Cheers to Thirty Years

Thirty.

Thirty years.

Three decades. 

Thirty orbits around the sun.

Thirty seconds of scrolling just to get to the “1994” option when virtually filling out my birthday.

Like, why is 1994 so far down?? It was only….a little while…ago?

I’m thirty. Crazy!

I know some people have mixed feelings about turning 30.

Personally, I almost feared it for a while.

I faintly remember entering my twenties, not a care in the world about thirty.

I dimly remember turning twenty-five and thinking, woah–I turn thirty in five years.

I vividly remember year twenty-seven. That’s the year it started to get real.

That year I clung tight to my twenties like a toxic relationship.

I didn’t want to let go. Then, I got married, and suddenly, twenty-eight arrived and departed swiftly. Before I knew it, twenty-nine made her entrance.

And if I can be honest, I began to panic a bit. And a flood of thoughts came…

“Did I get enough done in my twenties?”

“Do I need to change my style? Is it 'mature'?”

“Do I have enough money saved?”

“Have I accomplished my personal goals?”

“Do I have the solid group of ‘life-long’ friends secured?”

“Should I go back to school?”

“Have I eaten healthy enough?”

“Is God pleased with the last twenty-something years of my life??”

“How many kids can I get in by age thirty-five??”

“Did I even enjoy my twenties to the fullest???”

Trust me, I know it was a bit overboard.

I had to consciously quiet my inner thoughts and embrace God's peace because I was just a left turn away from potentially spiraling into an existential crisis.

But since then, my mindset has completely changed. 

I sat and took a deep look at my twenties, God and I.

And I was sincerely at peace.

And then on my 30th birthday, my husband reminded me of all that I accomplished in my twenties: becoming a nurse, advancing in my career, traveling, ministry, starting a business, building a personal brand, and even marriage, among other things. He reminded me of the lives I impacted, the relationships I cultivated, and then of course, our bundle of joy in the making.

Those reminders from him were incredibly timely and much needed.

My twenties were full! I set goals and pursued them relentlessly, following God's guidance and remaining steadfast in my focus. I literally fulfilled everything I set out to do, and while there are still some goals left to achieve, I'm genuinely content.

I pray that the same level of determination and divine favor that guided me in my twenties continues to overflow into this new decade.

For a majority of my twenties, I let God write my story. I had my seasons and even years of stubbornness and bad runs, but they weren’t in vain because I learned so much from them. I was challenged. I fell, I got up. I failed, I succeeded. I learned from mistakes and never repeated them.

So I can confidently say that my twenties were what they were supposed to be.

And they were what they were supposed to be for my unique journey and story.

My twenties have strategically prepared me for this new decade.

And a huge blessing is that I get to be pregnant during this new year.

I get to enter my thirties as a proper wife and a mother, a friend and sister, a daughter and a servant–

A woman filled with wisdom, revelation, creativity, and so much inward beauty.

Thirty is a gift, a gift beyond another year of life on earth.

It is a blank canvas of a new era.

It is not a new chapter, that was for my twenties. Instead, this is an entirely new book. 

A new volume.

And we’re starting off from chapter one, page one.

And as long as I continue to let God write my story, my thirties will be one for the books.

I initially thought that turning thirty would take away so many things, but I’m learning that my thirties have so much to give, and in abundance.

I thought I had to achieve certain milestones by thirty, but this new season is going to be a sea of perfectly-timed accomplishments.

I thought I needed to have it ‘all together’ by thirty, but that concept, I’ve learned, doesn't actually exist.

And truthfully, thirty is not as aged as I thought it was in my head.

Picture yourself rock climbing, each step you take, you feel yourself getting  higher and higher. You feel confident that you're far from ground level, only to glance down and realize that you've merely gotten a foot's length off the ground.

That’s thirty. 

And what a privilege it is to have come even this far.

And as much as it is a huge milestone, it’s nothing compared to the life ahead (if Jesus tarries).

There’s so much excitement and mystery in that. The future ahead.

Praise God for thirty, but there’s still work to be done. Still more life to live.

There’s more.

More discovery. More wisdom. More growth. More revelation. More anointing. More refining.

So no, thirty isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning.

I embrace thirty and gladly welcome her with open arms.

My twenties were an experience but now it’s time for a new thing…

So cheers to 30 years.

We made it to a new era.