God knows what we love. He knows how we are wired. He knows us inside out and He lavishes us with His goodness. I was reminded of this so beautifully as I recently celebrated my birthday and experienced the most beautiful birthday of my life. It was a kiss from heaven. The stuff the sweetest dreams are made of. And I wasn’t expecting it.

The reason it was so precious is because I just don’t experience birthdays that I really really enjoy. Like in my heart. You know, in my inners. Don’t get me wrong - I have had some lovely lovely times celebrating past birthdays, like the lush birthday I had in Paris, or the one where I enjoyed Wimbledon with some of my girlfriends. Then there was the glorious 3 day lovefest for my fortieth, surrounded by so many friends celebrating me with so much care and generosity which was then topped up with a surprise trip to Marbs! And most recently there was the lavish all expenses birthday trip I was blessed with by my brother and his girlfriend, to Israel - one of my most fave places on the planet.

Yet somehow I have found myself at a place, since the pandemic where lots has changed in my life, all of which I am so grateful for - but birthdays have for the most part, become a moment in time each year, that I just don’t enjoy. Until this year, that is. Because this year God properly showed up - in thee most beautiful, stunning way and lavished me with all my favourite things, all beautifully wrapped up in the big fat packaging of His loveliness and totally took my breath away. Wow.

It started off with a beautiful time of being blessed by a friend with a pottery painting class. And then we ended up chinwagging for hours, eating thai food and drinking wine by the river. That is like one of my most favourite things to do, ever. I love love love being by the water, with food, drink and deep convo. The following night a bunch of beautiful ones joined me for a night of Salsa dancing, cocktails and empanadas for pre-birthday celebrations at a gorj YWAM base.

To sow into the work of the kingdom whilst dancing in a godly, holy space surrounded by loved ones was utterly dreamy and so so easy. I loved absolutely everything about this night. I was so beautifully surprised with a cake and loved on all evening. And again it’s like Beautiful Jesus was my party planner and knew what to bring into the mix so that everything was something special that I really love and means so much to me, but I never really say out loud and no knows that these little gestures mean everything to me - apart from Jesus.

My birthday itself was full of so much love. Unexpected blessings, gifts and greetings from friends far and wide. My darling mummy who is visiting from India gave me a huge amount of money to have fun! We went to a lush spa where I had the most delightful time not just getting pampered but in the Sauna meeting a beaut girl who was also enjoying her birthday that day. We screamed and jumped around lols with delight at being birthday buddies.

And then we ended up having the most beautiful time of talking mainly about Jesus and prayed over each other in the Sauna. She began to cry as the Lord started reading her mail and speaking to her through the prayer. She was weeping with joy at encountering Jesus in that way. Like on HER BIRTHDAY! How precious!

When more ladies joined the Sauna, I invited them to join in with our prayers and began to prophecy over them and then I got my mum to bless everyone in the Sauna who was celebrating a birthday. It was so so delightful. A big fat glorious prayerfest happening in a Sauna, on my birthday…sharing Jesus in unconventional places - and seeing His love touching so many - again some of my MOST favourite things on the planet to be doing. I love how He brought that into the mix. Big Sigh. He knows. He cares. He loves. Oh He loves so so well. So so personally.

The rest of the day was so lush. Watching the best Bollywood film, no nudity, swearing or idolatry - just wholesome, inspiring tear jerking cinema that Bollywood used to be renowned for before it went all perverse. Glorious food as glorious restaurants. And shopping! In the sales!! Bargains! I mean come ON! Fave upon fave things I love to do…and things that make me so happy being brought into the birthday mix by our heavenly Father. My heart felt so full.

And then three days later I headed out to Turkey to continue celebrating this amazing birthday that only ten days before I didn’t even want to have. It felt like the longest, loveliest blessing and I felt so seen, known and cared for by the Lord. He is so so sweet. So kind. So loving. And caring. What a Beautiful Father and Friend. What a Precious Lover of our Soul.

He knows exactly what floats our boat. He cares about the things we care about. The things that make us happy. The little things that delight our soul and fill us with joy. They may be nothing to others, but Jesus knows that they mean something to us. He knows how to bring joy where there may have been sorrow. He know how to turn ashes into beauty when we are least expecting it. He makes dead things alive and He is constantly in the business of showing us just how deeply He loves us. And knows us intimately.

He is so trustworthy. And He is a Redeemer. Even when we don’t know something needs redeeming. And I am not sure what things you may think are always going to be graves in your world but I want to encourage you that He truly makes graves into gardens. He surprises us with His lavish love and when we least expect it, He shows up in the most personal, intimate way to make us know just how deeply and fully we are known and loved by Him. x

“Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also fills [the pools] with blessings.” Psalm 84:5-6 x