Grateful for 40 Years

November is my birthday month, and this year I turn 40, so we are celebrating all month long! I'm actually excited about turning 40. Not everyone gets this opportunity. While it might not be pleasant to have aging joints and aging skin and declining energy levels (along with a chronic illness), I recognize that it is a privilege to have more time on this earth to be with my family and to serve the Lord. 

We began birthday month celebrations on November 1 by taking a day trip to Split Rock Creek State Park here in Minnesota. It is a park I had been wanting to visit this year, and we hadn't made it yet, so getting to see the park for the first time was exciting. We enjoyed our family time at the lake, and we took lots of pictures of our fun afternoon.

As I celebrate turning 40, Sara Frankl and Kara Tippetts are often in my thoughts. These women both impacted me through their blogs and their books. Neither woman made it to the age of 40, the milestone I have been given to celebrate this year.

Sara Frankl had Ankylosing Spondylitis, and she lived in extreme pain every single day. She was completely confined to her small condo due to her illness. Yet she lived with joy, and she reached out to others from her small corner of the world. Through her blog, Sara showed me how to live a homebound life with joy. Sara was only 38 when she passed away in 2011.

Kara Tippetts fought breast cancer, and she encouraged many through her books and through her blog, Mundane Faithfulness. Kara turned 38 on the last birthday she celebrated on this earth. She told her friends, “I hope I live long enough to have wrinkles. I hope I live to see 40.” Kara died a year and a half before that milestone birthday she wanted so much to reach. She left behind her husband and four children when she died in 2015.

Turning 40 isn't something I take lightly. As I celebrate throughout this month, I am filled with gratitude. I am living long enough to get a few wrinkles and have some gray hair. I feel the weight of this gift.

I am grateful for the years I have had with my husband and my children. I am thankful for my life, my family, and the God who makes this life worth living. I am grateful for 40 years.