Every Day Is a Birthday for Miracles

 by Rev. Barbara Rose Billings

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart.” Jeremiah 1:5


Growing up in the 1950’s with six younger sisters and brothers, I experienced the celebration of many birthdays. I don’t remember the births of my three sisters. Patt was born when I was 15 months old and twins, Judy and Sandy, were born when I was 2 years and 9 months old. I do remember the births of my three brothers: Joe was born when I was 8, Michael was born when I was 14, and Dan was born when I was 16. The anticipation of the births of my brothers was always a family affair. We prayed the rosary every night each time my mother was pregnant. And the whole family drove to the hospital every time my mother went into labor. To me each of those births was a miracle of new life and more love for our family. With the birth of each of my three brothers we drew closer to one another. My three sisters and I loved helping my mother with many of the needs of the younger boys.

For every child’s birthday my mother made a merry-go-round cake from scratch. We would celebrate the birthday person with cake and ice cream, with singing and gifts. These celebration days were reminders to me of the miracle of life. All the years growing up, I longed to have my own child who I could celebrate every day, not just on her/his birthday.

God had another plan for me! On my 18th birthday my father borrowed a friend’s truck, filled it with hay, and drove my sisters, my friends and me to the beach for dinner where we cooked hotdogs and s’mores over a blazing bonfire. Memories of that birthday still warm my heart.

Two weeks later my father drove the whole family down El Camino Real to Burlingame in our green Chevy Tin Woody station wagon (CA license plate CZR 800). It was the day I entered the Sisters of Mercy, September 7, 1960. That date became a new kind of “birthday” for me. After a year as a postulant, I was received into the community. I received the habit of the Sisters of Mercy and the white veil of a novice. I was given a new name: Sister Mary Roselle (meaning Rose of God). I was given my own feast day, the feast of St. Rose of Lima. This was another kind of birthday with a new name and a new date to celebrate.

In my late 20’s, I spent three years teaching teen-agers in Imperial Beach, CA. During that time, I was introduced to the Charismatic movement and became a member of the Ocean Beach Prayer Group in San Diego. One hot summer morning many of the members of our Prayer Group drove up to Los Angeles for a day with Kathryn Kuhlman, an evangelist who was known for miraculous healings. I can remember her “flying” on to the stage shouting a decree, “I Believe in Miracles!” The sacred healing energy in the huge auditorium was palpable. The Holy Spirit was tangibly present in Kathryn Kuhlman and in the hundreds of people who filled the space with standing room only. This day became another kind of birthday for me. I was called up to the stage and she prayed a healing prayer over me that ended with the words, “Lord Jesus, this body will be set apart for your glory.” I fell backward, slain in the Spirit, and was “glued” to the floor for a long time. I couldn’t put words on it, but I knew I had experienced a miracle that affected me deeply in my soul.

Her words were prophetic. The following year I was re-assigned to teach teen-agers in San Francisco, at a school in the area of the Hippie movement in San Francisco. On a weekend trip to the Russian River I was bitten by a tick and was unknowingly infected with Lyme Disease. My body went through many strange illnesses and challenges. I had numerous diagnoses that Lyme Disease often disguises as.

It was forty years later that I received the diagnosis of Lyme disease. A few years later I was healed of Lyme Disease on a trip to the Casa in Brazil. Since then I have been miraculously healed of numerous health challenges during CLM retreats and at FSD healing circles: chronic migraines, sleep apnea, viruses, rapid recovery from falls, cancelation of a scheduled surgery, and many emotional healings. Most recently, at the Zoom Summer Retreat, I was healed from high blood pressure. I now have normal blood pressure readings every morning and evening without taking any allopathic medicine.

On August 24 I will begin my 80th year and I am happy to say that I feel younger and healthier than I felt at age 60! My father lived life to the full, even though both of his legs were amputated piece by piece up to the groin area. He taught me to embrace every day as a “birth” day, another opportunity to live in gratitude and service to others-- no matter what the day might bring. I wake up every morning and thank God for another day on planet earth. I sing a song or hymn to anchor in my appreciation for the miracle of one more day of being embodied as a Christ presence on our planet. And I joyfully say “Yes” to whatever the Holy Spirit invites me to experience that day. EVERY DAY OF LIFE IS A MIRACLE!

“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24


I thank You God for most this amazing day
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
And this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
e.e.cummings, 1894 - 1962