July 21, 2026

We made it 🥳. It’s “we” at this point. I wouldn’t have made it this far without all of your encouragement. Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for being the best village. Today’s post is all about gratitude, not for how the last 365 days have gone, because my birthday is tomorrow 🥳, but for all that has been. I’m thankful for the highs, because God used them as confirmation that He’s with me. I’m also thankful for the lows because even in those moments, I see God’s hand steadily holding me through and carrying me. Today’s gratitude will be in five buckets Grateful to God:  This is not the cliché “Thank you, God” kind of gratitude but the deep-reckoning kind of gratitude that says, “It’s you, God, or nothing.” Thank you, God, for calling me by your name. Thank you, God, for giving me a new identity. Thank you, God, for giving me a new name. Thank you, God, for guiding me. Thank you, God, for correcting me and bringing me to order. Thank you, God, for choosing me. Thank you, God, for ordaining me. Thank you, God, for providing for me. Thank you, God, for showing me the wonders of your word. Thank you, God, for making me a voice. My gratitude list is endless. I’m eternally grateful to Him who does not relent in His love. Grateful to Family: I haven’t seen my immediate family in 11 years, but gosh, am I grateful for them. I’m grateful for their love that carried me through in difficult seasons. I’m thankful for how proud they are of me. I’m thankful for the strong bond of love that God has forged in us. I’m thankful for how we show up for one another. It’s the one thing I feared would dissipate as we grew older, but it has even grown stronger. I’m thankful for my mum and my siblings. I’m thankful for my dad, even though he’s no longer with us. The lessons I learned from him are still carrying me through. I’m thankful that I know that no matter how bad it gets, I can run back to my family and they will have my back, no questions asked. Thank you, Jesus, for sending me to the Newton Family. I’m forever grateful Grateful to Friends I lucked out on this one; I’m not going to lie. God saw my journey and sent the best people to me as friends. I don’t take it for granted, and God Himself is very quick to correct me the moment I’m beginning to slack off on a friendship. Friends that I can count on, friends that have my back. Friends that I can be vulnerable with, friends that cover me. Friends that bring out the best in me. Friends that are able to call out my nonsense. Friends that I plan to grow old with, so help me, God. Thank you, Jesus, for sending me these precious ones. Thank you for the bond of friendship that you have forged in my friendships. I will continue to cherish them as the treasures that they are, and I promise to always give my best to them. Grateful for my season: I needed to write this one here as a memoir to God that I am grateful for this season. Those particularly close to me would understand why, because they have a front-row seat to all that has happened. Yesterday, I was in a moment of reflection, and I was grateful for what God has forged in me. I had written in a post about how God came quickly to correct my stiff-neckedness and how that correction allowed me to take a different posture. I’m so grateful that He corrected me early and I heeded. I was watching a Mount Zion movie one time. I can’t even remember the name, but it was a scene where someone was waiting for a promise, and another was consoling and encouraging them, saying how we wait matters to God. God will eventually bring to pass what He promised, and the man was saying something in the line that when it happens, I want to know that I waited with joy and with purpose. Gosh, that stayed with me, and it further confirmed my determination to enjoy my seasons. You know, I’ve asked God a few times if I’m doing and learning everything I’m supposed to be doing and learning in this season. I might not have done all or learned everything, but as I reflect today, I’m extremely grateful for the joy, the resilience, and the heart that I have carried in this particular season. It was not always so, which makes it extra special. I’m thankful for the growth this season has shown me.  Grateful for my journey: One of the requests I got was to write a letter to my younger self. Yesterday I started writing it, but I couldn’t continue because I wasn’t ready to confront some parts, and I also felt like the letter wasn’t finished. Maybe I’ll get to it sometime. My journey has been an interesting one full of twists and turns, but as I look back, I can see God’s hands clearly over my journey. In the peaks, in the valleys, in the turns that didn’t make sense, and even in the mistakes. It’s the reason why God will forever be God for me. I have a running joke that when I get to heaven, I’ll give God some exam paper to answer all of my “why” questions. But even at that. God couldn’t have written the story any better, especially when some of those chapters didn’t make sense. I listened to a panel session a few years ago, and something one of the panelists said has not left me. He said it’s because we’re reading the story of Joseph or David now in its entirety that we know that things ended well for them. Joseph and David, as they