Emily's Story of Motherhood

I think that all my life I wanted to be a mother. Of course, for a long time I knew that I wasn’t ready. But one day, my thoughts when hearing a friend was pregnant changed from “I’m so happy for her, but I’m glad it isn’t me!” to “I’m so happy for her, but I wish it was me too”. And now I am a mother, and I couldn’t feel more blessed. It has been a life changing experience. There has been a lot of good, and a little bad (think sleepless nights, cleaning up barf, and WAY less time to yourself!) But I wouldn’t change a moment of it. I feel so blessed to have been given the chance to have a baby, and I’m looking forward to our family’s future.

In preparing this, Jaycee and I talked about several themes to discuss—but there are two important points that stick out in my mind that I want to briefly discuss:

God’s unconditional love for us, and the example this sets:

“Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:39

God teaches us many incredible lessons each and every day, but one that is very close to my heart is God’s unconditional love for his children. If an all perfect God can love us, despite our many, many faults, we should always love our children, regardless of their behavior. God has provided us with this profound example. Of course, God doesn’t love our sins, and similarly, we do not have to love acts and behaviors of our children which are wrong. However, “love the sinner, hate the sin”.  I grew up in a household where I knew that my parents loved me no matter what, and there was nothing I could do to change that. I can’t tell you how important that was to me, especially as I made mistakes, and disappointed my parents many times over the years. Their love gave me confidence and made me feel so secure. I feel the same way in God’s hands. No matter how many times I fall and falter, He will be there to catch me, and he will love me as I continue to try to live up to the potential He has graciously placed in me. As we all live in our attempt to be Christ-like, and as we fail each and every day, we know that we are in God’s hands, and he loves us regardless. This is such an amazing feeling, and I want to emulate this, in some small way, with my children.

Creation is a miracle of God

 “Everything under heaven belongs to me.” - Job 41: 11

Although I was a Christian well before conceiving my daughter, Ruby, the experience of becoming a mother (what a gift from God!) grew my faith so deeply. Shortly after her birth, I looked at my husband as our sweet new baby lay in my arms, and said to him “After having baby, how can you NOT believe in God?” Is there any greater miracle than the ability to carry a human life for 9 months, and then have the great honor of raising him or her to love God and be a good person? Anyone who has a child, whether biological or adopted, knows this feeling.  I feel so blessed, and hope that I can raise my sweet girl to be a loving, kind, caring, empathetic woman, who knows and loves God. As we live our day to day life, I think it can be hard to remember that God is all around us. With the birth of a baby, He reminds us of his work and his grace. The miracle of creation has taught me such a lesson about the infinite number of ways that God works and touches our lives. And loving my baby as much as I do, the incredible sacrifice that God made, giving his only Son to the world makes me realize what a profound gift that was. Of course, it always seemed amazing, but now it is beyond belief.

In closing, I wanted to leave you with a couple of quotes, by one of my favorite authors—C.S. Lewis. If you haven’t read any of his books, I would suggest it. Two of my favorites are “Mere Christianity” and “The Screwtape Letters”.

 "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." — C.S. Lewis

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." — C.S. Lewis

- Emily