During the 2012 crossover vigil, I remember my pastor saying “In the (mystic) world, 13 is associated with bad luck, and many such events will happen this year but this will not be so for us children of God.” (Paraphrased)
He was right; accidents on land and air, terrorist attacks, wars/conflicts, strikes, and all, occurred this year. But God’s grace abounded to my family and I: divine protection, provision, good health/divine healing, journey mercies, academic/career excellence, favour, fruitful friendships, to mention but a few.
“Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no-one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.”– Psalm 40:5
2013 has to be my most interesting year so far. Many dramatic experiences that I never imagined would happen to me did happen; sometimes I’d feel thrilled, like I was a character in a book or movie, sometimes I’d feel dejected, like Fate was playing tricks on me. I went through many new experiences this year, the major one being that I got admitted into the university in March. The day before the session began, my elder sister got married. As I was packing my stuff in the evening, I was just crying, thinking of how much I’d miss her, and how suddenly my life was changing.
So many things changed this year! And I’m thankful to God for giving me the grace to adjust.
I’m thankful to God for keeping me through unfavourable, difficult times. On January 4th, I had a hurtful experience (that formed the basis for my story). I cried so much, thinking: “God, this wasn’t the deal we had, why did you let this happen to me so soon?”
But it was only a lesson preparing me for tougher exams, and God healed me quickly. I remember when I printed my admission letter from the JAMB website, I saw “Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education” instead of “Obafemi Awolowo University”. I was in so much despair, kept on wondering what went wrong since I had filled my form correctly. But I thank God that didn’t stop me from starting school this year. There was this time I passed out during a prayer meeting at school, I fell facedown and had lacerations all over my face. I’ve never felt so terrible and ugly in my entire life. People kept on offering me pity and it made me feel worse. But God healed me so soon and no ugly scars remained. Yes, this year was about emotional healing!
I don’t even need to talk about the boy drama and conflict with parents every teenager faces. You can imagine. I survived all that, Halleluyah.
I had good moments this year, thanks to all the beautiful people who showed me so much love. Apart from my family, every other significant person in my life came in this year. And I’m so grateful to God for them.
2013 was a year of going deeper with God. I got so much spiritual knowledge and insight and the Holy Spirit taught me a lot! I wasn’t as consistent as I wanted to be, there were many moments of rising and falling. There were times Jesus and I were intimate lovers, there were times we were just acquaintances. There were times my imperfection came between us, I’d fall into sin and break His heart (Wait…Jesus has a heart right? Not the one that pumps blood, of course) Still He loved me and showed me mercy and favour! It was and is so amazing!
2013 taught me to wait so much. Being an indifferent person by nature, sometimes I didn’t care. Sometimes, I did. It taught me patience.
I made foolish, reckless choices this year, to be honest. Made mistakes and caused myself pain. I am not proud of them but I’ve come to see them as necessary, though avoidable, experiences that taught me priceless lessons I may not have learnt otherwise. I don’t have time for regrets! God’s mercy has covered them. 🙂
I wrote a lot this year— this blog bears the testimony— and I’m thankful to God for constant inspiration!
I believe this year would have been more purposeful for me if I had been more serious with goal-setting and all, so that’s the first lesson I’m taking into 2014.
Finally, I discovered more about myself this year— Like realising my dominant temperament is Phlegmatic and not Melancholy (._.) — and I can say I’ve grown. I love myself and I am proud of who God made me to be.
Now I’m just reflecting and smiling with gratitude and joy in my heart, thinking “God, deal with me severely if I don’t become wiser in 2014.”
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures for ever.”- Psalm 136:1
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