This weekend my little girl will be turning double digits! That’s right…the big ”10”! It seems just like yesterday that Matt & I were waiting to go into the operating room for the birth of our second child, nervous and excited all at the same time as my doctor knelt beside my bed and said the sweetest prayer. As I lay on the operating room table, Matt held my hand and together we anxiously awaited the first cry of our newborn child. Then we heard the doctor say, “It’s a girl!” and there it was, the most precious little cry I had ever heard. It’s a girl! We have a daughter! Tears of joy flowed down our faces as we began to take it all in. Many things started rushing through my head after that. Ben was 4 years old at the time and I wondered, “would I be able to love another child like I do Ben?” It was hard for me to fathom that I could love another one as much as my firstborn. Then I thought about raising a little girl, what a responsibility. Could I possibly be the godly mother to her that I had in my mom? Could I show my daughter what it is to be a woman of God? But then the nurse brought our daughter over and the second I laid eyes on her, I was in love! God gave us a precious miracle on November 13, 2000, by the name Callie Elizabeth Jordan and we were ready for the glorious journey ahead in raising our beautiful little angel.
Over the last 10 years, we have just fallen deeper in love with Callie! God truly blessed the world the day that she was born! Her enthusiasm for life and love of people is certainly contagious. We like to call her our little “encourager”. She is quick to write an encouraging letter or sweet picture to someone to cheer them up and she certainly has put in many requests for prayer for others through our C.A.R.E ministry. She has such a nurturing spirit as we have seen with her younger brother and we know that God has great plans for her life. We can’t wait to see her continue to blossom into a young woman of God.
As parents, we delight in seeing our children grow and mature. It is so special when the values and biblical foundations you teach your children begin to take root in their life and you see that fruit bloom. A verse that is such a prayer of ours and has recently been used in a letter to me by my own mother is,
3 John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
That is our desire! Whatever God plans for my children, is what we want for them. We want our children so sold out for Christ that it just flows out of every fiber of their being. Those 3 children we have belong to God first and foremost. We are the honored ones that have been chosen by our God to parent and raise them in his ways.
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
I smile when they smile, hurt when they hurt, laugh when they laugh, and cry when they cry. I hurt when I have to discipline them, but know that in order for them to grow and become responsible adults, that discipline is necessary and is done because I love them. Their mistakes don’t change how much I love them though. The same is true of our relationship to our Father. He hurts when we hurt & rejoices when we rejoice. His discipline of us is also because he loves us so much and is necessary for us to grow in him. His love for each of his children is the same. He loves us all and desires for us to grow deeper in love with him every day. Just as I love to see my children happy, our Father desires for us to be full of joy! But when I think about the love I have for my children (which is A LOT!), it doesn’t even compare to the love of my Heavenly Father.
God’s word says,
I John 4:9 “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”
So, this weekend we will celebrate our daughter and the special day that marks her birth and may you celebrate the love of your Father. His love for you is deeper than anything you can ever imagine. He sent his Son to die to prove his love for you! When life seems hard to bear and difficult circumstances arise this week, may you find comfort in the promise of his love for you….his child!
Have a blessed week!
Allison
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