My Grown Up Birthday Wish

Long ago and far away, I took my brother in law, Michael, and another young man on a 4-H trip. As teenage boys sometimes do, they got in trouble.  As we started down a very long hall to the scene of the problem, the other young man kept saying "She's not that mad, she isn't even yelling."  A much wiser Michael responded "This is worse, when it's really bad she stops talking."  How right he was.  I am a yeller by nature, but when it really gets bad, I go underground.  The last week or so has been no different.  A close friend commented, "we knew it was really bad when all the updates began to come from Brian."

Today is my 39th birthday.  The event has been largely overshadowed by the dark state of our family right now.  Even an abundance of bright shining candles atop my pudding filled angel food cake can't penetrate the shadows settled over our home. Not just shadows, but a deep moonless night.  An inky blackness.  The stuff of a Frank Peretti novel. But..... I can still dream of birthday wishes.

My daughter is hurting.  Our hearts are breaking as we make decisions no parent should ever have to make.  Our younger children are angry and overwhelmed.  Sometimes it seems we are all drowning.  We are fighting professionals with differing opinions and agendas, and sometimes we seem to fight the very demons of hell.  And we pray as we have never prayed before.  We pray for healing.  We pray for wisdom. We pray for peace.  We pray "I believe, help my unbelief!"

As Southern Baptists, we pray for missionaries on their birthdays.  I have been told that missionaries intentionally plan huge even impossible events for those days because they are so confident they will see the majestic hand of God as thousands of Christian brothers and sisters stand in the gap and bring their concerns before the throne.  We do not know all the details. We rarely know the outcome. We simply pray.

 My birthday wish today is that you be willing to do the same thing.  I can not share all the details.  You may never know all the events of the outcome.  We need to see the mighty and amazing hand of God.  We need a miracle. Simply pray.