I took a break from blogging for a couple of months so I could assist my daughter and be present for the birth of my newest granddaughter! This beautiful little girl makes number six…I have five other adorable grandchildren, three girls and twin boys…but this was my daughter’s first baby and you know how mothers through the centuries have traditionally helped their daughters after they gave birth. So, I spent a lot of time in Texas and had lots of time getting to know my sweet little Margaret Nicole! She was named for my late mother (her great grandmother, who sadly passed away before my daughter ever got to meet her) and our beautiful cousin who was tragically killed in a fall while hiking in the mountains.

Little Margaret (Maggie) actually had a pretty rough start in some ways. After the placenta began deteriorating she lost weight (this is a one in a million occurrence), and when her heartbeat dropped dramatically during labor, the doctors rushed my daughter into the operating room for an emergency C-section. Thankfully, my son-in-law’s family and my husband and I were blissfully unaware of these developments until the doctor came out and told us both daughter and baby were doing fine! That was all we needed to hear! We all shed a few tears of gratitude to God for bringing them both out of the crisis and saving our beautiful granddaughter’s life and realized she was, indeed, our little “miracle baby”!

My daughter is doing just fine now and Margaret is beginning to sleep through the nights. But for many days I stayed and helped by cooking, cleaning, holding and rocking the baby often, especially during the nights, so my daughter and her husband could get some rest. It was during these cherished precious moments alone with her that I realized how tiny and frail she was, and yet how strong she was, as well, with the determination to enter this world even though in some ways the odds were against her. I realized how God is the giver of life, beginning at conception, and these words from the Book of Psalms came to me over and over again:

“Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”   (Psalm 22:9 & 10, NIV)

“Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.”  (Psalm 71:6, ESV)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”   (Psalm 139:13 & 14a, ESV)

Remembering the amazing sonograms my daughter sent us during her pregnancy, the fact that Margaret was just as much a human being then as after she was born, and the startling realization she might not have made it had God not given her breath, made me that much more grateful for her little life and that much more horrified when I thought about the millions of tiny babies just like her who had been aborted while still in their mother’s wombs for reasons totally foreign to me! How could anyone kill a beautiful, innocent life, totally created by God?

I also thought of how she was entering a very wicked world and without faith in the Lord, she might be unable to withstand the onslaughts of the Enemy against her. I also thought of the fact that she has her whole life ahead of her, a blank slate on which she can write or accomplish anything she wishes. She may be a prolific author; she may discover a cure for cancer; she may be a doctor who cures the sick and starving in Africa; she may be the future president of the United States; she may be a great artist, composer or pianist. Of course, I am a bit swayed towards the pianist idea! With her long, slender fingers I think she will make a great pianist…or flutist like her mother…or French horn player like her father! Oh, well, the important thing is that she be what God wants her to be! I prayed over and over again as I held her in my arms that she would be a handmaiden of the Lord, used to bless many and minister for Him in the way He chooses for her life!

Even though she has not been born into an earthly royal bloodline as a princess, she has Christ’s royal blood flowing through her veins, and is heir to much more through our Lord than any earthly prince or princess could inherit from this world! I prayed that she would always serve the Lord and glorify Him, giving her heart and life completely over to the Master for His use. Yes, little Margaret, God has gifted you with so many talents yet to be discovered and my prayer for you is that you will always use them for Him! Forever love and serve the Lord and you will make your grandma so very proud of you!

(Next week I would like to complete this post by giving some ways in which parents can influence their children to love and serve the Lord by introducing them to worship music, creating musical interest in them and helping them develop their inner God-given talents. Don’t miss Part 2!)