There’s a story in the Bible that caught my attention while I was preparing to scribble this letter to you. It’s the story of Jacob. How he wrestled with a mysterious man at night. The fight was intense. He held the man and insisted on not letting him go until he was helped. It was a big struggle. But during the battle, he lost his stability because the man touched his hip socket just to escape his grip, he heard a loud sound, bang! and a dislocation happened. He started limping.
The Bible recorded the account:
"The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip."
That was where I got the title of this letter, ‘Walk on Your Limp’
I had a friend. Her name is BO. Brave, beautiful, gifted, outspoken, and fun to be with. She was the chef with the golden spindle, and the women who ran multiple ventures with twelve fingers. She sang in the choir, led a gospel band and devoted the rest of her time to being a twin of her only daughter. The backseat of her spacious car had different things, bags, shoes and bed sheets for sale.
Her face was always well made, her hair was always oiled, and her nails were always fixed in a beautiful way. She had an imposing figure and confidence that could kick down any door!
But she had a limp. A concerning health condition that required lots of money, prayer, endurance and faith to manage. There were money issues and the most heartbreaking? She had no partner to share the burden of raising her beautiful and fast growing daughter with. But you would never know unless you look into her pale eye that carried incisions of pain from her burden. She had faith and confessed positivity. I have never caught her confess negativity. She has had to leave her apartment because she couldn’t pay but she kept moving regardless of her limp.
Right within the storm, BO would organize concerts, attend programs, do rehearsals, pay instrumentalists, and house the homeless. She talked about her dreams like she was crazy. A woman with a big limp!
What is a limp?
A limp is a limitation, pain, restrictions, need and lack. It limits our mobility. It is the probable reason for not taking action if you allow it. There was also a man in the Bible who had a limp. That man by the pool of Bethesda. His limp kept him at a spot for 38 years! He had many limps. He was sick and immobile, and he also had no support.
Limps are painful! They attempt to keep people on a spot.
Poverty, lack, sickness, lack of access or visibility. Limps cause immobility.
The two stories I shared, both of Jacob and that of my friend, says one thing! Walk on your limp. Everyone has a limp. It might be different from each other but we all have a limp.
My friend struggled with hers. It was NOT easy but she carried on. Eye witnesses at Peniel also said that Jacob walked on a limp. We have to walk on our limp. For fifteen years I watched my father walked on his health limp. He fought and resisted that limitation until he finally went to his rest.
We will always have a limp!
Ministry was at the center of my friend's heart and she did it despite her limp till her last day. Jacob also limped for the rest of his life but he was renamed Israel after that wrestle. I know you have challenges. Some you could share, others you can’t but don’t give up on your dreams because you have a limp.
Find a way, pray, talk to people who can support, endure, trust God, have faith but don’t stop walking on your limp. Walk till the limp doesn’t feel like a limp anymore. Some limp go away over time. Some stay, unfortunately. But no matter what yours is, keep walking on it.
As I close, there’s only one prayer I have for you,
“God will take the limp away, but while we await a miracle, He will give you the strength to walk on it!”
This letter celebrates the life of my friend, Bola Mercy, who regardless of her enormous limp, walked till her last day here. May God rest her soul and comfort her family.
Have a great weekend and breakthrough from within.
© Abiola Iyiola, 2025
