Hi friends! It has been 7 weeks since we welcomed our precious Eliana into the world and I must say it’s felt like she’s always been with us. There have been some challenges along the way and a lot of learning but thank God we are still here! This post is a cumulation of 5 lessons I have learnt or have been reinforced, about us and God.
The other day I was trying to feed Eliana and in her overzealousness and hunger, she was trying to guide my hand and breast into her mouth, making the process more challenging and therefore she had to wait longer to eat. I kept saying to her ‘I don’t need your help,’ unfortunately she does not understand what I’m saying yet so continued her cute effort to be fed quicker. This brings me to the first lesson which is: God does not need our help. Often time we think He is moving too slowly or not how we want and try to ‘help’ Him, this can lead to delays and frustration on our part. I just imagine God looking at us and our cute efforts, knowing that if we’d just move out of the way, things would be clearer, smoother, quicker etc. Fortunately for us, we are not babies and we can understand when our Father speaks to us – if only we’d listen. God always speaks and it is up to us to always be tuned into His frequency through prayer, reading the word and meditation.
My child LOVES food. This often leads to her gulping down milk extremely quickly, causing her to spit up, swallow too much air, cough etc. Because of this, we often take the bottle out of her mouth so she can have a breather or burp and this leads to loud cries of protest. Unknown to her, what we are doing is for her good in the long run and means she can actually enjoy her meal better and be comfortable after without a build up of uncomfortable gas. We could just leave her to drink so as not to upset her but in the long run it will do more harm than good so we intervene because we have more foresight (sound familiar?). Leading me to lesson 2: everything God does is for our good. He has made it clear in His word. Although it may not always feel like love, when things don’t go our way, in the long run we are better for it. God either loves us or is a liar and I’m willing to put my money on the former. We were enjoying our sin and He intervened. We were comfortably going down the wrong path and He intervened. What’s comfortable or enjoyable isn’t always what God wants for us – but that is not to say He wants us to lead a life of misery. Trust God, sometimes you need a breather!
There are many many times I just look at Eliana and I’m filled with joy. I forget how tired I am and just smile, I forget how she kept me up or spat up on me, none of that is important because she is my child and I delight in her. So lesson 3 is, God delights in us and He loves us dearly. No matter what we do, He is always there to clean us up and rejoice over us because we are His.
Babies cry, it’s their trademark because you know, they can’t speak. Even though this is true, as a parent you can discern the meaning of different cries over time through trial and error, making it easier to attend to baby’s needs effectively. Lesson number 4 is God knows our needs and hears our cries. The difference between our Heavenly Father and earthly parents is that He does not need trial and error to know what is wrong or what we need. Take your requests to Him, take your tears to Him, He knows and understands it all and has a solution for them!
In the first couple of weeks I barely slept because I took it upon myself to watch Eliana’s every breath. I had an irrational fear that something would happen to her if I slept or took my eye off her for a second. Then one day God said to me ‘who watches her when you sleep?’ Now we all know that when God asks us a question, He already knows the answer. This simple question was so profound to me and changed my approach. Therefore, lesson 5 is; we get tired but God does not. He who watches over us does not sleep nor slumber so commit all that He has given to you back to Him or else you run the risk of burn out or worse. God is mighty enough to have His eye on us and ours so trust Him. I can’t be everywhere or see everything but God can and if I can’t trust Him to keep her as she sleeps, when will I ever? Now every time she sleeps, it’s lights out for me too (most times, I’m still learning)!
So as usual, I hope you are encouraged by this and take something away to help you on this journey called life x