It’s a few minutes past midnight on the morning of my son’s wedding day. In a few more hours he will be a married man. Tonight at the rehearsal dinner I got to hear our daughter, Hannah, reminisce about their childhood in our home and it was the best time a mother can have at supper. Then I got to hear Caleb play and sing a song he’d written for Rebekah. Magical moments you’d like to extend. But they pass. And prayers answered make new paths and progress toward the goal. Below are two poems…the first, a prayer, written when Caleb was very young. The second is all about the prayer’s answer. It was written yesterday. God always hears us and he always answers. We, as His children, get to simply live out the answers to prayers. How blessed we are to know our lives are under the Romans 8:28 umbrella! Here. For Caleb and for God’s answer for his life, Rebekah.
God Bless my Baby
God, give him strength as he enters our lives.
Give us wisdom as parents as each of us strives
To make for him places in our world to grow.
Teach us Lord. We’re so small. There’s so much we don’t know.
God bless him as he to your wonders awakes.
Bless him, dear Lord, when his first steps he takes.
He’s so small. May his scratches and bruises be small.
May my kiss make it better each time he may fall.
Help him to learn, Lord, just what he should know
To take him in life where you want him to go.
But in all of this learning, may he never forget.
The One who has made him and walks with Him yet.
Give him courage when Satan first gets in His way.
May he stay near your word. May he fall down and pray.
May he put on you Lord. That’s my most fervent prayer;
And for all of his days cast on you every care.
When the time comes, Oh God, that he must go away,
Help us to let go; but still hear us pray.
God, bless our baby. Look down from your throne.
Watch over him gently, for still he’s our own.
Give him shelter, dear Lord, from this world’s raging storm,
In a place where your love shines; a place that is warm.
Give him people to help him keep you in his life.
Give him one of your daughters, oh God, for his wife.
And one day may they know the joy I now feel,
Of a life yet unborn, but so precious and real.
May something I give him while still he is mine,
Make him know that all life, even unborn, is thine.
So Father, my prayer is for a life you’re now giving;
And, yes, for a soul that will always be living.
My task is so great. I’m so small. Help me see
That through Christ I can do it, for He strengthens me.
cc
The Answer
God is so good to your parents tonight
He’s answered the details of prayer.
It wasn’t our wisdom, but Providence
Not our work, but His steady care.
He gave you the songs you’ve been singing
He gave you the voice that you raise
He gave you the music that’s deep in your soul
And the skill to lead Christians in praise.
.
You’ve excelled in conviction and conscience.
You’re courageous, yet kind and forbearing.
Confident in truth, introspective,
Consistent, hard-working, and caring.
He’s answered our prayer for His daughter, too.
More completely than parents could plead.
Immeasurably more than we ask or think.
She’s everything He knows you need.
So we thank our Father each night for her;
For the path that brought her to your life.
For her honor, her humor, her love for our Lord
And that she said, “yes”…she’d be your wife.
So you both can go ahead and start praying now
For the sons who will fill up your lives.
For their safety in coming, their bruises and scrapes
For the ones who will raise up their wives.
And, Son, pray for daughters, for you know how to teach
A little boy to be the best kind of brother.
She’ll be holy and His and so pretty, to boot…
She’ll grow up to be just like her mother.
When the years and the tasks loomed so large, Son,
We prayed for this hour in your life.
We prayed that your heart and your hands would be strong
When they first held the heart of your wife.
And all through the years, Son, you’ve taught us.
But the greatest thing you helped us see
Was the extreme sacrifice of the Father
To give His one Son on a tree.
We know that He brought you together
That the Father is writing your story.
So glad for this moment when you’ll vow to give
Him a lifetime…as one…for His glory.
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