Today you turn 27 dear self.

I write this letter to you because as I often say, words are my love language and most common form of expression.

There is so much I can write to you and I am not sure I have an order I can write them in. I will however try as much as I can to phrase out what is in my spirit and heart unfiltered.

Every passing day keeps ushering you to your destiny. I know you have had hard seasons in life but if you look closely, the good seasons have equally been there. You are a warrior. You have not been swept by the waves for the years you have been alive. There are seasons that almost took you out I know. Guess what? You made it out with a testimony. God’s grace has carried you through. On His wings, God has hidden you.

As you turn 27 today, here are a few words I want to write to you on the eve of your birthday.

I am aware things have not turned out exactly as you wanted. You had a plan for life, hadn’t you? There is what you had wanted to achieve by now. I know you have not achieved everything but be glad you have achieved at least some of the things. You are not late in achieving the rest of what you have planned for your life. Here is something I want to draw to your attention dear self, there is what you have planned for yourself and there is what God has ordained over your life. More often than not, there is always a tendency to focus so much on what you want for yourself, that you forget to think and act on what God wills for you. That is one reason for frustration in life. Dear self, God’s will remains supreme and you have to trust Him because He knows what is best for you.

Proverbs 3:5-6 was your favorite memory verse growing up, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. In all your ways, acknowledge him and He will direct your paths. I can see you have not forgotten it a bit. Then you need to believe it. Relying and leaning on your own understanding will only end in devastation. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

The paths of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. You can trust Him.  His track record speaks for itself. In His own time, He makes everything beautiful.

The other day I was going through your high school diary and I came across your life plan. You had planned to do Law in campus. I know you went in to a career path very different from that. You had planned to graduate by 2018 and latest 2019 but you graduated in 2021. You had had planned to have done your masters by now, I know. Dear self, I know how much you had desired to have settled down, married and had children by now. As things have turned out, that may not be happening soon. You planned to be driving by now. All these are yet to happen but it doesn’t disqualify are the blessings that Lord has bestowed on you.

Dear self, give yourself time. Delay is not denial. You know your Bible and though it took long, God finally gave Sarah and Abraham the son of promise. Hannah finally got a prophet in her house. I could give you so many examples but you already know them. Do not be like Sarah who got weary of waiting for her promise that she took a short cut that later did not sit well with her. I know there is the pressure to conform and compromise but boy you have to stand your guard. I know you have compromised in some areas and I will talk to you about that as I write on but you now know better. Short cuts are costly.

Dear self, run your race with your own pace and in your own lane. I know you see your friends making great moves in life. Most of your peers have settled down having their families, enjoying good careers that may seem better earning than yours, driving good cars and enjoying life. Listen to me, you cannot live in other peoples’ seasons. That is their God ordained season and just because it came sooner for them does not mean yours is late. I know you are still figuring out life. I know your career has taken a very different turn from what you initially anticipated. This I can assure for free; God has you where He exactly wants you. You will eventually drive that car. You will eventually marry and have children. Your career will prove to be the best for you. Hold on to hope. It does not disappoint.

I know in your quest to figure out life for yourself, you have found yourself in spaces that you were not supposed to be in. As you turn over a new year, you have to forgive yourself. I know in the past year you have made mistakes. There is nothing you can do about that. Believe in the atoning work of Christ for you. Dear self, the worst kind of condemnation is not that which comes from the world but that which comes from self. Transform those places of mistakes. Let not them become the places of stagnation but places of learning and acting better in the future. I am sure you will not fail in those areas again. Refuse to! Hold your head high and walk in the forgiveness God has accorded you.

I know you have been hurt in the previous year by people you least expected to. You have to learn that hurt and pain comes from the sources you least expected. There are friendships that did not work out. That is okay. Betrayal is part of life. Christ Himself was betrayed by a person in His circle. There are people you had planned to do life with but that was cut short. You have to know that it okay to lose people along the way. I know this will not make you feel any better but, you will others as you continue journeying through life.

You have equally hurt people along the way dear self. There are people who had devoted themselves to being with you yet you failed them. I know you have excuses for this but you know better now. Never allow fear to break and separate you from people that really matter. Sometimes you have to be wise to know the relationships you have to fight for. Boy, never let your selfish interests come in between you and your friends. Try as much as you can to treat people honorably as they should be treated. Love everybody including your enemies. Don’t do people as they deserve to be done. Be the better man this year. I know you have apologized to the people you hurt but there is a level of trust once broken, cannot be rebuild easily. Do not hate yourself on that account. Learn to let go. There is really nothing you can do about that.

Boy I know you missed your wife.  Yes! You know what I mean. It was foolish what you did. Who does that? I am not sure it will work out ever again with her but now you know how to go about it next time. You saw what you saw and what you heard. You have to assure yourself you did not use it as leverage. Timing was wrong and you were still dealing with your own issues. You have to heal from that. Don’t carry the guilt in to the new year. Let this go and pray about it. If it works out in the future, fine. If it does not, prepare yourself for the one that God will bring along your path. That time, do better.

Dear self, congratulations.

Congratulations for writing your first ever book. You are now a published author. I know how fulfilling that is for you. It was a long way coming but you did it. This marks the many you will write. It can only get better. Keep investing in yourself in this new year and the yourself soaring to levels unimaginable.  I know you have been doing an awesome job with your social media posts. You have seen how transformative they have been to some people. That is one avenue of making change in the society. I know there could be the voice telling you to stop doing because the feedback is not massive but keep doing it for that one soul. It matters. In this new year, be consistent. Keep building your capacity. Keep preparing yourself.

Dear boy, remember that success is when opportunity meets preparedness. Keep building yourself. It might not make sense now but someday, it will.

Dear self, keep serving God with your gift. There is so much of a deposit God has put in you. Do not listen to the voice of the enemy. I know the past year has been hard for you spiritually. I know praying and reading the Bible have been an uphill task. Have you lost touch with God? No but things are not looking so good, are they? You have to serve God with the zeal and fervor before and much more. Disrupt the spiritual realm. You have to go back to the place of prayer. Do you not envy the days where God used to speak to you as you prayed, read the word and even in dreams? The devil is a discourager but you can not listen to him. He knows the kind of impact and change you are meant to bring on this earth. Groom your walk with God so that you can do exploits. Serve in church, go preach in those high schools, preach in the streets, preach on social media. Make noise everywhere. Be the disruptive change.

Remember the prophecy over your life. God has already confirmed Himself to you. The ball is on your side now.

Boy, there is so much I could write to you. Allow me to leave this at that because we are going to have continual conversations as we journey through 27. Incase you forget, you can come and revisit what we have spoken about in this letter.

Here is how I wanted to end this letter. I want to assure you of several things already written here. One, God’s will supersedes yours and you have to seek that will. Two, in His own time, God will make everything beautiful for you. Thirdly, serve God with your gift; disrupt the world. Fourthly, forgive yourself and forgive others. Lastly, be the better man this year.

Finally, dear self, I love you. I have always loved you and will always do. You are amazing. You are handsome. You are favored. You’re blessed. You are God’s masterpiece. You are God’s very own.

Happy birthday! Happy 27^th birthday. Go win, conquer and do exploits. The world is your playing field.

See you on the other side of victory.

Love,

BP Mwangi