Ellie took her first steps on March 14, about a week and a half after her first birthday! She's been really cautious since then, not ever wanting to do it - especially not on cue. But, the last few days, I think she's realized that walking is pretty cool and has been doing it a lot. :)
I finally was able to get a few steps on video the other day. When you watch it, please ignore my screaming.... I mean, wow, can you say excited, obnoxious mom?
When I see Ellie walk, and especially when she walks toward me, this wonderful sense of joy and excitement and delight wells up in me. I scoop her up and hug her and say in that high-pitched, excited-mommy voice, "GOOD JOB! You did it!".
Do you think this is how God feels when He sees us doing something that He created us to do, especially when its risky? I wonder...
PS - The couple in the video are our good friends (and soon-to-be neighbors!) here in Tyler, Carolyn and David. Ellie LOVES them, and she loves their son Hutch.
We recently studied the book Esther in my Tuesday morning Bible study, and I was so encouraged by its theme:
God's plans may be hidden, but his hidden hand is always working for His glory and for the good of those who love Him.
I sometimes wonder... why did this or that happen in my life? God, why have you moved us from Austin to Dallas to China to Boston and now to Tyler, TX? Why have we moved every 2-3 years? Why did my businessman husband go to seminary? How in the world did we end up in Tyler, where we never thought we'd be?
Could it be that one of the many reasons we have moved to so many places so that it has provided me with a larger audience of people to (hopefully) encourage with music? Maybe...
Could it be that one of the reasons we went to seminary in Massachusetts was because, there, all fertility treatment is free for those who have insurance? Did God, in His sovereignty, so sweetly work that out for us, all behind the scenes? I will never forget that feeling when I realized God's tender and providential care for us in this.
Could it be that Nick went to seminary at Gordon-Conwell not to become a pastor but to serve in other ways? What those ways are, we don't fully know quite yet... but we are seeing glimpses.
Could it be that, in Tyler, we are exactly where God's hidden hand has guided us to be for now? To serve our church? To love high school kids? To make new friends that will deeply affect us and live life with us?
God is telling a Story and, crazily, He is using our small stories to tell it. We can take great comfort in knowing that the Story maker's hidden hand is working, even if we can't see what it is doing, and it is working and moving for our good and His glory.
This song from Esther reminds us of this truth... I hope you like it!
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