The number 25 in the Bible symbolizes “grace upon grace.” I read that in a birthday card from my mom. Oddly enough, that exact same phrase is on a wall of a house that I’ve been painting the past few days. God is so funny and intentional and loud. I was nervous that spending my 25th birthday away from home, family, friends, and familiarity would leave me feeling sad and alone. I fearfully believed I would dread turning a quarter of a century old and would feel dissatisfied with my life thus far.
I was reflecting on my birthday two years ago when I turned 23. I was in a terrible mental space, suffering physically from my anxiety-induced sickness, constantly vomiting for days on end, and feeling absolutely hopeless. Then there was my 21st birthday. I was still despairingly heartbroken from my one and only breakup, and was lonelier than ever, feeling like a stranger in my own home with three random roommates I didn’t know. Nervously, I wondered if a pattern was forming of having bad birthdays on odd-numbered ages. I know, it sounds silly saying it aloud. But I honestly wasn’t looking forward to this birthday in a foreign home away from home, detached from my people back in the States.
But the Lord took those worries and gave me the very opposite of them! I feel alive. I feel hopeful. I feel loved. I belong to Jesus. I have purpose, which I am living out right here right now on the World Race. I am surrounded by an incredibly caring community of Christ followers, on a beautiful mountain in Haiti. Wow, talk about grace upon grace.
I met my squad mates only a few months ago but they are already family to me. My team surprised me with a delicious Funfetti cake that said ASH in sprinkles, complete with a cluster of matches, serving as candles. The twenty-something year old Haitian guys that have been working alongside us here at Baptist Haiti Mission went out of their way to make me feel special. I was given a necklace from Jerry, a popsicle from Donly, hugs from Ferlando, and an afternoon playing card games with Fito and Looby. I’m just speechless at the amount of genuine love that others are pouring out on me and am taken aback by how much everyone cares.
John 1:16 says, “From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”
I am eager to see how the Lord carries out this phrase over the course of my 25th year. He continues to abundantly give blessing after blessing, mercy after mercy, and grace after grace.
