By Faith

we dedicated Luke to our Great God. On Mother's Day we had a small dedication service for Luke at our church. A lot of our families were there to witness this moment in time and that meant so much to Jake & I. Our pastor shared briefly about the beauty of dedicating your children to God. We played a song called, "Bless my son." I read a small passage from a book called, "powerful prayers for your baby" by Heather H. Kopp. It's a really neat book that has different prayers to help you pray for your baby from the womb to the toddler years and everything in between!! It's been helpful for me because sometimes I feel like I have so many things I want to pray, but I struggle to find the words to express my heart.
"Today we pray in advance that Luke would grow up to have great faith in You.
By faith, may he be like Abraham and follow You wherever You lead.
By faith, may Luke grow up to be like the ancients of the Bible, choosing to follow You to the point of suffering and disgrace rather then chasing the easier way of the world.
You say the righteous live by faith, and it is by faith that we come before You. We humbly ask that You'll turn Luke's weaknesses into strengths and that one day You'll welcome him into Your kingdom and commend him for his faith."

Then Jake's Mom and my parents came up to lay hands on Luke and speak a blessing over him. It was a sacred moment in time.

"May he have the faith of Abraham,
may he have the boldness of Paul.
May he have a heart like David, always seeking God.

May he have the wisdom of Solomon,
may he have the patience of Job.
May he be a leader like Joshua, always full of hope.

May he have the courage of Daniel,
May he have the love of John,
May he know Your voice like Samuel, and always obey God."
Nancy Gordon and Martin J. Nystrom