Living Hope for Anna

Today we dedicated our dear, sweet, little girl Anna to the Lord alongside four other babies at church.  In our church tradition we don't baptize babies, but we do dedicate them to God.  We promise to raise them in the faith and give them wholly to Him.  Dedication does not save a baby, but the raising up of a child in the faith is a very common means Christ uses to call His lost sheep to Him.

During the dedication we made five promises:
1) To recognize our children as gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing.

2) To dedicate our children to the Lord who gave them to us, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to Jesus Christ.

3) With God's fatherly help, to bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives.

4) To provide, through God's blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of our children, looking to our own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them.

5) Relying on God's help to make it our regular prayer that by God's grace our children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all His promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey His teachings.

My prayer for my kids is that they have "boring" testimonies.  I pray that they spend very little time not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  I pray that God uses Christine and I to lead them to Jesus.  I pray that I get to baptize my children one day.

When Joshua was dedicated I requested that the song "Because He Lives" be sung during the service.  With Anna the song "Living Hope" was sung and I'm so glad it was because that's how any of this happens.  I can only hope these things for my kids because my God lives, because He is my Forever Leader.  Jesus is my living hope for me and my children and he's the living hope for my step-dad Larry, who has a brain tumor, who sat next to me this morning.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in Heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith... more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire... may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:3-8

Thank God that He is a living hope for me, for my little Anna, for Larry and for you today.