35 years.

This coming Saturday I will be blessed to celebrate 36 years of life and loving.
If you asked me this last year what I thought 35 would look like I would have said excitement and adventure, celebrating who God made me to be.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." ~Jeremiah 1:5(NIV)

This is a verse I have had to repeat over and over again these last 362 days.
I am whole. I am progress. I am passion. I am loved. I am never forsaken.

These are my truths.

I took this photo last year a week before my 35th birthday,with grand plans that I had made for myself swirling through my head. That was the first mishap. I told God what I was going to do. You can stop laughing.
God gave me adventure.
We moved to a new state, a new church, new diagnoses , new friends, new battles in my marriage, a leadership roll I never saw coming, and things that would rock my foundation of who I was in Christ.
The excitement...well maybe not the typical idea of it.
I excitedly danced in my kitchen when I heard cancer free, I cried tears of joy as women I had never met before prayed over me. I delighted in the knowledge that it was okay to not be okay and to wait on God's timing.
I celebrated who I was now in Christ. This moment. A time such as this. Because the moment I lost sight of these truths, I would fall into an unknown and have to lay it all right back down at the cross. A cycle that has been repeated multiple times this year.
I was humbled, I was lifted up, I learned to love the me
who Christ built and ordained to do more for this world then get lost in books.
So 36, what can I tell you?
Remeber every single day you are a daughter of The King.
Do not let the world define you. Embrace you.
Pray, pray, pray, then pray harder.
Cultivate those friendships that show you that you are not alone.
Be truthful to yourself.
Love yourself, every last bit of you.
Tattoo scripture on your heart. You're going to need it.
Kiss Mr. Glitter more.
Tell your sons how amazing they are every day.
Always eat the cupcake.
Remember, God, family, then everything else.
Laugh more, it's good for the soul.
And above all else please remember,
​I am whole. I am progress. I am passion. I am loved.
​ I am never forsaken.