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UK Based Pastor IBIDAPO ADESOYE
Pastor (Mrs.) Ibidapo Bolanle Adesoye is one of the highly revered ministers of God of the Redeemed Christian Church of God making waves in the United Kingdom. She runs the RCCG Church in the city of Wales. She is always passionate about always doing the work of the Lord. She is a prayer warrior and someone who many youths in church look up to in terms of being classy in what she does.
2 weeks ago, Pastor Dapo as many do call her clocked 60 and was celebrated in a grand style. The birthday reception was a classy one as the celebration was held at the event hall of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Victory Chapel located inside Magodo GRA, Lagos.
The ceremony saw a huge attendance of members of the church, family, friends and associates come around to rejoice with her on her diamond jubilee. Notable among top dignitaries at the party was the International Prayer Coordinator of RCCG, Pastor Peter and his wife Pastor (Mrs.) Patience Olawale.
The party was more like a praise and worship concert where a number of gospel artists performed in appreciating God for His goodness in the life of the celebrant. It also provides the avenue for many of her guests to pay her compliment as they gave account of how she has been a source of blessing to them in one way or the other.
By the time she was called out to give remarks about how she felt at 60, Pastor Dapo was thankful to God for the journey of life so far. She recounted how she has always loved to do her things in a classy way. She also narrated the many challenges encountered and how she was able to prevail over them through her strong believe in Christ. Below are excerpts from her speech.
“I love something to be very classy. If it’s not classy, forget it, I’m not there. Most of my siblings when they wanted to wed, they would tell me let us do it in a haste and I would tell them; count me out of such arrangement. So I would scatter everything and say let’s start again. If it’s not classy, please take me out. That’s the way God made me o! When we were younger, my daddy would give us money for Christmas to mum. He would give my mum 25 Naira to buy our dresses for 5 of us for Christmas, Boxing day and New year. So, mummy would use 5 Naira to buy 3 dresses for each of us. I would tell mummy please, use my money to buy a piece of quality dress for me. Then my mummy, an Ekiti woman would say; you this girl, your own is too much. How can you use money for dresses for 3 different occasion to buy a single dress? So, I would go to Yaba and select a dress of 5 Naira just to look classy. So, if it’s not good, I’m not there.
“when I was younger, I used to have a dream. The dream was that I would park the motor of Nigeria and Cross to Benin Republic. But the moment I crossed the border to Benin Republic then the whole floor would be white. I used to carry my box and dressed in my coat walking in the snow. So that thing has been in my thinking since I was in the primary school. And I give God the glory. The only way that God made this to be established is to ensure that things that will confront me must be massive so that I can wither the storm of the evils from Ise Ekiti, the evils from father’s house, the evils from mother’s house. A lot of people that died that honestly don’t have business with death. A lot of sicknesses and diseases, I can tell you they don’t have business with it. but God gave me that challenge. I don’t think anybody in this hall has gone through it before. By the time I was 27 years, I was a single parent with 3 children. And my husband left immediately I had my last child. She was only 1 month plus. I had her in December and by February the man was gone. But you know what, for a new born baby, the milk in my breast dried off. And then I didn’t have job. So I would beg a tin from my next neighbour, I would put it in water and give my last born. I went to look at their house when and I was coming and I have nothing to say than to bless God.
“And it didn’t stop there. While going through all these, I would pray from 10pm till 5 am. I didn’t even know what I was prayer for but that became my lifestyle. I love God so passionately. But immediately my husband came back, I was already carrying the file the and my children were already Christians and this is a lesson. He’s a nice guy. But you know what, if God still wants me to go to that portmanteau, it costs you nothing to carry your portmanteau will to that land. He didn’t allow me sway at all. So, the battle was fierce. Honestly, it was fierce. I can describe so many things but what God did in all these battles is to launch me to the spirit realm so that I would become a different person. Of course, I’ve always been a nice person but I wasn’t as good as people could see now. So that battle was bad but I want to bless God today. Somebody said a prayer that the devil would not rearrange my journey and I said; shut up and keep quiet because it’s not every challenge that comes that we think it’s the devil doings. It may be God testing you. So what God asked me to tell you today is in Isaiah 43 VS 7 is that; You carry glory, you are in for battle. Anyone that carries glory will be bereaved. And if you don’t fight the battle to ensure that your life is not messed up, they would kill you prematurely. That person will live a miserable and a cheap life. So, I made up my ming that I’m not going to live cheap and I’m not going to live miserable. Those people in Hosannah know me. In fact, some people in Hosannah would abuse me and say is she the only one there, and I would say I’m the only one o! because I know where I’m coming from and I know where God is taking me.
“I have every reason to live otherwise. I have every reason to live another life. I have reasons to compromise. Honestly, I told some people, If God doesn’t guide me well, I will go and be doing all those armed robbery in politics. Forget I know what it takes to do that but when God is in charge, he will lead you rightly. So if you see me today, honestly you see grace. When I wanted to rent a house in the UK, people were telling me to go for something cheap. Meanwhile God has shown me where he’s going to get for me. And when we were getting the house, the Oyinbo is the one going around to help us get the documents required to let me in. When we wanted to move into the house, they know you as a poor pastor, you will go to charity shops . And so I say if I want to enter my house, I should be smelling all those rubbish somebody has used and put up for charity? So I said no. I said I want shop where they sell their chairs in thousands and my children looked at me that you this woman, what kind of faith do you have? And I said this is your own thinking, leave me alone with my faith and my Lord. And when they came visiting, there were like mummy, how did you do it? The bible says God will supply all our needs according to his nature. God has been so awesome.
