Seed to Sequoia by Ruth

“EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE”

For about 20 years, this has been a silent promise that showed up and continues to show up loudly in all my affairs. Every time I worry, every time I despair, even when it’s a temptation lurking within the recesses of my mind, I hear this still small voice, “everything will be fine.”
Sometimes I let the chaos in. I wonder. I try with limited human understanding to trace how the things I’ve seen, the things I have hoped for, waited for, believed for, decreed will come to be…
It makes no sense how it will happen, yet, I hear again without blame, without accusation for not believeing even when His words have come to pass for the over 1,040,601,600 seconds that I’ve had life… “Everything will be fine”. On some days, I say Lord, I just desire to know what you’re saying about this 👀. What is your word? I’ll be fine with your verdict… He gently leads my heart to remember all the times He said to me, “everything will be fine.”
I sigh.
Sometimes, I think that’s too simple for the gravity of the weights. Here is a reminder for you as much as it is for me: God has spoken a million times over. Truly, if you have His word for your life, if you know His words to you, you can trust Him. The gravity of any weight is inconsequential where God is involved. It doesn’t matter at all.
Nothing has ever caught Him off guard. He makes all things beautiful. He made you beautiful and He is by your side to bring His words to pass.
Hold on to what you have received.

With love,
Ruth.

The very first novel I bought ‘unprovoked’ was ‘Listen to the Child.’ I was under 13, in a motor-park headed for either a UNICEF Zone A Children’s Parliament meeting in Enugu or the National Children’s Parliament meeting in Abuja.
Somehow, I missed the “SuperRomance” I just confirmed was boldly written on the cover and thought that simply put, this was a book about listening to children. From a relatively young age, I had this unshakeable knowing that it was very important to listen to the child…
📕
I grew up very introverted. I was more observant than outspoken. I considered the events in every day life more thoroughly than an average person would have. I lived deeply (introspected a lot) and was not in a hurry to draw conclusions (till this day; I’m rarely a jump to conclusion person). My thoughts were usually well formed because I let them marinate and pass through the thoughtfulness and wisdom filter…

Even though I learned of and experienced the strength, virtue and power in my words written or spoken, I moved through a dominant culture that was quick to dismiss the voice, presence, sometimes essence of a child (worst still if you’re a girl child) especially in this part of the world.
I also had my share of being bullied as a child. I wasn’t physically harmed but I was psychologically inflicted.

So, I learned. I learned how to carry the burden of silence: holding pain, belief and wisdom to myself. I experienced it cripple some of the best parts of my being…
I have been on this seeming life-long journey of letting light and love do its work in me & while I keep surrendering, I share these today because I resonate profoundly with the 2025 Children’s Day theme:Stand Up, Speak Up: Building a Bullying - Free Generation.

Children bully children. Adults bully children. Some traditions are set up against children. Some “fun” jokes we make at the expense of a child’s sense of freedom, love and safety are rooted in unc bullying.

Bullied children could bully others. Bullied children can become the problem in society. Building a love-led approach to relating with children starts with me. I hope this is a resolution for you too

Every year, I remain in awe of phenomenal ideas that are refined until they are rolled out, data-driven impact projects and programs delivered/executed with impeccable results. I am in awe of the resulting collective prosperity that actual people, communities, nations and continents experience because someone, a team, a vision, persisted till there were necessary results.

As a woman in leadership and business with an almost decade-long focus in the non-profit management sector, it is my joy to define, review, refine, strengthen and effect ideas and processes that optimise fundamental business (every expression as a business) outcomes in my areas of operation.

Over the years, my work across the for-profit and non-profit sectors has brought varying degrees of personal, professional and industry growth, fulfilment, accomplishments, challenges, joys, some woes, and a lot of opportunities.

While there is so much in store and already started in 2025, over the next couple of days and to celebrate Women's Month, I will share some women-led, impact-focused spaces, programs, and projects I am/was so proud to be a part of in the year 2024.
The beautiful part is that the strength of these projects was largely owed to incredible women supporting women with men as allies.

I hope that you're looking forward to this as much as I am 😀

Dare I say, Happy New Year and Happy Women's Month. 🎉

Ruth Diyan Ebe

18 years ago today, I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.

I was born into a Christian home and I was raised as one. I did not really ask what it meant to be Christian but I got my understanding from teachings and lessons were ever around me and from a witness in my own spirit. I believed in Jesus and dare I say, I loved Him. I had the kind of enthusiasm (however misguided 😅) that made me say at 5 or maybe 7 years, that if I sinned anymore or didn’t live in a particular kind of way, something horrible should happen to me (anyone else have that experience? 🤣🙈😮‍💨).
I truly wanted to live for God. I wanted my life to be given completely to Him but there was so much more to what I had known and had been taught.

On the night of June 30, 2006, (it was a Friday if I recall), I was lying on my bunk bed. My faith in God up till then had been a guiding light. God’s mercies and help had been my covering. I was an example to others in words and conduct but I remembered that I had been taught that a personal relationship with God required a personal confession. It was first a personal decision ; not an inherited gene.

There, in the quietness of our hostel, I asked for God’s forgiveness of my sins, confessed that I believed in the Lord Jesus, asked Him to come into my life, be my Lord and Savior…
I wanted proof that this was the real deal. I knew what the Bible said but I wanted proof that if I had given my life to Him, He had accepted me… 🤦🏽‍♀️😄

My journey as a child of God from a place of personal choice and conviction is the most profound experience of my life. I have learned so much and many times, I know (it seems?) I haven’t scratched the surface of what more there is to know.

This intimate dance with the Father keeps bringing me to the place of surrender, the place of a washing, a purification, an infilling, a sending forth.
Falling into the depths of love: the origin, source, wellspring of love. the depths of knowledge that reveal how everything that I need for life and for Godliness has been provided…
Washing. Pruning. Edifying.

To be continued…

Seed to Sequoia by Ruth

7 Years Ago Today…
We got our final certificates and medical license and my journey since then has been a roller coaster of some sorts. 😄🎉
Hear me out. I know when we say roller coaster, we often picture tough, rough, etc. but a roller coaster isn’t just that. It’s a mix of funny moments, absolutely hilarious moments, moments you think you’re going to die a horror death even when you’re well strapped in, and moments when you’re terrified yet assured that you’re properly strapped in.
It’s saying you’re not getting on that ride if you survive it, yet, willingly giving your money to someone to let you go on that ride. Again.

7 years ago, I got my first certification as a medical doctor and exactly 7 years later, I’m sitting in the room courtesy of with some of Africa’s leading impact leaders because I love the business of social impact and I want to see more social impact businesses (yeah) get it right😄, I’m building 😮‍💨 😅 , and still trusting that God DID NOT make a mistake with the things He showed me or told me years ago; trusting that He did not make a mistake when He inspired ideas 💡 within me.

I sometimes thought I was going to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. I loved the complexity of it. I loved that during surgeries, my hands are the steadiest that they’ve ever been. If I was unsure of this, my time in pediatric surgery in Austria convinced me. I wanted private practice in psychotherapy too…

7 years has been a lot. I’ve moved countries, moved states, moved homes. I’ve taken career turns, experienced transitions in my relationships and communities and hey! even in the process of changing names.
I’ve moved away from so many things that I’ve known and plunged into many deeps. I’ve failed. A lot. A whole lot, but I’ve also won in many ways. I’ve outgrown a lot of who I used to be and even that is a story many days will have to carry.

I still have a lot of uncertain days but if there’s anything I’m experiencing and learning to embrace in faith (obedience) and thanksgiving, it is this: The answers will come. Some answers are here but not in the ways I thought. Not everything is clear in the moment but I am led. There is more. And while I make it through, this life that I have today is not a dress rehearsal. It’s the real deal.

God expects, God has provided that I steward it diligently and with joy.

Seed to Sequoia by Ruth

https://open.substack.com/pub/seedtosequoia/p/reconciling-relationships?r=2k27z2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Super happy to be writing and sharing again!

Reconciling Relationships Seed to Sequoia is an analogy to the process of transformation of a young, wise, girl called Ruth and relationships will always be a fundamental part of her life

Happy New Year 🎆🎈 🎉✨

Because of God’s faithfulness, may you experience strength for every today and bright hope for every tomorrow throughout the year 2023.

May you be aware of God’s words to you and do with them as He pleases.
May you be satisfied with a long, abundant, and healthy life and may be a source of help to many.

Through you, may others experience the power, the wisdom, the salvation and love of God.

I wish you and your loved ones the most wonderful year so far.
May God bless our leaders and lands too.

Amen.

✨

Please, take time to remember ✨ 1 #

It has been a year full of different things for everyone.
Now, especially if this particular period isn’t all merry and good vibes, in good health, overflowing with love, great company, great food that doesn’t stop, dream job, long planned, long desired, long deserved vacation, answered prayers, and the eagerness to share that this has been the best year of your life, if it isn’t so glaring and you haven’t been well disciplined or well experienced in the life of thanksgiving, you will fall for a lie.

So, today, I’m writing to you; not because I’m all of those things I just mentioned 😅 I’m writing to you because some weeks back, I was writing to God and it was hard to see anything great or beautiful because that very moment was full of a lot of gaps, prayers waiting for answers, answers waiting to be fulfilled, loved ones in waiting or sick, projects in the early phases of the pipeline, and what not.

See ehn, I don’t joke with God’s commitment to prayer - when we commune with Him, He does with us and I don’t know a thing greater. I just said I wanted to be thankful. I meant this and I knew it was possible because He had helped me before. How He helped me this time was so different from the last time I was struggling…

I glanced through photos, people. Photos. And I was like, ah ah. Did this happen this year???
I had a such a MIGHTY year indeed. Such a heavily remarkable year!!!
Some days, it almost feels like my heart can’t contain how blessed I’ve been and how grateful I am for the opportunity to have received and the opportunity to have given.
I can’t even find the right words to describe this - I think I could but Instagram isn’t just enough word space😅.
Taking some time to recall a only a few events from this year has changed the story of my life for good and I hope that you can do the same.

Please, take some time to remember, to smile over memories, to be intentionally thankful to God and your community: people who have showed up for you.

Be thankful, be grateful; even if there’s a million and one things you’re so sure went wrong. And if you’re struggling to be thankful and hopeful or full of love…

I’m really excited for every new beginning that this month has birth. Things will definitely spring forth. I’m not sure I can say they’ll spring forth ‘just like that’ because a good number of things have gone into the ground but, yes, they’ll surely spring forth. I hope that you are full of hope, faith, love that necessitates the birth of new beginnings for you.

You may feel like you didn’t do well enough in previous days, months, or years past. Know this:you are the embodiment of experiences and these experiences can still birth a worthy manifestation. (Story for another day).

I’m grateful for the blessing of being led and planted under a teacher of God’s word and how through these teachings, practical Christian living is really that: true and practical

I’m grateful for the community that I’ve been given; the blessing of being able to rise so high and fall so low, yet, have them present through the seasons of balance and elevation. To have come to a place where I’m gradually letting it be okay that community at this time doesn’t include everyone or everything that I thought would be a part of it. (This is still hard sometimes) 😮‍💨

I’m grateful for having an accountable system. The experience of being held accountable isn’t always fun in the moment (I could talk about this as an article of its own) but I’m an improved version of myself and I can give better because of this.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to create positive impact, build generational wealth, and smash ceilings with like-minded people and particularly, through every service/value I offer currently under:ng






and more

Whatever God is doing with me, I’m yielding to Him and here for life in full, patience through training and gratitude through it all.

There’s no better time for you & me to shine as light than now. ✨

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WELCOME TO AUGUST 2022 ✨

Rise and Shine ✨

May new possibilities open up to you in this day and week.

May Christ be your living hope and may your act of faith be obedience to the words that God has spoken to you.

I pray that through this day and week, month, and every day of your life (really), you make the choice to be diligent in the ‘little’ and ‘big’ things.

You are blessed in your coming and in your going; in your rising and your sitting; so is your bread and butter…

You know who you are, whose you are and through daunting moments, you are not alone…

I wish you a fruitful week. A beautiful one. Go forth and shine ✨
Be kind. Be patient. Love unconditionally. Be light 💡