{"id":1188,"date":"2025-05-01T02:14:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T02:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2025-05-05T03:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T03:14:33","slug":"hi-im-pain-but-not-for-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/hi-im-pain-but-not-for-long\/","title":{"rendered":"Hi, I\u2019m Pain \u2014 But Not for Long"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Diary
May 1st, 2025 \u2014 Workers\u2019 Day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a dusty old book filled with genealogies and forgotten names, someone got only two lines\u2014like he almost didn\u2019t belong there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His name? Jabez. Not trending. No Instagrammable miracles. No dramatic walk-on-water scenes. That was his story\u2014short, quiet, buried deep in 1 Chronicles 4, right there in that stretch of \u201cRuth begat Obed, Obed begat\u2026 who<\/em>?\u201d Be honest\u2014you skip it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then\u2014bam\u2014like a plot twist in a Hollywood movie: \u201cJabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez, saying, \u2018I gave birth to him in pain.\u2019\u201d No glowing angel. No burning bush. No epic tale. He didn\u2019t fight a lion. Didn\u2019t even make it into Sunday school colouring books. Just a man named Sorrow\u2014who decided that pain was not his portion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me spell it out: Jabez<\/em> literally means \u201csorrow.\u201d His mum looked at him and said, \u201cYep. This one? Pain.\u201d Imagine introducing yourself at a networking event: \u201cHi, I\u2019m Joy.\u201d \u201cHi, I\u2019m Grace.\u201d \u201cHi, I\u2019m\u2026 Pain.\u201d Yeah\u2026 try branding that on LinkedIn. That\u2019s gonna be a hardddd pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Jabez didn\u2019t let the label stick. He didn\u2019t die with the name. And though he didn\u2019t come with a legacy\u2014he left one. Because he called HQ directly. No priest. No praise team. No retreat in the mountains. Just one sharp prayer that cut through every generational plotline. And God was like\u2026 sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, let me break this down\u2014because some of us need it in real life English, not scroll-and-parchment language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBless me indeed<\/strong>.\u201d
Translation: Make it loud. Make it clear. Don\u2019t give me a maybe-type blessing. I want a shut-everybody-up kind of blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnlarge my territory<\/strong>.\u201d
A.K.A: God, rent is wild and salary is fixed. Expand my life for real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet Your hand be with me<\/strong>.\u201d
Basically: I don\u2019t want vibes\u2014I want to stay connected. Don\u2019t just bless me and bounce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKeep me from harm<\/strong>.\u201d
Because this life is already ghetto enough without spiritual plot twists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And God said YES<\/em><\/strong>. Just like that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now fast forward to 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You wake up to 103 WhatsApp messages, 14 \u201cI hope this meets you well\u201d emails, and someone breathing nonsense on Twitter. You’re not asking for a miracle. You\u2019re just trying to find matching socks and the will to log in to that Zoom meeting. Meanwhile, the internet is serving \u201csoft life\u201d on ice, and you’re just there hoping your account balance doesn\u2019t disgrace your surname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you wonder: does life have space for people like me? The quiet ones. The overlooked ones. The Jabez types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spoiler: it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jabez didn\u2019t make noise. He made a move because he didn\u2019t come to play. He didn\u2019t whisper. He didn\u2019t water it down. He didn\u2019t self-reject. He prayed like someone who knew God could flip the script\u2014and fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe today\u2014Workers\u2019 Day\u2014in between the parades, unanswered emails, and passive-aggressive office group chats\u2026 while you\u2019re still showing up, pressing on, clocking in\u2014even when your soul clocked out at 9:07 a.m.\u2014it may be your Jabez moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear this: you don\u2019t need a spotlight. You don\u2019t need a five-chapter origin story. You just need one honest moment and a prayer that slaps. Because if God could say yes to someone buried in a list of Jesse begat Emeka<\/em>\u2026 and suddenly, plot twist\u2014He can say yes to you too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So maybe today\u2014between Zoom calls, debit alerts, and soft-life envy\u2014please pause. And ask. Loudly. Clearly. Indeed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pray like you know He\u2019s listening. Not for vibes\u2014but for territory. Not for drama\u2014but for difference. Not just to survive\u2014but to outgrow every name pain ever tried to give you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve worked. You\u2019ve endured. You\u2019ve been strong in places no one even saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may only take one bold moment\u2014to say: I know how this started. But I also know You are not going to let it end like this.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join me today by saying, “Bless me, indeed<\/em><\/strong>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Yours sincerely, A fellow begotten in pain\u2014
but not staying there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did you read April’s post? if not, follow the link to, “How weak can you be? – Samson had one damn job” https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/how-weak-can-you-be-samson-had-one-damn-job\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Workers\u2019 Day letter for those still showing up \u2014 even when their soul clocked out at 9:07 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dear-diary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1188"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oluabikoye.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}