Hope Eternal for the Birthday Girl

When I wake in the morning, I'll sip coffee, curl my overly long locks, dress, and head to The Georgia Aquarium to enjoy free admission on my 45th birthday. 

I can't wait. 

A year ago, I was holed up in my mother's home, recovering from my third major surgery in ten months... an ankle reconstruction. It wasn't a horrible birthday, just a tad dismal.

But if all goes as planned, I'll head down town tomorrow, eat a raspberry tart from a French bakery my daughter-in-law discovered this week, and then live a day of fun. Which might even include buying another pair of cowboy boots. The normal kind. The kind I couldn't bend my ankle into a year ago. 

On top of all that, in less than a week, I meet with a specialist who will measure my eyes for prism lenses. Excited about the potential, I hope to write more once the new lenses calm current eye muscle stress.

Who knows what's next. But this milestone feels unusually significant: 45. It's not a nice round number. But it's a fair mid-life juncture that hurdles me into another era. My kids are grown. My legs stable at the moment. And my heart more accepting of current limits than in previous years.

In all fairness, I'll confess to two recent discoveries that have helped significantly. First, a friend introduced me to the Miracle Ball Method about a month ago. When I use them twice a day, I move with greater ease and less pain. Second, another friend, who suffers with mitochondrial disease, shared how supplements from a company called Reliv increased her stamina and lessened pain. After using the products for eight weeks now, I can attest to the same. I still have limits, but they've expanded and are easier to maneuver in. (More about that another day!)

Between those discoveries and the lenses soon to come, I have renewed hope. And the truth is, hope is the best gift of all for my 45th birthday. 

But while hope for better health invigorates my life on earth, hope eternal trumps it all. So I have to ask: Do you know hope eternal? The whisper of Jesus in your soul?

I hope you do. Because my 45th birthday wouldn't be the same without Jesus anchored in me; the one true hope of glory.

"God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1: 27)

(credits listed in order of photos)
photo credit: Shereen M via photopin cc
photo credit: NomadicStateOfMind via photopin cc
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photo credit: Malcolm Carlaw via photopin cc
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