Whitnee's journey with Christ

As some of you may recall, yesterday was my mom’s birthday. The special thing about this birthday is this was the first year we have had to celebrate her birthday without her being here physically. For those of you who have lost anyone dear to your heart, you know the “first” of any thing will be a little difficult or in my case “different.”

So throughout yesterday I kept thinking what could we do to honor my mom on such a special day. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what exactly to do so we ended up just loving on one another and having fun at the house- it turned into a small neighborhood celebration by the end of the night.

Backing up a little bit, I’ll have to tell you some of the highlights of my day!

I went to get my hair done yesterday because I figured if my mom were here I would want her to be all dolled up and when I tell you I had such a great experience. I mean I always have a good time getting pampered but it was the deep and rich conversations my stylist and I shared that made it so special. I told Pam about my dream and she was able to enlighten me on her interpretation of my dream. She blew my mind!

Pam spoke with such boldness, such tenderness, and so much love and compassion. It’s like she knew yesterday was my moms birthday and she had prepared a speech for me BUT yet she only learned of it being her birthday after about thirty minutes into our conversation. That’s the tenderness of our God!

The second highlight of my day is when Rico and I went on an exploration to look for cake and/or cupcakes in honor of my mom. My mom loved the icing off of cupcakes, the original lays, yohoo, green tea, and milkshakes so I made it my duty to get all of her favorites yesterday and just enjoy them in her honor. Of course I had to share the duty because I would have the tummy ache of the century had I not asked some of you to accept a friendly challenge.

I took Pam’s advice on where we could get some get some sweet treats from. We ended up going to Mesha’s Sinful Cakes & More. If you haven’t had them, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!! They have all types of gourmet cake slices, yum yum, cupcakes but the absolutely best thing I tried were her gourmet cheesecake slices. So good make you want to “slap yo momma!”

When we arrived at Mesha’s there was a line outside of the door. Because I had never had them and they had such great reviews I figured it was worth standing in the heat a little bit to try their food. I mean this was in honor of my moms birthday and I wanted the best! So maybe after about 4 or 5 minutes there was shiny, black Range Rover that pulled up and parked in the fire zone.

I’m not a parking lot patrolman so I didn’t think anything of it but I did say to myself “the sign says no parking at any time” but hey I guess the person wanted some Mesha’s just as bad as the rest of us so she parked there. When the lady got out I was immediately drawn to her shirt. You won’t believe what her shirt said. It read:

My mom is the best mom period.

I absolutely loved her shirt!!!!!!!!!

The lady had come to Mesha’s several times and was considered a regular. Her and I joked about how long people were taking on the inside as the sign says only 2 customers allowed in the establishment at a time due to covid. You would think people would go online to see what they want so by the time they get inside it would smooth sailing. She was standing in line for a slice of chocolate cake. To her knowledge from looking through the window there was only one slice of chocolate cake left and she had four people ahead of her.

Although I wanted to try it I was polite and told her she could have it. She asked me what else I was interested in so I told her my stylist recommended the blue velvet cheesecake. She smiled with excitement and said it was her favorite when she first started coming. We talked for a few moments until it was Rico and I turn to go in line. The lady was in a rush and had her food in the car so I allowed her to go in front of me. She rushed in front and thanked us. She peeped out and asked me how many blue velvets were we getting, I replied “2.”

One person came out so I told Rico to go in. He didn’t tell me what was about to happen. The lady came out with a smile on her face and told me to have a blessed day. I didn’t see which direction she went, it’s like she disappeared into thin air. Rico signaled for me to come in so I did. I was so hungry everything looked good so I did what most hungry people do: get one of everything. I didn’t take it that far but just know $30 dollars later I came out. I looked at my receipt and thought that was cheaper than what I expected and suddenly realized we had not been charged for anything.

The irony of this story is the lady who parked in the no parking zone, who I hit it off talking to, who had the awesome shirt, and who we allowed to go in front of us had paid for our two blue velvet cheesecake slices that I wanted to try. A perfect stranger that I had never met before paid $16.50 for us and I hadn’t even had a clue to tell her thank you or get her number for I could return the act of kindness. That my friends is another example of the tenderness of our God.

A third highlight was when I forgot the yohoo and balloons and had to run to the store. The rain came out of no where. I ran in the store during the rain but by the time I got out the sky was just as clear and blue like it wanted to be. (Picture of rainbows won’t upload-file too big)

Yet another example of how God loves us so tenderly!

And now to the final highlight of the evening. Some boys from down the street came down to play basketball with my boys. After my kids told them today was their late grandmothers birthday they wanted to celebrate. So we did just that! We had a water balloon fight, balloon popping contest, water cooler rush, balloon release, and more in my moms honor. It was a perfect way to end our night before coming in to sing happy birthday and partake of the sweets from Mesha’s Sinful Cakes & More.

We ended our evening and had sweet smiles as we laughed, shared, and just thought of all the beautiful memories we have of my dear momma.

So I’d say we handled our first time celebrating my mom without her here physically just fine. God loved on us so tenderly and He sent His angels to be there for us on this very special day. If you are reading today’s message, you are one of God’s angels on Earth sent to our family during our season of grief and mourning.

You see good things can come out of loosing a loved one. God continues to show you that He is always there and He is able to fill those moments of sorrow with peace and joy. He always His presence to be known through random acts of kindness, through gentle words, precious memories, through rainbows, through the love of a neighbor, through His word.

And to put the icing on a cake….a lady bug visited me in my room. For those of you who may not remember but since my mom passed I see a lady bug all the time which makes me think of my mom still being here. They used to always be in her church and when I cleaned she would always tell me they were special so to see one now brings tears of joy because she is special to me, even in her passing.

I pray today’s message gave you a reason to smile and think about the goodness and tenderness of our Lord and Savior.

Get your rest momma, I love you! 💕❤️💜