Tuesday, January 11, 2011

He's Yours Lord



This past Sunday we were able to publicly share our decision to dedicate our little blessing to the Lord; to say that our goal as the parents of little John Channing is to raise him to the best of our ability in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and according to his God's Word. It was another opportunity to share that he's ours for a short time & ultimately he is the Lord's.


In my current Bible Study I recently read a story that really is thought provoking for parents, and such a reminder of the overwhelming responsibility to be a good steward of the little life that has been placed in our hands.


An excerpt from It's Always Something by Gilda Radner: (Taken from Breaking Free by Beth Moore):  **This is an edited version in my own words to make it shorter for here.

A young lady had a dog that was expecting puppies within a few weeks. The dog just happened to get in the way of the lawnmower and her back legs were cut off. The vet gave the family two option after seeing that no damage had been done to the puppies she carried. They could sew the dog up with no difficulty expected in her ability to deliver the puppies or they could put her to sleep. The family decided to sew her up.
So the vet sewed up her backside and over the next week the dog learned to walk. She didn't spend any time worrying, she just learned to walk by taking two steps in front and flipping  up her backside, and then taking two steps and flipping up her backside again. She gave birth to six little puppies, all in perfect health. She nursed them and weaned them. And when they learned to walk, they all walked just like her....two steps forward and flipping their backside.

It's cute but after a quick giggle & some thought you realize the depth of the story. Our children, just like those puppies will mock exactly what they see us doing. No matter how far we have come in our walks with the Lord, we all have areas of bondage where we struggle to remain free. Any idols we have enslave us & enslaved parents teach their children how to live in bondage even with the best of intentions to do otherwise.


NEVER would I want to pass on my "JUNK" to this little fella. He makes me want to be a better me. The responsibility of his sweet little life pushes me to want to be a better follower of Christ, a healthier eater, better at exercising regularly....the list continues forever because I know whatever he sees me doing, is what he is going to imitate. I know that despite my best of intentions, I am going to fail. There are areas where I will not succeed, but I want nothing more than to honor God with this precious gift that he's blessed me with.

 Train up a child in the way they should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Saturday, January 8, 2011

It's a wonderful life....






This past month has been a whirlwind of excitement & unbelievable blessings! WE have enjoyed every moment of it.
It was so wonderful to celebrate the birth of our Savior together as a family of 3! What joy it brought us to have our son here and to think about Mary & Joseph and the joy they felt on that first Christmas morning. Having a child definitely brings a new perspective to your heart as you are able to empathize in a more personal way with what they must have felt and experienced. As we sat as a family on Christmas morning and read that precious story from the Word, it was totally different as we held our own son. What a gift Jesus was to us. What a sacrifice Mary, Joseph & God himself endured by sending Jesus to us. We are so blessed! I can hardly wait until Channing accepts Jesus as his Savior. I've prayed for that moment for months now...from the moment I found out he was growing within me. I've been reading Mary Beth Chapman's book "Choosing to SEE" & I've been overwhelmed by the godly children she & Steven Curtis Chapman have raised. I've been praying specifically for things I plead God will bless my children with and salvation is the most important thing I could hope they would receive.




Our sweet little bundle is growing and changing every single day. The transformation is amazing. He's plumping up week by week...our little chunky monkey! He's sleeping all night in his own big boy bed and loving every minute of it. He wakes up so happy in the mornings & I am so grateful that God has blessed us with a little one who loves his sleep. He's such a blessing to us and each day as I place him in his bed and close out of day, I thank God for this gift. As we head into a new year I know God has amazing plans in store for us. We hold to that promise from Jeremiah 29:11 knowing his plans for us are for our good!




Channing's first snow!




Happy New Year from the Berry Family!