| By Simyona Erica |
Dear Younger Me,
He never said it would be easy, He said He would be with you. But first, you will fall. This will be the first time you will encounter your dream. It will be when you least expect it, but you two will meet face to face. And it will be like getting something that you never knew you wanted, but somehow you now can’t live without. But fear will trap you and you will experience what it’s like to abort your dream. And this is when you will learn about forgiveness. But not right away. You will eventually learn to forgive others and more importantly, you will learn to forgive yourself. And I am sure you thought that you would drown in your own tears that first time you laid your dream to rest, but as fate would have it, your dream would visit you again. And the world would keep going simply because you would keep going.
And next, you will crawl. You will get a second chance to pursue your dream. And it will sound like the best news you have ever heard. But this time, you will miscarry your dream and this is when you will learn about surrender. It will feel like you have completely lost control and like life is happening to you instead of for you. But you have always been a fighter and this strength will help you navigate all of the soul-crushing times that are going to come. You may not know this now, but life is going to throw some pretty gut-wrenching curve balls your way, and no you won’t be able to dodge them all. But you will be able to get up again after each blow. Sometimes, God will drag you off the floor and other times He will let you lie there until you realize that you can do anything from the pavement. But the moment you decide to stand back up and lift your arms to an all-knowing presence and surrender to His plan and His purpose for your life, you will be able to place your feet back on the starting block and begin again.
And finally, you will stand back up. You will birth your dream into this world full of contradictions and this is when you will learn about faith. There will be those who try to steal your dream or curse you, but this time your dream will be protected by grace. And no my love, it will not be easy to finish this race. In fact, it will be downright hard. It will take every ounce of courage that you have ever had. And it will take all of the discipline that you can muster up to get up each day and ask, “How can you use me today?” Because living your life for Christ does not mean you won’t struggle. Remember, He never said it would be easy, He said He would be with you. And He alone is enough. You will stay the course, and you will finish the race as long as you remember, “It is finished,” in Him. You are enough and He has equipped you to stay in the race and write this next miraculous part of the story, the one where you get to birth new life into this world and explore this next chapter called “Redemption” because after all, we all deserve a second chance and sometimes even one more after that.
XoXo Simyona
About the Author: Simyona Erica is the CEO of WRITTEN THREE SIXTEEN’s intention-driven affirmation cards created to foster a limitless lifestyle (in Christ) and the online course, START TO FINISHED for women who are ready to finish the assignment that God has started inside of them by leveraging their stories for impact, influence
