Dear Anxiety:

God gives me peace that passes all understanding. Philippians 4:6-7 NLT says “Don’t worry about anything. Instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

I have experienced the truth of these verses more times than I can count. However, it is not easy to apply these verses in my life. It takes intention, and it has to be done on purpose with the help of the Holy Spirit. That being said, my goal and prayer for 2020 is to live out these verses every single day. I want to experience peace, instead of you, anxiety. You are no longer welcomed in my heart and in my mind. Bye Felecia.

Dear Anxiety:

God will give me everything I need if I seek His kingdom above all else. Matthew 6:33 NLT says “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” You have been telling me to worry and be anxious since I was 9 years old. That is 28 years of anxiety and worry. I just want to let you know that I am not going to let you control me anymore. I am not going to allow you to make my decisions for me anymore. I am not going to be too scared to dream big God-dreams and to believe that God will bring them to pass when it’s the right time. Today I am taking God at His word. We both know God doesn’t lie and that His word is true. We both know that God will help me to obey His word. So I am putting you on notice: I plan to believe God and to doubt you from this day forward. Just get ready to see what God will do in my life when I trust and depend on Him completely.

Dear 5th grade me:

You are anointed by Holy Spirit. 1 John 2:27 NIV says “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit —just as it has taught you, remains in him.”

To anoint means “to choose by divine election” and “to designate as if by a ritual” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). God has chosen you, Ros. He has picked you and anointed you. It’s not like you were in a group of people, and you were picked last. As a matter of fact, God knew He would pick you ahead of time. Romans 8:29-30 NLT says “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.”

So you see: you are so much more than you think you are. You are valuable. You are beautiful. You are a threat to Satan. You are precious to God. You are a masterpiece. You are the apple of God’s eye. You are anointed by the Holy Spirit. Just remember: this is how God sees you which means this is the truth about you. Don’t forget who you are in Christ. You will make it through all of the trials you are walking through, and God will be right there walking along side of you.

Dear 5th grade me:

You are the apple of God’s eye and His most precious possession. I know this is hard for you to believe. It is hard for me to believe too; but remember when I told you that sometimes your feelings will lie to you?? When they lie to you again, tell them this: I am the apple of God’s eye. I am His most precious possession.

Zechariah 2:8 KJV says “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you; for he that hath toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.” Zechariah 2:8 NLT says ” After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For he saith, anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession.”

This is how this verse applies to you: Satan has been fighting you. He has been plundering you: stealing, looting, taking goods by force, and committing robbery. He has been harming you. God says you are the apple of His eye and His most precious possession. He is not going to let Satan get away with all he is doing and has done to you.

This is one of the best songs I have ever heard, and you need to hear the chorus of it. The name of it is “Fighting for Me” and it is sung by Riley Clemmons. The chorus says:

“You will never stop fighting for me, when I can’t fight for myself. Every word is a promise you keep, ’cause you love me like nobody else. You stand up for me in the darkest night. When my faith is weak, you’re still by my side. You will never stop fighting for me.”

You being His most precious possession means that you belong to Him. God’s got you covered, no matter what happens. So just remember these 2 things: you are the apple of God’s eye and His most precious possession.

Dear 5th grade me:

You are precious to God. “Precious” means of great value, highly esteemed, cherished, and excessively refined. This is how God sees you, which means this is the truth about you. You know that God loves you, and you know that He cares. You NEED to know that it goes deeper than that: you matter to God so much. You have no idea how important and precious you are to Him. Look at Isaiah 43:4b “you are precious to me. You are honored and I love you.” Listen, Ros: sometimes your feelings will lie to you. Those are the times when you must know who you are in Christ and stand on the Word of God. This is what the Word of God says about you: “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” This verse is Zephaniah 3:17 NLT. When you are in your 30’s, this will be one of your favorite go-to scriptures. There will be so many favorite scriptures. Your relationship with God is going to have levels to it. Just remember: God is your mirror, and He says you are precious to Him. Bye for now. Xoxo

Dear 5th grade me: You are a threat to Satan. You think you are too young to go through all that you have so far in life. The truth is Satan started trying to take you out when you were in your mother’s womb. You are going to do amazing things for the kingdom of God; that is why Satan is trying so hard to hurt you. This is what you need to know: Satan is already defeated. Revelations 12:11 NLT says “And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.” God’s grace is all you need to help you keep going. I know you feel weak, but His power works best in weakness (2 Cor 12:9). Just like Paul in the Bible, you will get major revelations from God, but you need to stay humble. “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:6-7 NLT). Just keep going. Don’t give up. You are on the right track.

Dear 5th grade me,

You are beautiful. I know you do not believe it now, but you used to. Even after you had your accident and you got the scar; you still saw yourself as beautiful. God says you are beautiful, and He is your mirror, not Satan. Everytime Satan speaks, he lies and he has been whispering in your ear every day. He has been telling you things that are simply not true : he says you are ugly, no boy will ever like you; and when your tribe calls you beautiful, he says they are lying. God is your creator, you were created in His image, and He made you beautiful. “He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMP).

Dear 5th grade me,

You are valuable. I know that you and everyone around you calls you poor, but God told me to tell you that you are valuable. God says in Matthew 6:26 NIV “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” The dictionary defines “valuable” as worth a lot of money; very useful or helpful; and important/limited in amount. This is how God sees you. Your value is not determined by how much money your family has or how many possessions you own. Your value is also not determined by what you don’t have. God is saying in this verse that you are His child, and He is going to take care of you. Don’t be discouraged when you see others who have more money/possessions than you.  Please know that you cannot take any money or possessions with you when you die. The only thing that you can take with you is your soul/spirit which are eternal.  This is not your home, and where you’re going is better than where you are right now. God is going to help you rise above your current circumstances. He is going to bless your family and you financially. You can trust Him to give you all that you need. 

Dear Satan: I am capable. This is the 7th and final letter to you this year. 7 is the number of completion, you know. I found it: the journal from 2014-2015. I found the positive affirmations and scriptures regarding who I am in Christ. This is what I wrote on Tues 12/30/14 and what I am telling you today:

“A capable, intelligent, and virtuous woman, who is he who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls” (Prov 31:10 AMP). I know that this is how God sees me- A) Capable: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. B) Intelligent: I have the mind of Christ/the anointing teaches me everything I need to know. C) Virtuous: There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ/if I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I am the righteousness of God in Christ.”

And so…the next time you tell me NOT to do something that God is telling me to do or you tell me I CAN’T do something because it’s “too hard,” I need you to know that I know I am capable. I am still here. I am chosen. I am gifted. I am forgiven. I am healed. I am complete in Christ.

Dear Satan,

I am healed from hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. God says He heals all of my diseases (Psalm 103:3). I have struggled with this for the better part of 5-7 years, and this is where it ends. There is no reason not to believe God, especially when He says in Isaiah 53:5 that by His stripes, we are healed. I need to remind you and me of the truth of God’s word when it comes to healing. I had the worst birthday week of my entire life this year, but now I am healed. I had migraines and muscle spasms off and on all day every day for a long time and had to go to a neurologist, but now I am healed. I had HPV in 2012 and I was scared to death that I would always have it, but now I am healed. You remember what happened, right!? I went for an annual physical and received the news about having an abnormal pap smear. When I finally did the freezing procedure that was designed to prevent the pre-cancerous cells from becoming cervical cancer, I was told that I would always have HPV. I was worried that it would prevent me from marrying the man of my dreams one day. But God…showed up and healed me of HPV when I didn’t even know to ask Him to. I didn’t know (until I met my current PCP) that some people actually don’t have it for the rest of their lives. Anyway, as you know, 3 normal pap smears later…I don’t have HPV anymore. I am healed by a God who loves me and a God who cares; by a God of mercy and a God of grace. So….when I walk into the endocrinologist’s office later this afternoon, I will have my sword of the spirit and my shield of faith with me, 2 of my favorite pieces of my armor from God. When you try to tell me that I will never get better, I will use my sword and my shield. I will remember what I read in Revelation 12:11 that we (my brothers and sisters in Christ) have already defeated you, Satan, by the blood of the Lamb and the words of our testimony.