Bio: Thank you so much for this opportunity, I appreciate it. By God’s grace, I am a Christian writer and also passionate about children’s ministry.

RLN: How did the journey into writing begin, who were your early influences?

Dr. VI: I started writing after I gave my life to Christ. I was about 13 years old and was inspired after reading books by John Maxwell and Pastor Benny Hinn, especially by the book “Good morning Holy Spirit”.

RLN: What genre do you write?

Dr. VI: At the moment, most of my writings are on Christian Non-Fiction, covering topics such as prayers, motivation, wisdom nugget and general spiritual growth and development but I have a plan to write a Christian fiction in the near future especially for children. I think stories convey potent emotions and can be a tool to send powerful messages.

RLN: Your first published book titled “Lift them up” was aimed at young children. Tell us more about it.

Dr. VI: Lift Them Up is a prayer book that equips parents with powerful prayer points and confessions to pray over their children. I believe the Holy Spirit inspired me to write this book. It contains scriptures on God’s promises for our children, my reflections on the scriptures and then the prayer points. The prayers include prayers for our Children’s Salvation, prayers for their protection, prayers for their spiritual strength, prayers for their character, prayer against attacks of the enemy and more.  I believe that parents have a big role to play in ensuring that the enemy has no part in our children’s lives and ensuring that we raise the next generation of an army that will keep spreading the light. Judges 2:10 (AMP) says … and there arose another generation after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the Lord, or even the work which He had done for Israel. This was such a sad situation, that an entire generation arose that did not know God. As Christian parents, we can ensure that by God’s grace this does not happen again.

RLN: What kind of vision do you have for Children especially those raised in Christian homes and how well do you think your books can set the right foundation for them?

Dr. VI: Oh, this is such an interesting question. My vision is for Christian children to live a fulfilled life and get all-round success. I tell people I have five Cs that I believe can guide Christian parents as they raise their children. The five Cs are CHRIST, CHARACTER, COMPETENCE, CONFIDENCE, and CELEBRATE. Each one of these is a whole chapter but in summary my vision is for children to be God lovers who are competent and confident in their belief and apply to their communities because we can make a bigger impact if like Daniel in the Bible, we portray excellence in whatever we are doing.

RLN: You have a new book titled “Nothing Ordinary about You” which you co-authored with your husband due out on 29th August 2020. What inspired this new book?

Dr. VI: To be honest, Nothing Ordinary About You has been going on for a while now. But our major goal here was to pen down some wisdom and weapons that God has given us through His word to overcome several challenges as we journey through life. We felt that this same wisdom nuggets and weapons will help other Christians out there. The devil is a good liar, he will tell you that you can’t make it, he will send discouragement from unlikely people, he will want you to waste your life, he is just a professional liar on many fronts and we wanted to tear down those lies through this book and help people see the truth of God’s word and all they can be and achieve by following Godly principles and believing in all that God has done for them.

RLN: What message of hope can you pass to someone reading this who feels hopeless and feels there is nothing extraordinary about their life?

Dr. VI: Wow, I would say to that person, you are too blessed to be depressed! To be honest, things might happen that would make us feel discouraged, but the charge is not to give in. If you think about King David in the Bible and you read through the Psalms, you will notice that he sometimes appeared to feel a bit down, but he wouldn’t remain there. He would rise up, encourage himself, think about all the good things God has done, count his blessing and testimonies and he never stopped praising.

This David’s model has been working for me as well and from experience, I realized that it is beneficial to do as the Bible says “Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God,”.  (Philippians 4:6).

Worry leads to sadness, sadness leads to depression, depression to hopelessness, and you know it drags on to darkness. Even if your situation is like Job in the Bible who lost everything, recall that he recovered all by holding unto God because with God all things are possible. When we pray and stay thankful, we see the goodness of God; strengthening; get joy from His presence; become victorious and we just climb on the ladder of Joy.  

RLN: Which Christian Authors and leaders have influenced you in your writing journey?

Dr. VI: Growing up as a young Christian I have been inspired by John Maxwell, Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn and Rick Warren but in the last few years I have been inspired by Tolu Akinyemi, I am just amazed by how he consistently produces high-quality books covering a wide range of very relevant topics. I also thank God for using him as an instrument to provide significant guidance and support for self-publishing. I pray that God will continue to lift Him from one glory to another.

RLN: Where can we buy your books?

Dr. VI: Lift Them Up: 31 Scripture-Based Prayers to Pray Over Your Children and Nothing Ordinary About You: Inspiring and Motivational Words from A Christian Perspective can be purchased on Amazon and our website victorspress.com.

RLN: What challenges have you faced on your writing journey and how did you overcome them?

Dr. VI: Wow! Sincerely there have been challenges. Writing requires discipline and planning, as it can take some time and hard work to process the raw inspiration you receive. With competing demands as a mother and a professional, I have to work hard to overcome procrastination and be intentional about creating time to develop publishable materials and also setting targets for myself. Also, the self-publishing journey as a new author can daunt when you think of the fact that you don’t just write and relax, but after writing you have to publicize and market the book to get the word out there. What keeps me going is to keep writing in obedience to God. I also have this thinking about writing for that “one person” who might just be encouraged, inspired and take some brave Godly action because of what they read from any of my books and maybe that “one person” will affect hundreds, thousands, millions or even billions of people and this thought of a ripple effect keeps me going.

Think about how the Gospel has spread today, Jesus first called 12 people, and that circle kept expanding.  Today there are many believers all over the world. Let nobody tell you that your light is too small, keep spreading it, keep shining! I have also had a few discouragements from people that do not understand the vision, but we won’t answer to men, but to God-the one who gave you the gift. For me, the way out of discouragements from people is to ignore the discouragement, pray and move on.

RLN: Any word of advice for aspiring Christian writers in an increasingly secular world.

Dr. VI: My advice to aspiring Christian writers would be to keep sharpening the gift of God inside of you. Keep writing, and please start from where you are, write for your church bulletin, write in blogs, write on social media and write books. Don’t despise the gift of God inside of you, take it seriously. The Holy Spirit is an Author and a teacher, He wrote the Bible through men, so writing is a high calling.