Happy 29th

My mom put these pictures up on her facebook page. I just laughed and laughed when my bff Laura sent me this last pic with my hip popped in an email. "Scandalous!!' was the subject title and i just died!!!!!! ha! but man, i had some good lookin legs hahahha! Pictures are from Sherman, Mineola and Dayton, Tx....so cute.


I have been thinking long and hard about what I would say on my 29th birthday post. It would be a total lie if I didn't admit that the thoughts of being "a spinster in the making" runs through my mind now and then. hahahhahhaha Half kidding really.

I look at the baby pictures of me and realize that my mom was this very age when I was sitting in that cute chair with my hair all in curls thanks to the pink sponges rollers we so dearly loved.


And I want so badly to be a mother.

I do.

And I want to be a wife.

I really do.


But not for the sake of self gratification or the need to control. It is simple, it is just not God's time. Doesn't mean the time I'm in is bad or worthless.........just means God is working in other glorious ways. He has allowed me to see my 29th birthday and for that I am so grateful.


So with that being said, I had intended to write out my goals and my prayer to God about this upcoming year. But as I typed the above paragraph, Father led me to another idea of how I should celebrate Him and what He has done and will do in my life.

You see, He knows the desires of my heart. He knows that some of them are so strong that I often feel like I might explode. But for now, God has just told me (like 5 minutes ago) that my energy and ministry abilities could be used in a greater way if I spent less time thinking and more time doing.


And He is right. Truth is.......I can't have children right now but I can financially help someone else in need have a safe and healthy birth experience. I am not without but overflowing with much. Much of God.....and that thought alone feels like a revelation.


So here is the plan. This is so crazy. I am literally just signing up as we speak, and sitting/waiting to see what else God wants to say. Ha! THIS IS SO WILD!


ok, go......Compassion International has a Children's Survival Program and you can find it at Reascuebabies.org . Compassion’s Child Survival Program helps developing world mothers and babies in their most vulnerable times, offering practical care and extending God’s love. So through Compassion, trained Child Survival Specialists take mothers under their wing, providing access to prenatal care with dietary supplements and doctor visits to make sure both mom and baby are healthy.

This is the wild thing. While writing and praying God told me to go to the Compassion site. I did not arrive to the home page but the Rescuebabies.org page. Half way down I saw these words and started crying.....


Give a Happy Birth Day
Imagine giving birth on a dirt floor in a grass hut.

No doctor, no medical equipment, no help available in case of an emergency. For mothers in developing countries, that is often the harsh reality.

1500 mothers and 10,000 newborns die every day due to complications that could have been prevented just with the presence of a skilled birth attendant.

But Compassion prepares mothers for the big day, providing a skilled birth attendant and medical supplies for birth in a clean, safe environment.

...and I just knew. This is what God wants from me right now. Doesn't just want my birthday goals and prayers but wants me to act too. Like He was saying "Caroline stop talking, take what i have given you and a go bless someone that needs it NOW!! I know your deepest desires....I am the one that put them there. But it is not My Perfect time yet so lets go bless someone else's perfect time."


Is my theme verse at school not "Yes Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for you, for your name and your renown are the desires of our hearts." Isaiah 26:8.....it is! I just finished painting it on the wall today. I wait on the Lord, not as a yoke of slavery, but as a sign of obedience that He is our King of Glory! amen! Today is my birthday and I can't think of a greater gift than helping a baby have a healthy birth on this same day! To give from what God has given me so that a mother can be loved on and cared for in the midst of poverty. Now that is a Glory Hallelujah to me!

I am not a mother yet, but one day I will be. In the mean time, as we are serving Him and living out the Gospel, I pray that our hearts would look at opportunities like these and seize them. Because at the end of the day it's about that mother in that country and that baby in that country knowing the ONE TRUE GOD! ....


"As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us......For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe." 1 Thess 2


So the Lord and I are hosting a great birthday celebration for a precious baby somewhere in the world today and I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday!!!

Dear Sweet Mom,

I love you. I don't know who you are, what you look like or what country you live in.....but I hope that you know I love you. I ask the Lord, with great confidence, that He would capture your heart and the hearts around you for eternity. You are so worthy of good care and protection. You are worthy of a place to safely deliver your precious baby and to know that God loves you unconditionally. I pray that God would take these funds and multiply them by many so that you and others may have ever opportunity to have a healthy baby.

I pray that your soul KNOWS that our God sees you. He sees you. He thinks you are so beautiful and that baby inside of you was made by His very hands. Rest easy and know that He has made a way for you and your baby. He will care for you. I pray that as you rest your head at night you will sleep in peace "For He is our peace" Eph 2.14.

As your belly grows and you become more tired " I pray that you will be strengthened with His glorious power so that you will have all he patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy." col 1.11

When fear creeps up and worry starts to cover you, I will claim Psalm 4.8 over you "You will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep her safe."

And as you grow in your walk with Christ and as your baby grows I pray that the song of your hearts will BOLDLY be "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" Gal 2.20.

And as you rock your baby to sleep you will be able to sing and believe that "Jesus loves me this I know"..I am praying for you and I love you.

Oh Father, may you become the love of their life! Thank you for just dropping this in my lap. I thought my idea of giving away a free year of Lifeway Journey devotional mag was such a great thing. But you just took this "birthday fun giveaway" and made it something much deeper and wider than my mind could even comprehend! You are Marvelous! I love you. Thank you for 29 years on this earth. May I be pleasing in your sight. Amen!