HERE'S 25!

It's my birthday!!

Hey there! How are you doing on this auspicious day? I hope you're doing fine, and if you aren't, please let the fact that it's my birthday cheer your heart and give you joy.

Welcome to today's gist.  

If you've been here for a while, you'll already know that my birthday is an extremely special day and I always try to be intentional about having a grand time on my birthday. This year was of course no exception. 

So you already know I'm in Law School, believe me when I say nothing prepares you for the rigour and strain that this place puts on you; no matter how many times you're told, no matter the measures you take, you will definitely find that law school is an entirely different ball game. So coming here, I've been under quite a lot of pressure, both the one I inadvertently put on myself and pressure from outside of me. Adjusting into the system took a while and I must say the adjustment process took quite a toll on me. 

And as my birthday approached, I was so apprehensive, I didn't think I could be fine enough to really enjoy my birthday and I was going to be turning a milestone age so I really wanted to be able to fully appreciate the day when it came, and in doing that, I put more pressure on myself and made myself all the more miserable. But God being God, did His thing. When it was 7 days to my birthday, the first thing God asked me to do was to write down all the things I was grateful for in the past 359 days (at the time). I didn't want to do that at first, I mean I had a lot of complaints and requests to make instead. But I obeyed, and I'm glad I did!

You see, as I began to list the things that God had done for me, the attitude of my heart changed and my posture shifted, I began to see all the things that I had forgotten about that God had done for me and I began to really mean the thanks I was giving. There were requests I made last year that felt like tall orders, even me that was writing them didn't exactly believe they could come to pass but you know what God did? He shocked me! He answered even the prayers I had forgotten that I made! And with that posture change in my heart, I was instantly ready for the new year, because I believed once again, that my faithful God will definitely not let me down and as you may have guessed already, that was what inspired last Thursday's gist.

I'm 25 years today! Sometimes I look at myself and I wonder what happened to that 16 year old girl and how she has become this woman I now see. I know without a doubt that I've been helped incredibly by God. In the last 366 days I've grown in ways that I'm not even sure I ever contemplated, the amount of "I don grow ooo" that my sister has heard from me is a lot because I've seen and can appreciate how far I've come and I know that only God could have done it. 

I've had the most amazing day! Birthdays always have a way of humbling a person but today's birthday? It takes the chart! I read messages from people today and I wondered if I was the person that was being referred to; to see how loved I am has been mind-blowing! I've received more love than I think I deserve today and I'm grateful for everyone that has taken the time and made the effort to make today special for me, it means the whole world to me. I'm humbled by your love and I'm honoured that you would want to celebrate my birthday with me. Thank you so much. Plus, CLASFON sang happy birthday to me in fellowship today and it was wonderful 😊😊. 

So, here's to my 25th year. This year I am deciding to abide in God completely and totally and move only as He carries me. It's the beginning of my best year yet, and it's a new season for me. I'm excited to take you all along with me, sit tight and enjoy!

NLS HOT GIST: I almost didn't want to do this but I say na lie. Of all the days for us to have water and light madness on this campus, today's the worst day for that to have happened: we woke up without light and water and when the light eventually came it was only for a little while and we still had no water, and the day was unbearably hot! Thank God sha, we now have stable light and we had water too for a while. So e no spoil my birthday. 

Thank you for staying with me on this gist, see you on Thursday. 

Love,

Achenyo.