Well, yesterday was my 24th birthday. If you didn’t remember or forgot to tell me Happy Birthday, that’s fine. I forget birthdays all the time. I’m actually quite horrible at remembering birthdays- I do good to remember my immediate family’s. I’m not telling you it was my birthday to remind you, I’m telling you because 6 years ago, on my 18th birthday, I was baptized. I was thinking about all of the wonderful things that God has done in my life in the past 6 years. I have been blessed so tremendously its hard to understand how God can continue blessing me when I continuously fail, but that is all part of the splendor of God’s love.

Back in the summer, I bought a new Women’s Devotional Bible. I read Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkinson and The Shack by William P. Young. (Both great reads.) I had been doing very well keeping up my with my Bible reading and felt I had grown spiritually. Somewhere between remodeling and the birth of our son, I lost track of my devotion. So I have decided to make a birthday resolution: I am (re)committing myself to God. I feel I have a greater purpose to be the kind of Christian I want and need to be, because now I have someone who needs me to lead him in the right direction; someone who I am completely responsible for and who will look to me as an example. I know Alston is only 3 months old, but the sooner I become a better Christian, the sooner I become the wife and mother that my new family needs me to be.

I had become very discouraged because I had not been able to find a job. I applied for job after job and never heard anything back. I felt as though I had wasted 5 years of my life earning a college degree that was getting me nowhere. When I finally came to tears over the matter on Thursday, I realized that God was in charge. He would take care of me and whatever he wanted for me may not be exactly what I had in mind. So I decided to let go and let God. Twenty minutes later, the phone rang and I had an interview for Friday morning. When I told Patrick the good news, he immediately called his mother, who was out of town with her friend Cindy. He had seen how upset I was and had told his mother about it earlier that morning. She and Cindy had been praying for me all morning-and all of our prayers had been answered. It is amazing how even though I sometimes forget about God, He never forgets about me. Whenever I stumble, He’s there to pick me up. My interview went well. I think this job would be perfect for me and I am very excited about the prospect of starting my new career. I won’t hear anything back for about 7-10 days, but I know that God is working in my life and He will do what He sees fit. God already knows what is going to happen, I just have to put my faith in Him.