Guarding Your Purpose and Calling (for the African Woman)
What the enemy cannot do to you by himself, he will come through the back door to make you do to yourself.
This is a quiet truth many women discover only after seasons of confusion, delay, and frustration; it is a realization that became deeply personal for me recently.
My birthday was last week and I am not someone who rushes to celebrate birthdays. For me, birthdays are moments of reflection. I like to celebrate when I feel I have consolidated the next assignment for my life.
On that day, I was not clear, that unsettled me.
While I was spending my day with my family, I heard the statement above and it became a trigger. A signal to pay attention to the subtle ways destiny is sometimes sabotaged, not by external attacks, but by internal compromises. This is especially important for young African women who carry leadership, influence, and generational impact. The reason is because often times, the real battle is not outside you; it is within your discipline, your focus, and your relationships.
The enemy rarely appears dramatically, more often, he comes through quiet doors: Offence, Pride Unforgiveness, Laziness, Dishonor, Distraction disguised as productivity.
We live in a time where everyone is busy, yet many are not moving forward. With fully booked schedules, beeping phones and multiple deadlines, yet purpose requires more than movement; it requires active alignment.
One of the most powerful ways we grow in life is through Relationships. Meeting the right persons at the right time can shift the trajectory of your life forever. However, maturity teaches you something important that you do not have to agree with everything someone does but you must have the wisdom to discern their role in your season. Some people are divine connectors, some are collaborators, others are destiny protectors, some are teachers and mirrors sent to refine you.
As leadership expert John Maxwell once said: “One is too small a number to achieve greatness” and purpose was never designed to be walked alone.
A Personal Wake-Up Call
For the past nine months, I have been working on a book. This book carries a burden I have held for years: helping young women rediscover their identity, rebuild their confidence, and walk boldly in purpose. Life happened.
My research work became more demanding, travel schedules increased, projects multiplied and my days became full. Slowly almost invisibly, my focus on the book began to dwindle, until one day I made a quiet compromise. I postponed the final review to the following year and comforted myself with the thought:
“God understands, I feel overwhelmed and priority is needed.” Then the new year came, instead of clarity, I felt restlessness in my spirit and less energy. Many busy days with little fulfillment, I prayed, I meditated and searched inwardly, but peace did not come. Deep down, I knew something was misaligned. Then I heard the words that pierced through the noise:
“What the enemy cannot do to you by himself, he will come through the back door to make you do to yourself.”
Suddenly, it became clear. I had not been attacked; I have been distracted.
I have been doing many physical and mundane things; while leaving one of the most important assignments unfinished and purpose does not negotiate with procrastination.
Two Powerful Lessons
If you are a young woman navigating identity, leadership, and purpose, here are two lessons from this season of reflection.
Lesson 1: Being busy is not the same as fulfilling purpose
Many women are exhausted not because they are doing too little but because they are doing too much of the wrong things. The real question is not: “Am I busy?” The real question is: “Am I aligned?”
Marshawn Evans Daniels, in her book Believe Bigger, reminds us: “Your calling isn’t just something you do. It’s something you become.” Purpose requires discipline, it requires ruthless focus and sometimes, it requires saying “no” to good things so you can say yes to the right thing.
Lesson 2: Destiny Requires Accountability
Many assignments from God are bigger than one person. Your part may be obedience and someone else’s part may be support and another’s part may be provision. When one-part delays, the entire assignment slows down.
Completing my book is my part of the assignment, but the next phase is something I cannot do alone.
When the book launches, the next step is a mission close to my heart. We want to reach 1,000 young women across 10 universities. These young women will not just receive a book.
They will receive:
Identity and purpose training
Personal leadership development
A 6-week guided growth program
Tools for self-awareness, discipline, and vision
This is because Africa does not lack intelligent women, Africa needs aligned women. Women who know who they are, why they are here, and how to steward their influence.
This is where you come in;
If this message resonates with you, I ask you to begin preparing in three ways:
- Pray: Pray that the book reaches the women who need it most.
- Plan: Consider how you might partner with this initiative.
- Support: Your financial support will help us place books and training into the hands of young women across universities.
Together, we can raise a generation of women who refuse to sabotage their destiny. Women who are aware, intentional, and courageous, because the greatest tragedy is not opposition. The greatest tragedy is when purpose dies quietly through distraction and that is a door we must refuse to open.
If you would like to partner and support the mission to reach 1,000 young women in 10 universities, contact us and stay connected for the official launch announcement and partnership details.
The assignment is clear now, and this time, we will finish it together.