Posts in Life Diary

2018 Life Update (3); Libraries, Retreats and Expensive Photographers.

Life Diary

Hello guys.
It’s about time for another life update post. I’m however tired of my previous format so I’m switching it up.
The discussion is on Faith, School and Photography.
School
There’s a library membership I registered for last year. The subscription is to be renewed financially every session. It was wonderful using it last year because the place is very serene and homely.
I hadn’t visited the library since this session started. Oh, I did once. Today’s the second time. I’ve missed this place. It has an effect of taking my mind off my daily routine. I’m glad that I’m back.
Still on the subject of school, my faculty is yet to release the approved project topics for we finalists this session. Everyone is asking. The delay is unusual and the first semester is almost over. I know we’ll be fine eventually. You won’t believe I still second guess the project topic I chose. I’ll keep you guys posted as the days wear on.
Photography
I think I’m due for new pictures but I’m not prepared for this entrepreneurial revolution of high prices. Let me explain:
I wrote this to my photographer friend on Sunday night:
So, this girl doesn’t have any professional picture. None for LinkedIn.
None for any publication she might submit.
None for her blog’s bio.
This girl doesn’t have semi-formal pictures. None for her blog posts which bloggers love to have.
This girl’s only photographer friend (she’s amazed at this by the way), is not interested in doing business. Since 2015 sef.
This girl has a classmate who took a beautiful and simple studio picture. This girl asked her classmate to link her up.
The photographer sent this girl a price list and this girl has been wondering if she won’t give up on the photographers of this generation for good.
You people that have photographer friends that take you pictures up and down, you are enjoying o. Enjoying a lot.
It started during my last birthday in September. Just two days before it, I thought “let me take some pictures sef” haha. It shocked me out of my wits.
come see problem. Problem problem. It makes me wonder; is it that the prices of the cameras they buy are so huge that they must make big profits out of each contract(I actually know the cameras and gadgets are expensive)? Or they get so few customers that the ones who approach them must be used as atonement for the bad business days?
Just a student here. Aren’t there photographers with good quality cameras that support the cause of students?
I’m just a student who doesn’t believe in using all her money on herself.
So Photographers, educate me.
Faith
I had a beautiful all-house retreat time this past weekend. It was enlightening. It’s actually a program organized by the assembly of all fellowships on my campus, but I purposed before hand that it would be a retreat session for me so I came prepared.
Still on the subject of Faith, this is currently my favourite scripture passage:

But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the good news about the grace of God.
ACTS 20:24

Remember my post strong friend, it must move beyond theory to practical. When last did you tell someone the brutal truth?
Love and Light,
Debby

Hello Strong Friend.

Educative Life Diary

Hello precious people. Welcome back to this space. How’s life going? I really want to know, feel free to ramble away on how life is going in the comment box. I also advise you learn to journal some of your thoughts down, it helps to analyze your feelings. I don’t do so everyday but for the days that I do, it’s amazing.
Today, I’m sharing part of what I wrote down last year and I was suprised to re-read this year.
I wrote this sometimes last year:

God, I want to cry.
I so want to cry that I can’t type. I just want to cry on someone. For being so strong for so long, I want to cry. I just want to cry for everyday that’s gone by. I want to cry.
My lecturer cried in class today and it’s broken something inside of me, I just want to cry.
I got to IVCU fellowship office today, and in the outer office, I heard some of my friends’ voices inside. I didn’t want to go in because I would have to be strong in front of them.
Since when did that start? Friends you can’t cry in front of?
Friends you can’t break your walls in front of.
Am I like that to other people?

The structure of my campus fellowship’s office is basic: you step into a room, call it your reception area. Then there’s a door leading to a store by your right. Still in the ‘reception’ area, there’s a door in front of you that leads to what we often refer to as “the inner office” or inner court (in reference to the Jewish temple).
The walls are made of thin wood, and it’s really just dividing one big office. You can understand that the voices carry.
The context: That day, my lecturer had cried in class and it surprised me, surprised everyone. But it did something more to me, it made me want to cry. I had something to do at my fellowship immediately after my class and I hadn’t cried yet 😀.
Discussion: It’s alright if I didn’t want to break down in front of more than one person but the real issue was the thought that flashed by my mind making me think I had to be strong in front of people.
Strong. Strong? Who is strong please? Such a relative word. Truth is there is more strength in vulnerability than in ‘bold face’.

Since when did that start? Friends you can’t cry in front of?
Friends you can’t break your walls in front of.
Am I like that to other people?

The real question was whether I had friends who would turn away rather than cry in front of me. I’m not talking of general acquaintances. The few and deliberate friends.

Cornelius Lindsey, I referred to him in this blog post, put this picture up on instagram. A part of his caption says:

“To be the strong friend is a desirable position because it means you’re valuable and useful.
Unfortunately strength turns to weakness when it’s used without rest and replenishment. That’s why it’s important for strong friends to have true friends who s/he can be honest with when asked “HOW ARE YOU?”
So strong friend, don’t hide behind pride! Answer honestly for your own sake. I know you help others, but you need help too.”

It’s got two aspects. Check on your strong friends selflessly.
Two, allow yourself to be checked on. Don’t turn back. Go in. No pride allowed here.
There’s a saying that goes:

“Good friends never let their friends cry alone”.

I tell my friends ‘make me a good friend please, don’t cry alone’. Na beg I beg.
A problem shared is a problem half solved. Be deliberate about your friends. Don’t just let friendship happen to you. “We’re in the same group, so we’re friends; we work together, so we’re friends“. That’s cool on a surface level but you must have friends you can tell the brutal truth. Brutal, being the emphasis.
My message to you: Choose your friends, then trust them.

Truthfully,
Debby.
Go on ahead, how are you doing?

Beating Addictions; How to get out of despondency.

Life Diary The Christian Faith
  1. The loss of hope or confidence;despair or dejection.
  2. A feeling of depression ordisheartenment.


In this Christian race, how can we help each other? Scripture says to encourage one another while it is called today.
I genuinely want to help.
Addictions make you sink yet it’s cuts across almost everybody in one area or the other. Who would’ve thought self control to be a life saver? But it is.
That’s because it’s a fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5:22.

But the spirit produces Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, faithfulness, Humility, and Self-Control. There is no law against things such as these.

When you’re unable to apply self-control to that thing you do, you get addicted. Even to the littlest of things.
Addictions are almost always crippling and that’s because day 1, you make up your mind to beat/stop it but it doesn’t work. Day 2, you have a firmer resolve but in spite of it, you fall, even harder. Day 3, ahem. Day 4, why?! By day 5, the depression sets in.
If with all that effort, it doesn’t go away, what can deliver you? And you ask this not as one who’s never experienced the tremendous power of God. You have. That’s why you called on him for this addiction but no result.
You’re choking on the addiction. You’re losing your sense of what is right and wrong. You may randomly even wonder if the Christian life is for you or for some other fire guys. The walls are fast closing in.
When I despaired once, the scripture I kept replaying in my mind was :
Psalm 34: 6 (English Standard Version)

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles

I just knew- I just did, – that if I cried, he would hear me because its written in the scriptures. That was it. It was written, so I believed. It was my only hope.
So what do you often do when you despair?
Let your heart cry out to him and hold on to that rope of hope. Just hold on. Hold.
Ecclesiastes 9: 4 (New Living Translation)

There is hope only for the living. As they say, “It’s better to be a live dog than a dead lion!”

See? God’s word is the hope we have to find hope in the worst of times.
Sometimes its an eclipse; that’s why its all dark. His word says joy comes in the morning. It will surely come. Has his word said it? That’s all. Confess the word of God that you’ve read. Reach out to a friend to pray with/for you. Just open your mouth and speak to God about how awful everything is.
It will rain.You can be certain of that. And you would be stronger for it when you rise. Your faith would’ve built up some muscles.
Let your heart reach out to him. Hold on to your hope.
Ps 36: 4(New Living Translation)

In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles.

And my e-mail address is always open for discussions.

What has been your story on losing or finding hope? Struggling with addictions?
Hope and Light,
Debby.

My Parable of the parable.

Life Diary The Christian Faith

Guys, read this:
Luke 15: 8-10

“Or what woman, having ten [silver] drachmas [each one equal to a day’s wages], if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and look carefully and diligently until she finds it?
9And when she has found it, she summons her [women] friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the silver coin which I had lost.
10Even so, I tell you, there is joy among and in the presence of the angels of God over one [[e]especially] wicked person who repents ([f]changes his mind for the better, heartily amending his ways, with abhorrence of his past sins).

I now understand the parable of the lost coin better. I’ll explain.

Two weeks ago I wrote something important in this big notebook in the picture. A week later, I needed to use the information. I couldn’t find the book. I was surprised. I wasn’t careless with it at all. I was even sure it never left my room. Still, I didn’t locate the book. Life went on without that information.
.
Early this morning, while preparing to go with a group of people for a conference, I began to search for “the parable of the dollars” in that picture. I bought this book three weeks ago. I read the preface and was happy it’s a loaded book. I hoped to read it later. Today would’ve been the ‘later’. I’d just read it when I’m less busy during my outing.
.
However I couldn’t find the book. A complete mystery. I searched my book pile over and over again. It was obviously not there but my eyes would not receive that report. My eyes kept going over each of the books. It troubled me a lot. I can’t lose my books. I didn’t give it to anyone. Where is my new book?
.
I recieved a call that the group I was to go with was ready. I left unsatisfied and the first thing I told my friend when I saw her was “I can’t find my book”. That was my preoccupation for a long time. My missing book.
Tonight, I searched again. Still missing from my book pile. Then I got on all fours and pulled out a drawer of another completely different set of books.
Finally, both of these books were buried under those books.
.
I rejoiced. The first thing I did was take a picture and type to the same friend on whatsapp “I’ve found my books”.
Then I understood.
If scripture says the woman lit up a lamp, took a broom and swept everywhere carefully and diligently until she found the lost coin, then it must be true.
She didn’t think “I have other coins“. I also didn’t think “I have other books”. I didn’t say this book is worth just a little amount and I’ll replace it. I did everything for it.
One book but every one book matters to me.
One soul but every one soul matters to God. When I found it, I, immediately in a spirit of merriment, took a picture and sent it to my friend. I was in essence saying come and rejoice with me. Again, I’m telling you all, come and rejoice with me. I’ve found my missing book that matters to me. I’m serious.
But beyond that, does the whole of heaven really do what I did? Does the host of heaven go down all all fours, digging and digging and digging for one soul? Searching for “just” one sinner?
Did they do that for me? Are they doing that for you or for that person you love?
Wow.
Wow.

And what’s up with this rhyme, people? The book is “the parable of dollars”, in reference to the story of the parable of talents in the bible.
The story I quoted in the post above is the parable of the lost coin. My own experience is the parable of the lost book. 😊
Please rejoice with me. And forever remember how interested heaven is in you and yours. Just remember all fours!

Chronicles of a bored and tired girl || Same Same Same

Life Diary Non-Fiction

Same people, same routine, same environment.
21 May 2018
16:33

I’m a bit on a low. I guess I am tired. Tired of University. In need of a fresh perspective to life. Away from the boring routine.
I’m starting to think I should get myself out of the pressure.

Beware of generating pressure instead of impact.
-Bishop oyedepo

If the academic calendar were run smoothly, I would be going to Law school this November but that isn’t possible any more. The school year wouldn’t be over by then. My mates and I are going next year.
For a while that worried me so much (my thoughts: I want to stop schooling already. Why would I go to law school next year, then still be there into 2020?!) and I whined. I just had to tell myself to snap out of it. How easy is it for us to dwell on the not-so-positives? Sometimes the circumstances aren’t negative, they simply clash with our ideas of utopia.
Staying in UI since 2013( actually 2013 session but we resumed in 2014 due to strikes) is bound to take its toll someday. Same people. Same environment. Same routine.
I’ll explain.
Same people.
No offence to all my loved ones. You guys know you’re the absolute best. It may not show on my face everyday but I’m a sucker for good friendship and when I get attached, I get attached. I love you guys.
But help! Lol. I need fresh perspectives behind fresh faces. Just help. I guess I’m starting to realize (took me so long eh) that I’m not a social person.
My friend Chizaram in the past six months or so has gone for two international conferences and rubbed minds with other law students, lawyers and important people. Thats amidst other adventures I know she has had outside of that. Your home girl on the other hand… Now, were I to have been at those conferences, I strongly doubt I would have made friends as easily as she did(I mean I’ve seen pictures. Lol. how do you get to take a dozen care free pictures with not one, not two, not five people in the space of a week for each of the conferences).
I’m not afraid of introductions or initiating conversations, no. Its just that small talks don’t cut it for me. Big talks do. And you just have to appreciate that not everyone is capable of having big talks. So there goes my meeting lots of people!

Same environment.
If I were to be a loose talker, I’d have started this part with: oh shoot me. Lol. I didn’t say that though. It’s the same places over and over again. I only gave you my three types of mornings right? I didn’t give you a breakdown of my day.
Its predictably uninteresting.
That’s not to say I don’t do any interesting things but I guess I have more interesting moments from what I read or watch on my phone and laptop than where I go. That has to change, or what do you say?
I’ve stayed in a private hostel since 200 level and it’s the same feel. The same room. The same curtains. The same type of table and wardrobe! The same entrance.
Left to me, I would have added spice to my personal apartment; Introduced plants, bought new wall art, switched up the arrangement to become airy and minimalist.
But, it isn’t left to me.
Same faculty. Same Chapel of the resurrection(where my fellowship holds services), same hostel.
Same routine.
I think I’ve pretty much explained this already.
What next?
I would say okay, every Friday or Saturday, I’ll go with a friend to some new place in town, but *weeps*, that’s money. A lot of money. Because the new places that I have in mind are high-end places. Every weekend?
You see now guys, you see why I’m tired? Why I’ll like to get called to the bar, work and earn?
Okay, this is a positive post so we’re cool.
😀😀It just feels good to let that off my chest.

If you have suggestions, let me know o. Or if its an all expense paid trip to some high-end place, I’m also interested. On a serious note, that’s why you guys rock. You’re a different world for me. Thank you for constantly reading what I write. My pen owes you.

“Readers are not sheep, and not every pen tempts them.”

-Vlamdir Nabokov
(A quote you should know if you’ve visited my about me page).
Flowers and newness,
Debby.

My Three Types Of Mornings.

Life Diary

Hello people. Debby here again and we’re in a new space!
DebbyHub it is.
Soooo, today’s post is basically a lifestyle one that gives an example of my three types of morning.
I got the inspiration from Eureka naija.
P.s: Expect a post on Wednesday. This girl here is about to have an additional day for publishing posts. Twice a week. Saturdays and Wednesdays.
Enjoy.
The perfect morning.
1. Wakes up by 5:30am.
2. Stretches.
3. Has quiet time with God.
4. At 7:00am prepares 5-20 minutes meal
5. 7:10am Gets the bag packed and bed laid.
6. 7:20am showers
6. 7:30am scrolls through whatsapp messages, sometimes bbc news and emails (while eating).
7. 7:50am Calls a cab and heads to class.
Imperfect morning.
1. Wakes up 6:30am
2. Has quiet time with God
3. At 7:10am Prepares and eats cereal/ slices of bread.
4. 7:20am Showers
5. 7:30am spends impossibly confusing time deciding what to wear and getting the lipstick right.
5. 7:45am hurriedly lays bed, packs bag and calls a cab.
6. 7:55am runs out of the room for the day.
Oh-what-have-i-done morning.
1. Wakes up 7:00am
2. Stares at the alarm clock again
3. Prays and boils water for bath.
4. Realizes electric kettle didn’t work and tries again.
5. showers at 7:25am.
6. At 7:35am the world is a mess. No befitting clothes or shoes. Bad hair day.
7. 7:45am straightens bed, clears work surface.
8. 7:52am stuffs belongings into bag and sprints out of room.
8. Walks till a bike is in sight.
9. Gets to class 8:10am.
If you’re new in the blog, I’m currently a 500level law student at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. I wrote this with my 8am classes schedule.
So what do your three types of mornings look like? Give a summary of if in the comment section or if you’re a blogger you can do the same blog post and give me a tag, I’ll like to know.
😘
Love,
Debby

2018 Life Update (2)

Life Diary

Currently at: A picnic organized by the youths of my church to commemorate our fellowship’s anniversary.
Thinking: about maturity. If I say it has nothing to do with age, that would be extreme. But age doesn’t define maturity at all.
Eating: nothing at the moment. I just ate rice though. One more thing, guys, I love oats and considering the whole world has been saying it’s one of the healthiest meals you can eat, I’m pumped. One thing though, I need interesting ways of preparing my oats. I’ve seen too many good pictures of awesome oats on the internet. So I want berries and almond nuts and other fruits. Enough of plain oats and milk.
Pondering on: the situation of Nigerian youths. Hmm. My thoughts on this one needs processing before its made into a blog post. This space wouldn’t take it.
Reading: too many things. I just abandoned one book on accents ( you say potato). It didn’t turn out to be what I expected – it has too much details on the phonetic symbols. Its oral English all over again and guys, that’s water under the bridge. Secondary school issues. If you want to teach me on accents, make it interesting please.
Another book I’m on is “The fall of babylon“. “Mere Christianity” by C.S Lewis too. Those are the books im reading amidst several articles.
Wanting: new friends. I’d really love to meet new minds. Help me. Emphasis: new minds.
Listening to: Reckless love. You just may be dissapointing the blog family if you’ve still not listened to this song. I referred to this song in my last life update. It’s real. I may start up a play list segment on the blog to let you know the songs I’m loving – still a probability.
Encouraging you to: Develop yourself. No one will do it for you.
For another encouragement, watch this video. It’s just seven minutes, thirty one seconds and I think it would do you nothing but good!
Guys, while you’re here, read old blog posts. 😀
Love you.
Debby.

Casual Catch up

Life Diary Non-Fiction The Christian Faith

Hello people.
How are you on this side? I’m well. I couldn’t put up a post last week because I was on an easter outreach at Benin republic. Read about it here.
I could’ve roamed my sim card, but there’s no use browsing at all during an outreach. Let’s focus on winning souls for Christ.
I had earlier tried to schedule a post but it didn’t work out.
I’m on my way right now to another outreach. This one is a medical outreach which holds once a month. It’s a return trip.
How have I been? Very well.
You? I’ll love to hear in the comment section.
Nothing much for today, this is only a casual blog post chat.
A life well lived as someone said isn’t just one that fulfils purpose but one that leads others to fulfil purpose.
One thing I know is when you are fulfilling your own purpose, you’re in a sense leading others to fulfil their purposes. There’s so much distraction today and when we find that one person dogged in their vision, we are motivated to keep to ours too.
In other words, be the best verion of yourself that you can be. Shine that light.
P.s: This is one of my shortest blog posts ever(I really don’t know why I often write epistles). Which should lead you to reading previous blog posts that you’ve missed by scrolling through the categories at the top of the page.
Warmest regards,
Debby.

2018 Life Update (1)

Life Diary

Hello.
I try not to get too consumed in other blog plans, so as to leave out updates on my life.
Sometimes though, I do not know how to succesfully pass across all I’m going through. Sometimes, I do not even know how to blog. Do we ever really know how to do some things? Expertise may just be a hoax.
Reading: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. I’d heard good noise about this on the internet since it got published. I hope to review it someday.
Also, I’m re-reading Daughter of Destiny. It’s the only authorized biography of Kathryn Kuhlman. I told an old friend recently that I try to re-read that book every year. I vividly recall something I heard Bishop Oyedepo say in a message I listened to. He said he re-reads Kenneth .E. Hagin’s books every year because that is a huge part of his faith origin. Every year, the busy bishop Oyedepo, much older than I am, makes out time to re-read the same books and read others. Obviously what you focus on, shapens your life. If there is a book which marked a significant turning point in your life, you can make a yearly commitment to it. 
Thirdly, I’m on Living as a Christian by A.W Tozer. I love A.W Tozer’s style. He is that familiar uncle I never met. I don’t mind going over a chapter repeatedly.

Wanting: My own apartment. I like having my own space a little too much. I told my mum that someday, I’ll really love to have my house before I get married. A place where I can just customize. Preferably a minimalist setting, with lots of awe-inducing wall art.
Right now, I love my roommate but I get bothered about the issue of space. Isn’t it okay to just have my things the exact way I want them to be – unruffled?
When I do reflect, I think it just goes to show my personality and a weakness in that personality. Life is in sharing. People won’t always have the same priorities I have. Therefore, if I have to sweep four times a day because I do not like any dirt, well then, so be it. Sweep, and live out my current personal apartment-less life.
Wearing: New lipstick occasionally. Make-up is as much a mystery as it is a controversy in some circles. In some other circles, it’s just feminine, nothing attached.
Having: daily battles with my flesh. Sometimes, I will do every other thing but pray. Every other thing. No matter how many spiritual things you do, if you do not pray, you’re cheating yourself. When I say pray,I do not mean collective prayers but personal. 
At a group retreat recently, someone made mention of the reason why some people pray saying “the God of Babalola, the God of Adeboye“. Those ministers have personal spiritual ‘net-worth’. This isn’t about the communal anointing that occurs when we gather to pray. Rather, a personal spiritual weight harnessed in the place of prayer.
Eating: fruits of late, because something has to work atleast.  My plan was to prepare lots of food at this period and store them. I had plans to make soups but I can’t, because, erratic power supply. In other words, I’ve been missing my African dishes. *cue dramatic sigh of a Yoruba girl*
Missing: Family trips.
Hoping: For an audible subscription from a friend. Lol. Hoping for a Cassie Daves blog planner from a friend.
Listening: To nothing much of late. My phone isn’t reading my memory card currently so most of my songs have been out of reach. My favourite song of late is Reckless Love by Steffany Gretzinger. It’s a Bethel music song.
I also miss listening to audio bible.
Trying: to tie together this thing called adulting. Making decisions. Being taken seriously. Being looked up to. Working.

Encouraging you: to stick to one thing like a postal stamp, until you get there.
Well, that’s what I saw as a quote somewhere. Your life encourages people with the littlest of things sometimes. There is someone on instagram who encourages me with her huge love for dogs. Imagine that. She is just living her life, loving dogs, yet she inspires someone. It gets as simple as that. I’m here making sense of this blogging thing in the midst of a thousand and one confusions and then occasionally, someone tells me of how the blog is a blessing to them.
 I think doubt surely follows any good thing. In an article I read on Zadie Smith(a writer) today, in answering a question on any secret techniques to coping with self-doubt, she admitted that:

” In the end, you just have to write and doubt simultaneously”

Don’t bother about the doubt accompanying what you’re creating,  just do it. Stick to it, like a postal stamp, until you get there. I know you will get there.
That does it for the day. Thanks, see you next week.
Love, adulting, prayers,
Debby.
Can you relate to something I shared? How are you faring? Pray tell in the comment box.

Boarding House Reflections (3)

Life Diary Non-Fiction

Hello people. Thanks for sticking by. Here is the last post for this series. I’m hopeful for more blog series in the future. This was my remark at the start:
” This brief series of posts that will be coming up, is aimed at reflecting on the human thought process given a few years interval. Graduating from secondary school often brings a different perspective and fresh enlightenment. 
Same will probably apply in a few years from now. A change in thought process based on growth.“
 I trust you were indeed blessed by this. Thanks for the support. 
My letter:
************************************
Dearest Sparkles,
You’d never have believed I, of all persons, would forget that name “Sparkles“. Oh I did, not until much later when I either discovered an old book or an old friend called me by that name. I remember it used to be my cuteness signature. I’d take a friend’s notebook in their absence, open some page towards the middle, scribble “sparkles” boldly, then write below in a small font “when you see this, remember I love you and smile” or something similar to those words. They always did so – smile. On some random day, they’d get to that part of their note, see it and later come hug me and say they saw what I wrote and then we’d both smile. Big goofy smiles. How easy, right?
 A smile. In the years that follow, you would smile some more. Smile not so much because anyone did anything wonderful, but because you’ve learnt to find home in yourself. You do remember that at some point, mum and Dorcas told you you derrived too much pleasure from friends. You thought it was true even then. How couldn’t it be, with a heart as warm as yours? You’ve had your share of losses; friends being one, and you’ve learnt to smile and find joy in your being. In God in you, and not from friends.
Friends. Many of them. Boarding school drew you into personalities, both in junior years and senior years. You fought with friends and stood strong by them, loyal. You read each other’s diary entries. You also gisted long into the night, joining those in room5; you in ss2, knowing fully well you had boarding school routine and classes the next day while they in ss3, were free. You covered each other’s secrets because young as you were, you had secrets, however silly.
Secrets. It was no secret who your special friend was. Occasionally, I laugh, amused, when I recall how those silly juniors would chorus the refrain to the song call that was “senior Deborah,…” with “senior George is calling you!”. And Tosin, my roommate, wouldn’t stop teasing me.
I wouldn’t forget the launch into a fountain in which I now drink. I recall my gists with Patience, nights in which she would fill me in on every detail about the two guys who liked her. I contrast them with mornings with Tabernacle, Tabernacle who had a beautifully strange name. It’s etched somewhere in my mind, her saying “the day I was going to resume here, even though I knew the meaning of my name, I had to ask my dad again because I knew you guys would ask me“. Meeting Tabernacle, was my first encounter with a young person who really loved God. Tabernacle would dash my belief that I was faithful in my morning devotions (after all, I observed it about three or four times out of seven days compared to some other people). Hers was a daily fellowship. We were roommates not by accident. I remember the times I cried that I wasn’t very serious with God. I remember the times we spoke and the wisdom she demonstrated which was obviously beyond her years. I remember when she introduced room devotions on Saturday mornings (other than our cooperate hostel devotion. It was a Christian school) – an innovation which in retrospect, was a divine inspiration. I’ll like my daughter to blaze trails like Tabernacle. People came from the other apartment to join our room devotion. People from other rooms came to observe. Tabernacle didn’t always know that. Somedays, she only knew of her troubles that were inexplicable and she shared a lot. Blessed heart. 
This is why I’d tell my younger version that the world is much larger than it seems and things aren’t always as bad as they appear.
It’s great you share a lot, you’ll find that relevant in the years to come. 
Honesty and simplicity leave you precious in this dark and cruel times.
The gists you had about God were an investment into the jewel you are now. The gists you had about boys haven’t necessarily made the male folk easier to decipher. So why bother?
Debby, as you call yourself now, I love that you were daring and adventurous. It makes me happy you lived out your secondary school days. Days of horrific dancing, food exchange, borrowed items, young love.
I love you always, continue to learn with arms spread wide, the wind in your face. That evening stroll routine helps mental health. Like I always advice my younger sister, don’t miss watching the sunsets. In the few years that would succeed your graduation, you wouldn’t have so much opportunity to watch the Sun set, so don’t miss it.
Lastly, Sparkle!, because there aren’t two of you in this world.
Love, 
Big Debby.
N.B: The names used here are fictional substitutes.
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Hope January 2018 has been good.
As Always, I’ll love to hear your thoughts. Comment and share.
Love and Peace,
Debby.