I can't believe we are already a third of the way through her first year. That feels crazy. Jake and I have a lot of conversations about what our family will look like- what will our values be? What are the most important things that we want to instill in our kids? And it feels so much more real now that we have Anniston and she is the one we will be investing in. She will grow into this girl and then this beautiful woman, and we have the opportunity to be a part of who she becomes. Wow. What a responsibility. I know what two of the things were for my parents- they wanted me to have a relationship with Jesus and they wanted me to be independent. They probably got more than they asked for on that second one. :) But they sat down when I was born, decided what was most important, and raised me in a way to instill the things they wanted to see in me...and we want to do the same for our kids. So we have family values, things we want to be true about our family...and then we have specific things for Anniston. So these are some of the things we are praying over Anniston. I say all this because who knows, maybe someone is reading this who wants to pray these things over Anniston too, and we'll take it!
FAITH- this is Anniston's verse- Hebrews 11:1- "now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" - so many reasons that this feels significant to us- when we were waiting for Anniston, we believed that she would come, and we fought for hope, fought for faith, fought for confidence in our Father who we knew would bring us this gift, who would fulfill his promise - and He did! We wanted this part of her story to carry on in her life. We want her to be a woman of faith, to not fear when the storms come, to trust her Father in heaven, to be filled with hope, to never be consumed with fear, worry, anxiety, to know the power of God and believe that He will always come through for her. I remember being pregnant and thinking about how it is so easy when you are a mom to be filled with worry, and how easy it would be for me to fall into that, as I've struggled with fear, worry, anxiety for most of my life...and I so wanted to cast that aside and fully trust the Father and not let a hint of worry in our house from that point on...because I wanted to pass that faith and hope and peace on to our kids...I felt like if I wanted to see something in our kids, then it starts with us...so I'm continually fighting for more peace, more faith, and less fear, worry, and anxiety....and believing that our ceiling will be her floor (that all the ground I have gained in this area will only be her starting point- that her faith will far surpass anything I've seen). So yes, we are asking for much FAITH.
JOY- Joy is her middle name. Joy is my middle name. I remember being in high school when the Lord first started talking to me about the joy of the Lord and how it was going to be significant in my life. He started teaching me what it meant to carry the joy of the Lord, regardless of circumstances, and how much people can be changed by encountering the joy of the Lord. I feel like I have been blessed with an abundance of joy...and I wanted to pass that on to her...so that is now part of her name...and I'm asking for JOY for her, that she would be overflowing with the joy of the Lord and that others would experience that joy when they encounter her. So yes, we are asking for much JOY.
PURITY- this one came along after the first two. It started when my friend, the youngest of 5 children, told me that her mom, when she was pregnant with her, started praying that she would have an obedient heart...and then as she grew up, out of all of her siblings, she was the most obedient. She said there was a significant difference between her and the rest of her siblings...so in full disclosure, I thought "well that would be pretty great if I had kids with obedient hearts, discipline would be so much easier, raising kids would be so much easier"...so it really started with a somewhat selfish motive, an easy way out in raising kids...so I started asking that Anniston would have an obedient heart. Then that desire began to grow. I have thought a lot about the issue of purity, how it's more than obedience that I want for her. I want it to be the desire of her heart to please the Lord, that she wouldn't be consumed with pleasing her parents, or pleasing her friends, or pleasing the world...but that her one desire would be to pursue Him and His will for her life...that she would find much JOY in following Him and pursuing a pure heart, for "blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God".
So there you have it. That's my heart for Anniston- Faith, Joy, Purity. "Ask and you will receive"
Here's to the greatest 4 months ever and much more joy to come!
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