Children are one of the greatest blessings God has ever bestowed on me. To be a mother and experience the uniqueness of a life that was created by God that grew within my body for nine months is truly an indescribable experience. The intimacy and care I feel for our children is so close and DEEP. When I held each one of them in my arms, I would study their God-given features unique to them. Even as newborns they had all their parts–tiny fingers and toes, a belly button, which was their lifeline for food and nourishment, and their soft and often loud cries–I just marveled at the AWESOMENESS of the gift.
It was not until I had kids and the capsule of love exploded in my heart did I fully understand the LOVE that God must have for me. Yes, becoming a Mother was one way God helped me even come close to being able to FATHOM THE LOVE HE HAS FOR ME, and all PEOPLE. TO this day my heart grieves when someone desires to have a child and isn’t able to do so. I realize one of the main reasons I grieve, among many, is I know what God taught me through the LOVE and CARE of my own about HOW HE FEELS ABOUT ME.
We all, if you live in America, have heard the most famous verse, John 3:16, “For God so LOVED THE WORLD, that HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, so that whosoever believes in HIM WILL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!” You don’t have to be a Christian, I have discovered, to know this verse. The meaning, when I became a mother, was very personal to me!! Once I held our firstborn in my arms, and for the two that came after, I realized that God sacrificed his one and only Son for sinners such as me.
Thinking back to that hospital room, holding that tiny precious baby, or babies, who are now 24, 21 and 20, I think of them dying sacrificially for someone else and it MAKES ME PHYSICALLY SICK! NOT TO MENTION THINKING OF THEM DYING A HORRIFIC DEATH. Imagine your child being nailed to a cross naked and beaten beyond recognition before even being nailed to the cross. This was Jesus. I think of the anguish Mary, the mother of Jesus, must have gone through!! To this day I have never been able to watch Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion,” because I cannot bare to watch the reenactment of Jesus’ suffering and death! Much less imagine watching one of my kids suffer, and unjustly at that!!!
God’s love for people is so AMAZING! He came down from heaven and became fully man, Jesus. Experienced every temptation and pain that man could possibly endure and then suffered a horrific death to be obedient to His heavenly Father, God. For me. For you. Read His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane the night before he was arrested. He KNELT DOWN AND PRAYED saying in Luke 22:42, “Father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.”
This verse right here lets me know that Jesus was fully man but fully God too. He knew what the future was, but being fully man, he asked for the cup to be removed. He was willing to set the example of being FULLY OBEDIENT TO THE WILL of God, and submit. This verse is sooooo very powerful to me. It is foundational to me in seeking God’s will and not mine. To knowing that Jesus was God and lived life on earth as fully man and has experienced everything that I ever will on earth and HE was the PERFECT MAN. He is the example and the role model. The one who I desire to follow and He gave up his life to pay for MY sin. Wow! This ministry is so meant to encourage others to seek Christ, share Christ and live for Christ. It is to encourage everyone to “lose their life in order to gain life!” through Jesus, God’s son. The ultimate sacrifice for me. For you!