A Little Bit of Joy

Just a memory that I do not want to forget.  It touched my heart more than this little post can even begin to explain....

From the very first day that I found out that I was pregnant, I have prayed Luke 10:27 over Ava's life -

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind..."

because no matter what else possibly happens in her life, I know that if she loves God more than anything else, she will be just fine.  She will be able to get through anything in her life, walk through any circumstance, any problem, any situation, no matter how devastating or difficult, because He will be by her side.  I simply can not think of anything I want more for her life than for her to know Jesus as her very best friend.

I found this book for Ava not too long ago called "God Gave Us You" by Lisa Tawn Bergren.  It's a nice story about a mama polar bear telling her cub where she came from, and on each page she tells her little one that "God gave us you." (For all of you awesome adoptive parents, there is also a "God Found Us You" that I hear is great, too.)

Just like each night before, we finished saying our bedtime prayers with daddy and Ava announced "Aaa-MAIN."  We snuggled in and began reading our bedtime books, and for the first time opened "God Gave Us You."  I could not have found a better book to explain, very simply, my journey to becoming a mother.  The mama bear tells her cub "We wanted you very, very much, and we are so very glad because God gave us you."  She explains how, every night while she was pregnant, she would pray that her baby's body would be healthy, but most of all she prayed that her baby would love God more than anything.  As I read these sweet words, the ones that so closely echo my own desire for Ava to love Jesus, she threw her hand in the air and squealed "I do!"

I stopped to take it in.  "You do?  You love God with all your heart?" I asked.  "Yeah," she replied.  And she turned back to the book, put her pacifier back in her mouth, and turned the page.

I don't think there have been sweeter words uttered from my daughter's lips.

And maybe, just maybe, she has heard me pray this same verse over her every night before she falls asleep.  Maybe she does hear me say each night "Father, I pray that Ava would love You with all of her heart as she grows up."  And maybe that love for God has already started to grow in her heart....