Your Real Birthday Story

Jonathan, you love hearing the story about the day you were born. How Mommy was rushed to the hospital. How you entered the world with the doctor exclaiming, "It's a boy!" How we were so excited to bring you home.

But that isn't the beginning of your story. There was another beginning that started in the fall of 1996.

We had been married nearly seven years. Praying for a baby. Waiting on the Lord. It seemed the only answer we received was silence.

I joined a women's Bible study that fall. Our theme for the year was "The Women of the Bible," and our plans were to study not only the well known characters such as Sarah, Esther and Mary, but also the lesser known women. One of these was the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4.

She was a godly woman who was used by God to support the prophet Elisha through her hospitality and giving. When he wanted to repay her in some way, she replied that she was content. He later discovered that she had no children, and prophesied that she would bear a son around the same time the next year. She thought it was too good to be true, but his prophecy did indeed come to pass. She gave birth to a son the next year. It was a miracle.

I was moved by the story of the Shunammite woman. Her story was my story. After sharing my heart and many tears with my Bible study group, they prayed over me. Our leader prophesied that I would become pregnant before the study ended. I didn't want to believe it and be filled with false hope. But God kept whispering to me, "With Me, all things are possible." We were about to experience a miracle.

About the same time the next year, in the fall of 1997, I gave birth to you, our first son.

The one we had hoped for. The one we had waited for. The one we welcomed with open arms and open hearts. We gazed down into your twinkling baby eyes and named you Jonathan, which means "gift of God." That you were, and are.

But your story didn't start there, either. Even before one prayer was uttered, God had already set into motion His plans for your life. He saw your substance, as yet unformed. In His book they were all written, the days fashioned for you, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:16).



So when I look into your eyes, Jonathan, I see more than just my son smiling back at me.

In your face, I see God's grace.

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

I love you,
Mama

"The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore." Psalm 121:8