Jesus Is Real

Zainab Atanda
4 min readOct 4, 2023

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To be honest yea, I don’t know where exactly this is headed. I only know I have to put down these words, to further solidify what is on my heart at the moment.

I attended “Maye”, a stage play organized by The PowerPoint Tribe, and one thing that pulled me to that event was the beautiful designs and the people I saw on the publicity flyers.

I remember screaming “These are my people, oh wow!” Imagine seeing your friends on a movie flyer, I am sure you’ll lose your cool too. I knew I had to be there, not only to support but to witness their expressions and of course, I was also curious to know what the play was about.

Now, here is where it got interesting, the play was centered around our lives as youths. Youths burning for God but burning under a bushel. Youths afraid to take over territories, afraid to shine their light, youth overly distracted by the fast paced social media frenzy. Youths that are quick to speak in tongues but slow to execute God’s will.

It was a powerful and timely message, one that reminded us about the need to be blazing lights and not shy lights.

Light is meant to shine, it’s not meant to hide.

While the play was great and the cast were excellent, something else caught my attention.

“What is that?” You ask

It’s the fact that “Jesus is real”.

I saw my friends overly joyful, I saw them in character, expressing God through drama in ways I never thought possible.

I saw boldness, I saw excellence, I saw commitment, oh God! I saw growth!

For once upon a time, we were all broken youths, we were all lost and confused, with no clue of our identity. We were all struggling with one baggage or the other, living life as it comes, with a faint desire for things of God.

The funniest thing is that we knew God. Oh yea… haven’t you heard of Jesus too?

You’ve probably heard about Him all your life, but never sought deeper to know Him for yourself. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Being too religious and less spiritual, prioritizing activities over fellowship, never questioning God, you name it… it’s a lot.

But here I was, right at the middle of answered prayers, seeing my friends at the very center of the will of God, birthing forth new expressions, with a boldness that could only stem from Jesus. I couldn’t help but thank God for how far He has brought us. And how he orchestrated our paths, because it didn’t just happen overnight.

Nooo….

I have come to see that truly Jesus isn’t a magician, he is indeed a God of process.

Who would have thought that receiving newsletters would result to the birth of a community?

Who would have thought that purity struggles would come to an end through a small community?

Who would have thought that many youths will be planted in sound-doctrine-teaching churches through a community lead?

Who would have thought that the desire for the things of God will increase through a local assembly?

Who would have thought that diverse expressions will be birthed through faithful service in church?

Who would have thought that once-upon-a-time broken youths would one day become audacious sons of God?

If anyone had seen any of this coming, I definitely didn’t see it.

And this is for you, Yes You!

This is to let you know that Jesus is real. Jesus isn’t playing on these streets. You might not see Him physically, but he is present in many sons.

And he isn’t playing you know, He is working! He is working out things for your good, and for mine as well, changing us from the inside out, because this isn’t the end. Oh no… it isn’t.

We just got started, a purposeful life starts at the brim of a personal relationship with Jesus.

So there is more to do, there is more to know, there are souls to win and a need to keep shining our light.

I hope you are able to take something out of all these? If you were, do share okay.

You can connect with me on Instagram @thezainabatanda or drop comments here. I’ll read them.

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