There once was a woman raised in the bondage of unbelief, oblivious to the shackles of darkness suffocating the light from her soul. She was a proponent of the theory of evolution, not because of scientific conviction, but because of her distrust of Creation as theorized within the pages of Scripture. She vehemently refused to believe that God existed, let alone His son, Jesus. Her disbelief was not rooted in superfluous emotional rebellion. No, the fact was that most of her young life she had witnessed undesirable behavior from those who called themselves “Christians.” Hypocrisy filtered truth until it was barely recognizable, especially to one resistant to its implications in the first place.

But God’s will is not swayed by misperceptions and vain pursuits for validation. When she was barely over twenty-years-old, a series of health issues catapulted her into exploratory surgery. The aftermath of which was the prognosis that she would be unable to have a baby. A hysterectomy was recommended, but complications from the previous surgery coupled with a long recovery postponed that inevitability indefinitely. It wasn’t until she married that the deep sorrow of not being able to have children reached her heart.

Of course, it never occurred to her to factor in God. Three years into their marriage, the young woman got pregnant. The pregnancy was fraught with difficulty that challenged the woman’s disbelief in a higher power. In the first trimester she lost thirty pounds. In the second trimester she went into pre-term labor. Miraculously, she carried that baby to term and was gifted with a healthy baby boy.  Still, she did not openly attribute the miracle to God, but in her soul, she began to silently wonder. Her hard heart at last had a crack in it, a divine breaking resulting from the undeserved grace of motherhood. 

The woman went on to have two daughters. God was beginning to get her attention –shattering that hard shell around her heart with His indescribable grace. When the boy was ten-years-old he brought a bible into their home. And he read it –cover to cover in a little less than a year. He began to ask lots of questions and share what he had been so excited to read in Scripture. His mother was disturbed by all of this and told him that he should be reading other things, that people did not really read the Bible. Instead, the young boy persisted, his faith a divine gift given to him in the womb. Frustrated, his mom went out and got herself a Bible. She really didn’t see what the big deal was –after all it was just a book, and an ancient one at that.

It took her over a year to read it along with her husband, but in that year God broke her hard heart through the power and beauty of His Word. She finally realized that this was not just a book. His Word healed wounds she thought were buried, exposed darkness in her that she tried so hard to hide and mended the brokenness until her heart was restored and remade. The Lord looked at her unworthiness and called her worthy through the faith she place in Jesus, her risen Savior. He took her from the depths of unbelief and brought her to the height of faith in such a short time that the binding shackles of doubt stealing life from her soul were completely demolished. God was bigger and so much greater than she ever imagined. The love of Jesus was so much more tender and healing than she could have possibly known. The woman was undone in the face of such majesty. She was made new –a completely new creation by a transforming God who lovingly gifted her with salvation through the grace of mothering a child she was told she would never have. And not only was her life transformed but her family’s life as well. Selfishness was replaced with love.  Getting ahead was replaced by getting closer to Jesus.

That story is my story, friends. Twenty-five years ago this month I was granted the enormous privilege of embarking on a parental journey that turned my heart upside down, emptying it of all the unsavory contents so that it could be refilled by the love of my Creator. Simply put, a child was born to me. But by the grace of my God, this woman’s heart was reborn through the experience. My son has grown into an amazing young man with a passion for God that radiates every aspect of his life. He is newly married to a wife who shares his passionate devotion as he studies to become a doctor with the sole intent of carrying on the healing ministry of Jesus.

The grace of God thrills and astounds me. His transformative power is no match for the evil that lurks in our world. My heart rejoices and sings in celebration of a quarter century of motherhood:

Who am I O Sovereign Lord that You have brought me this far? But that is Your usual way of dealing with people. Grace that breaks the shackles of unbelief and grants faith in its place. Blessings so abundant that it leads to transformation in an entire family. Let my soul magnify the Lord for He has done great things for me. I will rejoice in God, my Savior for He is my strength and my song!