, you did not pay and still had the guts to come here?”

I told him what happened and how I planned to pay after we return.

He told me that if there was no money, there was no trip. Emphasizing my nature of always having excuses for every one of my failures, my form master got onto the bus, shut the door and the bus started to drive away.

My friends ran to the rear windscreen and waved at me.

All the other students who had not gone into class were watching from the balcony and booing. Imagine what that did to my 14 year-old young mind.

I stood there not knowing what to do, but all I remember was that tears started flowing like a river and out of nowhere I started saying to myself, “Is it because I did not have money”?

That statement was repeated while I wept and left the school gate to walk more than 5km home in the scorching heat. I got home and met my elder brother who had been chased home.

When we finally had enough, we wiped our tears and my elder brother told me that we should make a promise to each other, I asked him what was the promise?

He said that we should promise each other that we will not allow our children to go through anything like this.

We did and that event and statement became the catalyst for our success. Today, I can gratefully say that my children did not have to go through anything like that.

This is why I preach prosperity; why I have dedicated my life to eradicate poverty because no child deserves to go through the embarrassment that poverty brings.

The morale of the story is that my mother did right to me even though it came in a wrong way in her failing to fulfil her promise.

However, had she given me that money, I would not have had the opportunity to experience the pain that gave birth to the determination that led me to pursue a life of success.

Sometimes in life, we fail to meet certain needs.  There is a guilt that comes with failing to fulfil your promises, but do not allow that guilt to destroy you.

God knows that you are human and as humans we have limited capacity. Wipe your tears and understand that the denial did not kill you, but it made you stronger.

The needs you fail to meet today can become the breeding ground for abundance later in life.

To be continued.

Dr Nick Ohizu is the senior pastor of The Empowerment Ministries and The President of the Empowerment School of Wealth both located in Graniteside Harare. He is a successful entrepreneur with vast experience in leadership, mentorship, business and marriage consultancy with a mandate from God to change lives and bless people.

He can be contacted on 0772304917.