Today is our youngest son’s birthday. At the time, Bob had just decided to go out on his own as an underground contractor in California. That meant that unlike with our first two children, this time we had no insurance. We were living in an 800 square foot old home, about half of that footage was laundry, pantry and kitchen. The rest was divided between a living room, two small bedrooms and a bath. There wasn’t much room for another child.
We squeezed a small bassinette in our bedroom. I told God this baby would need to be a little girl, one that would fit in that bassinette for a few months while we figured out where we could put a crib. We even had a name for this “little” girl, Joyce Rene, after Bob’s aunt and my uncle. We were going to call her Joy.
When our son was born, he weighed 9lbs 6ozs and was 22 inches long. He filled the bassinette the day we brought him home. We hadn’t even agreed on a boy’s name we were that certain he was a she.
While God did not heed our idea of what we thought we needed, He gave us so much more. We named him Dan, but truthfully, we could have called him Joy, as that is what he was. He had none of the difficulties and physical problems of our first two children. He seldom cried. He smiled, laughed, and brought a joy into our lives that we didn’t even know we were missing.
I am so thankful that God gave us what we needed, not what we thought we needed. The Scripture reminds us to not be anxious about anything, but “in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” [Philippians 4:6-7]
I would remind us to be prepared though, what we ask for might not be what God knows we need … and what we get from Him will be so much more joyful than we even imagined.
