Turning 35: Three things I did

Turning 35 was such a huge thing for me. Beyond the party I had, there were a few things behind the scenes I did to make sure I prepared and entered into the year READY for it, by God’s grace. I am sharing a few here. Strap in, Baby

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I turned 35 June 29, 2021 and it was such a beautiful experience, from at least 40 days leading up to it, and the day itself.

Permit me to share my personal experience and hopefully, we can grab a thing or two about birthdays, and doing it right. Because sometimes all we do is look for who puts up our pictures, get offended by those that forget and didn’t hail us on social media, and just let such an important season pass without milking it dry.

I consider birthdays even more important than a new year. You know how we say ‘New Year, New Me’?

Well, a January 1 can roll around but an old season continues for you, but hey, when a new year comes into your life, ha, that’s literally God telling you it is time to LEVEL UP.

Of course New Years are important too, I am just saying that the real NEW YEAR starts with your birthday.
For quite a few years, I have been super intentional about my birthday seasons, and this was no different.

Last year, we had a whole PROPHETIC party, with my friends praying and prophesying over me, fortifying me in a circle and washing my feet. It was SURREAL!!! It was straight off a 3 day retreat, so on the 3rd day, they joined me and we had the thing.

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This year, I had a whole party hehe. But it was no less spiritual. In fact, I had God’s permission to party on that day because I had spent 40 days before really preparing myself into that New Year.

Like I said, this will be me sharing personal stuff, because I hope we can pick a thing or three from it and apply

So here are 3 things I did to prepare for 35. It is not so much the action I want you to copy but the principles and reasons behind them so you can apply as the sweet Holy Spirit leads you.

1. I called a Fast

I knew I needed to do this because nothing prepares and consecrates you like a fast. In fact the Bible calls fasts CONSECRATION or SOLEMN ASSEMBLY and every time God wants to do something for His people, or they are going into a New season, He calls them into a fast.

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So personally, I called a 40-day Daniel Fast. It was HARD gosh. No junk, no meats, no eggs, no dairy, no bread.

Phew!!!

But I knew my flesh needed to be mortified and get so light weight, so my spirit could be heavy weight.
I would wake at midnight or 2am almost every night and spend time with God for as long as I needed to. No hurries. My schedule and sleep were messed up. I cried.
A LOT!!!

A LOT!!!

Lol.
I felt like I was dying.
I felt like I was functioning Zombie mode hehe

And I still had my home to run, my business to run, the WILD, my various mentoring, and more.

But God literally carried me and I made it.


2. I took myself on a Retreat.

Ah, this one is so key, because separating myself to hear from God is one of the pillars of my life.

Thankfully, my husband understands my need for regular retreats so he obliges me. I prepare everything at home well so he has no trouble with the kids, right down to their cloths and labeling all the foods and all.

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I went to the Bible Society of Nigeria Guest house and just locked myself in for 3 days, hearing from God, reading my journals, praying and receiving downloads for the new season. I also spent time asking God questions and downloading new schedule, structures and road maps, or at least preparing myself to receive them whenever he drops them.

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I came out with new structures and schedule for different areas of my life and it was so beautiful.

I also checked and audited the relationships in my life and all the things I do just to be sure I am still on track and all.
Such a sweet sweet time.


I got the key relationships in my life to pray over me


I think this is one place I see us make mistakes.

We want our mentors to shout out to us on IG, call us and all but really, what we need to do is CALL them and ask them to please pray for us. If they are really busy, start to tell them on time and book that appointment. Because it is your birthday, usually people oblige and even indulge us.

For me, the key figures were;

– Rev Albert Oduwole. Before I broke my fast on the last day, I had told Rev I would be calling him and he gave me a time to call. Then he prayed over and blessed me. Then my fast was over hehe

– Pastor Mildred Kingsley Okonkwo

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I was actually to see her but a last minute change of plan turned that into a phone call instead. On my birthday morning, she was the first I called to pray, and my goodness, for like 30mins or more, mama was blessing me. Then she also spent some time talking to me and all.

-PDDK

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Thankfully, I got a real audience with her, which I don’t take for granted because I know how busy she can be. It was a Sunday, the last day of my retreat and I had given her the option of blocking her in church if she didn’t mind for a short prayer. Thankfully, she obliged and what was supposed to be short ended up being over one hour in her car (she had to leave church). she asked me questions, prayed with what I had told her, and released prophetic words over me

– My Therapist

Oh I just love that woman because she carries God into therapy. I spoke to her the night before my birthday over Zoom and she is such a sweet listener and listened intently to me, course-corrected me without mincing words where she thought I was off, called me out on some matters to adjust, then prayed and prophesied over me. I love that she also walks in the prophetic so that really makes her the perfect Therapist.

– My biological parents
They prayed over me that morning when they called.

– My husband
That evening of my birthday, he too laid hands on me and prayed over me.


Then I have a few friends who have the spiritual gift of prophecy and they just have a way of sending me letters or voice notes about what they think God is saying to them about me.

Now I am not casual with all of these prayers and prophesies ooo.

For some, I use a phone that allows me record conversations over calls.
Or I take down furious notes
Or I record the Zoom sessions
Or I record their voice as we speak one on one, like PDDK, with their permission of course.

Then I take the time after then to transfer it all to my prophetic journal and continue to circle and turn it over in prayers.

Ok, so there you go.

This is pretty much my routine every year.

All these are sorted before I think of any kind of party lol.

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So while you may have seen us partying, I had kept the main things as the main things.

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I hope this helps you celebrate coming birthdays better.

God bless you and thank you for reading.

With so much LOVE
Eziaha