#LettertoMyYoungerself-Glory Edozien

There are so many things I wish I could go back and tell myself! But since I cant, maybe I could tell someone else? Or even encourage myself today! Anyhoo…thats the point of #letterstomyyoungerself….to encourage and to reflect! We’ve published a few before on #IBG…see them here  …here and here….

This is likely to be my first of many…read and feel free to submit yours for publication to glory@inspiredbyglory.com

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Hi Glory!

No doubt you are probably reading this in between ice cream breaks or day dreaming about how different your life could be.

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is none of your day dreams, from primary or secondary school or even university come true. Not one. You don’t work in a bank and you aren’t in the who is who list of city people.

Here’s the thing about dreams. Sometimes they can be limited. Limited by our understanding of possibilities and narrowed by our frame of influence. You think you want something because you’ve seen someone else, maybe one of your cousins, have it. So you dream about what it would look or feel like on you. You set their lives as a yardstick for measuring your own happiness and become dependent on their approval for validation. So in a manner of speaking, your dreams are to become like them. So you forget about you. Forget about why God created YOU and what He wants you to do with the life He so carefully designed for you.

The only way for you to hear Him is for Him to break you. Break the hardened edges of your dreams until they are nothing but saw dust blown away by a whiff of air. And that is the good news Glory. The good news is that, today- as you write this, as each words push your fingers to punch each letter on this keyboard, you are typing as a broken woman. There is no part of you left, the bones that once held everything you hoped for and wanted have been ground to dust.

Remember the day you stood at the edge of the road and wanted to jump, the day you cried so much while talking to Elaine on the phone, your phone actually went bad? Or the day you broke down at the psychologists office? Remember? There was a purpose for all that pain. God wanted you to reach inside, deeper than what the world had told you, you ought to be, deeper than what any form of human validation could give and find yourself. So He kept you secluded. He kept you hidden in places no one had heard of and gave you trials that seemed uncommon. He covered you with sack cloth and made your skin like ash because He needed you to find another reason to live besides the superficial. He wanted you to find a different type of love, a different type of acceptance and build a new type of strength. Because He named you Glory for a reason.

I won’t spoil this letter with images of what the future looks like. I won’t tell you what you’ve done or the AMAZING new dreams or accomplishments you have. Nope. Instead I am going to tell you to be strong and trust your journey. Trust every tear that falls and every disappointment that tears at your heart. Believe that even though you are by yourself in that tiny room that you are never actually alone. Know that every prayer uttered has been answered in ways you never thought possible. That your dreams of yesterday are pebbles compared to the ones you have now.

That’s all you need to know now my darling girl. Yes you still cry but for completely different reasons.

Lots of love and laughter ahead

Glory!