The Most Splendiforous Birthday Ever!

Today marks the start of another year of my life. This past year was a year of healing. God has been doing some interesting work in my heart and in my life ... showing me who I am in Him and allowing me to see myself in a different way.

Part of that growth has been learning how to mesh all these feminine desires in my heart with the truth the God is, in fact, the ultimate Lover of my soul. No one, no single friend, and certainly not one man on this earth, is capable of knowing me as intimately or loving me as deeply as my Savior. Today, God showed me just how much He loves me and knows my heart.

It started with my precious children decorating me a beautiful cake, giving me cards with sweet sentiments and giving me a beautiful heart-shaped necklace.

After I got to work, the secretary in my office revealed that she had made me a Mississippi Mud cake ... one of my very favorite kinds of cakes. Let me tell you ... it was delicious, too! YUMMY!

Before long, my dad came walking in my office with a card and a nice box of chocolates. Oh, my goodness! It was so unexpected! My dad hadn't been gone long when a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to the office for me. It was a pretty white basket filled with pink and purple and white flowers. So cheery and happy. It made my day. I know this is unusual, but I've never gotten flowers before, so I was simply stunned to get some today. I wasn't expecting flowers, but my sweet sister sent them to me and I can't possibly think of a better gift!

So there it was before lunch time and I had already gotten jewelry, chocolates and flowers ... I felt like God was out to meet every feminine desire of my heart! I couldn't imagine the day getting any better.

However, there was a co-worker who bought me lunch, a couple of phone calls from sweet friends, an e-card and a few messages on facebook during the afternoon.

Perhaps the most touching gift was a card I got in the mail today. A friend of mine sent me a card that she had "recycled." It was originally a birthday card sent to her by my grandmother several years ago, so it had my grandmother's signature on it underneath the verse on the card. Can I just say it was like this amazing hug from my beloved grandmother?! I miss her so much and that gesture just brought tears to my eyes this evening. (Mrs. Jean E wrote a nice little birthday message to me on the other side.)

I had several other birthday cards in the mail ... two in particular had meaningful Bible verses written out for me. And there was a small package in my mailbox containing the sweetest bracelet. It was from Josephine, and it matched the earrings she gave me for my last birthday.

What a wonderful birthday! I feel so celebrated and loved tonight. But mostly, I'm just in awe that even though I'm a single mom of three kids, I've got the most amazing Lover, who knows my soul inside and out and cherishes me in ways that make me feel incredible!

I'm an extremely blessed woman. And today was the absolutely the most splendiforous birthday I have ever had! (Thanks, Amanda, for the inspiring adjective to describe this one-of-a-kind birthday.) I think 37 is going to be incredible!