A letter from Sep 20th, 2021

Dear Future Lyssa, You’re probably receiving this and thinking how crazy it is to be getting a letter you wrote five years ago. Even writing this now makes me excited for what I’ll be like in the future. Right now I’m in my sophomore year of high school and we’re still wearing masks. Last year it was much worse because most of my freshman year was online and the rest was coming in person every other week. At the moment, I’m working at Launch which is a trampoline park. I work there because it’s right next to home and it’s full of kids. I’m really enjoying it and I can see that my parents are proud of me. They can see that I’m managing work, church and school. It isn’t easy but God is giving me the strength to do it! A few months ago I really struggled with comparison, self hatred and feeling broken. It all started with being talked about and feeling very guilty from past experiences. It wasn’t a good season. I wore a mask (not a physical one) everyday which hurt myself metnally everyday. I’m so happy that I left that season because now I’m being shined in a true, joyful light coming from God. I’m not perfect or always a happy person but His grace continuously sustains me. I am still learning and growing each day however, one reminder that sticks with me is to not be so hard on myself. I’ve got to be patient and understanding with myself. And that’s okay! I’ve got to hold on and know that God is with me through every part of it. For the past 6 months I’ve been really into prophetic dance. I remember being younger and not understanding the real meaning of dance at church. But now that I have this true understanding it’s amazing how God speaks through dance. At church right now we’re starting rehearsals for an event called “Creative Night” where everyone comes together as a group and we show our gifts and talents with all the generations. I cannot wait for it and I get to be part of the dance for it! Another way God has been using me is through my writing. I didn’t ever think to see myself be a “writer” I guess you could say but He speaks to me as I write. It’s mostly poems or short dialogue and maybe one day I’ll have a book written. My health teacher asked the class to write these 5 year essays so we write our dreams/goals and what’s happening in our lives right now. To be completely honest, I’m not completely sure what I want to do. I have a list of ideas of what I would want to be after college but I don’t want expectations put in place if it isn’t what God wants for me. A few things I’m interested in are being a nurse or a doctor, a kids social worker or therapist. With these ideas they might be just thoughts. Although, at the end of the day I want what God has in store for me. I’ve been having conformations and prophecies being told to me multiple times that I will go on missions and be someone to help in any way that I can. Who knows when that will happen yet once it happens, I know that His promise went through in the timing it was supposed to happen. A few things I want you (future Lyssa) to know is that whatever season you are in, God is always with you. It can feel so lonely at times and with this loneliness hold onto His presence. He should satisfy every desire and everything you crave so badly. If your life doesn’t look like your friend's life or what others' lives looks like, that’s okay. God created you in a different way with different gifts and talents. You are not supposed to look and be like everyone else because you were created with such details that God specifically put in you. When you read this just take a second and look at how far you’ve come. Maybe even make a letter for your future self too haha.