deep breath!

Deep breath....in....and out. I'm a little ticked at myself for letting two weeks fly by without blogging! I'm not even going to say "things have been crazy" because that always seems to be my excuse! Instead I'm just going to say I've been needing to take a deep breath, and I've finally found the time. Today. Now.

I turned 25! It was a quiet birthday--just how I wanted it. I spent the day working and studying (shocker), and celebrated in the evening with my family. Dinner was a lovely home-cooked Indian meal--soul food! I blew out birthday candles, but it wasn't on cake....it was on cornbread, because I gave up sweets for lent. My sister and brother-in-law got creative because everyone was adamant on me blowing out candles on something. I didn't complain. :-)

So, I officially have a quarter of a century under my belt. Do I feel any different? Not one bit! I'm still in shock of it all actually. On my birthday, I sat and thought about the past 25 years in my life, and got a little overwhelmed--I mean, did all these things really happen in my life? Did the course of my life really encounter the events, which it did, at the exact time which it did, to bring me to this point today? The way God works blows. my. mind.

My family shamelessly spoiled me with gifts, even when I told them I wanted low-key, which included presents. But they have a track record for not listening when it comes to this stuff.

My best present wasn't something tangible I received from family or friends. Rather it's an intangible one in that I saw some very specific prayers being answered. When I say "very specific," I mean very specific...yes, prayers is plural - there were multiple ones in various aspects of my life! I've never seen anything like it. Well, let me rephrase, I'm sure things like this have happened in my life before, but I may have been in my own little world to realize what was actually going on.

SO, on my birthday, Psalm 139, which I'm now calling "the birthday psalm," struck a chord with me:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." ~Psalm 139:13-16

Amen! So, today, 25 years and two weeks old, I am still thankful for specific answered prayers, this roller coaster, which I call "my life," and deep breaths, to sit, and think and reflect and blog.