Life-The Best Birthday Present Ever!

Birthday

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Tomorrow is my birthday. As a child, I loved celebrating my birthday with cake, balloons, presents, and friends. Birthdays were special. 🍰

As the years passed by, it was still important but they were a blur among the days of diapers, laundry, cooking, homeschooling…

Before cancer, I enjoyed celebrating my birthday as an adult also. But, at the same time, I dreaded getting another year older. Turning 40 was hard for me. I didn't want to tell people how old I was. Maybe birthdays weren’t so fun. 🥳

Then my 45th birthday came and went and life as I knew it fell apart-a cancer diagnosis. The doctor said “you’re only 45; let’s hit this hard!” I’m thinking 45 is old. 🤔

Then my 54th birthday - another cancer diagnosis. My life fell apart again.

During cancer, my whole perspective changed. God took my suffering and allowed me to see something most people never pay much attention to-life. There’s a difference between paying attention to life and just “going through the motions.” Every single day of waking up breathing and your heart is beating 💓is a gift from God! It’s not so much about numbers as it is about living life to the fullest no matter what your age.

I’ve now had the ultimate luxury of growing older. I’ve found that what I once thought was important, beautiful or meaningful, was an insecure, self-centered, take-for-granted woman’s blind acceptance and definition of what’s valuable and important in our world. 🌎I don’t mean that in a mean or bad way but just going through the motions of life sometimes causes you to lose the best perspective. Sometimes it just takes a crisis for us to open our eyes and change our perspective.

My world 🌎 had been a world without cancer up to that point. It’s been a battle but now I am 18 years breast cancer free and 9 years ovarian cancer free (beyond what doctors expected)! I will celebrate 🎉 my birthday because my life perspective has changed. I have value apart from what I have done and not done. I even have value in my just “going through the motions” days. I am worth celebrating, whether or not I have done something significant, special or great with my life. My life is worth celebrating with or without cancer.

I believe deeply from the bottom of my heart that God gives me the gift of life every morning that I am still here. Every breath for me represents hope, gratitude, and blessings. Each morning I wake up to see another day… to celebrate life… to create new memories… to enjoy my family and friends…to follow my passions from Him. I am blessed! 💛🧡❤️💜💙💚

“Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.”

“By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb; My praise is continually of You.” Psalm 71:6-8

“When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life.” Ecc. 11:8