“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with
steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is
renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 103:2-5 (ESV)
I recently had a birthday. I don’t mind saying it was my 45th. It has been a wild, but beautiful ride.
This year I didn’t know what I wanted to do to celebrate though. It wasn’t that I was against celebrating (as some years I had been). I didn’t know what I wanted to eat, what present to hint towards, or even if I wanted friends over. I didn’t know how I was feeling. It was an ordinary day for me.
I guess the best way to describe it was that this day felt like a blank slate ready to be written on. I just didn’t know what to write on it. But the Lord ended up writing all over it. He brought verse after verse, reminding me of all that was worth celebrating!
Eternal God had me and my destiny on His mind before the world was spoken to existence (Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15). Before the dinosaurs trampled throughout the landscape, God knew the role I would play in earthly events from the 1970s onward… “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14b).
He Knew Me
When the perfect timing came about for my earthly existence, the Creator formed me with His own fingertips in my mother’s womb (Job 10:11; Psalm 139:13-15; Isaiah 44:2;). He knew I was to be a laughter-filled, brown-eyed girl, the first of three daughters.
He wrote the days of my story (Psalm 139:16). He knew I would ransack the cupboards in the house as a toddler and be OCD about organizing them as a teenager. He would give me the strength to lift a cast iron skillet in each hand before the age of three and weep with me as I lost my physical strength in college to fibromyalgia. He knew I would love English and struggle with Math; that I would love genealogy, but never remember dates in history; that I would immerse myself in music and sports, but never excel in either.
He knew that I needed the husband he gave me, to be my partner in the next several chapters of life, to love me like Christ loves the church, and to help smooth my rough spots (Ephesians 5:25-31). And although I would have a condition that would make it hard to get pregnant and carry babies to term, God granted me five amazing arrows to put into my quiver, to raise, to train, to love, and to send out to fulfill their own God-given destiny (Psalm 127:3-5). There would be other babies that would not see the light of day, but instead would see the Glorious Light of Heaven and we look forward to meeting them there (II Samuel 12:23).
He Is Faithful
Many times, I would be unfaithful to God in the things I would think, say, and do, and yet He was and still is faithful to me (II Timothy 2:13). In confession and repentance, I found His forgiveness and rest (Isaiah 30:15; I John 1:9).
In the darkness, He is my Light (Psalm 119:105). In deep water, He walks with me (Isaiah 43:2). In the craziness of life, He is my deliverer, my shield, and my refuge (Psalm 18:2).
When I take stock of my life and who God has shown Himself to be, I realize I can trust Him with my limitations. I also recognize my birthday was worth celebrating because of all He has done for me, for what He has done in me, and for all that He allows to be accomplished through me.
So I rejoice with the psalmist and say, “You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty” Psalm 65:11 (ESV).
That was beautiful. Our God is so gracious to have blessed us with the 3 unique daughters that we have. I never take you for granted and I appreciate you so much.♥️