Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain…Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Psalm 127:1a,3-5a
We have always trusted God to give us children. We always assumed that would mean we would have a house full of our own children, but God had a different plan. Our house has one child (so far) and I am so thankful for the joy that Amelia brings into our family, but for a while (and still every now and then) my heart ached(es) for more babies in my own house. I would see scriptures like Psalm 127 and in my heart I would say “Amen!” and wonder why God hadn’t given us more children as a blessing. However, recently my eyes have been opened.
In the past few months, Amelia has wanted Ben and I to draw pictures for her. In these pictures, she has had us draw a mom, dad and a little girl, a house with windows and a chimney, trees surrounding it, a car in the driveway, and babies in the arms of the mom, dad and little girl… count that THREE babies. For a while, these pictures made my heart ache, and my eyes fill with tears as I longed for our arms to be filled with babies.
However, a few weeks ago, I had an epiphany: our arms ARE full of babies! Ever since Amelia was born, we have had babies all around us–our friends’ babies, babies at church, babies cared for in our home, babies at the Sparrow’s Nest. Amelia hasn’t ever known a time when we were NOT around babies! I lost count trying to remember how many babies I have sung to sleep with “Amazing Grace” and my daughter has seen me nurture more babies than I could have physically borne after her. She is seeing that ALL babies are a blessing, not just the ones we are related to…and I am seeing that too.
Praise God for knowing how to build my house better than I would! Praise Him for giving me a heart for children and for giving my hands the ability to love and nurture more individuals than my own home could house! I thank God for continuing to teach me to trust Him in ALL things!
On a related note, thinking about Amelia’s picture–doesn’t that description sound an awful lot like The Sparrow’s Nest? What a blessing it is to have my daughter join in and catch the vision of this ministry!
~Kristin Woods
Assistant House Mom