Before the beginning of Lauren's life, before the beginning of my life; I believe God chose Lauren (as well as my other children, but this post is about Lauren) to be my daughter. God does not exist or work on our "timeline". When He created the world in the beginning of "our" time he included pictures in creation that would point to His plan for ALL of our lives; for our salvation, by His sacrifice:
When God chose to create my daughter and me some 30 years apart (I don't know the actual time, because I don't know how long Tyler and Lauren were frozen before we had them thawed and placed in my womb), He already knew that she would be my daughter... before my birth... before she was created in a fertility clinic and then subsequently frozen in time... before we were blessed to discover this part of God's plan for our lives and recieved our blessed little ones and I became pregnant with them... before all of that - God KNEW, God PLANNED for Lauren to be my child. In His Omniscience (all knowing) He knew she was my child, in His Omnipotence (all powerful) He was able to create her to look like me, and Omnipresent (everywhere at all times, including not defined by time) even despite the time difference in our creation... and most importantly the fact that I did not contribute at all to her genetic makeup.
Me at 3
OK, not identical, but still amazing to me!
Lauren at 3
God has spoken to mine and Matt's hearts recently in several different ways. So much so that I am praying for clarification. Adoption, foster care, birth parents, children taken from their birth parents, ultimately the protection that all kids deserve as well as loving homes, does God have more children he has "chosen" for us, does God want me to speak out more or encourage in some other way for more people to adopt and or do foster care... My mind is full, my heart is longing for answers to know what to cling to, my spirit is aching for all children to have loving, safe families to grow up in.
I Kings 3:16 - 27 gives an account of 2 women who had given birth, 1 of the sons died, and the other lived. The mother of the dead child switched them in the night... in his wisdom received from God he ordered the living child be cut in 1/2 and each woman would get 1/2 of the child. The child's TRUE mother cried and said "no, don't kill him, let him live... give him to the other woman." King Soloman then knew and said that the child belonged to the woman willing to give him up to save his life. Although in this case the mother was the childs biological/genetic mother... I can see this in a different perspective in today's world:
I have seen women who gave birth to a child addicted to drugs because the birth moms did drugs while they were pregnant, not caring how it was harming their unborn babies. I have seen children burned, abandoned, neglected - to the point of not given what they need to live, left alone to die, prostituted out for $, nearly drowned, etc. etc. - and I have seen some of these children returned to the people who did this to them. And I have seen some of them adopted by families who would lay down their own lives for them. Tell me now... who is the "Real" parent - the one willing to lay down their life for the child. Regardless of genetics, regardless of who gave birth, regardless of similarities or differences in appearance, LOVE is what makes a parent; not giving birth!
