Thanksgiving 102: Dear 23 Year Old Frances…

Dear 23 Year Old Frances,
Why are you all gloomy?
You call it reflection but is this really reflection? Reflection on what really?

 
You planned to go out to Erin Ijesha waterfall today, you didn’t.
You planned to instead go the stadium, talk to Daddy and listen for directions, you didn’t.
You planned to get a cake and go to the Correctional home for kids to celebrate, you didn’t.
Now you can’t even sing and say thank you to Daddy.
You are playing “this God is too good oh” but you can’t sing.
If you don’t want to see what God has done, I will remind you.
Remember that 16 year old girl who was almost raped because she didn’t have any wisdom?
Do you still see her in you?
Remember that girl who was in an abusive relationship?
Do you still see her in you?
Remember that girl who thought God couldn’t use her for anything good?
Do you still see her in you?
What do you see in you now? Be honest.

I see Jesus.
I see His life in you.
I see Him take you from the mire clay and turn you into a star for Him.
I see His purpose alive in you.
I see you living forth His purpose for your life and touching lives while at it.
I see you being called God’s somebody in the same place where you have been called a nobody.

I was going through your pictures from years back and all I could see is Jesus shining through your smile.
He is the life in you.
He is the one worth celebrating and He is in you.
He gave you life when you had none.
It’s been almost 5years of living in Him and today marks the start of another year in Him.
Hasn’t He been good to you Frances?
Do you need someone else to tell you this truth?
Hasn’t Jesus been awesome to you?
Hasn’t He been good? Too good?
Another year of living forth His purpose for your life is about to begin, and you know, it can only be better than the last.
So rejoice!
Throw out the works.
Tie your wrapper to Church tomorrow and dance like you don’t care.
Share your testimony with gratitude in your heart and when words fail you, let the tears roll… yes He sees those tears too.

 
I recently read your letter to your 21 year old self.
I also read your wishes for your 22 year old self and I know that the same desires in your heart in the year gone past still burns in you today.
That you will forever live in Christ Jesus.
That His lines of purpose will never grow slack in your life.
That you will run the race He has set you on till the end.
Last year showed you clear paths on the path of purpose God has placed you on and you should expect more this year.
And as usual, also expect God to provide for every journey/errand that He sends you on.
Fear not and ask no “hows”.
Whatever He says to you, may your answer forever be “yes Lord”.
Wherever He says, may your answer always be “yes Lord”.

 
And I prophesy upon your life:
You will always walk in the fearless Spirit that God has deposited in you.
You will blaze through seeming difficulties like they mean nothing.
You will endure the endurable even as you work for God and all trials on the path God has placed you on shall turn to joy.
The opinions of men shall never hold you back.
The thoughts of your Father shall your heart continually be fixed on.
You shall be a blessing to everyone who comes in contact with you and the children from your womb – both physical and spiritual shall call you blessed.
Lives will find their footing in Christ through you.
Hearts will be drawn to the God in you.
Through you, your family, friends, acquaintances and strangers shall be saved.
God’s work and word shall manifest in your life.
Your life in Christ shall never regress, rather where you are spiritually right now will be the least that you shall ever be.
Every year that you stand to celebrate another addition to your age will see you moving farther into God’s purpose and plan for your life.
You will not just grow in age but also grow in the wisdom and knowledge that God gives.
The world has nothing of its own in you.
You are not drawn by the world’s goods, you are drawn, fixed in and find pleasure in the kingdom’s goods.
The works of your hands are blessed.
Men and women are given unto you as helpers on your path of purpose.
Men and women yield to God’s tug on their hearts to help you on your God-given journey.
Strangers that you know not are raised by God to help you.
God-given provision abound towards you.
Your heart belongs to God and shall never belong to anyone who God doesn’t approve of.
When God finally brings your Adam to you, you both shall be a formidable army in the kingdom – shining God’s light, drawing others into the God in you both.
Your union shall bring forth a better him and a better you.
Your children shall proclaim God’s name in the next generation.
Their children also shall proclaim God’s name in the next generation and if God tarries, every offspring from your womb shall never grow apart from the Lord.
Your family shall all be saved through you.
God’s light in them shall shine as they live in Him. Everyone of their souls belong to the Lord. And they may not know it yet, but because you belong to the Okoro family, everyone of the Okoro’s soul rests in the Lord.
Their hearts are set on fire for Him.
They grow and never derail from the path that God has set before them.
None of them shall marry wrongly without God’s approval. And the tree of the Okoro family belongs to the Lord.

As for you Frances, stay fixed in the Lord.
He watches over you.
He watches over your every step.
He sees you in the darkness.
He sees you in the light.
His heart is tender towards you, and He loves you as His very own – the one whom He shed His blood for.
Let His sacrifice never go to waste in your life and as you grow, draw deeper and closer into Him.
Only in Him shall your light glow.
Only in Him shall you get to the heights He has pre-ordained for you.
You are not just a soul drifting through earth. God has called you in Him, for Him, to be in Him.
So stay fixed in the Lord, the lover of your soul, your husband.
Love Him like your heart can never love anyone else in the world.
Let Him be first in everything you do.
Live for Him and Him alone – for the audience of one.
When He says go, go in His name.
And when He says wait, wait on Him.

 
I know that you feel the loneliness of being in a distant place right now but you know that He took you away from the hustle and bustle for a reason.
That place is your building ground.
That place is your foundation.
And it won’t be long now, the hustle and bustle you will have to get in for me will need the foundation I am setting in place now.
Let not the words of men sway you, let me build you and build you in me.
You are the Lord’s Frances.
You are the Lord’s Frances…forever.

I know you will read this when you step into your 24th year and see the prophecies in this letter coming to life before your very eyes.
And even more than the words in this letter, you will know by then that indeed, eyes have not seen, ears have not heard what God has prepared for you from the beginning of time.

 
Remain in Him Frances.
Remain in Him.
Remain in Jesus, the lover of your soul.
In Him and Him alone will you find yourself and all that you are meant to be. And it is your Husband’s good pleasure that you grow into the full stature of what He has prepared for you.
So remain in Him.

 
Happy Birthday my Frances Oghenerukevwe Okoro.
Be not surprised if September 6th 2016 meets you with lots of changes – God-given-good changes taking place (and some changes already done before the year rolls by again).

Love,
22 Year Old Frances.

*****************************************
I am alone in my house, finally got around to thinking about my birthday tomorrow September 6th, and had no words to put what I was feeling into words.
I tend to slip into a reflective mode when it’s close to my birthday and I guess that that’s what caught up with me tonight.
I thought that the best way to get my heart to say what it truly felt was to put fingers to paper (or phone) and I was right.
The result is the letter you just read.
Everything up there just flowed as I wrote.
God’s message to me?
A message to myself?
A reminder to myself?
All of the above.
This I am sure of: God has been good and continues to be good!
My words cannot quantify it and nights like this I wonder what kind of life I would have been living if He didn’t save me. That is my biggest testimony because this Frances you see only lives because of Jesus.

 
Last year on my birthday, I asked you all to please pray for God’s will to be done in my life, concerning His purpose for me and the result of that prayer is still evident today.
This year I simply ask you all to prophesy great things into my life.
I don’t know how I started writing and pronouncing the words in my letter above, but as I wrote I knew that this is what I want everyone who reads this post to do for me.
Whatever is laid on your heart to speak into my life, please do. (only good and godly things sha oh.lol).

God bless you as you use the words of your mouth to bless my life.
Thank you.

Frances Okoro,
5th September 2015… for record purposes. Hehe.

P.S-If you desire to give me a gift (wink), you know where to find me 🙂

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