Jump & jive, I'm 45!

This morning when I woke up, my first thought was to thank God for making me, putting me in the family I’m in, for my lot in life, and for just being my Father.  It was a great start to the day, actually.  This afternoon, I popped on Facebook and saw all of the birthday greetings...definitely makes a girl feel like she has a ‘network’ of friends!  From those that you see every day, to those that you just ‘visit with’ online.  It’s rather fun, really.

You know, I’m an odd bird.  The older I get, the more I enjoy my birthday.  For me, it’s not about parties and presents...it’s about being alive.  Not ‘alive’ in the ‘thank the Lord I’m not dead yet’ mode, but alive in the sense of loving life and living it to the fullest.  

I was remembering some of my ‘milestone’ birthdays.  My 25th birthday was spent in Paris.  (I just decided that my 50th should be, too :-)  I got together with my group of friends from all over the world, and although I did miss being with my family, I felt so grown up.

My 30th birthday fell in the midst of a very difficult time in my life.  But a dear passel of friends, in Hebron, MS, threw me a surprise party, and I felt loved and encouraged.  The  next few years took me to from the valleys of immense grief & sorrow, to the mountaintops of inexplicable blessing & joy.  

Along came the 40th...truthfully, I couldn’t wait!  I was so looking forward to being 40, and had been for a year or two.  I knew that it was going to be a step into a new decade full of incredible God moments.  I can’t explain it, but I did wake up that morning feeling...smarter.  You just never know what’s coming, but on that very day, God put it on my heart to be open to having a mastectomy.  Happy Birthday to me!  :-)  

Short version of a long story...He reminded me of a book my aunt had given me on breast cancer and dairy, so I ‘took the day off’ and read.  Sort of an odd way to spend your 40th birthday, but I enjoyed it, felt His favor, and spent a quiet day with the Lord and an odd choice for a book.  Little did I know how that day would come back to me & comfort me, time and time again, throughout the following year.

So, here I am, forty-five and happy to be so.  I’m not ‘forever 29,’ ‘forty-something,’ or any of those phrases that try to disguise.  I feel like a fine wine ~ I think I get better and better the older I get.  With every passing year, I feel better in my own skin (even though my Wii Mi goes ‘doyyyinng’ and ends up looking like a gourd on Wii Fit).  I have laugh lines around my eyes, but praise God I’ve had joy in my life!  I do have to wear reading glasses IN ADDITION to my contacts now, but I don’t have them on a bedazzled chain...yet.  If gray hair is a crown of wisdom, I’m one wise woman...but that one I’ll grow into “Nice & Easy” ~ I wouldn’t want Kathryn’s friends to think I’m her grandma!

So I encourage you today~be who God made you to be.  Embrace, enjoy, love & live life to the fullest!  Each moment is a precious present to be continuously unwrapped, given to you by your Father who loves you ~ you beautiful child of God.

And now, even though I'll enjoy all of the 'in betweens,' I can't wait to turn the big Five Oh!

Keep walking...

I am still using Sarah Young's Jesus Calling as a daily devotional, and it was one that I wanted to share this morning.

"Keep walking with Me along the path I have chosen for you.  Your desire to live close to Me is a delight to My heart.  I could instantly grant you the spiritual riches you desire, but that is not My way for you.  Together we will forge a pathway up the high mountain.  The journey is arduous at times, and you are weak.  Someday you will dance lightfooted on the high peaks; but for now, your walk is often plodding and heavy.  All I require of you is to take the next step, clinging to My hand for strength and direction.  Though the path is difficult and the scenery dull at the moment, there are sparkling surprises just around the bend.  Stay on the path I have selected for you.  It is truly the path of Life."

Have you ever had the feeling that there were 'sparkling surprises just around the bend?'  I know I have, and I do at the moment.  As soon as I read this this morning, my mind was flooded with memories of times that I felt like the scenery was dull at the moment, and the path was difficult, yet there always were sparkling surprises around the bend.  I'll give you some examples...

Starting in 4th grade with glasses, my physical transformation heading downhill (in my opinion) for the next SIX YEARS!  Seventh grade added braces, orthodics (Dad was a podiatrist), and a lovely back brace (after being pulled out of the health line at school with scoliosis).  Top that off with me being in a school play singing, "I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty, and witty, and bright..." not so much.  But, once 10th grade rolled around and I was set free of all of my shackles, I was surprised at how sparkley I actually felt.  Plus, I had forged a love for reading :-)

Fast forward to being in my late twenties...ALL of my friends were getting, or had gotten married, and kids were starting to come.  I, of course, had thought that I'd be married by twenty and have a house full of children by this time.  Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy my life at this point, because I got to travel, eat out, buy shoes, etc., but I did hope for my 'sparkling surprise around the bend.'  Then, in the most unlikely of places, at the most unexpected moment, God gave me my 'sparkling surprise.'  This has happened for me not once, but twice, and it is always, always, always worth the wait.

The memories go on and on, from places to live, to jobs to take, to a daughter being delivered straight from the Father.  That story is almost reminiscent of a stork delivery, but it was a heavenly delivery~God is so creative, and clever...I know He delights with us as we experience our sparkling surprises!

So, as you travel down this path of Life, remember that He is there with you, guiding you step by step, and holding your hand along the way.

"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."   ~Psalm 16:11 NIV

L'chaim!

Deborah