Babies as Gifts and God's Timing

My baby is 7 months old now. She started crawling two days before she turned 7 months. She's the earliest crawler so far. She's cutting teeth. Not just one at a time. Nope. This baby cut two at one time. Then she cut three at the same time. She's working on the 6th tooth right in the middle of the top of her gums. If she follows suit with her oldest sister she'll cut the last two in the next few weeks. Unlike her sister who never complained about cutting any teeth, she gripes alot. She started solids this morning and loved them. (I don't like to start solids this early but I dislike being up 3 times in the middle of the night because baby isn't getting enough calories during the day.)

What happened to my newborn? What happened to the downy head that I would stroke while she nursed? What happened to the cuddle bug she used to be when we'd snuggle into bed at night to sleep? What happened to the toothless (and biteless) grin she gave me so early in her babyhood? I know she's only 7 months but I feel as if somehow her babyhood is over.

My cycle returned this week. In the past I have not seen this as such a blessing. Like most women, I was taught to see this "friend" as a necessary evil. Recently, though, I have been challenged to see my "friend" as truly a friend. Without this friend of mine, I would not have the 6 children that I have sleeping soundly in their beds this night. I wouldn't have the six beautiful smiles to brighten my day. I wouldn't have six pairs of eyes to watch and learn from me as they grow. While this "friend" may seem to be a nuisence and a bother that we tolerate once a month, it's really a gift from God. It is through this gift that He grants us the privilege to become mothers.

Babies truly are a gift from the Father. In some versions of Psalm 127, they are an inheritance or a heritage. These are things we often equate to being passed down from generation to generation. Think about that!! While leaving a monetary inheritance can have merit, money will burn. You can't serve both God and mammon. But when you leave a godly seed to the world, you potentially leave a son or daughter sold out for the cross. Imagine if you have 6 of those godly seeds. Then they each have 6 godly seeds. Then those godly seeds have 6 seeds each. In three generations of raising godly seed, you end up with 216 people who have given their lives to used for the Kingdom. WOW!!!

All of my boys have a Biblical name. I use the scripture around their names for the prayers that I pray for them. My girls have traditional names and their meanings aren't so defined. I have wrestled for a long time over what to pray for them. I have given took "girl" verses from scripture but it never seemed right. Then one day I was praying about this problem and realized that the scripture was right but my view of it wasn't. I still held onto a feminist point of view. I have been reluctant to fully commit myself to being a keeper at home as well as raising my daughters this way. It dawned on me though that I have been praying BIG things for my boys. I need to pray the same things for my daughters. They will one day be the keepers at home that will contribute to raising the godly seed of our future. They need to be strong women who find their strength in the Lord. This will be my legacy, my heritage. Can I do it with more?

Underdog and I have placed ourselves in a position to be open to more children. Whether they come through adoption or God places them in our own womb remains to be seen. I am fighting through the desire to control this aspect of my life. Up until now, I thought I had controlled things. But God is the giver of life. He opens and closes the womb. Who am I to think that I had any control over the timing of those babies? I have used Natural Family Planning in the past so I have a pretty good grasp of what my body does and when. The truth is that I had NO control. It was a false sense of control. God is Sovereign and in control of ALL things. . .including the timing of our children.

I have receiving a great lesson in releasing control of my life to the Father. It seems in everything I am involved in there is a sense of "wait on ME, Karen." God has simply called me to trust Him. He wants me to trust Him with timing of ALL things - school, family, health, etc. He wants me to trust Him by searching His Word for answers and not the latest blog or books. He's calling me to pray for the children I have and then release them into His hands to save. Then He wants me to constantly be seeking His face in how to lead them. They are His children on loan to me. I don't want to mess this up. Just as I would safely guard a precious tea cup loaned out to me, all the more I guard these children and take my task seriously. This doesn't start with the moment they are placed into my arms when they are born. It doesn't even begin when their life begins at conception. It begins here and now. It begins with the possibilities. Does my life lend itself to the possibilities that God can do with my life? Does it trust God with these possibilities? Or does my life reflect the false notion that I have control of any part of my life? I am afraid that it is the later. But now I have food for thought as I close down and go to lay head on my pillow. Can I fully give my life over to the One who gave His life for me?