Samuel, Samson...

I am feeling a little like Manoah today. For those of you who only remember the Samson and Delilah part of the story, Manoah was Samson's father. One day, the angel of the Lord came to Manoah's wife and told her to lay off the booze because she was going to be a mommy. Now, this was incredible because she wasn't supposed to have been able to have kids. Okay, so how do I feel like this dude Manoah? Well, when she told Manoah that they were going to have a baby, his response is pretty similar to the response that I have now upon learning that I am going to have a baby. He said "O, Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."

I don't know if it is a boy or a girl - What I do know is that I need Christ (who I believe is the angel of the Lord) to help me know how to raise my child. The great thing is that I can ask directly! Isn't that awesome! Because Christ died for me and has accepted me into the family, I can ask Him about anything. This is a really scary time for me. I am now realizing that I have to throw off any selfish ambition. I want to dedicate my child to God not from the first day that it takes its first breath - but from this very moment. I do not believe that life starts when the child is born. Life starts at conception. If you could have seen little Peanut moving around 2 weeks ago, you would agree.

I have been looking at Godly parents in the Bible who raised their kids in a Godly way. I am really impressed with Hannah. She gave her baby to God before God even gave her the baby. I need to be able to give my child's life to God totally. I want my baby to be surrounded by God's presence. I know that I will not always be able to make decisions for my child - look at Manoah and Samson later in life - but I can raise them to know which choices are good and bad. I pray that God would direct me as I embark on this scary adventure. I want God to speak through me instead of the baby always hearing my voice telling them what I think that they should do.