Skip to main content

February 21, 2012: Today is my birthday

It's my birthday, and I've given myself permission to start it totally in slow motion. So, first I shuffled into the bathroom, looked in the mirror, saw my hair standing up in the "touchdown!" position, looked up and said, "Thank you for my birthday, Lord." I don't think He minds the hair.

Then I went to the kitchen and poured myself a good cup of decaf Mocha from Gevalia coffee. No Teeccino today. Teeccino is very good, but on a celebration day, I have to break out the decaf Mocha Java. Why decaf? Because the nutritionist said that it's better for my heart and my worn-out adrenal glands. That's another blog.

Then I cut up a Granny Smith apple into some vanilla Greek yogurt, added a tablespoon of ground flax and two tablespoons of granola, stirred and put the whole feast on my breakfast tray. Headed to the den for my daily closed-door session with my Lord.

After some prayer time, I opened His Word (I like to have my physical food with my spiritual food), and allowed my mind to think on what I was reading. Guess what verse showed up in my reading today? Nehemiah 8:10, and I'm not making this up!

"Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Eureka! What a birthday note! Permission from heaven to go out and “eat the fat and drink the sweet” on my birthday! I've got to hurry up here so that I can go out and obey these instructions!

After finishing my reading in Nehemiah, I went on to read my Proverb chapter for the day. I have many verses that I like in Prov. 21, because it is my "birthday chapter." Here's one of my favorites:

"The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of everyone that is hasty only to want." (Prov. 21:5)

I have learned that it pays to slow down when making plans, to allow time to be sure that I'm on track with what God wants for my life. That's one of the reasons why it took us so long to get this website online; we were still praying it out. And Norman and I like to avoid being "hasty" about anything in general. It's just too risky to rush things that don't need a rush job!

Well, it's time for me to go out and "eat the fat and drink the sweet." And I'm thanking God for giving me year number 54 of life. Of these 54 years, 35 of them have been as a Christian, since I was saved at age 19. Thank you for all the birthday well wishes on Facebook and by snail mail. I will obey your notes, and will enjoy my 35th/54th birthday. Keep the heart, sisters.
Love,
Francie
Prov. 4:23

If this website has been a blessing to you, please visit the Shop page and consider buying a book or CD set. We appreciate your support of Keep the Heart!
www.keeptheheart.com 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Parents Are Not Responsible for That

Parenthood is not a role for wimps or whiners. There are the exciting times such as music recitals, sports tournaments, and graduations. But if your tribe is like ours, you've probably also had the maddening moments, like the time one of our children discovered how to unfasten the tapes on his diaper and used the contents as "chalk" on the bedroom  wall (yes, it was "his," so that narrows the field of suspects). Children are young for a few blinks, and then we spin around and we're hearing "Pomp and Circumstance," that familiar graduation march as our "babies" walk down the aisle in cap and gown. If they choose to go on to college, four snaps later, we're sitting in the auditorium at their college graduation, scanning a long list of names in the commencement bulletin while waiting to watch them walk across the platform to receive yet another diploma. It's warp-speed fast (except that diaper stage). Parents don't min...

Why Abishag and Not Bathsheba?

When you read Bible stories, do you ever wonder about things? I often wonder, and one story on my "wonder list" is the account of the aged King David and his lovely young caregiver named Abishag. David already had plenty of wives, including one very beautiful stolen wife named Bathsheba. When David was struggling to stay warm (Scripture says "he got no heat"), why didn't he call for Bathsheba? I wonder...and I'm going to hazard a guess that they had grown apart over the years. I can't prove it, but it can't be conclusively denied, either. Here's the Scriptural account, to refresh your memory: "Now kind David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fa...

Woman Down at the Beach

"Ah yeah ah...we have a woman down on the ground here at Pensacola Beach. Not sure what happened, but she fell and then she got up and then she went down..." I could hear a man's voice trying to describe what had happened, but I couldn't speak. I was fighting my way back to consciousness. All I was trying to do was go shelling at the beach. I was on my way from my car to the restroom, which is the custom before a long walk. Restroom first. If you're over 60, you don't need a translator. A little toddler on the sidewalk was trying to sweep the sand with her hand, and her effort made me smile but also distracted me. I wasn't looking ahead,  and the moment my sandal connected with the edge of that sidewalk (right where the sand and sidewalk met), I went flying through the air and skidded across the hot, sandy cement. Breaking a fall usually includes broken bones, so I am grateful to be typing this with no broken anything that I know of at the moment...