Emma's Dedication

Sunday night we had a dedication service for Emma at church.

It was such a sweet time.

I am so thankful to all the friends and family that were able to attend. It meant so very much to me.

Jeremy's Dad read some scripture.

Psalm 127:3-5
³Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
⁴As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
⁵Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

My Dad gave a testimony and a  prayer of Dedication.

And Uncle Kelvin (our Pastor) read some scripture and gave a prayer of Dedication.

Luke 1:5-14
⁵THERE was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
⁷And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
⁸And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
⁹According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
¹¹And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
¹²And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
¹³But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
¹⁴And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.


Emma Elisabeth......what a complete joy she is to me.

I really honestly never thought we would have another baby.

Jeremy and I tried for 7 years to have a baby. 7 long years. 7 years full of trusting in God and knowing that is way is perfect. Years of trusting that whether we would have a baby, God was good. And if he decided to not give us another child, that God was still good.

Writing about this isn't easy for me. It all sounds so perfect now that she is here. But the truth of the matter is that there were many, many months of tears and heartbreak and begging and pleading.

Many months of begging God to take the desire from me. That if he wouldn't fulfill this desire, that he would give me peace about not having a baby. That he would take the desire from me and that he would fill the empty space in my heart.

I know it sounds silly to have felt like that,  because I already had 2 children. 2 beautiful children. But still....I felt like something was missing, that it just wasn't complete yet....does that make any sense??

These years of....I don't know what to call it.....infertility....not God's timing?? were not easy for me to talk about. A few close friends knew. Some would see tears. Some would just hear my heart.

There was a Sunday in particular, where I really thought I was pregnant. I was a week late.
I was an emotional basket case.

We were late for sunday school and standing in the foyer, just Jeremy and I. His cousin Lindsie had just had a baby, and the I heard the baby crying in the room next to us.

When I heard that little baby crying I lost it. I felt....I know it sounds stupid, but I felt like a baby was crying out to me.

That morning Kelvin preached out of Luke. I don't remember much about the sermon,

But I remember these 2 verses...

¹³But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
¹⁴And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

I felt like God himself was speaking to me. Could I dare open my heart up to a promise of another child??

I knew then, that if we would have another baby, that I would give that baby back to God. He will use this baby as he deems fit.

 For God had heard my cry.

There were many mornings spent sitting in my chair in the living room, and so many mornings, during the waiting game of wondering if this month we would be pregnant.... with tears streaming down my face, I would feel the presence of God right there with me.

And I knew......

I KNEW GOD TO BE A COMFORTER.

and

A HEALER OF BROKEN AND HURTING HEARTS.

To know that about my God, was worth the wait.

I don't know if I can quite put into words what I felt that morning  when I found out I was pregnant.

What pure and utter shock.

What pure and utter J.o.Y.

And now she is here.

God's timing is always the best timing. I can see that.

God has showed himself faithful to me time and time again.

And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

My cup runneth over.