The 2013 that was

January was a hard month. I was out of home for the first time in my life and I was living with a new wife! When I heard my parents say that the January financial blues can strike you hard, I never paid any attention really. Well, all that lack of attention paid off in January. I had to work extra hard and be extra patient with the results. Few people are willing to spend at this time of the year and fewer have contingency plans (at least the few I knew). I was caught in the traffic jam of good-intentions and no actions. I learned that you can’t eat Christmas like kingdom-come because the year is over and next year is on the other side; guess what- next year is just a week away after Christmas. I learned to begin the year in November and not in January. November and December were not time for me to achieve goals but rather to plan them. January’s rent should be ready by November. This way I would hit January running. When everyone else will be making resolutions and planning the years, I will start executing mine.

2. February

Turi and I had our first valentine’s day as a married couple.  In the excitement of man-woman relationships, we took time to thank Christ for our new marriage. Love lessons from February can be summed up in 1^st Corinthians 13 and in the previous blog. However, this stood out for me in 2013: marriage is not the end of the pursuit game of love- it’s the beginning. Dating is training, courtship is warming up and marriage is the race. It doesn’t matter who wins because it’s not that kind of race. But it matters that you both finish. Finish the day as friends. Trouble will occur in every relationship but you cannot leave your partner behind. The best way to win this race, as I have learned in 2013 is to befriend your spouse. Date her! Romance her! Play together! Whatever you do, finish together.

3. March

My new book, The Human Temple, was out for a month by this time.  I was animated! It was a long hard road for Turi and I. the success was a long wait for us and we were happy with the results. However, even in your success, not everyone celebrates with you. The Lord taught me not to depend on man’s approval but only on His. I learned to rejoice with those who rejoice and to harbour no envy for those that go before me. It takes the assurance of Jesus not to be deflated when those whom you esteem do not uplift you. It takes the power of God’s Word not to be intimidated by resentful remarks. It takes the Grace of God not to retaliate evil with evil. And it takes the confidence from the Holy Spirit not to feign false humility.  The book blessed the hearts of many and it still does. As soon as The Human Temple was out, I began writing my new book, Lust and the City.

4. April- June

I  have combined all these months because I remember no outstanding feature in any of them. That has taught me an important lesson for the coming year. Journal. I am sure there are great things that the Lord did during this time but I wasn’t taking any into account. Write- you will read and rejoice!

5. July- August

The year was looking bleak. It had gone so fast and I was feeling unaccomplished. I figured that promotion was overdue. My career did not escalate (it did not plummet either, thank the Lord) but Christ opened opportunities for growth in many other areas. My relationships became more refined as my male friendships deepened. My character through patience was tested in my career wait and proved to still be infertile. The Lord brought more opportunities for our origami. I learned not to limit success through looking through one window. Life has many windows that bring in the fresh air of success but we can be too obsessed by one window to notice the rest. Take a step back and look at your multiple windows in life. There is a lot to be grateful for.

6. September

We celebrated one year of marriage in September. The twelve months went by so fast, we hardly kept up! In this month, Pen Strokes became popular. I wrote a certain blog about our marriage that dragged 32,000 hits in less than two weeks. I learned the power of personal testimony. Majority of the people who responded to that blog were appreciative of the fact that we used our own lives to share the truth. I was humbled because of all the blogs I had ever written, I felt that that particular one was the worst. I wrote it in a hurry on a Monday evening and posted it without editing yet the results were greater than what I imagined. I learned that God uses weak vessels for His glory. What I thought was a useless blog became the most popular and powerful article I had ever written. You can read it by clicking here.

I also learned to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. At this time of the year I had many dreams that came to pass. I began writing down the dreams and was very surprised when they came to pass. I told my wife about them. It did not dawn on me the purpose of these dreams until I had a dream about a Mall in Nairobi invaded by gunmen. In my dream, gunmen walked into a Mall full of people and began shooting at will. In the dream they killed my wife and my daughter (I have no daughter yet but in the dream I did). Blood stained the floors from the bodies of my dead family. I woke up shaken but paid the dream no attention. Three weeks after that dream, Westgate happened. Terrorists invaded Westgate mall in Nairobi and did exactly what happened in my dream. Vessels of God need to be sensitive to pray. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

7. October- November

 I learned to depend on God during this period. I learned that we are commanded not to worry about anything (Philippians 4:6) but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, to present our requests to God and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I learned that my heart and my mind can be weighed down by the troubles of this world. However, Christ taught me to know the battles to fight, those to ignore and the wisdom to know the difference.  There is always something that can cause us to worry every day. However, Christ said, each day has trouble of its own, so worry not about tomorrow. Christ never lost His grip on me.

8. December

I finished reading Timothy Keller’s book, The Prodigal God. I am also doing the Gospel of John for my Quiet Time. From these two books I have learnt that pride is the carbon-monoxide of sin- odourless yet lethal.  You can’t smell it yourself but you begin to know that it is there when you start to feel the sting of death in your relationships. I have also been impressed in my heart about the Spirit of Christmas. Christ being born as a human in a hard world at a hard time depicts a God choosing to be humble despite His infinite power. His humility awakens us from the carbon-monoxide of pride. Christ humbles us out of our self-righteousness and affirms us out of our weaknesses. He is too great to be super like the comic heroes- He is more; He is Wonderful! Wonderful Counsellor, Everlasting God, Mighty father!

By His Grace we will live to see 2014. If 2013 was hard, stand firm, Beloved. If death struck your loved ones and if turmoil was the order of the day, hold fast. I cannot ascertain the future but I can pray that whether 2013 was glorious or not for you, that you will live in hope. I pray that you may be burdened with godly purpose in the forthcoming year. I pray that you will trust in Christ more. And I pray that you will keep reading Pen Strokes: Strokes of the Pen for the Glory of His Name.

From the Wamboyes, have a Merry Christmas and Happy new year!

Grace, Love and Peace!