Happy Birthday Amelia Renee’ 🎉🎈🎁🎂

By the grace of God, I have been on this earth for 30 years—30 whole years! The picture included in this post is from my first birthday. So much has happened in my life, but the greatest thing I've ever done is follow God with all my heart and soul. That's what makes these 30 years so whole, so full. The greatest thing that ever happened to me after following, loving, and honoring God is being blessed with the opportunity to be my husband’s wife and my children's mother. God heard my prayers, and my sweet little family is perfect.

My husband is a rare gem who sees me for who I truly am and loves me more than any other human knows how. His patience and diligence for me are beyond compare. When I was a little girl, I would say my husband would be named Eric. When I first fell in love with my man, I didn't even know his name was Eric. He’s the lesson to speak things as thou they were, the reminder of how God kept a promise almost 20 years later to a little girl who had no idea she was prophesying over her own life.

I praise God for 8 years with my handsome husband today; we went on our first date on July 9, 2017. I invited him to my birthday dinner first, but he was already going to ask me on a date for my birthday. We joined a church together a few weeks later. After I asked him to wait for me, he did; the rest is our history, our legacy.

Then we got married and had our beautiful children. Each pregnancy, I fell deeper in love. Every day with my husband is a holiday. Every day is a reason to fall in love again and consciously walk further into eternity with someone you love beyond description. He’s my soulmate, best friend, confidante, roadie, and “my handsome man.” Watching each other raise our beautiful, sweet babies is the honor of my life.

My children are the greatest! They are bright, beautiful, loving, sweet, kind, and courageous. Mommy can go on and on about my precious, sweet babies. My husband showed me how to be loved, and my children show me how to love. I never knew exactly how strong I was until I pushed those babies out. They are the driving force behind my healing and my fight to live, finish, and try.

They have offered a new aspect of life, love, understanding, responsibility, and commitment that comes with birthing a soul. I am so grateful to be in my right mind to know how to love them. I pray constantly to understand how to cherish them. I pray I never traumatize them. I pray that we can parent them in ways that prepare them to conquer the world and still want to visit home sometimes.

God has been so good to me! I can never thank my God enough for how good he has been to me. Life before my husband and children may not have always been the best, but I praise God it has not been the worst. I have lived a good life, although life has not always been good to me. I thank God that it has always been good for me! I share many pleasant memories, adventures, accomplishments, and truths.

These 30 years, these 30 gracious years, these 10,958 days have made me a woman. But, not just any woman, a fierce woman of God, a loving and faithful wife, a caring and strong mother, and a human being I can be proud to be. Isaiah 43:1 says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are mine.” Thank you, Jesus, the past is gone! No more crying about whose I am; I am God’s! I am God’s daughter, God is my Father, God is my Mother, God is my friend, I am a friend of God’s.

I walk into 30 years of life, forgiving what has passed and expecting more of God’s promises to come to fruition. I remain repentant, accountable, aware of my mistakes, yet willing to correct and be corrected. I'm not perfect, but I will stay honest and trustworthy. I am ready for God to do more of what he needs in me and through me. I am grateful for my health; I fought with my health, but God is winning! I’m ready to see more dreams come into fruition, but my most essential desires are to please God through serving and obeying Him, and to ensure the family God is creating through me and my husband live prosperous lives that please God!

I tried to look back. God said Access denied because you can't possibly serve God by serving the things that no longer serve you. Ashley is my past; I may go by that name for legal and medical purposes at the moment, but God has done a new thing in me, to me, and for me. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

‭‭(Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Ashley is who I used to be, Amelia is who I am. God’s is whose I’ll forever be.

Happy Birthday, Amelia,

Love,

You.