My birthday is here again and marks the beginning of a whole new season. This season carries the fragrance of something familiar. Yet nothing is the same. I live far away from everything I have known. The people I interact with every day are those who have not seen the past I came from. Five years ago I would have wholeheartedly agreed that God was always with me. But it was not until this month that I realized the faithfulness of His presence in my life. The fragrance I smell and sense all around me is Him. He has been the fragrance that has weaved itself into the fibers of my 24 years. Everything has changed, I am not who I was, my circumstances are not what they were. But He is the same. He has walked with me and has been working all things together for good. Just as a familiar smell will spark a memory and take us to a different place and time, so God has reminded me of His love and His faithfulness. Finally, the season has changed and my heart is open to embrace His presence in my life.

I am growing older yet I still feel young in so many ways. I read a quote the other day that said, "You are still a child. Just face it. Humble yourself and grow under someone who has wisdom, until you have gained a wisdom of your own." For the past seven years I have tried to prove that I was no longer a child. I have tried to prove to others and mainly to myself that I knew everything I needed to know about surviving in life and making it on my own. But the truth is. I don't know anything. I am a child. I need direction and guidance. And so, Father, raise me up. To be who you have called me to be, to go where you have called me to go, to realize your love and to walk in the relationship you have called me to.