Today (7-18-25) is my 74th birthday, and it's my 50th year as a believer. If you've been a longtime reader of Bible Love Notes, you know that I take more than one minute on my birthday devotion.
Many of you also know that I’ve had a nomadic life, moving over 40 times. You can read more details about that in last year's birthday post: A Bend in the Road.
We didn't “retire.” We never want to do that. We want to keep doing ministry until the Lord takes us home.
Because of our age, we made plans to make this last move our least stressful one, hiring things done that we usually do ourselves. But God obviously had different plans and new things to teach us.
Many of our Christian friends have also faced increasing difficulties in the last few years, and we're learning that these things are part of our training, preparing us for the increasing spiritual challenges in our world.
So on my birthday, I want to encourage you to become aware of the challenges Christians are facing. I can't overemphasize our need to pray, persevere, and prepare for what lies ahead.
If you aren’t studying your Bible daily, it’s critical that you begin. If you don’t have godly fellowship, please seek it out. If you are not aware of the many challenges we're facing in culture, please become more informed. I recommend you read Live Not By Lies and We Will Not Be Silenced. These books helped my husband and me understand more of what we are facing and how to prepare. (We get no compensation for recommending these books.)
Let's do all that we can to prepare our hearts and minds for the battles we face daily. Let's fight the half-truth propaganda with the sword of the Spirit which is God's Word (Hebrews 4:12).
If you haven’t purchased my book Wisdom for Life, I pray that you’ll consider doing so. I believe, among other things, it will help you prepare for what's going on in our world.