40: Is this the end?

One week from today, I turn 40.  A time once existed where the idea of turning 40 terrified me.  Back in the day, I looked at life and wondered if this was it. Would there ever be more?

Next week I turn 40 and though the thought of that number can be a bit frightening, I look at my life and feel blessed.  I’m ready and actually excited for 40!

It has been eight years since that picture at the left was taken.  A time when turning 40 terrified this girl.  In that picture, I’m surrounded by my beautiful babies, however, at the time, I was nothing more than a mere shell of a person.  I didn’t think an ending to the sadness existed, yet here I am, seven days from my 40^th birthday and experiencing a life I never thought possible.

What has changed?  Today I live a hope-filled life. Love abounds. Genuine friendships surround me.  My marriage is one of fairy tales and truly one I never thought possible.  My children love me. I live in a home full of love and family where we work to create loads of memories. But most of all,  I have a beautiful love relationship with Jesus Christ.  One in which He changed my life.  Turned it upside down.  And God has blessed me by giving back an abundance of what was taken while restoring all that was broken.

Yes, I am ready and proud to be turning 40.  I have accomplished so much since that 32^nd birthday.  I am a new person.  A content person.  A person full of love, no longer empty.  A person compelled by grace to bloom into who God created me to be. A person who broke free from that shell only to flourish and soar like I never thought possible. God truly gave me wings!

I don’t know your struggles at the moment or the darkness you might be facing, but know that there is an end.  It will not last forever.  That light at the end of the tunnel that seems impossible to reach, it’s not. Something beautiful awaits you!  Don’t lose hope!

But those who trust in the Eternal One will regain their strength. They will soar on wings as eagles.  They will run-never winded, never weary.  They will walk-never tired, never faint.

Isaiah 40:31