Yes, please and thank you! Bring on all the festivities for “our” birthday!*
As “our” birthday* is only a couple of days away (and now that my grading is done for my summer classes – a gift in and of itself!), I’m getting more and more excited for this birthday. God has super-abundantly filled my life with so very many good gifts (see Ephesians 3:20-21)! Gifts of all kinds – from people to places, food to freedom, open doors to overcoming, hope to knowing He hears my prayers, and strength to a new song in my mouth, mind, and heart (see Philippians 4:13 and Psalm 40:3).
God has done all of this as only He can. And rejoicing and reveling in these good gifts is (almost) as delightful as singing praises to Him with a choir and sanctuary full to bursting in people and in sound from joyful hearts and voices!
Speaking of new songs, here’s a few songs from the Psalms which continue to realign my mindset from melancholy to meeting new challenges head-on.
Psalm 47:7 NIV For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
Psalm 92:1 NIV It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
Psalm 145:3 NIV Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
We had Psalm chapter 145 read in its entirety at our wedding (34 years ago this month!). There’s so very much richness to delight in with this Psalm. Please take a few minutes now to stop and read (and re-read) this chapter now. There’s nothing quite like a Psalm to bring strength for the journey to the mind and joy to the heart. To quote a former pastor of mine, “a Psalm a day keeps the devil away.” (Now that thought can apply to every chapter in Scripture, but there’s just something extra-special about the Psalms giving courage, endurance, and hope for any wilderness we might walk.)
*note about “our” birthday – if you missed the earlier post of why it’s “our” birthday – please read the post titled “birthday celebration” to learn all about my friend’s great approach to birthdays. I can’t wait to see her face when I take cupcakes to her to celebrate “our” birthday this week at church! (Shhhh – this is going to be a surprise for her and a BIG delight for me!)
written by and copyrighted to Beth Madison, Ph.D., 2025.
Soul Scientist 
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