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My husband and I had been happily (most of the
time) married for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I
decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if he would
give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart
and raise it with his word as my guide. God answered my prayers and
blessed us with a son. The next year God blessed us with another son.
The following year, he blessed us with yet another son. The year after
that we were blessed with a daughter.
My husband thought we'd been blessed right into
poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years
old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a
minister once told me, "If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an
umbrella. ."I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children
each day as they lay in their cribs.
I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me
with four children and I didn't want to disappoint him.I tried to be
patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor
searching for baby chicks.
I tried to be understanding when they started a
hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me
nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs. When my daughter
poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it
felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.
In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand
diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty
minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children. While I
couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come
close - I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.
I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I
told my daughter we were going to church to worship God, and she wanted
to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too.
Some thing was lost in the translation when I
explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was
generous of God to give us his "last wife.
"My proudest moment came during the children's
Christmas pageant. My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were
shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to
shine.
My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line,
"We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." But he was nervous and
said, "The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes."
My four-year-old "Mary" said, "That's not 'wrinkled
clothes, 'silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes."A wrestling match broke
out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent
her halo and lost her left wing.
I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary
dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle
crying, "Mama-mama." Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held
it tightly as the wise men arrived. My other son stepped forward wearing
a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, "We are
the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and
fur.
The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the
pageant got a standing ovation. "I've never enjoyed a Christmas program
as much asthis one," laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes.
"For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the
Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur.
""My children are my pride and my joy and my
greatest blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin
Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him
Master.Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.Had no medicines, yet
they called Him Healer.Had no army, yet kings feared Him.He won no
military battles, yet He conquered the world.He committed no crime, yet
they crucified Him.He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.If
you believe in God and in Jesus Christ, His Son, send this to all on
your buddy list.GOD BLESS YOU ALL
Author Unknown |
