Listen

Last summer, while awaiting the birth of my first grandchild, I spent an hour every afternoon sitting in the conservatory (better light) working on a cross-stitch for this child. As I worked, I listened. I listened in the silence to what God wanted to say about this baby. I wrote down the words or phrases that came to mind and after Felicity was born, I sewed her name and birth date on it and printed out the words God had given me, and gave it to her.

She will be a year old in another month, and this afternoon I looked at the copy I kept of God’s words about this amazing wee miracle. I was astonished at how accurate they are. Why was I astonished? God knew this life before he created her in the womb, and he has loved her forever. 

I don’t believe that Felicity is any better a person because I joined in with God’s thinking about her. But it thrills me to know that he shared his secrets with me before she was even born. And that encourages my faith to keep on listening, keep on believing, keep on asking, keep on expecting. 

God is our loving Father who delights to work with us in this world. He invites us to partner with him but so often we lack the faith and courage to believe that what we feel in our hearts or think in our minds can actually be given to us from our heavenly Father. 

I’m excited again by the possibilities of partnering with our divine King to bring his Kingdom here to earth. And rather than rushing off to do even more great stuff, I hope I’ve got the message: it’s more effective to sit down and listen and agree with His plans.

Wow.

Amazing Technology. Amazing Grace

Technology has transformed our experience of life. Obviously. But two personal transformations are affecting me:

I am sitting in my kitchen in a (momentarily) sunny Scotland writing these words on my laptop, and when I post them on my blog my mainly Russian audience (don’t quite know why, but there you go) and others round the world will be able to read what I’m thinking about. Instantly. Almost 300 people every week look at my blog, which is exciting and hopefully keeps me focused and relevant.

Yesterday, one of our sons and his wife emailed us the 20-week-scans of our first grandchild. He or she was sucking his/her thumb, legs akimbo and ankles crossed. (no, we couldn’t see the gender...)

The shape of the head, the wee nose, the arms, the legs – even the heart and the brain – all there within a few minutes. How on earth anyone can condone aborting a baby at this (or really, any) stage is incomprehensible. There’s no doubt that my daughter-in-law is carrying the first of the next generation of this family. Not a bunch of cells. A baby. Sucking his/her thumb. Wow.

‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,’ God says in Scripture. This child is already a glint in his/her Father’s eye, a much-loved individual who will be born here for a purpose.

Technology is amazing. But not as amazing as God.