Popular gospel artist Frank Edwards has shared a personal story about his life, growing up poor.
He told of how he and his mum had to survive on cooking and selling Okpa. He had to help her fan the flames as they cooked the South-Eastern delicacy everyday. As he fanned, the smoke would enter his eyes and as a result, he developed eye problems and his eyes turned red. He still has to live with it till date but says it taught him a huge lesson about business and life.
He wrote:
"You see this here it’s called okpa. My mum was making it and we were both selling it , this was my breakfast and dinner everyday... The process of making it was ridiculous.. my mom used fire wood and I was the one fanning the fire because kerosene was luxury.. So I had smoke entering my eyes 5 hours everyday for over 10 years except Sundays, my eyes were always Red until it became permanent then I started having eye problem cus I was always rubbing my eyes with dirty hands trying to clear the smoke.. Cus I didn’t understand why my vision was blurred ,, my mum had same issue too with her eyes,, regardless we still hit the road to sell , BUT GUESS WHAT THAT WAS WHEN I DEVELOPED A STRONG & NATURAL BUSINESS MINDSET, I KNEW A LOT ABOUT MONEY EARLY , I KNEW HOW TO CONVINCE PEOPLE TO BUY, I KNEW THAT SMOKE IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO STOP ME, I KNEW THE ONES THAT BUY ON CREDIT AND NEVER PAY SO I ONLY GO TO THEM WHEN THE MARKET IS SO BAD .. BECAUSE ITS BETTER TO SELL ON CREDIT THAN TO HAVE IT SPOIL.. WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH TODAY IS TRAINING , THOUGH IT MAY LOOK LIKE SUFFERING BUT ITS TRAINING , DONT LOOK FOR EASY WAY OUT , GO THROUGH IT AND COME OUT TOUGHER!!! though today I have permanent red eyes to the point when some ppl see me they ask “Do you smoke” I’m like God forbid!? sometimes it hurts , most times I laugh because I’m like. . “ IF ONLY YOU KNOW “ but how ever I am a happy man and I have enough pages in my book of testimony to encourage my children. GO THROUGH IT AND ADD PAGES TO YOUR TESTIMONY BOOK! BECAUSE YOUR BLESSING IS READY WAITING, YOU ARE ONLY BEING TRAINED TO HANDLE IT."
