This is the Day

She slipped in the door at the back of the sanctuary just as the choir stood up to sing the special.  Nancy shook her head from the choir loft.  Susan just shrugged with a slow shake of the head in return.  No baby, yet.  The baby was almost two weeks late.  Every night of the Revival services Nancy would shake her head in disbelief. “You haven’t had that baby, yet?”  Not yet.  The Revival came and went, as did John’s birthday.  Still, no baby.  The following Wednesday, Susan was going about her daily routine when she realized the labor pains she was feeling were not going away like the others.  She called her husband to tell him to come straight home after work, but not to rush.  Ten minutes later, she called again.

            “Hello, John?”

              “Yes?”

             “Rush!” 

He rushed home only to have a sandwich shoved in one hand and a tiny boy latched on to the other.  He gobbled the sandwich down not even tasting the pimento cheese.  It could have been a banana and mayonnaise sandwich for all he knew.  He ran Jay next door to Susan’s sister, thankful she lived so close.  The next house down, Susan’s mother, Frances, stood outside waiting.  John knew she would be a comfort to Susan during the labor.  Mothers always are.  Susan and her mother were very close.  Their personalities were very similar.  Both of them were strong, outgoing, talkative, and compassionate.  They both loved the Lord.  The elder one first, who then taught the younger about the love and mercy of Jesus Christ.

They pulled into Dekalb General Hospital around five p.m.  It was rush hour, but they made good time.  John would need to call his parents.  His father was a pastor in Knoxville.  He should be at Wednesday night prayer meeting by now, but church hadn’t started quite yet.  They would want to come down to visit as soon as possible.  Susan knew they would be a help with the new baby and Jay.  They had been praying for the safe arrival of this baby, as had her own parents.  She had been praying for a quick labor.  Remembering the long labor of the first-born, Susan was quick to ask the doctor if this baby would be born today.  He assured her that the baby would come a little after supper.

It’s a girl!  Dinner plates were still being cleaned off of tables when she made her way into the world.  This delivery was much quicker than the last.  They laid her in Susan’s arms, and she couldn’t believe her daughter’s head was covered in red fuzz.  Jay had such dark hair.  She assumed this baby would, too.  Susan and John fell in love again.  This time with a feisty little spitfire named Carol Lynn Buell.  That little spitfire was me.  But this isn’t where my story began.

My parents weren’t the only ones preparing for me.  God was preparing, too.  He was threading His needle to stitch together the events in my life for His purpose.  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13-14)  God chose me to be born at just that time and to those parents.  It was part of His plan.

Today is my birthday. This is the special day that God chose for me to enter the world. He picked the day, the hour, the minute – because He had a purpose. He has a plan for you, too. He selected each of the events in your life and wove them together to make you who you are. He was planning for it since the beginning of time. Have you given yourself completely to Him? Thank God today for choosing you to be you!