Have you ever thought what you would say to your younger self if you could go back in time?

Time travel has always been an interesting concept hasn’t it. We have many examples in movies & in Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice through the looking Glass.

My family & I have our own chat group on WhatsApp. Recently, my eldest daughter found a hilarious example of this younger self advice online & sent it to us.

Then she sent her own version advising her younger twenty four year old self & any younger ones reading, the advice what she would have loved to hear from her older self. It was very thought provoking.

It had us adults thinking about our younger selves & what advice from our life experienced older selves would tell our younger self…

I thought I would share the advice I would like to say to myself when I was in my twenties (pictured in the black & white photo below) for a little fun today…

Let’s grab our cuppa’s & get comfy as we explore this concept…I’m having a Chai tea with a home baked gf Apricot slice.

To my younger self…

Jennifer,

you are very cherished, I know you find that very hard to believe at the moment because others in your life have led you to believe otherwise.

But in the coming years you will come to know just how precious you are to the One who created you & to His Son, Jesus whom you have chosen to follow whole heartedly…

There are hard times coming dear one. But rest assured that God keeps His promise & never leaves you throughout, continuing to give you His strength & comfort through the good times & bad.

You will be blessed with three more beautiful children, making a total of five. And you will also have a full quiver with the arrival of seven delightful grand babies from your daughters.

You will have a ministry for Him but not in the area of medicine & surgery that you are aiming for, for He has a more perfect plan for your life.

He uses the experiences from those hard times that are coming to help others through their own difficult heartache.

Most importantly, please take time to care for you & your health through the coming seasons of life…

Although you’re a very capable young woman, you’re still human! You need to take time out to restore often.

Of which you’re not very good at doing, you push yourself too far to help others without taking a break for rejuvenation & restoration!

Remember never lose that positive attitude you have to life & keep smiling!

From your older self…

Looking back

When I look back at that young women, who was already married with two young children living & working overseas.

I remember the tenacious energy for life, a love for people & a burning desire for social justice.

I also see one who was eager to live life to the full but had no idea that within a few years of that photo being taken, she would indeed see the arrival of those three children, one after the other.

Two of whom would pass into Heaven at birth within a year of each other.  Absolutely rocking her world to the core but it also gave her the opportunity to trust in her Savior anew.

Although she didn’t understand at the time why He would allow the deaths of her son & daughter, she would continue to trust Him & experience His supernatural peace that passed all understanding.

That in the coming years that marriage would disintegrate, despite trying so hard to keep her little family together through extremely trying circumstances.

That her second marriage would result in widowhood after supporting her husband through his losing battle with brain cancer.

But once again these difficult & tragic experiences gave her the opportunity for a much deeper relationship with her heavenly Father, who never left her side.

And looking back she doesn’t realize then that her later years, which she thought would be full of vitality, health & energy.  Will consist of living with chronic health issues, pain & fatigue.

However, this too gives her an opportunity to enjoy time out with her Lord, growing in her love of writing, enabling a cuppa here with you each week.

Through all the above circumstances that young Jennifer who is now a much older & more experienced ol’ gal has learnt that…

“We are assured, knowing…that all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.”

Romans 8:28 Refer 2

Looking forward

It’s a worthwhile exercise to look back over our lives & to realize how far we have come.

Clearly seeing God’s guiding & comforting presence along the way in the many blessings that were ours, even in the most difficult of times.

However, we can’t go back & change anything or tell our younger selves that advice…Can we?

We don’t have time machines, we aren’t able to go through the looking glass like Alice did!

And realistically would we have actually listened to older versions of ourselves? Maybe, maybe not…we’ll never know…

What we can do though, is be ready to encourage others on their journey in life.

We can use the time that is given to us to be cheerleaders to the younger ones, the older ones & our peers in these difficult times for we have been created, “For such a time as this…”

We can take each new day as an opportunity to shine a little ray of Son light into another’s life by doing the little things that make life worthwhile.

It maybe listening to their story over a cuppa, it may be sharing an encouraging word or starting a blog, writing an inspiring book or simply giving a friendly smile & greeting to the person we pass on the street.

What advice would you give to your younger self my friend?

Until next time,

Jennifer

You’re most welcome to join me in The Reading Nook

Or in Prayer

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© 2020 Jennifer M. Ross, teawithjennifer.blog All Rights Reserved. Mirror Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

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