Birthdays are milestones, times of reevaluation, times to chart a course, time to reflect, and times to count blessings. I did that yesterday, among all the hustle and bustle of the day. Yes, there were flowers, balloons, candles, calls, emails, and even an audacious pin from my grandchildren reading: “Today’s My Birthday!”
I read in Jeremiah 1:5 God’s word to Jeremiah. Now he was being told he would be a prophet, but I can generalize this verse to mean God has a purpose of each person in His creation: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.
Psalm 139 says this: For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
It even announces that my death date was determined before I was even born!
The Psalmist says such knowledge is too much for him. Surely it is for me. Isaiah 42:1 says: “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold. My chosen one in whom I delight. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.” Susan Larson in her wonderdful “Blessings for Every Day” puts it this way: “May God open your Spirit eves to see your life, your worth, and your destiny from His point of view. He’s doing a beautiful work in you. May you open wide your arms to receive His abundant love, His powerful promises, and His moment-by-moment faithfulness. He will not fail you. May you live as one who is spoken for, provided for, and deeply loved. Because you are.”
Now, what does all this have to do with June 25, 2022?
Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down the reversal of Roe vs. Wade. It was controversial, but, for the last 50 years of my life, I and others have prayed for this day to come. And this year, the day before my 82nd birthday, it arrived.
Without getting in the God truth about it, this once and for all considers that conception is a right to life.
My sister, Ellen, the only surviving person I know who has known me the longest, she reminded me, gave me a plaque about being part of the tree of life, and this is significant since I am the matriarch of our family now. It’s an awesome responsibility. While she’s the one who has studied the genealogy and traced our DAR history, and she keeps in touch with her many grandchildren and great grandchildren (I will probably never live long enough to see my third generation), I am reveling in the role of grandma.
What is the lesson I pass on to Kaley and Emily? The only significant role is see is on a Tshirt which covers my favorite pillow. It says: “My favorite people call me Grandma!” with a big gold heart prominently displayed.
Yesterday, I heard from friends in five states, from family, from my church brothers and sisters, even from our mortgage company! As I lay down after literally a sixteen-hour day, I thanked the one who made is all possible. I thanked God for loving me well, for preserving my soul, for giving me capabilities that, although they’re waning, I still have purpose and usefulness to Him, and for the love of others who have blessed my life.
I have a dear neighbor who, because we share the Lord, reminds me “I’m too blessed to be stressed!” That 
with my philosophy I adopted at 65,, while I was still teaching: “If it doesn’t matter in five years, it doesn’t matter in five minutes.” Birthdays are times to reevaluate what’s important.
Medically, everything is still “fixable.” I’ve had series eye problems, lost the hearing in one ear, deal with recurrent kidney stones, and now face hip replacement surgery, but God has faithfully preserved my health and life. He still allows me to live in a long marriage ( fifth-three and a half years), live near my beautiful children and daughter-in-love’s family, and adore my growing eight and eleven-year-old granddaughters. I still thrive in America, the land of my birth where millions cross our borders illegally to join me. I’ve seen injustices healed, but now see counter-culture elements and godlessness trying, as they have throughout the centuries, threaten.
Through my writing, I can still speak truth. Through my service to my local church, even as we meet in yet another temporary facility today waiting for delayed construction on our new building, I can absolutely say with all the vigor left in this eighty-two year body (is that even possible?) that You, Supreme, Sovereign Lord of the universe, and lover of my soul, will provide through promised financial woes, even the saber-rattling of potential warfare, and like Roe vs Wade, Your ways will be known to all generations. Even so, I await Jesus’ return to claim victory, and every knee shall bow, either in reverence or fear, proclaiming He is Lord of Lord, King of Kings, and has paid the dear price for my freedom in Him.
That indeed will be a day of celebration for me and my house, and for the millions who worship this Sabbath day.
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