Redeemed and Rising: A Story of Faith, Resilience, and Triumph, with Judith Kambia Obatusa

Join me as I welcome Judith Kambia Obatusa to the podcast, a courageous and inspiring woman who has faced unimaginable pain and loss, including the devastating loss of her firstborn child. Despite navigating a toxic environment, a flawed child welfare system , and societal challenges designed to break her, Judith has emerged stronger, more faithful, and more determined to share the goodness of God.

In this powerful conversation, Judith shares her remarkable story of resilience, forgiveness, and redemption, highlighting the transformative power of trusting God, loving like Jesus, and leaving everything in His hands. Get ready to be inspired, encouraged, and challenged to rise above your own challenges and thrive in the midst of adversity.

Transcript

Israel Caminero: 1:10

Welcome to Living Testimony. And I hope everyone that's listening at the class is doing well. With me today, I have to name it. Judith Cambia Ok. I take care of her testimony. But before she does that, could you introduce yourself to everyone, Judith? Thank you so much, Israel.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:31

And just so you know, my first one's name is Israel. That's his middle name. It prints with God. My name is so special, so thank you. My name is Judith Cambia Obatusa. God has used me to birth five great nations, two of which have gone home to be with him. And um I'm a woman who has gone through a lot of challenges and I'm still living through many, but I'm also a woman that God has given me reason to praise him. I am the host of Mercy Can't Stopper, a podcast where I share stories of women's resilience and celebrate life's ups and downs with God's power, with God's direction. And my podcast has been an evolving podcast. I started focusing on domestic violence, and but my heart is with sharing God's power. I am also a communication person, but truly what I just want to be known for is that Mercy can stop her, being able to help women who have gone through challenges to just hang in there and not give up on themselves. So what I am is an advocate for women, an activist for change. And I don't know if I have the time. I just want to say something about myself. So when I started my journey on in the domestic violence realm, you hear many people tell women to leave the relationship. And I don't say you should not leave the relationship, especially when your life is threatened. But I also found research that showed that women leave relationships and they go and have the same type of relationship they left. And they the cycle just continues. So for me, I wanted to understand is it really about living the relationship about or about knowing yourself, understanding why you make the choices that you make. And so that's why I started to tell the stories of women's residence on Mexican Stopper, to show women that for you to have change, for you to have a life that's better than the life you do not like, you have to understand what led you, what you do, and what you can do in that journey. And that's just my passion. But at the back of it all is my faith, because without God, no matter how much we learn about ourselves, learning ourselves outside of Him is not actually learning about ourselves. Because He's our source, He's our maker. And so that's why my life is a dynamic one. And who knows, tomorrow you might ask me to introduce myself and I'll be saying something different. But God is working on me and a work in progress.

Israel Caminero: 4:40

Amen. Nice to be here. Amen. Thank you for that. And we get to hear her story right now. But before we get started with that, I'd like to pray over her and I'd like to say, Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today humbled and grateful for the courage and resilience of Judas. We ask that you would wrap your loving arms around her, comforting her, and giving her peace as she prepared to share her stories. Give her the words of speaker and the courage to be vulnerable. Help her to remember that her story is not hers alone, but a testament to your goodness, faithfulness and redemption. As it hears her testimony, we pray that you would anoint her words, bring us feelings, hope, and encouragement to all the past. Always faithful and always working everything out for our good. Protect her from any spirit of fear, anxiety, or doubt, and fill her with your Holy Spirit, giving her confidence, clarity, and compassion. We thank you, Lord, for her willingness to share her story. We pray that it would bring glory to your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 5:51

Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, my brother.

Israel Caminero: 5:56

You're welcome. So, Jude, if you just touched a little bit on part of your story, if you can uh continue with that from the very beginning, if you grew up with Christ in your life or if you didn't, our audience is ready to listen to your testimony. So the floor is all yours.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 6:11

Thank you so much, my brother. So I was born in Nigeria. In Nigeria, many people go to church. However, I don't maybe I might I might not even be right when I say that, because my dad was a Christian, but I wasn't actually raised going to church. We're not really going to church all the time when I was growing up. Because my mom died when I was six. And but my dad married someone when I was a teenager, early teenager, and she used to take me to the Baptist church. Me and her, we go to church, and my baby sister when she had my baby sister, and then other sisters, other children. Actually, my for my mother and my dad, I'm not the only child. We had I had other siblings, two sisters, but they were not with me. Because my sisters, one wanted to be with my aunt, and the other one wanted to be with my grandma. And that's what happens when mom is not there, right? Right. That's what happens when a mother dies young. And um so I kind of was going to church. And then when I went to high school, I was in boarding school. Boarding school in Nigeria is not a punishment, it's what's it's how we are how many of us are raised. Actually, it's when you you do you have to pay for schooling in Nigeria. And so it's money that we that people pay. And when you are in boarding school, it's a sign that your parents have a little bit of money to pay for things like that. So it's not a punishment. So when in my boarding school, I went to at that time an elite boarding school because it was a federal government girls' college. And in school, I was a Christian, I attended Catholic church because my mother's family was Catholic. And I really, really loved my mother's family. My dad was a man in a million. And my my dad made us made us love our mother's family. He loved my mother so much that even though they didn't live long together as a couple, because my mom died when I was six. And, you know, so a very short married life for two of them, he honored her family to the last day of his life. So we looked towards our mother's family as if they were such a huge deal. And so anything to connect me with my mother's family, I would do. So even though my father was Anglican, my stepmom was Baptist.

Israel Caminero: 8:54

Okay.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 8:55

When I went to high school, I chose to go to Catholic church. So I attended Catholic Church. My school would drive us to church in town. And then after high school, I went to university. But just before I went to university, I gave my life to Christ at a New Year's service. At uh a church that my big uncle, my mother's oldest sibling, who we call Big Daddy, he took us to that church. That was his church. He had given his life to Christ, and he was very strong in the Lord, and he's still very strong in the Lord. He's in his 80s now and he's still a man of God. And so I followed him. We followed him New Year's service, right? First day of the year, we went to church and they preached the gospel, and I gave my life to Christ.

Israel Caminero: 9:48

Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 9:49

And I had already started university. So university started September, and this is now the end of that year, January, the new year, January one. So when I went back to school, I joined Believers Love World. Believers Love World was a fellowship. That fellowship is uh under Christ's embassy. At that time, it wasn't that old. So we started, I became a strong member of that fellowship. Because I had given my life to Christ and I wanted to live like live like a Christian. And when I went back to school, actually, I had friends. We had a I had a group of, you know how you are year one, first year. We had a group of three of us that were first year students and we were friends, but they were not believers. They were well, they were Catholics. One of them was a Catholic or so. So but when I came back to school, I joined Believers Love World and I made up my mind I was going to be a Christian. So relationships with people that were not born again, I didn't want to have anymore. That didn't mean that they were no longer my friends, but you know, I believed that if you people give you what they have. So if I want to be a born-again Christian, I need to relate with born-again Christians to get so that I can stay on that path. Correct. And so I that's how I became a born-again Christian. But I can't tell you that, I can't tell you that after that I became a saint. So prior to me giving my life to Christ, I had a boyfriend, and that boyfriend was not in my school. So that was my was the stumbling block of my faith. Because he loved me so much. We loved each other so much. That was my first love. And the first time I loved someone. And he he wouldn't, we couldn't separate. So I'll say I don't want to do the relationship again. So that was a huge struggle for me. But luckily for me, I was in university. And if you ever, if you if you're listening to me and you have been born again in university, you will understand what I mean by luckily. Because in university, all we do is go to school, read our books, and then we go to fellowship. And by fellowship, we do fellowship, then we do fellowship after fellowship in our rooms. So we visit one another, and when we're in our rooms, we're talking about the word of God, we're discussing music, Christian worship. So I was surrounded by this community of faith. And the beauty of it all is that we were all young believers, some of us older than us, uh than one another. But we're all growing together. We were seeing transformation among ourselves. We believed God's word. We believed in healing. So we started that fellowship. Eventually, we went on to start three other fellowships in universities and polytechnics in that region. So we will leave our school. That's the kind of faith that we had as Christians, as believers when we're in school. So we leave our school and go to another school in another city, and then start door knocking. So we go talk to them, invite them to a fellowship meeting. And then when they come, some of we preach and people give their life music, ministration, all that. People give their lives to Christ. We lay hands on the sick, they get recovered. We pray, lay hands on them, they start to speak in tongues. We were we were the acts of the apostle church. And we were really so that that is the foundation that God gave me as a believer, and that has really helped me in my life. But your girl didn't become a saint, like I said. So even though eventually I eventually had ended that relationship with that person, so fornication was an issue, don't fornicate, so he had to respect that. But he still wanted me in his life.

Israel Caminero: 14:05

Right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 14:06

He wanted me, he loved me. We're both young people. He was older than me, of course, but he was in another university, and he loved me a lot. In fact, I didn't know how much he loved me until I left university and I began to meet other people. And I met a guy who liked me, wanted to be my whatever he wanted. But I I was seriously born again, so no opportunity. But he he kind of found out that I knew this person and was like, oh, you are the girl. And when we're on holiday at home, he doesn't want to date anybody. All of us are doing all kinds of things because our girlfriends is still not there, but he was so faithful to you. So you are the girl. So that of course made the guy want to date me. What was what's with me, but I'm born again, right? And so eventually we the relationship didn't work out. And again, I I was I became and he was the only relationship that mattered enough to make me have issues with my faith. So I was now free to be all in. However, like I keep saying, I was not a saint. I still made mistakes. Because I say it was the only relationship that mattered. But I was a young girl, I I gave my life. I after university, I did something called youth service in Nigeria. I did youth service, and after youth service, I was just enjoying my life in Christ, trusting the Lord for a job, and then I got a job, and then I met an auntie that was a friend, uh, the ex of my father's very good friend. In fact, that person is not just my father's very good friend, they are cousins. And you know how this lack of not having a mom was a huge gap in my life. I felt not having a mom, I felt I wasn't as valuable as other people.

Israel Caminero: 16:06

Okay.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 16:07

Because people showed me that I wasn't as valuable as other people. I was basically slaving for anyone that was in my father's life. My father had a wife. I I see, I didn't understand what the issue was, but I now get it. The the emptiness, the desire, the yearning for a mother, I will I will slave for you. Anyone who gave me the time of day, I will do anything for you. I will tell you whatever you I will I will want to share my heart with you because I wanted you to accept me as your child. But as you know, I'm not their child.

Israel Caminero: 16:51

Right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 16:51

When their child is there, you will see the difference between me and them. I remember my father had a person who loved my dad because my father went to school with her brother-in-law. And she now came from the U.S. I wanted and needed to do her youth service. And she did it with my father's office and with my dad. So she loved my dad. And she got to know my father was a widower at that time. My mom was dead. And she would, you know, look after my father loved my mom, so you know, anyone who met him knew about this wife and the children that she left with him, and we're all girls. So the woman got invested in our family. But she had her own children. Her first daughter didn't like me at all. The girl was younger than me, but she was the first daughter of her mom. So I was always going there for weekends, and you know, her mom really wanted to mother me, be a mother to me, but the girl did not like me. And just, you know how you just know the way she treats me, so I know her mom is not looking. And eventually, that those things left scars on in my life that I didn't know. I mean it became a very terrible people pleaser. I would take abuse to the end, how long the abuses, I would take it. Because I wanted to belong, I wanted to be valuable, I wanted someone to love me.

Israel Caminero: 18:20

Okay.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 18:21

Because I'm telling you, the love of a mother, a mother who loves you is a special kind of love. That's right. And to see other mothers do, you know, I was in boarding school. In boarding school, we have visiting day, the mothers will come, the mothers can think, they are so proactive in their thinking of what you will need. So your mother will go out and see something and say, This won't be good for my daughter. So these you could see it because you're in boarding school, the mothers bring all this stuff. Mothers will bring a sewing kit. I didn't even know that was something I needed. They will bring all kinds of things. I remember one of my friends, she'll be she was creaming her body, moisturizing her skin, and she was just moisturizing a particular way, and she said, This is I said, What are you doing? I said, My mother said you rub it in. Those little things that your mother would teach you that I didn't know because I didn't have a mother of my own who was there nurturing me, grooming me, getting me ready for life. And of course, that came back to become a problem in my life. Because even though I was a Christian, I still had things I didn't know. And I also, because I didn't have my own mom, I wanted to belong to other people. So in your in your being to belong to people, you don't know yourself. You you do not spend time, you know, to learn about who you are.

Israel Caminero: 19:53

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 19:54

Because you want to fit into a mode that will be acceptable to those people. That you are trying to be like. So, I mean, to not be like people you want to to accept you as their own. Correct. And even though I was a Christian, I didn't even understand. There were things we said, but I don't know if you know, if you're listening to me and you've had this experience where there's something you've been hearing about, hearing about. And one day you hear it and it's like new, and then that day you accept it and begin to apply it. So for many Christians, they tell us for God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son for you. Yet many of us don't really understand that love. We still don't accept that this love of God is the most important love of all. We still seek the love of people. And because of our desire for that, we get hurt and hurt, broken, trashed, and it's just a mess. That's so true. Yet there is one who loves us so much, who loves us so much that the most precious thing he had, he gave for us.

Israel Caminero: 21:21

Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 21:23

So I was that person, and I met a person, and um all my no fornication, I knew that person for for months, over six months. And on Valentine's Day, that's how I know the danger of Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, I gave in to the urge to fornicate. And because people like me, I just don't know. I've always believed, and I know if you are listening and you have this belief, I want you to take it seriously. I've always believed that people can get away with doing what is wrong, but when I do it, I'll get caught.

Israel Caminero: 22:05

Right. That's true.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 22:06

People are fornicating every day, and it's wonderful. They're living their lives, it's wonderful for them. And they're looking, people don't look at them and see them as fornicators, they don't even notice fornication there. But do you know that when your girl fornicated on that faithful Valentine's Day, you know what happened to me? I got pregnant with twins.

Israel Caminero: 22:31

Oh wow.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 22:32

When I got pregnant, I wanted to not have the child. But I was a Christian. So I have I've committed a sin, the sin of fornication. Now I also want to commit the sin of murder. So I went someone close to me, my aunt, gave me the name of the doctor. Because I all these years I've I've not done this thing, so I have no idea what to do. And the reason that that happened was that even though I had this relationship, there was many red flags. I wasn't feeling safe. So the initial feeling was love. I'm so happy you're pregnant. But after some time, it was hatred.

Israel Caminero: 23:28

Hatred towards the gentleman?

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 23:31

Towards me.

Israel Caminero: 23:32

Oh, towards the gentleman.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 23:33

The person was happy that I was pregnant, and later it was as if I was I've come to ruin their lives.

Israel Caminero: 23:39

Okay.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 23:40

You you should have thoughts before you got pregnant. And this is me, I'm a born-again Christian, right? So I'm already flogging myself. And the devil was having a field day. So he gathered the worst of his wickedness in the things that this person who promised, who loved me so much, who said they loved me, did to me, did and said to me. And remember, I'm this girl who has wanted her own person, someone to love me. I always used to say it. My father, after my dad, and after that my mom died, had after my mom died, my father had another wife, she had her own children. I was she was kind to me, but I wasn't her child. Then, and how I confirmed this was the marriage wasn't a happy one for her. And when she was leaving, she left with her children, she didn't leave with me, even though I loved her so much. That showed me that I didn't belong to her. And I remember the first time she left, she later came back. I was sleeping. When I woke up, she was no longer in the house with my siblings, and I felt so abandoned. And someone who I loved so much, who I thought loved me, she left and she didn't take me with her. And when she returned, I asked her, she said, because I couldn't take you, because I'm not your mother. I didn't give that to you. Your father would never let me do that. It made sense, I know, but can you imagine what I felt?

Israel Caminero: 25:24

Right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 25:27

See, today we are still very much as a grandmother, my children know. But those things leave class in you as a person.

Israel Caminero: 25:34

Exactly.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 25:37

So um when I found myself in those situations, I got that the person, my auntie gave me the number, the the address of the man, and I had an appointment. And when I got there, the person was just he sat down. The doctor was just talking about it. I think he's somebody who does abortions a lot. So it was nothing to him.

Israel Caminero: 26:03

Like an everyday thing, right?

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 26:06

Yeah, he was talking to me, and in my heart, I'm like, it's talking about murder. So I'm going to murder a child. And immediately I left that place. I knew I would never return there. I knew the implication for me. Today I'm I'm already I'm 53, I'm going to be 54 this year. So you can imagine I was 26 years old. No, 27 years old. When this was happening. Think back to 26 years ago. I'm in Nigeria. Imagine how the world used to be. And you get pregnant out of wedlock. Nigeria, there's no social safety net. I had no mother. At that time, I thought I wasn't even married to this mom, this his second wife that's the one who married after my mom that was nice to me, was married to someone who was a little above my age, but was so wicked and evil. And I had gotten pregnant. I was a ridicule. And I was a born-again Christian. I now told um I I left that place and I knew I wouldn't do it. And I went to see. Then the day I went there to see the guy, that day my auntie was heavily pregnant. That day she gave birth to her own first child. So I went to visit her. You know what she told me? She said I was, when I told her I didn't do it, she said she was very happy I didn't. She said, because when she was in the middle of her labor, she was repenting to God for telling me to go there. She said she felt that the labor pain was so much because of what she had done. She was so relieved when I came and I told her I didn't do it. And you know what? At that time I didn't know I was pregnant with twins. In fact, my dad now found out and saw all the mess of insult I was getting from the person who I was pregnant with for. He now told me, he took me, my father took me to a doctor. That's the kind of father I had. Who will go with you through your problem. Even though he was highly disappointed and his firstborn, my father was super, super proud of me. And when we got there, the doctor said I lied to my dad that the baby is more than two months old. But that was not the situation. I was pregnant with points. So when I decided I was going to keep the child, I went to see my auntie. She took me to the doctor there. And the doctor did they did a scan. And when they were doing the scan, this when they saw that the babies were two babies. The doctor put the scan thing. I said, see one of the babies. And then there are two babies. At that moment, I knew I would never have that abortion again, no matter what was gonna happen to me. And I think I actually went to beg my auntie to take me for an abortion. And from that moment I knew I was gonna have the kids.

Israel Caminero: 29:17

Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 29:19

And I had those babies. I didn't have proper care. I was abused, I was ridiculed, I was abused, I was abused, and the abuse was so meant, so emotional.

Israel Caminero: 29:37

Was that from the baby's father?

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 29:39

Yeah, the baby's father and other people. So after, because of lack of care, I I gave birth to one of my children, and I feel I was poisoned when I was pregnant. I don't want to name the person, but someone gave me food, brought the food to me, and I ate it. I felt that that was the place I got poisoned. And I confirmed it spiritually because one day, just one day, I was in the car. My driver was driving me, and the Lord showed me how I lost my firstborn, my first one of the twins. I was sitting in the car. So listen, I'm telling you, I know, not that anybody told me, I know because the Lord showed it to me and told me how that baby was infected. It was that particular food. He told me the food. So that food was brought when I was pregnant. The pastor's wife told me that the the baby, I was meant to lose both children. She didn't know what happened to me. She said you were poisoned. The attack was against your two babies, but they didn't know that you had two babies in you.

Israel Caminero: 30:46

So one baby passed and one baby lived.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 30:50

Yeah, so that baby that was born, not she didn't even pass immediately, Israel. She was born, she fought for life. She was born with a problem that required several surgeries. Because my first plane was coming with uh cord prolapse. So her cord was coming before her, and they said once that's happening, they won't let me have the babies. But the thing is that I had already been scheduled for a surgery, but I wasn't told. They just told me to come into the hospital and stay the night, and that the babies I was gonna give birth later, that the baby's birth was so close. I think they didn't want to terrify me. And that was Nigeria then. They don't give you all the information because, yeah. According to what I later found out, I was meant to have surgery on the Monday, but I went into labor on the Friday morning, and they stopped the labor. So my own doctor was not the one that delivered me, another doctor. I came ill-prepared because they didn't tell me I was having surgery. I only came with money for everything is paid for in Nigeria. I I even though it was a teaching hospital, I came with money for normal delivery. Surgery is much more expensive.

Israel Caminero: 32:10

Okay.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 32:11

I didn't have blood, so I didn't prepare. If you're gonna do surgery, then you need blood transfusion. You might need blood. So I didn't come with all those things. But the doctor signed for me. The doctor I did not know. God had set him up there and at night when I went into labor. In fact, when I went into labor, I was really, I've read the book Um Uh Supernatural Childbirth. So I was trusting God for those things that are happening. I didn't know called prolapse, I didn't know anything, right? He already had seen that there was an it was a there was a complication, but they didn't tell me. So when the thing started, I started going to the bathroom to have my bath because I wanted to be fresh when the baby came. But while I was on my way to the bathroom, a nurse caught me and told me to go to the bed because she felt I was in labor. So she found, I said, I want to go and have a shower, right? She said no. She took me back to my bed and checked, and the dilation was big, so whatever its number, I can't remember. So I had the baby. The I had the baby, and when the baby was born, my second twin, because my first twin was the one that was okay. The second twin was the one that was born with something, and she had to have surgeries, and in Nigeria, I didn't get the quality. Remember, I don't have money like that. I didn't have support. Nobody really truly cared. And even having the baby sick was like, you know, you know, you can have a child, and people really don't really care if that child lives or dies. That's why I felt.

Israel Caminero: 33:50

Wow.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 33:51

In fact, my my daughter was in the kitchen hospital, and the the nurse, the matron in the ward said, everybody come, baby, the baby's ward, right? All the babies here, the women, the parents have so much support. Why don't you have any support? Nobody came to see my baby and in the hospital. Just me and her dad. And I had twins, right? So I was, and I had C-section. So they when I got well, after one week of recovery, I was now coming, I had to go to the the other hospital, the bigger teaching hospital where my baby was. And she had had several surgeries, two surgeries in the first two weeks of her life, and she relieved. And they said she was the baby that refused to die. But she eventually died because of me not having helped proper care. She died from a mistake.

Israel Caminero: 34:46

I'm sorry to hear that.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 34:48

So she thank you. So I I would I would be with the baby, the other baby. So I remember the first day that the baby she had breast milk. The baby, the other baby was so luscious. Beautiful. You know, she was a beautiful baby, doesn't cry. I since I gave birth in the teaching hospital, sometimes they'll come, they need a baby to show the nurses something. They will take my baby, and my baby will not cry at all for like two hours. She was so sweet. Uh, my other twin, my first twin. So I will be down, downstairs. You know, the baby can't come upstairs because she's a baby. She can't go to the hospital ward. So she will be in the car with her dad. Then I, with my painful, you know, I'm serious recovering from surgery. I will go upstairs, climb the stairs, and then I'll breastfeed my other twin. And the first day that she breastfed, her tongue was so rough because she was dehydrated. And she had never had breast milk before.

Israel Caminero: 35:59

Wow.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 36:00

She was two weeks old. Well, eventually I took we got took them home, and when we got home, after my office was like, you have to be at the in the office today for a meeting, and if you don't come, then you have to forget about the job. And I went for the and the office was my the owner of that office and the wife, they were very supportive. The wife thought the wife later told my daughter, that my first twin, before she passed, that when she saw me, the Lord told her that she should be a mother to me. So she did what a mother does. The wife of the owner of that place. So she would bring me food. She was trying her best to take care of me. So that day they said I had to go for that meeting. My husband said, when it's um noon, you must leave that meeting and come home. But for the first time I was free, right?

Israel Caminero: 36:54

Right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 36:54

I forgot myself. I had just my 14-year-old cousin, which I'm sure if I was living abroad, they would have taken me to jail, was the one helping me with twins. I had no help. And she had fed my baby because my baby had a surgery on her tummy, which they said when she gets older and stronger, they will cover it. So she pooples through her tummy. And when she fed her, she didn't put her head properly. So my daughter choked to death. The child that survived all those surgeries ended up choking to death. Sorry, I I I tell the stories to just say something. There are many worst things, many other things happened. To say that being a Christian doesn't mean that it's going to be easy.

Israel Caminero: 37:48

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 37:50

But if you think about it, this situation was because I did not obey God's word. It started from fornication. But then the fornication was as a result of me not knowing who I was. I didn't know my value, how valuable I was. Even though I said God all has um um for god, like I keep saying for about John 3.16, God so loved the world. Even though I know all those things, you are fearfully and wonderfully made, all those things. But I did not really know the value that God had put inside of me as a person. And because of that, I hurt my children. My children could have been born in a loving place where their birth was celebrated. I didn't need to suffer like I did. But my mistake led me there. And I know some people are going to listen and say, Yeah, if God loved you, why did he not? God loves us, but he can't force us to behave like people that are loved. If you know you are loved, that's why you see people that are true princes and princesses, the way they carry themselves are different from the common man. But we are of a royal our priest, the royalty that we are part of is greater than any worldly prince or royal family. Any worldly royal family. Yet we carry ourselves with so much disrespect of ourselves. So true. People will treat you how you treat you. That's why the idea of leaving an abusive relationship is a man, is a man. I don't always buy it. I don't buy it actually. Because the same animal of a man will become a puppy with another woman.

Israel Caminero: 39:55

Yeah.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 39:56

Why? Why is it me? Why is it me that you are abusing? Why? Because I have given myself to you to be abused.

Israel Caminero: 40:07

That's good.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 40:08

People become people treat us how we treat ourselves. And treating yourself nice is not that you're wearing the most expensive, my black sisters, the most expensive weave. Or you're using the most expensive screen, the cream that Beyonce uses, because some of us will look at celebrities as our models. How much value you have in you is not as a result of how much education you have. You don't need to be super, super, super educated to be valuable. You are already valuable just where you are right now. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 40:47

You're absolutely right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 40:48

Anyways, yeah. Anyway, so I I went on, I eventually, do you know what? I actually married their dad. That felt like a testimony. But it wasn't really completely. Because my daughter, I was saying one when my daughter was a little older after I lost her twin sister. We go to, I remember going to my my younger sister's wedding, and I have a particular cousin who we are age mates. She wasn't raised by her own parents, but she married a very successful person, and he elevated her status way, way. And I really loved her. She was very beautiful. I loved her so much, but I guess she didn't love me like I loved her. I remember at that wedding how I was treated with disdain. Because of her status now, due to her marriage and all the things the man has given her to beautify her and her life. She was the one that other cousins really like to be around. I was the cousin who had a disgraceful cousin like me. At that wedding, I was treated like I will never forget how they treated me that day. Not because I don't forgive, but because this feeling was so bad that I will never forget so that I never do that to someone else. So my daughter grew up feeling she wasn't wanted. My daughter grew up feeling she created a situation for me to suffer because I don't want to go into it in details. I went through all kinds of abuse. And as a young person, because I didn't, I came from this background in Nigeria. You don't question your parents. You don't, you don't get into those things. I didn't even understand who I was, right? Do you know I didn't even know I was abused, Israel, until I moved to Canada. And one day a social worker used the word domestic violence. I didn't know what domestic violence was when I came from Nigeria. I had a degree in applied biochemistry. I had been working in advertising, marketing communication consultancy for international nonprofits. So I was not like someone who was not educated. Reading was my thing. I taught, all my kids, so that I started reading to my children from babies. And by the age of two, all my children, each of them, had started saying a few words. Reading. That is how mom I was. Yet I did not know domestic violence. I didn't know that what I was going through was domestic violence. And domestic violence, when I say it, I want us to be aware that domestic violence isn't always between a man and a woman, a couple in an intimate relationship. It is also between parents and their children. It's between your cousins, a family, let's just say it's family, family violence. And violence isn't always physical. That's right. When you treat me with disdain, when you reject me, when you exclude me from family things, you are abusing me. That is domestic violence.

Israel Caminero: 44:13

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 44:14

And when I came to Canada, I didn't know that the abuse I took that I called domestic violence, that it was a there was another one that was systemic that you could experience because of the color of your skin. And I brought my children into that mess. In Nigeria, when you send your children to school, school is a place where they get education, ABC 123. Canada, school is a place where teachers diagnose your children with mental health conditions that they are not even trained to do. And just because you're black, definitely your children have a problem. And then if you're a black woman who is separated a single mom, oh my lord, they've done several researches to show that this is how your children are going to turn out. And so the teachers leave the job of teaching and make sure that they push the child into living up to the stereotypes. That's what we went through.

Israel Caminero: 45:18

In Nigeria, and then you come to the state here in Canada and have to go through all what you went through there too.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 45:25

Oh yeah, this time in the society, the one you took, the one in your family is so small, right? Compared to you go to places and people treat you differently because of the color of your skin. You send your child to school, your child is abused by other children, and the teachers instead of protecting your child, they blame your child for not having been born in Canada.

Israel Caminero: 45:51

Right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 45:53

My daughter, my daughter that I told you, grew up thinking she she was a mistake. Goes to school and the school tells her, this school is too white for you. Even the few blacks that are here, they were born here, and you were not born here. The school tells her that, and the school even tells me that. And because I'm I'm I'm not I don't know my rights, I let them get away with it. But I let them get away with it, only for my daughter to live with the trauma and to eventually end up dead at the age of 24.

Israel Caminero: 46:31

Oh no.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 46:32

That was my other twin. She died August 1, 2023.

Israel Caminero: 46:38

Oh, and no, it was because of all the trauma from the school from life, from yeah.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 46:48

The school was bad, the school situation. Do you know the school told us that school wasn't good, and we had to move out to another school. And then, of course, our family was not good, it was not okay either. And in the middle of that place of vulnerability, a member of my family who is close, molested my child, and I didn't know. I have family here. A very successful person.

Israel Caminero: 47:16

I'm so sorry to hear that.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 47:19

I later found out that my daughters, the wife of that person actually told my daughter to leave her husband alone. My daughter was 16. Her husband was in his 50s.

Israel Caminero: 47:29

Wow.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 47:30

And I remember my daughter crying and say, Mommy, why do they hate us? So my daughter, um, where I'm going with this story is my daughter lives with all this trauma. And it's not the fault of these people, is a broken mother. When a mother does not know herself. I was a Christian, I was going to church. I was living upright. But everywhere I went, I was abused, even in the church. I go to church, I my daughter wanted to be in a particular Nigerian church. And we go to the church and I'm serving like a slave because you know, remember what I told you, the people pleasing thing that I'm carrying from my losing my mom so early and all that? Yes. I'm carrying it over into relationships. And because Pirelli used to have uh, no, Niccolo Machiavelli, the prince, he says power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely. If you give people absolute power over you, whether they are in your family, in your church, in your work, in your school, they will be, they will abuse you, absolutely abuse you completely and totally because they are human beings. Absolute power with a human being corrupts them absolutely. Human beings are not meant to have that kind of power without God in them, without God behind them. And how, even if you are in church, you can say, Oh, it's church, but how do you know? Human beings are prone to mistakes, human beings are imperfect, and because of that, you cannot trust them to not abuse you when you give them absolute power. So your trust cannot be in a person, it has to be in the God who created the person.

Israel Caminero: 49:24

He is the only perfect person.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 49:25

He is. He is the only perfect person. He is the only perfect person. That's why the judgment is not, oh, this person is a Christian and the person is not a Christian. Some people are not Christians and they are doing philanthropy all over the whole place. And they talk with kindness, they've gone to school, they've read about, they've read about how to talk to people, they are gentle people, but they still need Jesus. Because when the devil needs to walk, when the devil needs to strike, he will still strike through them. All this other person is a Christian, they go to church, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You they still need Christ. There are days when they are in their weak moments and you are not aware.

Israel Caminero: 50:07

That's right. The enemy is always looking for somebody to attack. And he'll use anybody for his will to corrupt somebody else.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 50:19

That's right. And the enemy is the most diligent, dedicated, devoted, hardworking, committed, invested worker in the world. If Christians worked as diligently as Satan, we will have a better world. He never stops his shenanigans, his evil shenanigans. He's constantly at his duty post of causing chaos, sealing, killing, destroying.

Israel Caminero: 50:53

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 50:55

So when my life was unraveling, when I came here and everything was unraveling, I came here, you know. Remember what I told you at the beginning about my mother's family.

Israel Caminero: 51:07

Yes.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 51:08

Being the most my mother's family were here. So I thought, oh my god, my mother's family. But then I I discovered no one can love you the way God loves you.

Israel Caminero: 51:19

Amen. Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 51:21

And the Lord did something amazing for me. One day I was crying about having family and not having the help I needed. And the Lord sent me to the book of Ruth. Naomi had a king's man who was to be the king's man redeemer in her situation, and he rejected the position. Well, what did the Lord do? He raised up help from where help was not being sought. And the Lord told me, I am your king's man redeemer. I will raise up help that you need. And on that day, I stopped hurting. I realized that no human being can help me. No one can help me out of abuse. No one can help me out of abuse or the systemic abuse that I was involved in that I was experiencing. You know, I told you my mother, my father died on September 2nd, the year I came to Canada. My children resumed school September 5th. And from that moment, there was no peace in my family anymore, in my children's lives. They were tortured, abused to no end in the school system. And two weeks after, my son had been injured by some, another child who had been picking on him from the moment he resumed school in that class. And they had mental health problems. And only my child, the mental health problem only expresses itself on my child, not other children in the class. The child was harassing my child in the class and outside. And this particular child was my first son, who was was no nine years old. He was the child that could play by himself. Pleasant character. What was happening to him was not something that should be happening to a child like him. And the only thing he did wrong was that he came from Nigeria and was black. And just so you know, the city where we arrived in Canada, at the time we arrived, was the fourth most ethnically diverse city in Canada. It's in that city they told my daughter, this school is too white for you. Wow. That was the word, too white for you. It is in that city that my son was being harassed in every day in school.

Israel Caminero: 53:47

Unbelievable.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 53:48

That sometimes he will run away from school. And he said, and they now put on his file, he's a runner. They took my child for they now called when two weeks when the girl injured him. We went to the hospital. And the next day when I sent my son to school, the school called children's aid, the child welfare services for us, because they didn't want us to be so empowered to fight the school, to ask the school to pay for the hospital. Because at that time we came as family residents. In Canada, you do not have health insurance for almost six months if you come as a permanent resident. So during my six months' window, they injured my son. So I had to have this debt, which eventually destroyed my credit, just so you know. And when the next day, when we when the boy came to school, because I'm a Nigerian mother, you know, in Nigeria, you can't be sick. You have to go to school, right? The boy that they went to yesterday, I still made him go to school the next day because your girl did not know the system she was in. And instead of in school to take care of the boy, what they did was to call child welfare on me. And for the next seven and a half years, child welfare was on me for seven and a half years. I was in court almost every month for the last two of those years because they really wanted to get my son to become a ward of the state. Can you imagine? What did I do? I don't know.

Israel Caminero: 55:10

You didn't do anything.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 55:12

Eventually they went to court to say the woman didn't do anything. Give her back a card. I was still running around. In fact, that day they were they were in a courtroom that I did not know. They moved from the usual courtroom. So I was still in the court building, running from room to room, looking for the location when I got a call to say your child has been given back to you. But as you know, the child that the state has been involved in their lives will not be the child they gave back to you. My wonderful son, for the last two years before that time, they had been telling my son, I was a what's when I said four years. My son that I was a poor black woman and feeding him lies about me, and I'm a liar, and this and that. Oh my son. They knew I was a born-again Christian. My son was a Christian. Guess what they did? They put him in an atheist home. And what did the 80s do? She was also a social worker, just so you know, but white. She was a social worker who, at the age of 16, was living on her own. That was the person they took my Nigerian son to her house. Of course, you know, at 16, even on her own, means she didn't have a good relationship with her parents, so she wouldn't value parental child relationship. Because that's the person that was telling my son, I'm I'm a poor black woman. She was the one. I'm a poor black woman. I am a I'm a liar. I told the children services that I normally give him food at seven, and the other day I didn't give him food at seven, so I'm a liar. Then she was also, when they bring, if there's a Christian show on TV, she will come and show my son. If there's a story about a church that something happened, say, can't you see them? They are liars, turning my son against the fate of our family. Then the one that broke the camel's back, that made them start running Helter Skelter, was they were now teaching him about masturbation. 12-year-old boy. A 12-year-old boy is supposed to be looking at his books, right? But not in North America. Right. Teaching every morning, did you take out the trash? So what do you what does he mean by taking out the trash? My son was telling me this story. His older sister, my late daughter, was sitting there. He said masturbation. And that they embarrassed him. So my son is very close to me. So even though they were turning his brain against me, he was still open with me. And I heard other things. So the whole thing, there was a lot going on in my life. But inside my family relationship with my father and my husband, this issue I was dealing with, then of course, the whole my the Nigerian community looking down on you because you are not succeeding like them, because you are in you are having issues with the child welfare system, all those things. And me having to raise my head and say, you know what, I'm my life is not these things are not who I am. They are the challenges of that I'm going through. They are the journey of my life. And everyone has a journey. If I didn't have the journey, if somebody told me about child worth versus them, I wouldn't believe them. I would think they are exaggerating. I needed to have this journey because I was not street smart at all, Israel. I wasn't street smart in Nigeria. I was very close that my daddy did everything. Then I finished, I got married, I had drivers. I did not, I was not exposed to so many things that people are exposed to.

Israel Caminero: 58:50

Right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 58:50

I came to Canada as a permanent resident. I was not one of those people that were maybe refugees or they came on a visitor visit or something. And you know, my life kind of was not, I didn't wasn't exposed to certain parts of life, but and I I was also highly judgmental. Because I could see someone and feel, oh, that time the story, if somebody is homeless, it's because they did not do well, blah blah blah blah blah. But now I had to learn compassion. I had to learn compassion. I had to become empathetic.

Israel Caminero: 59:25

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 59:26

I I began to see that those who judge me harshly didn't know my they were not walking in my shoes. They don't know what I'm going through. So the same way those people you are looking at and trying to judge, you don't really know their story. You don't know what the fire that's burning under their beautiful black, black skirt dress that they are or whatever they are wearing. You don't know. You don't know why that lady at the counter is so harsh in the way she's relating with you. Give her. Grace. So that's what the Lord began to turn my life around. Insbris, inside this horror, horrific things happening to me and my children. I began to learn to be patient. My firstborn didn't get the best of me, my late daughter, because her mother didn't know herself. Her mother was always yelling, irritable. But I changed. But by then my daughter was older and she had been traumatized by all these different things that have happened to her. I changed. Or I began to change because I'm not perfect yet. I'm still here. I want to talk about that change. So in the middle of all these challenges, I found that there's only one I could trust in, trust. Only one I could rely on. The Lord God Almighty. That's right. And I was praying, and because there are days I can't pray because I am overwhelmed, I had to reach out to other people that could pray for with me, pray for me. So, you know that moment when the Lord told me, I am your king's man redeemer. I stopped expecting anything from those that were really my family. I stopped putting myself to become somebody's doormat so that they could accept me. Because I knew I was good enough. I'm highly intelligent. God has given me so many gifts. Why am I allowing people to tell me or treat me like trash when God has made me a treasure?

Israel Caminero: 1:01:53

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:01:55

So I had to begin a relationship knowing God for myself. I had gone to a church that they pray like we pray in Nigeria, and yet they abused me and my family. So it doesn't matter. Don't be moved by loops. I began to read my Bible for myself. I began to look at people who know who call themselves Christians as people who are not judged. You should not people I should not relate to it because just because I hate Christian, which used to be me. Once I hear Christian, I lose my mind, and you can do with me whatever you will. I lose my mind and you can do with me whatever you will. But now I started to be more cautious in the way I threw myself into relationships. What that means is that I will love you, but my expectation of you is not whatever you bring, it's okay. You know, before I used to have such high expectations. Somebody who is related to me should not do this. Somebody who is related to me who knew at a time that my family was in a very vulnerable situation, now take advantage of my firstborn and abuse her and molest her and groom her. No. Groom her and then molest her. And I will come to you and say, Oh, this girl is not studying, she's playing a game on the internet. And you say, Oh, that's terrible. Only for you to be giving her money to buy the game tokens.

Israel Caminero: 1:03:43

Wow.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:03:44

Because you want to get into her pants. Can you imagine?

Israel Caminero: 1:03:49

No, I don't want to imagine.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:03:52

Yeah. And when your wife, who is a woman, a woman that women, that's even involved in women's activism, hears, what she does is to go and tell my 16-year-old to leave your 50-year-old mom alone. And they didn't tell me, and I only found out years after it happened. But the only mistake that I made, and I've now made up my mind that I will talk about it. That's why I'm happy to be on this podcast. Is that my daughter told me at one time, said I'm going to go to court, I'm going to tell everybody what he did. And the first thing that came out of my mouth, my ignorant mouth, was I won't back your family. I had this foolish idea of family. And when I think about it, if that person was truly family, if they took me the way I took them, they would never do what they did to her. And at that time I didn't even know what he did. I didn't know the extent of all these things I'm telling you about giving money, and I didn't know about these things. I thought it was just, I don't know what I thought it was. But as the years went by, I began to hear details. One of the things that came out of that situation, someone who was close to us, a social worker who was Nigerian, who was also a church person, we told her what happened to my daughter. I didn't tell her detail, just so that the person molested her. Don't tell them, don't tell them all. Just give, don't talk about it again. And she now went on to tell her own family. And the family now went back to tell my family. To tell them not to help my daughter anymore. I bring this up because I want you, if you're listening, to know that let me tell you, this world is a mess of, it's filled with the messes. But today, my life, my life is not hinged on those experiences. I share them because you may be going through betrayals like this. And your heart is so broken. I must tell you, my heart was broken. But my heart was set free when I realized that they are humans, and humans are fallible, even when they say they are Christians. And not only are they fallible, they are foolish. Because what the bad thing that they think happened to you, that they are selling, that they are that they are going around talking about, they can't be sure it's not going to happen in their lineage. So it's foolish of us to make a person's pain our gossip, uh, whatever.

Israel Caminero: 1:06:42

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:06:43

So we're learning two sides. And this is what the Lord began to teach me as I began to study. Not to judge harshly, to feel sad for those who do evil, because they do not know the long-term implications of those things they do.

Israel Caminero: 1:07:03

Even when he said it when he was on the cross, he said, forgive them for they not know what they do.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:07:11

Hallelujah. A man that is going around molesting members of his family, molesting young people, young girls that trust him. He could be bringing a lineage of pain into his family. His children may suffer it. His own daughters may not have husbands, they may not get married, or they'll be messed up by different people. It is the price that they pay. The sad thing is that sometimes they cannot connect the price they pay with the actions that they have done. So don't that was what the Lord began to teach me. The more the Lord taught me about the concept of love, true love, love when you truly love yourself, you will love others. And the wife who harassed my 16-year-old and treated her like she was a cause of her 50-something-year-old husband molesting her.

Israel Caminero: 1:08:33

That's that's so true, Julius.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:08:34

Even that family member, yeah. Even that family member who who treats me, who treated me like I'm nothing. Who, when my daughter died, didn't even tell me, sorry, you lost your dad, your daughter. You are not going to believe that exactly one year after my daughter died, she lost, she lost her own daughter. Who seemed to be doing well. And I reached out, even though she didn't reach, she didn't reach out when I lost mine. I reached out and I began to check, but she didn't want the relationship. So I left her. Because all I was thinking is when my daughter died, if somebody did this for me, it would have made a difference. So I do not treat people how they treat me, I treat them how I would love to be treated.

Israel Caminero: 1:09:19

Amen. That's that's that's good.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:09:23

And that's that's what the Lord began to do to me. And as the Lord began to teach me things, I realized how important women are in the outcomes of their family, of their children. And I began, he began to take my mind back to women in my mother's generation. I'm 53. So the generation before my own, those who were our mothers in Nigeria, I don't know for North America, because I found I see North American. Anyways, let me not go there. So the people in Northwest, I don't really know about that generation in North America. They might be because I wasn't raised yet, so I don't know. But in that generation, you see some women, they have jerks for husbands, drunks, people that are not good men. Yet those men are successful merchants, and they are raising, they raise great children. How do they do it? What I discovered was that they are not busy talking about the husband. This man is not paying the bills, this man is not doing this one, this one is doesn't give child support, that one. They are busy, focused, honed in on what the good that they desire for themselves and their children. They are busy improving themselves, and as they improve themselves, their influence expands. And in the and later in their old age, they live to enjoy the fruit of their labor. The time we spend complaining about those who are hurting us, if we took that energy to worship the maker of all, to ask him to give us strategies for the life that we have, we will get something better. You know why this is important? Because he knows the life you have, he knows what you're going through, he even knows things people are planning to do to you that you are not aware of. So instead of spending time complaining about our husband and this and that, or even our children, why don't we go to God? That's right, and that's and that's what the Lord did. He started teaching me about love. Love. Look, for us as believers, love is our standard. Love is what took Jesus to the cross. Love is what made Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane crying tears that were sweating blood. Yet, say not my will, but yours, oh God. Though my will is I don't want this pain. But because you have a bigger, better plan, I will I will I will submit to you for you to use me how you will. That's what I began to do.

Israel Caminero: 1:12:41

Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:12:43

And my heart began to yearn to help other women, to help other women, to help them so that they will not cry the tears I have cried over my children. To help other women so that they can't they don't put themselves down to be treated as trash when they are actually treasures.

Israel Caminero: 1:13:04

That's why Mexican Stop How was Born. And that was your podcast, correct?

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:13:13

That's my podcast.

Israel Caminero: 1:13:15

And I'll I'll have links to all that in the podcast description. All the things that you had throughout life, but you're still faithful to the Lord, and you stayed faithful to him no matter what you went through. And I love that.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:13:54

I have one more thing I want to say. So starting my podcast means that you're looking at numbers, looking at how many people are listening to my podcast, how many people are subscribing, all those things. It means you are hearing. But people are the so-called experts are telling us about this stuff. But I brought it before God as I always, as I have learned to always do. So my life is not, my the way I live my life, it's not what people are doing that I do. It's not what people say I should do, I do. I have to have a my spirit must rest in peace before I do something. Because the Bible tells us that anything you do without faith is sin. I don't do things because a so-called expert taught me to do it. When the expert finished telling me that this is the way to do it, then I ask God. And if I have peace about that thing, I will do it. I might even have peace to do something, but I don't have peace to start it at a particular time. So my podcast was in my spirit going around, we're talking about it with the Lord. I was I even had all these names, and the name Mercy can stop her came. I didn't like the name, but this name was the name that I believe God wanted me to use for the podcast. So I I used Messi can stop her. And I have got testimonies of women telling me just the name Messi can stop her has been a support when they needed it. When their things are unraveling around them, and then as they remember, Messi can stop her, they are gingered to get up and do that thing that needs to be done. That's one. Then the numbers, I keep looking. I don't know how many people are uh following the podcast. Until the Lord told me, He said, Look, even if it were one person, that your episode is reaching, it's enough. And just recently he told me one thing. He said, Joyce Mayer, for example. One person preached to Joyce Mayer. Can we count how many lives Joyce Mayer's ministry has changed? No. So you don't have to, we don't know the one person that preached to Joyce Mayor, but we know Joyce Mayer. You don't have to be Joyce Mayor. You can be the one person that preached to her. All you need to be is the tool, a tool in God's hands.

Israel Caminero: 1:16:47

Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:16:49

And so that's what's going on in my podcast. Then be on YouTube, be on YouTube. Oh, I don't have perfect light, lighting. I don't have this to be on YouTube. I don't have that to be on YouTube. The Lord has been on me. This is the second year. So this year, I said, you know what? Mercy won't stop Judy. Just get on there. And I just started a YouTube channel. It's in my name, Judith Cambia Baptister. And I just started using the YouTube channel. I've always had that YouTube channel for years, but I now use using it for my podcast videos or videos that are very targeted. So if you're listening to me, I had a saying, listen to your heart. Because your heart is your very own God-given GPS to guide you on the journey of your life.

Israel Caminero: 1:17:45

Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:17:47

You must have peace before you step into spices, trying to do things. Don't do it because the other person is in it. And you don't have to do it the way they are doing it. Do it the way God has told you to do it. And that's why it's important that you listen for God's direction, through His Word, through podcasts like this, through other people's testimonies, through videos. Listen for direction. Because you cannot have a good life without a good relationship with your maker. Which is why my podcast that started as a things about domestic violence has pivoted. After my daughter died, I realized that my daughter did not have the opportunity to be 50 years old on earth. I realized that life is too short to spend it on. This person didn't talk to me. That person did this to me. You have a purpose. You need to get on it quickly. My daughter was a very fashionable young lady. Oh my goodness. She was very, very fashionable. She also dreamt of helping other children so that they would never go through what she went through. Now, my daughter is not here to do those things. So what do you think I'm doing? I now had to up my fashion game. It's not yet at the top hole, but now I dress for the memory of my child. I put lipstick. Today I put on red lipstick. I don't normally put lipstick because I thought Isaac was um Israel was going to video me. I had prepared myself. And when I I was thinking about it, why the people you don't normally use lipstick all the time. I said, Well, this is a great opportunity. I don't take it lightly. That's what I was told. I told myself, only for me not to even have to. I was gonna be on the video. But you know, so I'm leaving. If my daughter had another opportunity to be here, would she what would she do with her time? So I'm living my life to put her memory on top. My daughter died at 24. She didn't get to be 25. But my prayer, my prayer for my daughter, for her is that her name will not die because she's dead. So I'm living beyond myself right now. And because I know Jesus is the only one that could have saved my daughter from the trauma that drove her down the road to her. And even at the end, she was like, Mommy, take me back to Nigeria. If you don't take me back to Nigeria, we die here. I need prayers, I need God. And she rededicated her life to Jesus. Just 10 days before her death, we had all these conversations.

Israel Caminero: 1:20:51

Wow.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:20:52

Ten days before my daughter died. She told me, I will die here, mommy. And when I think about it, I cry just because I'm human and I miss my child. And I will never see my child on this earth again. And what do I do with my tears and the pain and the grief? I have decided to just talk about Jesus. So my podcast is no longer about domestic violence in all those. It's now about God, the word of God. It is the anchor that has kept me from falling. Do you know I cry almost every day about my daughter? I cry almost every day about my daughter because when my daughter died, she died on August 1. On September 29, I lost my closest sibling, my prayer partner, who would have been the one to support me through this pain that I'm going through with my daughter. She was actually the one that was in the hospital when I gave birth to my daughter. She was the one who donated blood for me when I gave birth to my daughter. When I gave birth to the twins. And she now died. And it was a big loss to me. But I'm not going to allow love to take the glory. Only God will take the glory. And that's why now I am crazy to talk about the things of God. I'm not afraid to talk about Jesus. Because if not for him, I would have been consumed. I wouldn't be here telling the story. And that's the journey that I have been on. And that's what I share this part of it is because no matter where you are today, that's not the end. It is a journey. The person that you are, maybe today, you might be struggling with an addiction. Tomorrow, your journey will be you, your story will be different. You will not be in that addiction anymore. Don't give up on yourself because it doesn't look good, because things are difficult. This person is not helping me. What don't give up on yourself.

Israel Caminero: 1:22:57

That's right.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:22:58

Hang in there. Hold on to Jesus. The author, the Bible says, He's the author, the beginning and the finisher, the end of your faith. Amen. And I'm telling you, like I always tell people, mercy won't stop you.

Israel Caminero: 1:23:15

That's right. Judith, I want to thank you for sharing that testimony of your journey with everyone and for being here on the podcast. And I know we've gone a little bit over than usual. I always have two questions that I ask my guests before we close out. And uh my first question is Do you have a life verse that has stuck with you throughout your life, or just the Bible verse in general that you always go back to, you know, when things are not going right, that you read, and what does that mean to you and why?

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:23:54

On the first day that the child welfare system came to my house, I left them in the house to go pick up my four-year-old from the bus state stop. And the Lord gave me this verse, reminded me of this verse. Romans 8 28. All things are working together for your good. Since that day, God has expanded this verse in my life. All things are working together for your good. Hard things, bad things, bad things, tough things, uncomfortable things, heartbreaking things. All things are working together for your good. If I didn't go through this pain, I wouldn't have Mexican stopper. I wouldn't have the people, the women that I have supported over the years, the women who I have supported through their own pain. I wouldn't have this new perspective on life. I wouldn't have the testimony of how love withstands trials. And look, I haven't even yet had the good, the end of that good that God is talking about. It's still ahead. More good are still coming. And today's podcast, I just talked about this part of my life. I have mentioned something else I believe to uh Israel about another part of my work life. But for the purposes of today, I'm focusing on this. Look, that scripture has come to life, it's constantly coming to life, it's still coming to life, and I know it's continuing to come to life in my life. All things are working together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. I know that was the first question I asked. Do you love God? I love God. Am I called? I am called. You that are listening to this podcast right now. You are called for God's purpose. Or if you are not yet in his purpose, because you have not let down all that you are for him to use you. Everything about you is in his purpose, according to his purpose, if you let him. So that's my scripture, Romans 8.28. All things are working together for your good.

Israel Caminero: 1:26:46

Amen. That's a good one too. And I appreciate you sharing that with everyone. Now, my second question is a segment in my podcast that I call Back to the Past. And when my Back to the Past section is if the Judith from today can go back in time and talk to the younger Judith and share with her something that she knows now that she didn't know then, if it's anything, what would you say to her and why?

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:27:19

You are good enough to prejudice. You are not just you're not just like other people, you are unique, special. Those things I know you like to talk a lot. Yeah, you do. That's what makes you special. You ask a lot of questions, that's what makes you special. That is your superpower. Some people might make you feel like those things and you should change. You should change. You don't have to change. What you need to do is get close to God, let him show you why he gave you those superpowers. You are good enough. Yes, you lost your mother, but you didn't lose your God. Mommy has gone to be with God, and she can see you now. And God is the mother of all mothers, even though you don't have a mom now, and it makes you feel less than other children, other young girls, other young ladies. God is here with you at all times. Just ask him those questions that you feel that if you had a mother, she will help you navigate. Ask him, he will bring you people that will help you, he will teach you what you need to learn. Trust God and never ever forget. He has made you good enough. You don't need to search through to run after people to make them accept you. You are what good enough. And when the time comes, those same people will come looking for you. Because what God does is that the stone that was rejected, He makes that stone to become the chief cornerstone. That is your testimony. Hold on to it, don't ever let it leave your sight. You are good enough. That's what I would say to say to her, because you know that with I I'm 53 now, going to be 54. It was when I was 50 years old that I believed I was good enough. All my years I felt not good enough. And the devil did a good job surrounding me with people who reminded me I was trash, tried to tell me that I was trash. They didn't remind me, they tried to tell me because I'm not trash, I'm a treasure. I am a treasure. God said so. And another thing I want to tell my six-year-old, my my my little six-year-old self, I was six when my mom died, is girl, you are a treasure, you are not trash, and you determine how people will treat you. If they don't like you, they will have to shape up or they shape out. You are treasure, not trash.

Israel Caminero: 1:30:42

Amen.

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:30:43

When you believe it, others will have no choice but to believe it too.

Israel Caminero: 1:30:47

Amen. Thank you for sharing that. Sometimes uh people have a hard time answering that question. A lot of them do, all of them do. But some people, you know, love that question. I'm glad that you pointed out the things that you would say. But I want to say thank you once again, and I will have uh link to your podcast and everything else uh on the description of this podcast. Uh and thank you for being here and being vulnerable and sharing your story with everybody. Like I said, it's your story, but we're just here to glorify God because of that. Hallelujah. And before we close out, can you pray for us before we close out?

Judith Kambia Obatusa: 1:31:30

Oh, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much. Before I pray, I just want to say thank you, my brother Israel, for giving me this opportunity. Thank you for allowing God to use you. Because for you to say, Judas, come on the podcast. God said yes to me being on the podcast. And I thank you for saying yes with him, to him too. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we just want to appreciate you for a day like this, a time like this. We just want to say thank you for this platform that you've given us to glorify your name. Everlasting Father, the day-to-day runnings of the podcast are not easy, but we thank you for your grace, your power, your strength that you've given, my brother. And we thank you for everyone that has come on this podcast or will come on this podcast. That God, their coming on this podcast will mark a milestone in their lives because there will be the time before they came on the podcast and the time after they came on the podcast, which will be better, bigger, brighter, more expensive. In Jesus' name. Lord, I pray for the listeners. Oh my father, those men, those women, those young people, those old people that are listening to this podcast. Those who are in need of a testimony that will revive what looks dead in their lives, a testimony that will encourage them where they are really feeling discouraged. A word from you to give them direction for the next stage of their lives. Father, I pray for the listeners that by coming and listening to this podcast, by this podcast showing up on their podcast feed, by saying yes to clicking on it, oh Father, that they will experience a turnaround where it is needed, a refreshing where it is needed, an uplifting where it is needed. Father, they will experience an intimacy like they never had with you before. Father God, I pray that all of us will be able to testify that we met with you by reason of being connected to this podcast. In Jesus' mighty name I've prayed. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 1:34:12

Amen. Amen. Thank you for that prayer. And thank you for being here again and sharing your story. I'm sure it's going to touch a lot of people. And that's what it's about. It's how God worked in your life to be there for you throughout all these challenges. And someone that might be out there like yourself that needs to hear this, that's going through the challenges themselves right now, that they're not alone.