WiGRadio Team: Let’s start with a little bit of introductions like we’re in a job interview! Let’s meet you.
Mr, Hephzibah: My name is Hephzibah Francis Fatoyinbo; I’m 32 years old. I’m from Ekiti.I’m a Christian and a lover of beautiful things. I’m also a media professional.
Miss Sharon: My name is Addo Oluwafunmilayo Sharon; I’m 24 years old. I’m from Ondo state, Ose LGA. I’m a born-again child of God. I am a fashion designer. And I love being unique.
WiGRadio Team: We’re off to a good start. So how, when and where did you 2 meet? And how did you know, “yes, this is the ONE!”? Give us all the juicy details.
Miss Sharon: We met at church. We were in church but had never spoken. Later around 2015, we had a program in church and this brother came to me after the service and was asking me series of questions, trying to add me to his ‘daughter list’ – the mentor and mentee kind of thing, but after the conversation, we started speaking but not often.
Mr. Hephzibah: We met in church – my home church in 2015. I was (and still am) a youth leader, and I was trying to get her to become my ‘daughter’ but she was dodging. We started communicating but nothing really close. Years later, August 2020, we were at a prayer program, I came in from Lagos and she too was in attendance, then as the prayer was going on, the Holy Spirit asked me to look at the sister by the window and said “that’s your wife.” I objected because I couldn’t even imagine it. Prayed for the next 6 months and spoke with people who mattered in my life (including Papa P). In that process, I asked her to be my friend, and from there, I got enough confirmation from God, then phew! Things clicked.
WiGRadio Team: Was there any objection on your part when God first said she was your wife? Or when God pointed the lady by the window to you, you opened your eyes and liked what you saw and started things off with her?
Mr. Hephzibah: Yes, I objected, because I never saw her as my type of person. She *WAS* an introvert and looked too calm for my liking. But then, Baba told me to make her my friend and see for myself. Truly, I have seen!
WiGRadio Team: Hmm, but apart from that, was there some form of physical attraction?
Mr. Hephzibah: There were many attractions o. 😂 When we eventually became friends, I began to see things I never saw before. The attraction grew, or let me say the love and everything grew all together.
WiGRadio Team: So it is a general belief that the desire to express the felt attraction is always stronger for the men, how have you been able to keep the boundaries sir?
Hephzibah: Well, from our experience, we’ve discovered that it may not be stronger in men always, but rather faster from men. Because when a woman feels at peace around you, she can even get a stronger level of attraction. However, for me, I have had to deal with the issues of lust even before starting the relationship, this made it a lot easier to maintain the goal of remaining sexually pure till marriage. We have been around each other and felt stuffs ebut the love we have for God is our biggest constraint. And that helps us to keep our vows in regard.
WiGRadio Team: Miss Sharon, was it a case of love at first sight or a case of “God says he is the one and I will accept and love him with the love of God”?
Miss Sharon: I think it was both but back then I just liked him generally – like as the people-person he was. Okay back then, the first day I noticed this brother that made everyone in church smile and was so popular, was at a youth conference held at our church. He stood up to answer a question which was thrown to the congregation; immediately, a voice spoke to me that he was my husband, but I immediately rejected cause he was kind of short and not my kind of man. But after he spoke to me later, the confirmation kept coming over and over again. So that was how I knew he was the one.
WiGRadio Team: And has Mr. Francis always been a gentle man indeed? any specific things you do to help keep the boundaries?*
Miss Sharon: Hunmm yes, I never knew he was this gentle on the inside, until our friendship started moving to our courtship. I don’t really understand the boundary
WiGRadio Team:So from your answers, you’ve known each other over 5 years now. What would you say has been the major key to your success? Is it just the leading of the Holy Spirit or are there human factors in play too?
Miss Sharon: The major key to our success was the Holy Spirit, and some human factors ordained by God for us.
Mr. Hephzibah: Both. We have both understood over time that success in relationships is 100% spiritual and 100% physical. We relate by the leadings of the Spirit and the guidance of the scriptures basically and we don’t joke with them. And these leadings prompt us to take physical actions to work on and with ourselves for improvements and betterment. It’s spirituality and intentionality.
WiGRadio Team: So you’ve been friends and courting for a while now, was there anytime you had a misunderstanding and felt like breaking off the relationship?*
Miss Sharon: No I don’t think there has been any kind of a misunderstanding between us that could have led to breaking off the relationship.
WiGRadio Team: Have you both had different views about a certain issue? If you have, how did you deal with it?
Miss Sharon: Yes we have had different views about issues but we deal with them with the help of communication between us and the help of our relationship parents, and also the help of the Holy Spirit, giving us the consciousness of ourselves every point in time.
Mr. Hephzibah: Yes, many. But some principle we’ve always applied are openness, flexibility and sincerity. We communicate a lot, so it makes things easy.
WiGRadio Team: Have you both met each other’s families? Do you want to share with us what they thought?
Miss Sharon: I have met his family and they were so nice to me and they accepted me sweetly. It was a beautiful experience with them.
Mr. Hephzibah: Yes, I met her parents and it was quite a long drama. The mother confirmed God had told her about me being her son in law over the years, but the dad saw me as too “extroverted” for his introvert favourite daughter. In the long run, _baba don gree o_ and he now tells me that I’m now his Son. 😄
WiGRadio Team: Being an extrovert and she, an introvert, you’re opposites in that aspect. So do you majorly believe opposites attract or like attracts like? Would you consider yourselves opposites or similar in other things apart from she being an introvert and he, an extrovert?
Miss Sharon: Yes we are similar in some other things apart from the introvert and extrovert thing, and also still different in some other things.
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Mr. Hephzibah: Well, I agree that our being opposites made it easier for us to compliment each other. Over the time, we’ve really blended our differences and in it, we discovered our similarities. Our core values about life and Christianity are the most similar.
WiGRadio Team: In this recent climate where everyone is always busy, how do you 2 stay connected? How often do you keep in touch? Do you have a favourite movie to watch together? Go on dates? What’s your favourite thing to do together?
Miss Sharon: We communicate mostly on our phones, and meet at times, and our favourite things to do together are watch movies, eat together, and pray together.
WiGRadio Team: What are your favourite books of the Bible or favourite verses, if you will?
Mr. Hephzibah: We communicate a lot both on phone and physically.
Yes, we watch movies together, pray together, and even tried cooking and eating together. We go out on dates and even go to market together.
Miss Sharon: My favorite books are Esther and Nehemiah, because they both were highly favoured of God, the way God dealt with them was out of the ordinary.
Mr. Hephzibah: My favourite book is Colossians – highly instructional. Favourite verse is Proverbs 3.5-8.
WiGRadio Team: I love this. Trust in the Lord with all your heart…He will direct your path. Is this a central principle you apply to your relationship?
Mr. Hephzibah: It’s my central principle and it basically coordinates every other.
WiGRadio Team: How are the wedding plans going?
Miss Sharon: Stressful but sweet.
WiGRadio Team: Lastly, what part of your lives together do you look forward to most?
Mr. Hephzibah: Hmmm…it’s really time and energy demanding. But we’ve been coping well and even learnt more about making decisions together.
We are enjoying it, even though it’s with much anticipation.
Mr. Hephzibah: Hmm…our spiritual and ministerial lives, our sex life and all-round companionship.
Miss Sharon: I am looking forward to the ministry life and the sex part of course 🫣 And mostly, our family life – living together as one family and seeing our beautiful kids.
WiGRadio Team: Who do you think would be the strict parent in you two?
Miss Sharon: I think that should be me.
Mr. Hephzibah: My oga, Sharon.
WiGRadio Team: Do you have any advice for people who intend to go into relationships?
Miss Sharon: Yes, for people who would like to go into any relationship, my advice to them is that they should stay real with God. According to the watchword of this relationship – Prov 3 vs 5-8 –
When you are with God, everything is so real and perfect for you. You can’t be a lady without a good connection to God and you want to enter into a relationship; you might get brutalized in one way or the other but if that connection with God is there, you will enjoy unending sweetness.
So staying connected with God and being real with God, are keys.to opening unending sweetness for any relationship.
Mr. Hephzibah: Yes, yes! First, sort out your relationship with God before even thinking of embarking on a relationship journey with the opposite gender.
- The will of God is still real and accurate.
- That someone is the will of God doesn’t mean that everything will work out by itself. “Will” is the foundation, you and your spouse are the builders.
- Work on yourself first, because you’ll only attract someone like you.
- Stay flexible and yet, firm. Be ready to move with time, but live by the leading of the spirit always in alignment with the scriptures.
- Treat everyone rightly as you desire to be treated.
- Don’t live by what you’ve heard as an African Christian and man/woman, but by the principles of the KINGDOM.
And also, when you know God and have that connection, it doesn’t stay there. You have to work on yourself both inside and out, it doesn’t just start from somewhere: all it takes is willingness.
WiGRadio Team: Do you two see yourselves writing a book in the future because these answers are deep and instructive.
Mr. Hephzibah: Wow! We still spoke about this today. We would love to.
Miss Sharon: Hunmm, I am flexible to anything God would have us do.
WiGRadio Team: Thank you both so much for doing this with us. Do you have any last words before we wrap up?
Mr. Hephzibah: We really appreciate you.
Yes, in everything, please put God first, always!
Miss Sharon: Thank you so much for the privilege. With God you can never get it wrong.
