Happy birthday dear Whitney! Happy birthday to you!

Growing up, I often wished I had a sister. I now know the Lord did not give me a sister because He wanted to give me YOU! You are my sister, and I could not love a biological sister any more than I love you. You are my very best friend and have stood by me and with me through highs and lows, through good decisions and baaaad decisions, through times of laughter and joy and through times of pain and sadness... You know me better than anyone (probably even Marty) and you love me just the same. My life is richer and more beautiful because of you.

I know you - you with your amazing gifts, your oh so human imperfections, and your brown, burgundy, blond, black, light brown, darker brown, red, straight and curly hair (hee hee!), and I am so very proud to know you and love you and call you my best friend. You are a treasure, an unbelievable girt, a perfect creation in Christ Jesus. You love Jesus with every ounce of your being and His love and His life shine through you. You touch lives in immeasurable ways, you love with the love of Christ, and you sow joy wherever you go. You are gorgeous inside and out. You are strong because of Him who gives you strength. You, as you live out your life and your authentic faith in front of all of us, are an awesome testimony to the perfect power and peace available to all of us in Jesus.

You are precious to me. You are a blessing to me. My heart aches for you, as you and your family have to walk this road with Forester, and I wish I could take it all away. Know this though: You are my family. Your family is my family. Just as nothing will separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, nothing will ever separate you from me.

My prayer for you today is that you have a day of renewed rest, perfect peace and inexplicable joy, that the stress you're feeling vanishes and that you feel the very real presence of Abba Father in new ways. I pray that you have a glimpse of the celebration occuring today because of you and that you hear the Lord singing over you. I know He is.

I look forward to decades more of bestest friendship with you! Happy Birthday! I love you and so wish I could celebrate with you today!