Happy Birthday Brooke!

Birthdays always make me feel nostalgic.  17 years ago today I gave birth to my second of four children  and only daughter.  She has grown into such a lovely young woman who is totally in love with Jesus and someone I truly consider one of my best friends.  As I carried each of my children during pregnancy, I prayed for them to know Jesus personally and to follow Him all their days.  What a blessing to report that each of them has done just that.  Brooke came to know Him personally at age 8.


A little over 2 years ago, God led us to begin a church with some good friends who have become family.  This meant leaving the very large church where we had served for ten years.  At the time our oldest son was interning in the youth group at that church, so he didn't leave when we did, and since children are so resilient, I didn't really worry about the adjustment the younger two boys would have to make.  Brooke was a different story.  She was very involved in the youth group and sang on one of the youth praise teams.  She was at that age where these type of decisions can have a huge affect.  We were taking her away from all that into something totally different...no youth group...no praise team...something brand new.  Yes, I'm her mother and yes, I was worried.  However, I prayed fervently for God to do a new thing in her heart and to show me that she would be OK.  I have been absolutely amazed by His goodness to us!


Brooke suffers from something the doctors call Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and at the time, she was having severe flare-ups.  She received much prayer and while (at the time of this writing), she is not completely healed, she has learned to avoid certain trigger foods, and most importantly has learned to cast all her cares on the Lord, Who cares for her.  What the enemy has meant for evil, God has used for good.  In her weakness, He is strong.  She has learned not to focus on the illness, but to focus on The Healer.

There is not enough space to list all the powerful ways God has proven Himself faithful to Brooke and to our family over the last 2 years.  Once again He has demonstrated that He is trustworthy and that worry profits nothing.  One of the ways she serves Him is by taking care of children at church.  He has used her to speak life into them, pray over them, play with them, and they simply adore her.

This will be an exciting year for Brooke as she prepares for her trip to Mozambique.  She told me that she isn't worried about IBS even with the strange food she will most likely end up eating.  She's not worried about the travel or anything.  She is just opening herself up to whatever God wants to do in and through her.  Yes, she certainly has come a long way and God will take her to even deeper levels of intimacy and adventure in the days to come.

I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

My daughter is a living example of loving The ONE and loving the one.  I'm just a wee bit proud of her.  Can you tell??!!