I love hugs and chocolate and tulips. I also love birthdays, even 51st birthdays . . . especially 51st birthdays! Today, April 23, 2024, I turn 51.
God has blessed me with another birthday–thank you, Lord! Last year, when I turned 50, it was a big birthday, and I had some big surprises from my sister and from my girlfriends! This year, I think it will be a little more low-key, and that’s okay. But I do want to take the time and thank God for some blessings He’s given me.
I don’t think I remind myself enough of the wonderful blessings that God has given me, and I think a birthday is a good time to dwell on these things. God has blessed me with family members that love me. My siblings are twins, and they’re eleven years older than I am, so I was pretty spoiled as a baby! I couldn’t sit up on my own or hold my own bottle when I went to my six-month doctor’s appointment because everyone in my family, including my parents and my sister and brother, wanted me to stay a baby forever! My husband and my two boys love me, also, and they want what’s best for me. I am blessed by my family.
My friends are another blessing. It’s nice to have people you can laugh with and count on when times are tough. When my big, orange cat, Leo, died last March, my girlfriends sent me a large, beautiful bouquet of flowers. When it was my birthday in 2020, right after Covid hit, they showed up in my yard with presents, food, and lawn chairs, so we could celebrate in a social-distancing kind of way! At Jamison's graduation, I had a good friend who came over and cut up all of the fruit for Jamison's graduation party while we were at the graduation ceremony, and because I can't eat seeds, she even cut the seeds off of some strawberries, just so I could enjoy them as well!
I am blessed by my church home. There are wonderful, loving, Christ-centered people in my church. I feel at home there, like a part of a family, and I love that I can find ways to serve in my church.
There are many other blessings in my life, too many to name: my home, my health, my job, my co-workers, my hobbies, my state, my country, the sunshine, the smell of rain, the cuddles from my cat, the plot of a good book, the smell of cookies baking, the sound of laughter . . .
God has blessed me beyond what I deserve. He is so, so good to me: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17
I hope I get a hug or two today. I plan to eat some chocolate and to enjoy my tulips in front of my house. In fact, here’s a picture of my tulips, so you can enjoy them on my birthday, too!
Thanks for reading friends!
Love,
Julie
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