I am a shameless self-promoter when it comes to my birthday. I love my birthday. I love me. I love parties. I love parties about me. You get where I’m going with this?
So yes, I have been hypeing up my birthday party and my birthday and somehow have convinced people (aka my roommates and my co-workers) that yes, a ‘birth week’ and ‘birth month’ are real things and that they are mine, all mine.
Now that it is actually my birthday and my seriously comical (or comically serious?) rants about how important today is/will be have momentarily halted, I want to talk about Jesus. Because Jesus changed my life. Yes, He was sent by God to die for my sins in my stead and, more importantly, conquer death and sin through his resurrection BUT ALSO, He was determined not to lose me to religion, to lose me behind my defenses. He was determined to soften this hard heart and open my eyes to His kingdom. He wasn’t content for me to confess belief in redemption and grace and mercy when I didn’t really believe those were for me in my heart. No, Jesus has been after me all my life and this past year He finally caught me, changed me, and freed me. He waited for me to make the first move. He waited for me to get to a place where I sat on top of the world with all the esteem and friends and money and potential before me, and He waited for me to look around and scream out in my heart that none of this was satisfying, none of this was good enough to base a life off of. And that tiny, tiny step towards Him that took me years and years to take suddenly caused me to be caught up in His arms and Jesus was wearing some seriously awesome seven league boots that had us going at breakneck speed in terms of healing, hope, and freedom.
I had asked Him for a dream, He said evangelism. I thought, “Oh hellllll no, Lord. You've got to be kidding me.” but here I am preparing to travel to world to discover what breaks the Father’s heart, and how to love with Kingdom perspective. I asked for identity, He broke off lies and chains and lifted burdens I had grown so used to carrying that I didn’t even realize they had been there until they were gone.
Tonight, I raced to get out of my office before midnight so I wouldn’t have to say I spent the first part of my birthday at work by myself. But I realized that no matter where I was physically, nothing could change that I have never felt more free, more whole, and more hopeful now than in my entire life. Jesus really does change lives! He changed this one! I used to think college would always be the glory days, that it was all downhill from there, but the truth is that the older I get, the more free I become as Jesus continues to swoop in, and it’s all ridiculously awesome from here.
So on this day that supposedly celebrates me, what I really want to say to everyone who reads this is do not despair, do not lose hope. There is a Creator who can and will change your life in a blink of an eye solely because He loves you and treasures you. You are never too far, too wild, too different, or too broken for Him. I promise that signing up for this Jesus thing will make your life rock AT LEAST 50x more than it does now. And you will be way more likely to burst into tears while driving and laughing all at the same time because of random moves of the Holy Spirit telling you that you are loved, you are treasured, and just WAIT for what He has in store for you.
