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my birthday post is always one of my favorites to write. 

because it's always SUCH A GOOD DAY.

in this case, such a good five days. on thursday, gun shooting and lunch with friends, who took time from work to treat me. i love experiences and memories as gifts. on friday, lunch with a cherished part of corner. saturday, dear friend from tennessee came and we treated our selves big time. and then on sunday, actual day of birth, i woke up at 7:45 to a knock at my door and my entire family is singing 'happy birthday' with starbucks in hand. got to spend the rest of the morning in my spot - drinking coffee, reading psalm 66, remembering, thinking. then church, lunch with my second family (plus a piece of mcalister's chocolate cake). advance that night with surprise balloons, singing, cupcakes, and cards (people, i legit almost burst into tears. so special). then a drive to the beach, in a huge storm, singing my heart out, as the sky is lit up with lightning. 

what a day. what a day. what a day.

but this year, even more so. 

i can't help replaying my year.

because this birthday feels like a real celebration! 

ann voskamp wrote a recent post about how things can overtake you real quick (so much exhaustion) and then she cites the end of the 23rd psalm - surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and i shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

and then she says. 

God is so bent on blessing, He chases. 

God's not out to get you - He's out to give to you. 

when i'm in a wilderness, His mercy and goodness run after me. when i'm hurting, His grace hunts for me. when i'm plagued by problems, His goodness pursues me. 

no matter where i go, He has his two blessing men right there in hot pursuit: goodness and mercy, and no shadow of death can overshadow the goodness and mercy that shadows the child of God. 

whatever is chasing you - no matter what it looks like - it's grace. 

did you just hear that?

no matter, in wilderness and hurting, no matter where i go, His grace and goodness and mercy pursue and overtake and hunt and cover me like a shadow. can you just imagine how good that is?

i read that saying, yes yes yes. 

that's what was chasing me! 

that's what wouldn't let me go! 

that's it!