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Happy anniversary, sweetie!

*3-45-54-65

What do those numbers mean? No, they’re not part of the lottery! Let’s start backwards...

*...65: Does your family share birthdays?

In our family, we have more than one member sharing the same birth date. Before my mother died, she, her aunt, my sister, and our daughter all shared the same January 23rd birthday. Our son shares his September 24th birthday with one of my nieces. My brother-in-law shares his September 25th birthday with his daughter, another niece.

I don’t get to share my birthday with anyone in the family. So today, it is my birthday!


*...54: This is a very special and eternal number: it is my spiritual birthday, which occurred when I was eleven years old in July of 1957 at Billy Graham’s crusade in New York City.

The other day when I opened one of the devotionals I read, Days of Heaven on Earth by A. B. Simpson, I turned right to July 5th, not once but three days in a row! I guess I needed the reassurance. The Lord blessed me with the opening scripture...

“A garden enclosed...” (Song of Solomon 4:12 NKJV) The New Living Translation puts it this way, “You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride, a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.”

What a special blessing as a birthday present from the Lord! The Husbandman ploughed the soil of my heart, broke up the dirt clumps of self, removed the stones of obstruction, ripped out the roots of cares and woes, and planted His seed of eternity in my soul!

In return for all He’s done, may my life produce the delectable fruit and the fragrant blossoms acceptable to the Gardener of my life.

One day, I received an ad in the mail, one of those perfume samples that you pull the flap back to get a whiff of the scent. This one tickled my funny bone, for on the flap was written, “Open for Eternity”!

It brought to mind several images, but then I thought, how appropriate, to have the sweet scent of Eternity upon me, for “As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us.” (2 Cor. 2:15 TLB)

May I be that sweet aroma in His nostrils!

*...45: This is another special one, though not today: July 15th is my, er, our 45th wedding anniversary.

After the ups and downs throughout the years, they are long forgotten, for the road is now smoothed out before us and each day grows sweeter and more precious.

Thank you, dear, for all these years!


*...3: And last: this blog is three years old. I want to thank each and every follower, subscriber, and reader for their continued encouragement and support. Each of you is prayed for and appreciated. Your comments make my day!

I thought it fitting that I celebrate these special occasions with a giveaway...

***$50 gift card***

Let me know you would like to be entered by leaving a comment on any blog post or the comment box in the left sidebar, and also on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Just be sure you mention the giveaway. It closes July 31st.

My prayer for you: “May the Lord continually bless you with heaven’s blessings as well as with human joys.” (Ps. 128:5 TLB)

Welcome to my celebration! What am I celebrating? My first blog anniversary! So I guess it would be my First Blogaversary!

Where has the time gone? Here we are…one year later! I cannot believe it! I posted my first blogpost on July 20, 2008. This comes as my husband and I just celebrated our 43rd anniversary on July 15.

When one celebrates an anniversary, one usually looks back over the variety of events that have taken place over the years. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Well, for the blog, only a couple of times blipped the “bad and ugly” radar. The real bad and ugly happened behind the scenes as I tried to write!

I’ve shed tears of joy, and a little pain, and brain cells of thought. Writing is sometimes very difficult as I deal with the symptoms of fibromyalgia, which causes foggy thinking through impaired comprehension, difficulty in concentration, and temporary memory loss.

My first blogpost was Stepping Out in Faith, which said it all. (If you’d like to read it, you can click here. It was a huge leap for me. Questions plagued my mind, like…

* Who will read what I write?
* What the heck will I write about?
* How in the world will I keep this up?
* Will I write what is pleasing to the Lord?
* Will others want to come back to read again?
* How will I ever draw others into this little world of Heading Home?
* Will I write the things that will encourage others or touch a need in their lives?

Because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I always know there is at least special person, and sometimes more, for whom my words, or rather His words, are meant to minister.

Through my blog and other networks, the Lord has truly blessed me over the last year with countless, precious cyber-friends, all a part of God’s family.

So many of you have encouraged my heart, sometimes so beautifully that I have been overwhelmed and touched by your kind, caring, and encouraging words.

I want to thank each and every one of you, my readers and followers. You are very precious to me. I pray daily that the Lord will guide my heart, my mind, and my fingers to write the words that will be of benefit to you by touching your hearts in whatever you need.

In appreciation for your faithfulness in reading, I have a new give-away. I asked on Twitter what others would like in the way of a give-away and I got too many different answers. Therefore, I am making this the Winner’s Choice Give-away! It consists of $100 that can be received in one of these ways…

* 1 - $100 pre-paid card
* 1 - $100 gift card to one store of winner’s choice
* 2 - $50 gift cards to two stores of winner’s choice
* or divvied up in any configuration of winner’s choice

If you’d like to join in the celebration, please sign up in the comment box on the right close to the top of the sidebar.

I leave you with the verse on which I hang my life…“Did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40 Amp)

I pray a blessing of peace, provision, protection, and the presence of the Lord in all things for each of you.

~~Blessings…Lynn~~