Pastor Morin Osunmkinde, thank you, Ma! It is our honor to have you as our second guest on Silent Generals. In the heart of our organization, Flickers of Hope, what we do majorly is to reach out to the young generation; helping them to see life in the right lens. Ma, we want to know, what are the defining moments for you as a young person while you were growing up? At what point or events in your life that you said, “This is a defining moment in my life; this particular experience shaped me as a person into the woman I am today”?
Pastor Morin Osunmkinde:
I would say equivocally that, “it was when I got born again.” My born-again experience capped it up for me. This is not meant or intended to make it sound religious or spiritual at all. My being born again, “the day I met with Christ” or “the day Christ met with me”, it put everything in perspective for me.
I was born into a Christian home, but I remembered I was in and out. I went to a girls’ only school in Ondo State. I had a fleet of friends that anytime we went on holidays, we come back with a lot of gist to share among us, especially about the parties we attended, and other things we did.
On one particular holiday, I was returning to the school with a lot of gist for my friends and I was expecting a lot from them as well.
We had a particular friend; she was like the ‘boss’; leader over us. She was such a person that had so much liberty to attend all the parties, even the ones that our own parents would not allow us to attend. She resumed late to school for that particular term, so we were all waiting for her to come. When she finally came, we all gathered in her hostel, and were asking her, “what really happened?” “how did the holiday go, what parties did you attend and all of that?” “what new dance did you learn”?
We were just about 15 years of age then, but we were really excited to get the gist. She reclined to her bunk, and she said, “I got born again during the holiday”. And we were like saying, “what are you saying, you got what? Born again’? “We are expecting gist, you can’t do that.” “How could you have gotten born again, it is not possible, don’t come and spoil the gist for us.”
Of course, she went ahead to recount to us how she got born again; she met Christ and how things in her life had changed.
I remember leaving her room that day, and I was saying to myself, “Morin, what are you doing?” Amazingly, during that same holiday at home, I had attended a program where I rededicated my life supposedly. But nothing happened. It was just a respond to an emotional message; like when the preacher talked about hell, and because you don’t want to go to hell, you will just decide to give your life to Christ; that was exactly what I did.
But hearing my friend make that commitment and sticking to it, it registered something strongly in my mind before leaving her room that day, and I made that decision in my heart. I said to God, ‘I really want to be serious about this. I am going to make this decision and I am going to stay true to it’
I left her room, and amazingly that night, I started praying. I picked my Bible. I had this senior student who had been trying all they could to convert me. Herself and my other roommates, noticed me that night as I was holding my Bible, they looked like, ‘Morin you are holding your Bible, what are you up to, and where are you going?’ And I said, “Am I that bad? I am not bad!”
Indeed, it really struck them, but I held on, and kept on praying. And as I was praying that night, I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. I didn’t get baptized in the Holy Spirit through the laying of hands. I just started speaking in tongues as I was praying, and that was how I got filled with the Holy Spirit.
The next day in school, the news went round school. I was very popular, so everyone got interested. Everyone kept saying, “Morin is born again, Morin is born again!” It was amazing the numbers of our friends that got born again because Morin got born again They were like saying, “If Morin will be born again, why not I too?”
But there was another friend of mine who came to me to say, “we give you two weeks, you will be back to us”. And that statement never left me. I told her to her face, “I am going to prove you wrong.” And to the glory of God, I remember having a conversation with same lady some time ago, and I told her, “I am still proving you wrong, I am still in God, bigger and better.”
That was a very amazing defining moment in my life. Everything took a turn. It was like a U-turn for me. Things just began to align. I saw God literally ordering my path from that day forward. That singular decision reshaped everything for me, even to the kind of friends I started having going forward, after I got into the university; the kind of people I move with, the kind of fellowship I belonged, all took a remarkable change. Everything I began to do from that day starting redirecting and molding my life according to the script that was written concerning me.
I am grateful to God because I have not regretted making that decision that day. If I hadn’t got through all that, probably, I wouldn’t have met my husband. I wouldn’t have been here on this program. All things just worked together ‘intertwined together’, and that is why I am here today doing what I am doing.
The Power of one is very significant. The power of one; oftentimes, it doesn’t take more than one to have a total turn around. I mentioned before that, I had given my life many times before that say, but I took it back. Several times, I would say, “God I am for you,” but I would not keep to it. But this particular experience that day stood out, it was so defining, and it was because of what God wanted to do at that time, with the set of people at that time.
And to the glory of God, reasonable number of persons who gave their lives to God about that time, a number of them that I am still in touch with, are still on fire for God. Some of them are even pastors, it was an all girls’ school, some them are in ministry, doing great. And I am so grateful to God for that singular opportunity.
The power of one is so significant, it is so powerful. And I also see that this is also for ministers and pastors, it is not about the crowd often times, it might just be about one person. When Jesus got to the pool of Bethesda, there were many sick people there, but He went to one person, “one man, one guy” that was there.
But one might care to ask, what about the rest, what would then become of them? God can answer that. But there is this particular character of God, when He says, “I am picking this one person.” It is very powerful.
https://anchor.fm/foh-foundation/episodes/THE-POWER-OF-ONE-e1ec9bf
- LEADERSHIP TRAINING APRIL 2024 - April 18, 2024
- Is Education actually the key To Success? - April 18, 2024
- OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN: AN ISSUE YET UNTACKLED IN NIGERIA - April 16, 2024
- Teens Club Meeting April 2024: Learning Meets Fun - April 8, 2024
- Enhancing Education: UBEC Launches Effective Schools Programme - March 19, 2024
- 5 SKILLS YOU MUST HAVE AS A PARENT - March 14, 2024
- Guide to Accessing Your JAMB Mock Exam Results - March 11, 2024
- WHY WOMEN EMPOWERMENT? (Part 2) International Women’s Day 2024 - March 8, 2024
- WHY WOMEN EMPOWERMENT? (Part 1) International Women’s Day 2024 - March 8, 2024
- 7 Benefits of Early Education in Africa (Part II) - March 7, 2024
Tags: #born again #defining moment #experience #Flickers of Hope #friends #God #one #organization #power #power of One #Purpose #repentance #script #unique event