I sobbed myself to sleep because of these!

Thank you the many of you who dropped a birthday blessing for me physically, thru' the smses and celebrations etc last weekend. I was indeed overwhelmed. Birthdays do not mean a great deal to me, but nonetheless I am always deeply touched by every little loving gesture, especially the unexpected ones, on this day. *smiles*

On Thursday evening my date picked me up from my office and brought me to HER house for self-cooked dinner. Yesh my dear Ahmi Yp lovingly cooked for me! Awww I love her cooking.. and her. Ha. *wide grin*

After that on my way back i met up with a dear girl Xianglin who gave me a BIG bottle full of *stars* that she made herself, for me! *eyes almost twinkling with tears*

I was at my church's Encounter camp to serve as a guide over that weekend. Towards 12 midnight on Friday, after receiving a few smses (my dear daughter Amanda wanted to be the first to wish me, but alas she was not =p) and dozing off at the same time, my spiritual nieces Fidelia and Baoling suddenly woke me up at the tick of 12, and Fidelia presented me with her handmade present! What a precious doorknob hanger with my name on it!

The next morning i woke and was welcomed by my daughter Meiqi exclaiming 'Happy Birthday mi!' to me, while my eyes were still blurry. *grins*

As dawn broke, I took a while to admire the forest and morning sky - shades of yellow and orange were spilling over from the dazzling rising sun. Smiling, I exclaimed quietly 'Good morning Father' and then I heard a tender voice from heavens 'Happy Birthday, My daughter'. Awww that was the best birthday present I could ever get! My heart leapt with such joy and strength.

The day passed on quietly till evening when Ps Josephine came to me "I heard today is your birthday. So you must treat us Macs!" Ha. And she got all the guides and her tribe's leaders, together with Ps Seng Lee to sing and pray for me. I felt so blanketed by the love and warmth of the big spiritual family.

Everyone knows the guides usually wake earliest and retreat latest. Ha. As i dragged my feet back to my room that late night after a looooong debrief, the door opened to me, with a sudden burst of light and mighty chorus "Happy Birthday Mirabel!". Wow ALL the girls from YP tribe who were at encounter were inside with a slice of cake which i seriously didnt know how they smuggled in. Ha. They sure shook the whole level.

Straight after Encounter ended, some of my other daughters joined us to celebrate for me!







Thank you Meiqi for organising this, and making it so special for me, together with the above dearies. (To those who could not come and smsed me your blessings, I had been truly touched too!) *hugs*

Below: The videos containing my daughters' blessings that night! (Disclaimer: I seriously don't know why their blessings sang the same tune! Huh huh huh. Ha.)

And Novie, how come my voice and Meiqi's sound so 'deh' in the video. Eeee. Haha.

That night as i laid on my bed, thinking about these beautiful moments, and reading the cards of my daughters and others, i sobbed and sobbed and sobbed myself to sleep. So touched.

Especially that all these showed me a big portion of God's love for me. God's love through these wonderful people in my life. And yet it is only a fraction.

How great is Your love, my Lord.

In the dozens of prayers i received for my birthday, i heard a consistent thread of victory that the Lord is telling me through the words Tree, Reaping, Harvest, Many, Enlarged Territories.

I remember that when i began serving in ministry, i told God i want to be a Tree that shades, shelters and supports many. And He is affirming me now that i will be a Tree with branches even more widely spread out! =) Amen!