Today was a special day for me. Our daughter, Lori, is pregnant and expecting twins-her second set of twins! . Today there was a combined shower of church, family and friends. It was at the Fellowship Hall at Lori and Scott's church. I have been suffering from a bug, so my goal was to be able to attend this event. I made it, thank You Lord.
I walked into the Hall and thought I had entered a wedding reception. The Fellowship hall had been decorated beautifully. They had used white netting to decorate one wall, hanging baby clothes, alternating boy and then girls clothes. There were round tables with white table cloths and centerpieces. Around their centerpieces they had blue and pink Christmas tree ornaments that had today's date and either "Baby Boy Lassen or Baby Girl Lassen" handwritten on them. Eve, who was the shower's master of ceremonies, told everyone to take an ornament home after the shower to put on the Christmas tree as a reminder to pray for baby boy or baby girl Lassen and Mommy's health and delivery. What a neat idea. Everyone there knew that Lori has had two pregnancies with complications and presently is having blood pressure problems, so they were encouraging prayer for her and the babies. What friends. Praise the Lord!!
The shower started with prayer and then eating first, allowing time for any latecomers. Our son and daughter-in-law, Tim and Patti, had provided platters of finger foods. Everyone was talking and there were two or three babies there as well as Lori and Patti's daughters, all getting excited about the gifts and the future babies! Lori was being blessed.
I found out that there was a committee of four young women who had accepted the task to plan and decorate for Lori's shower. Another girlfriend bought two cakes, one being a chocolate cake with blue frosting and a white cake with pink frosting.
Before Lori opened her gifts, Eve asked people to stand up and give Lori ideas, hints or a special word of encouragement for her having two babies. What blessings she received from friends and family. Then Lori started opening the gifts and as she did, they would have a buzzer go off and the person who had bought that particular gift, also received a gift. Then Eve, the emcee, brought out a basket of Doublemint gum and starting passing it out saying, "Lori is having twins and she is going to have, Double the pleasure and double the fun!"
As I watched the women of all ages, I thought about how they were sharing the important event of twins being born to Lori and Scott. This was a celebration and a gift from God as many years ago Lori could not get pregnant. She had a miscarriage. Then they went to fertility doctors. They had twins and sixteen months later another baby, Ryan was born to their family. Now five years later they are having another set of twins naturally! God has blessed this family.
May I never forget that one of the reasons that I was so determined to not stop standing was for the sake of my children. I did not want my children to be exposed to another man in their lives who was not their father. I did not want to pass on the generational sin of divorce.. Our children were having enough trouble dealing with the other person's in Bob's life as it was. I needed to put my Lord and children first. I was praying for a miracle of restoration. God's perfect plan is for Mom and Dad to have children, raising them together going through life, with good days and bad days, but always believing that God would get them through each and every situation through the span of possibly forty to sixty years of marriage!
As I looked at these young women, I prayed that they would mature in the Lord, hating divorce and do everything in their power to be the wife and mother they need to be for their husband and family. You never know how valuable something is, until you lose it. I know. I lost my husband and became divorced, but by God's grace, love and mercy. the Lord gave me a second chance when I surrendered my life and marriage to Him forever! Please make that decision today to never give up on your spouse. Then love and nurture your children until your spouse comes home.
PS - May I say to our male standers, many of you are raising your children alone for this season. You are awesome. May God bless you. There are also many other men who are standers, who barely get to see or talk to their children. My prayer for you today is that you will pray and fight for the rights to see and to be a part of your children lives regularly. They need both parents.
