Sunday was my birthday. I turned . . . actually, how about if we skip that part. I had every reason to believe that this would be a difficult birthday. My family had just experienced a difficult change and an important member of our family would not be with me to celebrate. But I knew that my friends, my parents, and my kids would want to see me have a good day, so I made up my mind to have one no matter what.
God, I don’t want to just get through the day. Help me come up with a way to celebrate.
I got busy doing my usual routine of planning my own party. (You start doing that when you’re a mom.) My oldest son and I would make dinner together then we would walk somewhere for dessert and watch a movie. Well, God had a different plan.
He put it on one friend’s heart to take me and my son Nathan out to lunch after church. Then I got a call from another friend who wanted to take me and both boys out to dinner that night. I found so many Happy Birthday greetings on my Facebook page that I had to put off reading them until the next day. Between meals out, Nathan declared a fun-only afternoon and got me playing Wii. The only catch was that I had to try games that I’d never played before. I caught onto golf pretty quickly. I got a humiliating score on wake boarding. And sky diving? I’m just grateful that my life didn’t really depend on my ability to operate a Wiimote. But I could care less, because I was having a great time. In fact, it was the best birthday that I’d had in years.
And the party continued the next night, when the mom of two of Nathan’s friends had us over for pizza and cake. She even put candles on the cake and had the kids sing to me! Then a friend treated me to lunch today after Bible study.
The best part was that God planned the entire extended party. He knew I needed to not just enjoy the day because I’d made up my mind to, but truly have a happy birthday. He recognized that I needed to feel special for a day—make that more than a day. And I needed to feel this outpouring of love from others.
This was my birthday gift from God, my reminder of His great love for me. How has He shown you love lately? Who has He sent to make you feel valuable and precious? What needs has He met that you didn’t realize you had until you were reveling in His surprise? Thank Him for being a Father who wants His children to have happy, memorable days.
3 comments:
Sounds like a great day! May the Lord bless you with another wonderful year. <3
That's so special. And it's so true -- ask and we shall receive. Why do we rarely even ask?
That is such an amazing testimony. It amazes me how much of a personal God He is. To think that He would actually care about our birthdays, is amazing.
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