His Rewards in His Time

If I have learned anything from God over the past few years it is that He works on His own time. It has also become apparent that this great drama He authors is often times a lighthearted comedy in which we are the unwitting foil.

We are pregnant. There, I just spit out the news we have been holding back for what seems like ages. Of course, Shelly is the pregnant one who is having all kinds of wild things happen to her body yet again, but, the entire family is pregnant with anticipation of meeting our newest housemate. The comedic story line comes from our planning a move to Europe just three months prior to the babe's coming out party; it is not that we are approaching the age of Abraham and Sarah.

It seems that every time we make a major life change of jobs or locations, God has seen fit to bless us with a child (Not sarcastic). So we should have seen this coming. Of course, that is always the case in the traditional comedy -- everyone but the stooge sees the obvious.

And thus, God has decided to give us the full European experience. Not just living in Germany, visiting castles and retracing Luther's steps, but the experience of a life beginning in the shadow of all that history. While I am hopeful that we will be strong enough to resist the temptation to name the child Wolfgang or Hilda, we will embrace another opportunity to trust in God's providence and relax in His sovereignty. We are still very excited about the prospects of experiencing all that the history of Europe has to teach us. But, we have once again been reminded that the true joy of being a family comes from trusting in God and seeing Him work faithfully through the lives of the members of the household. Europe is exciting, but it pales in comparison to being anywhere with my family. The fact that God has prepared a path for all of us to experience the old world together, and furthermore, to reward us with another child is yet one more example of His unfathomable love.

As the Psalmist wrote, "Behold, children are a heritage of the Lord, The fruit of the womb a reward."