I have a big sister.

I adore her.

She loves me.

She is emphatic that God loves me.

Even more outrageously, she tells me that God adores me.

Some days I am able to believe it.

And the days I do believe, I believe because she said it’s true.

Because she is faithful and honest and true, and fun and joyful, and strong and thinks I’m funny, and delights in both the DNA we share and that which we do not share, because of her, I believe that I am loved.

Paul wrote that nothing can separate us from the love of God; my big sister made it true.

Happy birthday week, Deborah.