Happy Birthday to You!

birthday cake 1

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear….”you get the picture.  Every day there are thousands of those who celebrate their birthdays in any number of ways.

This past week, our nephew and his wife welcomed a new little girl into their life named Avery Julia.  It was literally her “birth day”.  This is their first child, so everything is new and exciting.  We saw a lot of pictures from the hospital of family and friends holding that sweet baby, but the one that moved me the most was seeing little Avery laying on her daddy’s chest while they both slept.  Such peaceful and warm contentment in that picture.

There is such hope for that little girl, that her parents will raise her together and provide all she needs physically, emotionally and spiritually.  There is hope for a bright future, a family who stays together and whose home will be filled with love and joy.  Congratulations, Mom and Dad, and welcome to our world, Avery Julia.

In another part of the country, our pseudo granddaughter, Tess, is celebrating her 9th birthday.  Tess is an amazingly unique girl who loves with her whole heart.  She loves to dance, laugh, sing, tell jokes, eat sweets and play.  She can say the funniest and most surprising things and she can certainly voice her opinion when she is not happy.  We look forward to what the Lord has in store for her too.  Her mom and dad chose her through adoption and she is flourishing as they guide her, love her and enjoy her.  Happy Birthday to you too, Tess!

Finally, there is another birthday that has great eternal value.  That is the birthday of when we gave our lives to the Lord God and began our walk with Him.  For some of us, it was a dramatic moment, and for others it was merely a decision.  The impact of the decision was just as important, that sealed our eternity once and for all.  It began to change our perspective and our purpose here on earth.

Change can be as simple as moving furniture in a room to moving to another side of the country.  It can be as ho hum as changing the brand of paper towels we use to deciding to end a marriage. Birthdays can give us hope or fill us with dread as we see ourselves growing older.  We can continue on the same path of bitterness or anger or we can make the decision to renew our minds so we can be free of the past.

This Tuesday, my Chained No More Talk Radio show guest will be Dr. Kimball Hodge and he will be discussing “A Mind Renewed By God…Forever Changing the Way You think and Live”.  He will discuss the whys and whats about getting stuck in a rut and also the steps to rise out of that rut.  Please tune in to hear Kim this Tuesday at 2 pm ET at www.toginet.com.  You will also be able to download the podcast later that day at www.toginet.com/shows/chainednomore.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is; His good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2

Let today be a day of new birth in your thinking and how you live your life.  While you are at it, why not have a piece of “birthday cake” to celebrate!  Happy “birth day” to you!!

#hope   #chainednomore   #contentment   #bestshows