I forgot about my birthday…

My birthday is on Sunday. But I was sick last week and I have struggled to regain my energy, Father’s Day was this past Sunday and this is my son’s last week of school and the final days for him to get his assignments turned in. In addition, my daughter has a surprise birthday party to go to on Saturday. So my birthday has not really been on my radar. Tomorrow (Thursday) is June 19 and my son has that day off (his last day is Friday and is only 2 1/2 hours long- mostly assembly).

Because my daughter’s last day of school was June 13 and my son has the 19th off, we made a plan to spend the day with my Mom. My sister will be at work but will join us in the evening after she gets home. Because I gave them a heads up that we would be coming over, my sister called me while grocery shopping a couple of days ago to ask if we would be celebrating my birthday together tomorrow or if there was a different plan. She caught me off guard because I had completely forgotten that my birthday was fast approaching and, of course my Mom and sister would want to celebrate with me! We all had a good laugh but I have thought a lot about the fact that there are so many much more important things going on now than my birthday.

Some exciting things are going on - like Father’s Day, the last days of the school year, my son’s field day (which was today), 16th birthday parties for my daughter and her friends and other fun things like getting together with my family and enjoying this warmer weather we are having.

But there are scary things happening too like the war between Israel and Iran that is intensifying, the moral decline of our culture and the open conflict, hatred and violence everywhere we turn.

And then there are my own personal struggles with MS and the rapid physical weakening in my legs and the serious difficulty I am having with dizziness and balance. Today I tried to just tiptoe through our field of Lupin flowers to take a picture of the beautiful dark purple flowers that are new this year- every year there are new combinations of colors that sprout up and it’s fun to see what will be new each year. But there are very few bare spots that I can walk on to avoid stepping on the surrounding plants. The ground is uneven and I lost my balance this morning and fell onto my back - hitting my head pretty hard. Not hard enough to lose consciousness or see stars or even to give me a headache - but it DID hurt and it took me a minute to get myself up. After I got up, I noticed that my head had landed less than an inch away from a large decorative rock that we have in that area. I landed in a hillside that had been mulched. But I could have hit my head on that rock and I might have been lying there unconscious until a neighbor discovered me. My son was at school, my husband was flying (on his way home from Washington DC) and my daughter was in bed (sleeping late after a busy day and a late night last night). I realized immediately how fortunate I had been and it scared me a little. It was unwise of me to try to stumble around that hillside when I was feeling so dizzy - especially without anyone around. I recognize that I was protected by the Lord this morning but He also expects me to use my brain to make better choices!

Here is a picture I took from the safety of our driveway:

Here are some other new color combinations:

We’ve never had a pure white one before this year:

After my close call, I went inside to spend an hour with the Lord reading my Bible and praying. One reading plan I am doing is going through Revelation as part of the daily reading right now. Revelation is my favorite book of the Bible and I have read through it several times. But today was the first time I teared up and felt like crying when I read these verses:

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation‬ ‭20‬:‭12‬, ‭15‬ ‭

I recognize that the Lord could be coming soon for His church - true believers and followers of Christ. The rapture is literally the next event on the prophetic calendar. Time is running short and I feel an urgent need to try to snatch as many people from Satan’s grasp as I can.

One thing I can always count on is for the Lord to create opportunities for me out of thin air! After my reading I got on with a list of things I needed to accomplish before my husband got home. I was in the middle of putting together a chicken rice casserole to bake for dinner this evening when I got a phone call and then a text (because I had raw chicken on my hands and didn’t answer my phone) from the guys who were on their way over this morning to do a warranty replacement of one of our windows upstairs. I knew they were supposed to come but it had slipped my mind for a bit this morning.

They were really nice guys and we chatted about all kinds of things while they were working. I kept having this nagging thought that I needed to ask this guy if he was a Christian. I couldn’t shake it so, as they were finishing up the job (and they did excellent work), I asked. He said “no” that he doesn’t believe in any religion because he thinks religion has been used too much to manipulate people. The guy helping him (who he called his brother) is Muslim. He said that he just tries to do good and be nice to everyone and, he doesn’t know if there’s a God, but if there is and if being a good person isn’t good enough for Him, oh well…

I was going to let it go but the Lord wouldn’t let me! I had to explain the gospel to him and told him that I like him and care about his eternal future and really hoped he would think about the fact that you have to be perfect to go to heaven because God is perfect and can’t be in the presence of sin. I told him no one can be perfect so we would all be headed for hell and eternal punishment because the penalty for sin is death. He had some knowledge of the scriptures because he knew about the sacrifices in the old testament and he knew about the story of Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac and then not being allowed to go through with it. I told him I was not talking about Christianity as a religion but as a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is God but chose to become human, live a perfect life and die as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world and then rose again 3 days later and is alive in heaven. I told him that anyone who believes this and accepts His free gift of life will live forever in heaven. The alternative is hell - everyone else goes there. But I told him God does not want us to go there. He asked some great questions and even brought up what is happening in Israel and Iran right now. I used that as an opportunity to discuss how Israel is a tiny country surrounded by countries who hate them and want to wipe them off the face of the earth and yet, they are still here and thriving. He said he was impressed by how wealthy and technologically advanced they are as a nation - especially given all their opposition. I explained that they are God’s chosen people and are under His protection. It’s the only reason they still exist. It was a really good discussion- had right in front of his Muslim “brother” (and roommate as it turns out). I am praying they will both do a lot of thinking and soul searching.

I relate this story to encourage everyone to grab the opportunities the Lord presents to you. He will bless your efforts. I honestly believe that the Lord knew He was going to send people to me today to witness to so He didn’t allow my foolish choice to totter around a flower patch in my slippers, causing me to lose my balance and hit my head, to take me out of the way of planting seeds and potentially winning a soul or two for Christ. You just never know when these divine appointments are going to happen so be ready to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit within you - and don’t ignore Him!

Oh, and learn from my mistakes and make better choices!😊