Birthdays are said to be benchmark moments – the start of something new – a time for celebration. I love birthdays. They always remind me of how precious life is, and how special it is to love people and the life God has given them, and the start of a new year. This year, I had the privilege of celebrating my birthday here in Blantyre/Thyolo village, Malawi.
Twenty-three years ago in a military hospital in England, I was born…the Lord’s been changing and directing my life ever since. I never would’ve imagined 2, 3, even 10 years ago that I’d be spending my 23rd birthday in Africa. It was like a dream come true in many ways…and strangely different than anything I’ve ever experienced before.
Sunday through Thursday was full of random treats and celebratory moments of my birthday week. One day we wore silly birthday hats to ministry at a school and another night we watched a movie and made homemade kettle-corn. I was showered with treats and birthday week greetings. I’d never had a birthday WEEK before, but since starting the race, my team has always facilitated this type of celebration…now it was my turn! Friday before leaving for our crusade, Mrs. Loma and my teammates made me a traditional Malawi birthday cake. It was pink on the inside and tasted like a muffin, topped with lemon zest icing.
Finally, on Saturday, I experienced a ‘very African birthday to me!” complete with chi-mi-mina (the traditional Malawian cornmeal + banana cake) and even wore a traditional skirt or wrap from Malawi to our weekend crusade. I woke up to greetings like “hey birthday girl”…and Stacey snapped a Polaroid picture of me. This was supplemented with much enthusiasm about the day – full of songs, a crossword puzzle card from my teammate Laura, birthday feedback, and playing soccer barefoot, beneath the starts and moonlit African sky.
What’s more is, my friend (and crusade tent-buddy) Stacey taught me all about long exposure photographs with my camera – and we were able to capture some pictures of the stars the morning of my birthday…adding a little drawing with our headlamps, we were able to document this special birthday moment in Malawi.
Aside from all these special moments of celebrating 22 years of life – my favorite moment of the day was visiting the local hospital. I never thought I’d spend my 23rd birthday praying for sick women in a TB ward. Stacey and I partnered up with one of our local friends to translate, and went to the women’s ward. We were able to pray over each woman and her family individually. One lady who stuck out to me specifically was a woman named Rose…later that evening, God knit our story of Rose even closer together at the crusade. (Please read “a sister’s heart” to hear this story in full.)
It’s the start of a new year of living.
It’s a year of purpose and seeing promises fulfilled.
It’s a year of PROMISE!
For those of you who have journeyed with me for any leg of this journey – thank you!
Love, love, birthday love from Malawi!
