21🫶🏽 Poem by Sharon Namwalizi

Everything felt new, and I was eager to try—
A false sense of sweetness.
My new idea of happiness
Landed me in trouble.
I felt terrible.
I questioned everything I believed in.

My tongue took me places
My feet were too weak to follow.
It made me wonder if everything was just a front—
A mask I didn't know I wore.
I was lost on 21st Street,
Where paths diverged in unfamiliar ways.

I had a choice to make.
I scanned all my options,
But only one—
The hardest, most narrow road—
Led to Him.

Yes, the others looked sweet and inviting.
But they lacked the one thing that mattered:
Truth.

And then came silence.
Stillness.
A voice I hadn't listened to in a while—
Soft, but certain.
Through prayer.
Through a verse.
Through the ache in my chest
That reminded me I wasn't made for halfway joy.

And with that whisper,
I was back on track.

The void in me—
The one that had stretched across years,
Cried louder.
It demanded something more.
And I gave it everything I had.

The funny thing is,
I thought I was close to filling it.
Close to healing the hole in my heart.

Time flowed quickly.
But I still wasn't sure
If I was living the way He needed me to.
And life—
Life doesn't wait.
Seasons shifted.
Doors opened.
Some closed.
Some stayed closed, no matter how hard I knocked.

I still hadn't found what I was looking for.

But then, one day—
Looking back at everything,
I saw it.
The answer had been there all along,
But I was too distracted,
Too blind,
Too busy searching outside myself.

Doubt crept in again.
Even after all the prayers,
I questioned my readiness—
To feel the fire,
The love He gave me at the start.

But I said yes.

I did it.

And suddenly—
My cup was overflowing.
The void filled with something that didn't come from the world.
And access opened.
The loud whispers of lies—
The ones I once feared—
Became fuel.

I kept going.

Most of my plans are direct.
The rest? Not so much.
But He always surprises me
With how beautifully He arranges every step.

There's always a lesson to learn.
A miracle to witness.
A patience to embrace.

To love like Him—
That's my true desire.

So to 22:
I loved you before I even met you.
And I'm so proud.
My steps led me to you.

P.S. I love you.

Yours,
21

By sharonnamwalizi
15: 15 | 6/5/25