TOBI ACHUDUME is the daughter of Reverend Folake Achudume. She is a young leader on the international scene and has lived and worked with her mom for years. The thought of separation wasn’t anything to ever imagined. Until lately, she has enjoyed the soft, soothing voice of the mom, each evening after work, asking one question, “How was your day?” In this interview, Tobi shares how she’s missing her dear mom but she’s determined to ensure RFA legacies live on.
The Sweetest Woman I knew
My mom was the sweetest woman. She cared a lot. She always made sure that she was always there to listen in and to give the right advice whether you wanted to hear it or not. That’s one of the things that I would always hope when it comes to my mom. She was definitely a very sweet person and she did it with so much grace, such that you just cannot tell if it was a struggle for her or if she was doing it effortlessly. She was a very sweet woman.
RFA’s Shoes Too Big
Her shoes are big. I think that maybe you were just using my brother’s joke when you asked him how he was going to step into the shoes of anyone. The problem is that my mom and I wore the same shoe size.
But stepping into her shoes, I don’t think it’s even something that can just be done. I believe that everybody has their own shoes to wear and to carry on when it comes to fulfilling purpose. But in terms of carrying on her assignment or with her work, I think it’s something that we at this point just continue to ask for God’s grace to help me through, to help all of us through, because even looking at the many things that we have had to do since she departed here, sometimes I just find myself asking how did she do all of these things at the time that she was doing them because they are honestly a lot.
Filling her shoes in the real sense is a task that we’re just going to have to see if those shoes can be filled or not. I do trust that she’s not disappointed by the work that we then do here, that she will have to see it and say, “I did a great job with these ones and they are able to continue the work.” Clearly, we don’t have to start from the scratch, we don’t have to start afresh; it’s continuity.
RFA’s Sobering Word: “How Was Your Day?”
So many words to hold on to, but it’s always just the simplest conversations that we have. Randomly coming back from work and then she calls you to ask how was your day. From what I have learnt, anytime she asked the question “How was your day?” she just doesn’t want to hear it was fine; she actually wants to hear the details of the day.
The fact that you’re still here, it means that you’re still on the journey of doing what you need to do. It’s not a done job until it’s done.
Work At That Idea, It’s From God!
I’ve learnt from my mom that when you have an idea that you feel it’s dropped in your heart or in your spirit, as a child of God, you should know that it’s connected with God in every way. That means that your ideas don’t just come because of wishful thinking, it’s dropped in your heart and God expects you to do something with that idea.
When I share my ideas, however big, however, small, she just tells me that it’s an idea that God wants you to work with, and so you have to work with it. Even now, continuing that, as difficult as it is, I just remember that she tells me that it’s not your idea to work with, it’s God’s idea, and you need to continue with this in your heart.
RFA’s Favourite Word
I recall her favourite saying that I’ve said so many times is that, “God is not wicked.” I don’t know how she even came up with that, but she says it so confidently. She says that God is not wicked, so whatever it is that you’re going through now, it doesn’t mean that God is wicked. So there are so many things that my mom would say, but I think that the weirdest thing that I miss most hearing from her is how was your day? I miss hearing that a lot, because I knew that she was there listening to me, she was always in the moment listening to what you had to say.
What Will Make RFA Proud
I would say that RFA is very much happy and excited about how we are able to carry on with her work and her assignment. We equally see that she dropped in each and every one of us, a seed and she trust so much in us. So the fact that she has gone to be with the Lord, means that she has given us everything that we need to be able to continue here.
So what would make her proud is that we are working with the things she taught us. And in any moment of missing her or feeling her absence, we want to look at the seeds that she has planted in us to make her proud in every way that we can.
I would say that RFA is too proud of us in the way that we are doing everything we are doing now, and we are happy she is in the best place that she could be. She has preached the message of Christ and the love of Christ for more than half of her life, and even having the love of her life right now being with Jesus is something that we should be excited about because we know that she is excited about it, that she is looking forward to us fulfilling our own assignments as she did.
So keep working on your assignments and your purpose as she has taught us to do. That’s the best thing that she can be proud. Using my Dad’s words which He said so many times when my mom departed, that he was proud of her in life and proud of her even now. And I think that’s something that I would say, I’m always proud of my mom, and I will love to follow everything that she was able to do in the time that she had.
It’s an exciting moment, the way she was able to finish her race well; eventually we are now looking forward to finishing well too. So if we have our own plans and purposes from what she has taught us, what impact would we be able to make?
I’m super proud of the fact that, she was not just educating our life, but making it really impactful. Her life is a huge message for all of us to work with, we’ve learnt that we’re going to fulfill our assignments and our purposes, so that when we get to heaven, we are
celebrated.
