A letter to my younger self….

First, I’d like to congratulate you on securing a spot in the undergraduate physiotherapy class of 2011. You know that was no small feat. The diploma days were a bit hazy because you spent 80% of it studying, doing assignments etc. You read and read and had no time to play.

I understand why you did that though, mummy had sold her car to pay the tuition, you knew you couldn’t disappoint her. And I’m super glad you didn’t. Finishing as the best physiotherapy diploma student that year, showed you that hard work pays.

It is amazing that you accomplished that while you had just started a relationship with a certain young man. Most people at that level can’t seem to concentrate on their books when they have an emotional attachment to someone…. Oh, but you’re not the regular undergraduate, you are quite older, and have experienced before the failure that accompanies sloppiness(story for another day).

I should let you know though that you’re going to break his heart, because you met and developed feelings for another guy. I know right now, you think you’re not doing anything wrong, but constantly spending time gisting, laughing etc. with a guy who is not your significant other, is a slippery slope towards an emotional affair (yes there’s something like that).

Thankfully you have chosen someone with more maturity than his years and he will prayerfully and skillfully win your heart back.

Let me tell you this outrightly, all those relationship books you kept buying paid off! I can applaud you for investing a lot of money and time into acquiring knowledge on courtship, sexual purity and marriage. The knowledge you acquired helped you choose right and build a strong and godly foundation for your marriage. Well done!

A few years from now, you will be struggling with saving sex for marriage. You never questioned why you should do that (thanks to the love of God and desire to please Him, which you had developed as a teenager). But you struggled with how to achieve this sacred goal you had set for yourself.

It will be no small battle, because you will have a long courtship(I know you plan to get married as an undergrad, looool, that won’t happen and you’d soon see why). You will pray, fast, read books, listen to sanctification messages over and again, simply to stay pure. And guess what baby girl, it’d be worth it!

It’d be oh so worth it. You will not only enjoy the beauty of marital sex because you waited for it, you will have acquired skills, skills you’d teach to others to help them stay pure too. And you’d be so fulfilled teaching and counseling others.

Wonu, serving God pays. You have experienced a little of that already, but you will experience it more in the coming years, especially in your final year as an undergraduate. There will be opportunities to serve God, jump at it, do not hesitate at all. Putting God first will put you first and yes, you’d finish with a first class. It won’t be in spite of the commitments to service you had, it’d be because of it.