Lucy's Dedication Day

            When Lucy was just a bun in the oven, Lance and I searched for a verse for her that expressed our prayer for her life. After careful consideration, we settled on Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” There is much truth in this chapter of the Bible and it gives what we believe is a biblical mandate for being Godly parents and having a Christ-centered home.

         I get a very substantial lump in my throat every single time I read Deuteronomy 6 and I ponder the amazing privilege and responsibility of being a parent. Verses 7-9 talks about the frequency with which we are to teach them, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” I cannot read this passage and not deduce from it that I am to be in constant teaching mode to my child, whether by the words that come out of my mouth or by the way I live my everyday life and the ways in which I fulfill my daily commitments. What a challenge! Reading this I am learning more and more each day the truth in the statement that the greatest gift I can ever give my child is to be a mother with a growing relationship in Christ. Otherwise, the task of raising my child in the Lord is insurmountable at best. I need God's strength and grace every single day in this.

       
       Lance and I have put off dedicating Lucy in church just because we have been "waiting" for the time when we were in a more permanent situation-- some time in the last month or so, we realized it was time to publicly share with our church family our desire to raise her in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. These sweet people we worship with at Emmanuel have been behind us as we have been married and now have become parents. Many of them have prayed for us along the way and certainly lifted us up during this job situation. Dr. Heisler, our interim pastor at EBC, (have I mentioned what a blessing he has been to our church? God provides!) helped us in sharing our desire to parent rightly with our church on Mother's Day. He clearly shared how we do not see our child's dedication as a salvific event but as a way for Lance and I to commit ourselves publicly to raise Lucy in a Christian home and to point her to God with our lives. He helped us to humbly ask our church family to come alongside us and to pray that we would have God's grace and wisdom as we parent. It is our sincere hope and prayer that we will always be found faithful as Godly parents and that she will come to know Christ's love and salvation for herself one day.

      Many of you have prayed for us and with us as Lucy came along and as we have searched for a job-- Thank you  for loving us so. We would covet your prayers as we continue down this road.