Some Joy for Today: Happy Birthday, Drew!

Hey, Drew!

We are so blessed that your birthday falls on this day.

Our country is full of fear and anxiety today. For months, there has been shouting and finger pointing and name-calling and worry about what might come to pass at the end of this day. All around us there are heavy hearts. There is a lack of hope and a sense of dread.

And that's why we're so lucky that this Election Day happened to fall on your birthday because in the heart of our home we can push those things aside and instead focus on gratitude and celebration. But most importantly today especially reminds me that we do not place our hope in the things of the world. We do not place our hope in the promises of humans. There is only One in whom we place our hope. And He will never fail us.

As I lay in that hospital bed waiting for you to come twelve years ago today, there was a moment when panic washed over me. I suddenly feared that my luck had run out. All of my pregnancies had been uneventful. I had two perfect, healthy children. How could I possibly expect to have another? How could I just come into this hospital and take for granted that everything would be okay the third time? Had I done the right things? Would the doctor be skilled enough? Would I remember how to breathe, how to push, how to take care of you? How in the world could I ever have expected that everything would work out?

I remember your Grammy coming in soon after and putting her head right up against mine. I remember the tears stopped and my heartbeat quieted. I don't remember what she said exactly. Knowing her, she probably raised her eyebrows at me and asked, "Do you trust Him? Or do you not?" She has asked it many times since. And even though we'd not had a sonogram to find out what you were and I had not had any intuition at all as to what you were up to that moment, I remember looking at her and saying, "It will be a boy."

I wasn't 100% confident of that. I wasn't 100% confident that you would be healthy and strong. But I was 100% confident that the Lord was trustworthy. I was 100% confident that He would be faithful and that He would equip me for whatever was to be.

And today, we know that God was every one of those things twelve years ago. On that day, as on every day before, God knew exactly what He was doing. He was completely in control. He gave us you. Exactly the baby we needed and wanted. Red faced and red headed and screaming your little lungs out. He knew the plan for our family that day. He knew that you would complete our home. He knows the place you will have in this world. He knows how many days you have and how many people you will bless in those days.

So today we will not live in fear. It will be easy for our family because we're lucky enough to celebrate you. We will remember the promise that your life held in the moment you came to us. We will remember that our hope is not in circumstance and not in humans. Our hope is in the Lord. Our joy is in His promise. Our confidence is in the knowledge that He will not fail us.

We know this for sure today. We know because on November 8, 2004 He gave us you - a boy full of hope, full of promise and full of joy. We're so glad He saw fit to give us the gift of you.

Happy Birthday, Little Man. We love you so.