Grandchildren...The Joy of...

My Childhood Prayer...

I once prayed for God to send my soul its mate--then, to shower us with His blessings of love, peace, contentment...God's divine joy and happiness.  And when our souls were united, we discovered that we were one...one in our dreams, hopes, desires...one in everything that mattered in this life.  We both wanted children...lots and lots of children...lots and lots of childhood fun and laughter and energy...activity...total joy...in our life.

Blessings of Eight Children...

And so, from the very beginning; God blessed us with children...

        A beautiful home full of children...
        An oversized customized van full of children...
        Arms, hearts, spirits... full of children...full of children. 

We were sooooooo happy; so full of God's total fun and joy every moment of our lives.  Our quiver was full of children--eight beautiful children; and we were the happiest two souls one could imagine!

That's right!  I said it correctly--eight children--
        All... with smart...absolutely brilliant, inquisitive, scholarly... minds;
        All...with happy, cheerful, bubbly, exciting, out-going... personalities;
        All... with unique, different, special in their own ways...spirits
        All...with deeply spiritual, solumn Jesus Christ-committed souls;         
        All...with gorgeously beautiful and handsome, amazingly  lovely bodies;
        All...perfect, totally perfect...in every respect. 
We wouldn't have changed one thing about any of them, even if we had tailor made them ourselves.  God gave us the complete desires of our hearts in our eigtht wonderful, God-sent children.

Now, we have fifteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren...all... carbon copies of our children--physically, mentally, spiritually, and personality-wise.  Everything we could ask for...and more!  For years, all of our grandchildren lived in other states; and we only were able to visit with them a couple of times a year.  That was alright; we still had the opportunity to enjoy them on holidays and special occasions.  Our home was always jam packed with love and happiness...children galore; and our hearts were overflowing with joy when they all came home.

But now, we have four of our youngest grandchildrens in the same city and three more only live a few hours away--total joy!  To make it even more exciting, we get the opportunity to babysit these little ones everyday.  Now that's the fun part!  Today, I have three two-year olds and a five-month old to care for!  The excitement never ends!

I get the opportunity to teach them their ABC's, numbers, colors, shapes, manners, behavior, eating habits...all kinds of useful life skills.  The two-year olds are learning to master handling pencil and crayons, and understanding that "...you write ONLY on paper!"  Sure, these skills can be a little challenging to teach, but they're doing just fine; and I'm LOVING every moment of it!

They're all asleep now, so I get the opportunity to reflect on my blessings and write--another of my favorite passtimes.

When I think about the blessings of the Lord...all the absolutely amazing things He has done in my life; my heart leaps for joy.  If my body wouldn't contain me, I'd be bouncing high in the sky with the Lord!  He's been so good!

You see, I can remember from whence I came--a time of sheer poverty and devastation; a time when this society had my people so cowered down and desolate that we wondered what tomorrow would bring.

But, even during those times; God blessed me with parents and siblings and a support system that kept me hopeful and dreaming big dreams.  Even then, I knew that if I trusted in the Lord and remained obedient and steadfast, he would give me the desires of my heart.

I haven't done all the things I should have done in life.  I've made mistakes, made bad decisions, followed the wrong crowd, allowed the devil to lead me astray during certain periods of my life.  However, I have always known the source of my strength.  I have always strived to put the Lord first in my life, and when I fell short, He stood by me and showered me with His divine favor in spite of my foolishness.  And I'm soooooo glad that He did!

Now, I hold my blessings in my arms and thank God that I still have the physical, mental, and spiritual strength and fortitude to teach them of God's goodness.  I can still point them to the Anchor that will guide their little spirits all the days of their lives.  I can still guide and direct them to the tower of strength that is much greater, much more fulfilling and enriching than anything made by man.

Written by Theressa G. Wesley
3-12-12