Now we give her to the Lord.

"So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."

1 Samuel 1:28

Just as Hannah presented Samuel to the Lord, this past weekend we presented and dedicated Evelyn back to the Lord. Perhaps 'back' is not the right word. She has always been the Lord's. He knows her already. He loves her. He perfected her and brought her into being. And we are lucky enough to be her parents while here on this earth. Since before Evie's birth I have been praying that she will learn to love God and spend her life in relationship with him. I know the Lord has made her in his image and that he has amazing plans for her life. She is only three months old and I love being her mom. I love her smile. I love her new laughs. I love the way her eyes sparkle. I love her independent spirit. I love her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. And yet, God's love for her surpasses all of that. At times my heart feels like it could explode at how much I love this little baby...but still, God's love is greater than that. He loves her in a way I humanly cannot even fathom. She has been beautifully, intricately, and wonderfully made and she belongs to the Lord. She has always belonged to the Lord. And now it is our job as parents to surrender ourselves (our parenting, our actions, our words, our leading by example, our love for her) to the Lord. To surrender ourselves and her to the Lord so that he can use her and mold her and so that her life can reflect his love in all that she does. She will one day have to make the choice on her own - the choice whether she will follow the Lord or not. I will not be able to control or force this decision for her when the time comes. But I will do everything within my power to bring her as close to the feet of Jesus as I can so that when the time comes for her to make this decision she will want nothing more than to give her heart to Jesus. 

What a great responsibility we have as her parents! What a privilege! What a challenge! We prayed for this child. The Lord answered our prayers. Our only response is to dedicate her to him...where she has always been and where we pray she will always stay.