🎂My Mother always had a way of making birthdays for my sisters and I extra special.
🍴We were able to choose our favorite meals that day and as we grew up, we would have the choice of going out for dinner.
🎁She picked out the best birthday cards and would always have a surprise gift that she picked out.
😢When she passed away in 2012, that first birthday without her was so painful that I physically hurt all over.
🌺 As tears rolled down my face the day before my birthday that year, a pink flower caught my eye while I worked in the garden. The tears stopped as I looked down at this flower that normally never blooms that time of the year.
🎁I knew that it was her sending me a special birthday gift from heaven.
💮Ever since that year, a flower shows up just in time for my birthday. Whether it's outside in the garden or on a house plant, a flower will catch my eye and I know exactly who sent it.
🌻This year, another surprise came in the form of a sunflower.
✝️In the spring of this year, I learned that sunflowers grow parallel to one another to keep one another supported. They turn their heads to the sun in order to thrive. When the sun isn't out, the flowers turn to one another to keep them strong. This reminded me of how we as individuals are stronger when we stand together and lean on one another for strength. It also reminded me of when we turn towards the Son of God, we will thrive by his love for us.
🌱Because of this, I took several sunflower seeds, prayed over them for my family, and planted them with the expectation of watching them grow parallel to one another, lean on one another, and witnessing my prayers reach for the sun (Son).
❤️There is a saying that states, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." I should have known that my expectations wouldn't go as planned; God made sure of that.
🐦The seeds were planted next to a birdbath which was probably not the best place to plant them. Most of the seeds were not only dug up, but also eaten. To say the least, my expectation of watching them grow was definitely not going as planned.
🌻A few weeks later, I noticed a sunflower seed sprouting up outside of the fenced in area they were planted. (We have a fence to protect our garden from deer eating it up!). I figured that either I dropped a seed outside of the fence or the birds dropped a seed and it started to grow there because this is not where I would normally plant anything.
🌾It took longer than normal for this sunflower to sprout up, but eventually it started getting taller. As tall as it grew, it was still just one stalk. Or was it?
🌻A few weeks before my birthday, I was out in my garden and noticed that the stalk was finally starting to get a flower head on it. I went over to it and noticed that it had not only one head, but several. None were in bloom as of yet, but I was excited to know that there would be a sunflower blooming soon.
🎁Little did I know how this sunflower would be more than an answered prayer, but a special birthday gift as well.
🌻A few days before my birthday, I again went out to the sunflower and looked more closely at it. There weren't just three or four sunflower heads, but ten. My mind immediately went to the prayer I said for my family when I planted the seeds.
🙏There are ten members of my immediate family - all the ones that my prayers were for.
🎁As I looked even closer, tears started to fall. My Mother was again going to share a birthday present from heaven. On my birthday, all ten of those blossoms were in bloom.
🌻Not only were they in full bloom, but God helped me to see that my prayers were in full bloom as well.