Already Written on their HEARTS

Do you ever wonder about the future? I remember as a little girl having so many hopes and dreams and wanting to be so many different things when I grew up. I wanted to be everything from a vet to a broadway dancer.  But thinking back over my life, I see that God knew what I was to become. He knew my strengths and weaknesses and guided me along the path to become the best thing in the world, a wife and mother.

I think about my sons' futures all the time. I wonder what God is preparing them to be and how He will use them for His kingdom. I look into their eyes and see a world of potential. I look at their strengths and think, man, God could really use them in this way or that. But even in all the wondering, I can see that the Father has a plan for them. That he has already written on their hearts their story, their purpose for their lives, their future. And as parents, God has given us the duty and privilege of helping them discover the plan for their lives. 

I am reminded of one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It is in Jeremiah chapter 1, where God is calling him out to serve Him.

"⁴The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

                                                ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
                                      before you were born I set you apart;
                                              I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 

Also, David wrote in Psalm 139:

 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 

Over and over in the Bible we see God telling parents that their children had a special purpose. I also believe that if the child has a special purpose the parent does as well...to train them up so that they can become the person God has created them to be. God told David that his son Solomon was going to be the one to build his temple, not him. But it was David's job to prepare him to do so. We may not know exactly what our children will become or do, like in many cases in the Bible,  but we do know what God desires of us and how he wants us to raise our children to love and honor Him. I believe by doing so, we are able to help them uncover the story that has already been written down in God's book and written on their hearts! I am excited to help my boys turn the pages and discover all the wonderful things the Father has in store for them.

I pray that the Father would give me the wisdom every day and the grace each moment to know how to fulfill such an awesome responsibility!