A 70th Remembrance that Testifies to His Love!

Happy 70th Birthday to Me!

Sita through the ages   

I believe it was one of the most beautiful weeks in my life in the time that I have spent in Canada.

How did that happen?

It started with me doing the Bible Reading Plan with Lina Abujamra this year. It suddenly struck me that there was a lot of remembering going in Scripture. God called His people to remember how He had delivered them from Egypt and David remembered His faithfulness and unfailing love.

At the same time my elderly parents especially my mom was having a lot of memory loss and I discovered that dementia was in my maternal genetic line.

Thus I felt a God-nudge to remember.

Remembering is something throughout Scripture that we are commanded to do:

Deuteronomy 6:12; 8:2,11; Isaiah 46:9;1Corinthians 11:24--

"be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt." 

"And you shall remember [always] all the ways which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart (mind), whether you would keep His commandments or not."

"Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments and His judgments (precepts) and His statutes which I am commanding you today;" 

"Remember [carefully] the former things [which I did] from ages past;
For I am God, and there is no one else;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,"

"and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is (represents) My body, which is [offered as a sacrifice] for you. Do this in [affectionate] remembrance of Me.”

In Psalm 103, the Psalmist David has remembrances:

"These remembrances rouse David's soul to remember his life through the lens of a God who loves him, is always for him, will never forsake him, and will bring him to his home as His child one day." (Susannah Baker)

Psalm 103: 1-5

 Let all that I am praise the Lord;

 with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

Let all that I am praise the Lord;

may I never forget the good things he does for me.

He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.

He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

I asked my friends 2 months before my birthday to send me a video birthday greeting saying how we met, what they remembered about me and any blessing they would like to. Some were not comfortable with a video so they sent a personal message. Several did send a message. I put together a reel imaging my life journey thus far.

And I remembered. His unfailing love and faithfulness in my life from the time He formed me in the womb. And I realized that He's been so so good to me.

And my most played song for 2024 rings even truer at the beginning of my 70the year:

And so I thank God for His UNFAILING LOVE and Faithfulness.

My Thank you note to friends and family:

"Yesterday was truly overwhelming receiving all the greetings and blessings from so many. Some of you sent me a video where I could see you and hear you, and can go back and replay to my heart’s content! I am truly humbled by your encouragement and memories and receive and accept your blessings with much gratitude. You have each blessed my life in your unique ways. Thank you!

There have been seasons when I could not celebrate life and honestly could not sing that God was so so good to me. Some of you may be there right now and possibly flinched when you saw my reel.

I am here to encourage you that indeed this too shall pass but more importantly, I want you to see that God’s goodness to you is always there even in the hard seasons if you look intentionally. In the blue sky with white fluffy clouds, in the green foliage and blooms in vibrant colours, in the sunlight shimmering on ripples in the lake, in the eyes of your loved ones, in the encouraging note you receive.

We all walk through fire at certain points and come out with scars. It is your choice how to treat those scars: as ugly and festering reminders of betrayals and loss or as beautiful reminders that scars can be surrendered to God who turns ashes to beauty and can transform our scars to beauty marks that reveal His grace in your story.

I can declare unequivocally that it is Jesus Who has made the difference in my life and with every post, my purpose is to point you to Him as Saviour and Redeemer.

I can declare that He has been and continues to be so so so good to me, always, in the sunshine and in the rain. His love is unfailing and His faithfulness reaches to the sky.

* Psalm 36:5-7: “Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds...How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings”."

Father, May I always remember You and share Your Good News.

Lovingly Yours,

Sita