Seven years ago, Bethany made her entrance into the world.  It was a hard day, followed by a few more really hard days.  I can remember two things that brought me peace during a time that was anything but peaceful.  The first was a line of the song In Christ Alone that I had heard while in labor that stuck with me through those days…”from life’s first cry, to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny”.  The second was what God spoke to my heart over and over and over again…”she’s not yours, she’s Mine”.

When I couldn’t hold her or touch her or feed her, when I was told she might not live, there was such comfort in knowing that her life was in God’s hands, not anyone else’s.  But, while some of those moments seemed agonizingly long, in 10 days she was home and all issues were resolved.  It is sometimes easy for me to forget the heartache of those moments, but I have often reminded myself of those promises that I clung to so fiercely.

As she has grown, that hope [confident expectation] that God will work in her life even in spite of my insufficiency has continued to bring me peace.  In a lot of ways, I think the person that God made Bethany to be – strong-willed, stubborn, tenacious – helped her get through those first few days of life as well as she did…and I think those traits can be of great value to God as she learns to temper them and bring the under His authority and direction.  But, in the meantime, raising her has had lots of challenges and failings and more moments than I can count of praying for God to do the work in her that I/we clearly were not cut out to do.

Through these seven years we have seen Him working in her heart, to begin to reign in her iron-will, but also to bring out other wonderful qualities that make her unique and beautiful.  She is compassionate and forgiving and generous and joyful.  She is curious and brilliant and creative and (mostly) fearless.  She still has trouble walking in a straight line (funny, but entirely true), but can do a perfect cartwheel.  She is exuberant in most things she does, and though she sometimes struggles with discouragement in difficult tasks, with encouragement (or, sometimes, reprimand) she will keep trying until she succeeds. I am thankful for God’s working in her life, and for the depth of character that He is establishing in her.  She is a blessing and a joy to our family, and we love her so.