You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. Deuteronomy 6:5-6

by Angela Moreno

I cannot think of a more fitting day to have you baby dedicated to the Lord than on Mother’s Day. The day is a celebration of mothers and the day God allowed us to raise one of His children. One year ago, I fought back tears on this day. I longed for my baby and felt like I would never have one in my arms.

This Mother’s Day, I held my son, and with my husband, we dedicated Josiah to the Lord. I still fought back tears, but this time they were tears of pure joy and appreciation for the wonderful gift God has given me. I had been truly blessed by God. In front of my church family, I gave Josiah back to God and promised to teach him to walk with God every day of his life.

Josiah is my greatest earthly joy and my greatest gift. I can spend hours looking at Josiah’s tiny features. I love the way he puckers his lips when he sleeps, the way he smiles just like his daddy, and how his tiny hands look exactly like mine, right down to the creases in the palms of his hands. Only God can put so much detail into a human and knows how those small details will touch a mother’s heart.

Josiah is the reminder of how faithful God is and how we must sometimes go through a season of waiting until we are truly ready for our heart’s desires.  We must train ourselves in the ways of God before we can be trusted to train a child in God’s ways.  I thought I was coming to the end of a journey, but found out this is just the beginning.

Deuteronomy 6:7-9 gives us insight into how we should train our children:  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  These verses were read to us during Josiah’s dedication as a reminder of God’s expectations for us in training our son about the ways of God.

From this moment on, my job is to make sure my son knows the love of God and that he knows how to walk with God.  I see the pureness in Josiah’s eyes and I never want to see that go away.  I will continue to keep my trust and faith in God and turn to Him for the answers while raising my son. There will be more tears and heartbreak, but God will walk on this journey with me and give me the answers I will need.

My proudest moment will be when Josiah chooses to follow the path of Jesus.  Every tear, every struggle, and every heartache will be worth the joy I will feel that day.