I want to celebrate my birthday with you!
A day to celebrate!!
Today is my 39th birthday and I have a lot to celebrate. There also have been many changes during this last year. Every year, it is important for me to “take inventory” of where I have been and how the last year has unfolded.
This year, I am celebrating being alive since my husband and I were in a plane crash on March 26th in which the plane was totaled. We were lucky, walking away with only a few minor bruises and my broken fingernail. But this rocked me to the core. There is no time to waste in this precious life that we have each been given.
I am also rejoicing from the expansion of the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs as we celebrated our one year birthday party on May 11th with 165 members, and hosted our 1st annual Conference, the Inspired Women Event, in April. Another celebration was the release of our new book, Inspired Women Succeed, that I had the great joy of writing with my friend and colleague Jo Ann Fore and 38 other contributing writers.
In spite of all the growth and things to celebrate, there is a dark corner. Last week my divorce was finalized. At 39 I am starting over and walking through many changes. Even when the ending is amicable, the process of grief is messy and unpredictable as we dissolve a 10 year union. I am intimately aware that I have just gone through a few of the top stressors in life with the divorce, the moving of my home and my office, and a change in financial status. Each day I am giving myself the gift of grace and time.
This next year is full of promise and of new beginnings. I come into this next season aware of my age and also aware of my growth. I understand where I’ve been. In some areas of my life, I have no idea where I am going. I am stronger than I thought I was and can do things that surprise me. I accept each day as a gift.
Today I am starting a Blessings Board in my kitchen as I journey toward my 40th year. I plan to watch for the blessings from each day and acknowledge each of them on paper. I am prepared to keep my eyes wide open and wait for God to show me and lead me.
Want to keep your own Blessing Board? Just get a bulletin board or cork board and some colored paper, and join me in any creative way that you desire. Let your heart guide you.
So happy birthday to me!! And thank you for being a part of my journey. I am so blessed by all of God’s great gifts to me. Go check out my Birthday sale at http://nacwe.org/birthday-blowout and use the coupon code PARTY (but all of the savings expire at midnight on August 3rd).
Happy birthday, my friend! Please know you remain in my prayers through all the changes, dark and joyful. {{{hugs}}}
I only just realized that we are just 3 days apart in age. 🙂 I too, am starting my 40th year of life this week!
Happy birthday, Diane! I wish you a light and joyous year with many blessings.
You are blessed to be a blessing….and it is abundantly, wonderfully obvious Diane, that you are just that!…..although at a different stage of my life, I am witnessing firsthand the commonality of struggles and grace, presence and purpose that women share….and at the end of the day……let it just be said that in the struggling times that we ‘struggled well.” Every good and wonderful blessing be yours and the women of NACWE
Thank you for the daring to go after the passion and purpose for your life. I believe when we walk in the passion God has purposed us for, the results are beyond our wildest imaginations. I love to think of the boards as prophetic. We speak life into our situations. Blessings to you, and I can’t wait to get your book.
Joyce Harrell