Little Wisdoms

Three months before my daughter was born, I sat on my couch, paralyzed by the thought of having to step through the door of parenthood.

I was terrified of bringing a baby girl into a broken world. I had experienced abuse and discrimination based on my gender, race, and age in the past. And knowing the significant influence a parent has over a child, I feared “messing her up.” The thought of the heartaches and pain she would inevitably face was overwhelming.

As I prayed about these fears to God, He made me see an image of my daughter sitting beside me. In this vision, she was around my current age, and I had wrinkles on my hands, looking like my mother. My daughter was talking animatedly about her life, smiling mischievously as she shared her secrets with me.

I was barely listening to her story, captivated instead by her face, expressions, and hand gestures. Immense joy and love flooded my heart. As I looked up, it felt as if God was saying, “The joy and love you feel for your unborn child is only a fraction of the delight I have in you.”

I remembered the words of Zephaniah where it says,

The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing (3:17).

I broke down and wept. That day was a pivotal moment for me as a child of God. For years, I had intellectually understood that God’s love for us is unconditional, based on who He is rather than on our actions. Yet, my heart still felt guilty entering His presence when I struggled with sin and felt entitled to His favor when I acted righteously.

When God showed me the immense love I felt for my unborn child, before she had done anything good or bad, I understood His unconditional love in a new way. My sense of worth no longer fluctuates based on my good or bad behaviors; it is now grounded in my Heavenly Father and how much He delights in me.

That day, I decided on my child’s (unofficial) middle name: Delight. It is inspired by the only other verse I know by heart that contains that word: “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

May this Bible verse become the guiding verse of her life. May she grow up to be a delight to God and revel in the delight that the Heavenly Father has for her. And finally, may she know that when she truly delights in the Lord, He will give her everything she ever wanted—Himself.

P.S. Two years after the prayer—delighting in my daughter and relishing in the delight that God has for me.