2009.....Na wa oh! You don finish?!

2009 was quite a year for me, but the most memorable thing that happened took place on Wednesay January 7.

I was driving my sisters and I to church around 6:45 pm. It was snowing outside, so I was trying to drive carefully. I got in the left turning lane and and got ready to turn on a yellow light. The snow must have impaired my vision because to me, it looked like the cars coming straight were slowing down. But as I turned, one of the cars that was coming straight hit my car on the passenger side.

I screamed "JESUS!" as soon as the car hit. We ended up in the left turning lane of the street I was turning into. I got out of the car and started screaming, praying, crying. I saw my sisters. In the front passenger seat, my second sister appeared to be alright. In the back seat, the two younger ones scared me the most. The youngest one's eyes were rolling in her head. I kept praying aloud and trying to calm her down. At some point I called my parents, 911, and all that. The man who hit us was also there trying to calm everyone down.

When the ambulance came, they took the youngest two away, just to make sure they were ok. As they put the youngest one on the stretcher, she was saying "God, why, what did I do?" over and over. Then she started saying "God, please forgive me of all my sins...." like she thought she was going to die. I was trying to calm her down the whole while, telling her that she wasn't going anywhere. She was going to be ok, and I knew this, but it broke my heart to hear her say things like this.

After going to the nearby hospital and getting tested for various internal problems, my sisters were released and all was well. My car was totaled, but the Lord God, Jehovah, saved our lives. I could never thank Him enough for that. The story could have ended a very different way, but God was merciful to us. I'm glad, because I don't think I could have lived with myself if things didn't turn out the way that they did.

The four of us a few days after the accident.

The next day, after spending time praying, thanking God, it dawned on me again, how blessed I was to be alive and to have all my sisters with me. I turned on some music, and we all started dancing like mad, praising God. Hahaha.....I've always loved to dance, but I think that this event really gave me a new appreciation of the expression of joy through dance. We danced mostly to two songs; one called "So Gi Bu Chi" by Paul Agubata. The title means 'Only You are God.' The song gets some criticizm because it's basically Awilo Longomba's "Carolina" set to new lyrics. I couldn't care less because the man took the song and a beautiful new version. He can work out all the copyright issues with Awilo. Hahaha.... As for me, when I dey hear good music, me, I go dance. Also we got down to "Na God" by BNG. Both songs are by Nigeria-based gospel artists. Click on the links below to see the videos.

So Gi Bu Chi by Paul Agubata

Na God by BNG

My name, Chidinma, means "God is good." I can truly say that He has been good to me, every second, minute, hour, day, week, month, and year of my life! :)