Psalm 127:3 “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.” Paying homage to my child.

Exactly 24 years ago at this time 7:39 pm I headed to the hospital in labor. I was three and a half weeks early but I knew it was time to have my baby girl.  My labor was long twenty-three hours and forty-one minutes to be exact.  Worth every minute!

I will tell you before you read this blog it is a proud parent gushing about her child but it is a blog tied to the bible and in honor of her 24th birthday.

August 10th, 1994 changed my life forever.  God blesses me with a 7 pound 1/2 ounce beautiful baby girl.  She cried immediately and the nurses said, “She has red lips like she has on lipstick and beautifully and perfectly arched eyebrows.”  I replied, “Does she have all her fingers and toes????”  Silly me of course they checked all of that before commenting on her cosmetic assets.”

When a child is born we don’t always recognized how blessed we are.  We don’t recognize how that child was designed and developed by God to be a part of our family.  We don’t recognize how He has planned the development and life of that child long before we can ever imagine.

God designed my baby to be the biggest joy and support in my life.  The first thing I recognize is He blessed me with a healthy baby.  Knowing other parents with children with health struggles I thank God for other struggles in my life.  Although we went through ear infections, flu, broken toes, dance injuries, etc. we never suffered with serious daily childhood diseases.  I pray daily for all parents that may have to sit in a hospital with their child undergoing treatment or for those who have buried a child.

Another thing I recognize that God designed in my daughter, Lexie is that she looks very similar to me.  Many times throughout the years and even today people comment on how they can tell we are mother and daughter.  This is a great honor for me to hear because my daughter is absolutely beautiful and I take it as a compliment.  

God also added a special caring and genuine heart in Lexie.  Lexie was a very tiny girl around two years old and she would hand any toy she was playing with to other small children.  She never grabbed toys from others.  She always offered what she had.  I feel she did this because God put in her heart Luke 3:11.

“Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

When Lexie was in high school in order to pay for lunch you had to login to a lunch account and “put money” on the account and at lunchtime students would use their IDs to pay for lunch.  There had to be money on the account to receive food.  I noticed I was  adding money to Lexie’s lunch account weekly.

After three weeks of replenishing her account with $25 reloads I asked her what she could possibly eating to go through $75 in food in three weeks.  You see lunches averaged $2-$3 and Lexie being a dancer that was conscious about her weight couldn’t possibly eat that much.  The lunches were also discounted as to not be expensive.  She replied there were kids at school without money on their account so she would buy them lunch.  This warmed my heart and I recognized God in her ways.

The specially designed gift that God added to my  baby was the gift for saying kind words.

As an adult and as my partner in Grateful Gratitude I see Lexie speak to young girls with kind words and helpful advice.  We recently held a teen girl gratitude workshop and I watched in awe as Lexie told the girls, “I want to tell you things I wish someone would have told me at your age.”  I thought I had prepared her in her early years but I realized I was a mess back then and she learned on her own.

The words clung to my mind as I heard her speak.  She is so good at analogies.  One was, “Remember, kindness is like a yawn.  When someone in the room yawns, it’s contagious.  Kindness is the same.  When you practice kindness it leads another person to do something kind.”

She also spoke of having anxiety and that it is normal.  She told the girls to never be ashamed of being anxious and to turn to God for Him to answer your worries and the importance of prayer to feel so called normal.  She has such a gift to be able to have girls relate to her and engage with her in workshops.  She is touching these girls’ lives and they are touching hers.

I know God put Proverbs 16:24 in her heart too!

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

Now I know you may say I am just a boasting mother and I recognize that but I am also showing great gratitude to God for the blessing he bestowed on me for comfort, unconditional love and companionship with Lexie as my daughter.

I have blogged before on Ecclesiastes 4:9 and explained how Lexie was always my support through my messy years.  To this day she lifts me up.

“Two are better than one if either of them falls down, one can help the other up.”

And know as a mother I must reference the bible verse since she now is a wife and mother. That verse is Proverbs 31:10.

“A wife of noble character who can find her?  She is worth far more than rubies.”

Lexie married and became a wife last year.  She respects, loves, trusts and gives to her husband without hesitation.  They quickly became parents to our baby, Levi James.  She offers the same to Levi that she offers to her husband.  Always giving and loving.  Little Levi knows God’s love already whether he is sleeping in church or listening to his “Jesus Songs” on mommy’s phone.

Her marriage and parenting are so strong by serving the Lord each and every day.

I leave you with this final bible verse and pray that each of you have the love in your life that I do for Lexie.  If you are not a parent then I pray you have this relationship with your mother, stepmother, grandmother or anyone that is your mother figure in your life.  If you mom is in heaven with our loving Father then know she is constantly watching over you and comforting you for above.

I pray for each and every one of you daily to feel God’s love and touch. My love and gratitude for you-LoLo

Proverbs 31:29

“Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.”