There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and was a widow for eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke 2:36-38

Dear God, I don’t know that I had ever done the math, but Anna had to have been 105 or so. I mean, these are Genesis years. These are A.D. years. I wonder what it was like for Mary to have Simeon come up to her and give his prophecy and then see this woman, who was obviously well-known to everyone since she had been at the temple for 84 years, start talking to others about her son. I wonder if Mary had ever seen Anna in past trips to Jerusalem as a girl. And here she was now, with a unique child of her own, and Anna seemed to already know all about it. Again, what an amazing set of affirmations you gave to her (and Joseph).

It doesn’t relate to me as a parent, but I am grateful for the affirmations you’ve been giving to me as a leader at my work lately. This is a tricky time. I’m trying to keep people (staff and patients) safe, serve as many as possible, and ensure there are resources available for us to keep doing the work. And so far you have given me some great affirmations in all areas. So far, our entire staff and seemingly all of our patients have been safe from the pandemic, we have found a way to meet a lot of needs and are even brainstorming ways to meet more, and donors are being generous in their support of our work. It’s quite remarkable. The scary thing is that I can see that if I weren’t spending time in prayer with you I would probably take all of this for granted. I would miss you in all of this.

Father, I take these affirmations in my work and apply them to my parenting as well. I do see good signs of your hand in my children’s lives. I see your hand in my marriage. I see your hand all over the place. No, things aren’t turning out like I would have thought (or thought I wanted), but I have faith that they are turning out just as you need them to. So I give that to you. I give you all the freedom you need to do whatever you feel is right in my life. For your glory, Lord, not mine.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen