My throat hurt and I was tired. It was mid afternoon as I carried my sleeping three- year-old daughter from her carseat into the house. Her eyes opened slightly and I told her she could go back to sleep on the couch. I was hoping she would so I could catch a short nap. We snuggle together, but she is now fully awake. That’s okay, I think to myself. At least we can just rest here for a few moments before it’s time to pick up her brothers at school. Curled up on the couch with my eyes closed, she starts stroking my hair away from my eyes and singing a little made up song to me. “Precious Mommy, beautiful Mommy.” Over and over she sings. Lovingly and gently stroking my face. This is a rare moment. I soak it in. My spunky, strong-willed girl loving on me in this tender, quiet moment.
It dawns on me that this is the first time anyone has ever sang to me like that. As a child I was tucked in at night, had stories read to me, and heard frequent, “I love you’s,” but there were no lullabies. Here I am a thirty-something woman, wife, and mother of three, and my youngest child is speaking, well singing, into a part of me that desperately needs to be cared for in this way.
I believe God is always speaking to us and showering us with His love and blessings. Sometimes I miss Him when I am too busy and not tuned into the frequency where He abides. But it’s not hard to adjust the dial slightly and get back to where He is because He’s always there. This was one of those moments where He was making it incredibly obvious. He wanted to be sure I got this one loud and clear. He used the sweet and adorably low, gravelly voice of my daughter to sing His love over me. And she was loving me from the outpouring of her heart. From the overflow of the love she had received from me.
Music is an integral way we communicate with God through worship, and a way He can communicate with us. It’s a language of love. My favorite class in high school was choir, and I have fond memories of the places and audiences we performed for around Europe when I attended The American School in London. When my babies were born, songs started spilling out of me so naturally. I never felt embarrassed singing even if other adults were around. Three songs in particular came to me when each of my children were born. God impressed these songs of His love on my heart in very creative ways despite not being sung to as a child.
This first is, “Jesus Loves Me.” I knew that one because I attended Sunday School. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes Jesus loves me…” It’s the whole Bible wrapped into a short song so kids can understand the Christian faith before they can even talk. Because that’s what the Bible is; a love story from God to His people.
The second song I learned in High School choir. Despite attending a secular school in a major cosmopolitan city, my choir teacher would occasionally select spiritual songs for us to perform. One in particular that stuck with me I later learned had lyrics taken directly from Numbers 6:24-26. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you; and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” It’s a common blessing spoken, or sung, over a congregation at the end of a church service.
The third song stems from a seemingly insignificant childhood memory. I believe the Lord very purposefully engrained it in my mind so that I would later see His fingerprints throughout my life even when I did not know Him yet.
My parents went on a vacation for a week and hired a babysitter that we did not know. She was the grandmother of an acquaintance. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous having a stranger take care of me for a week. However, this woman proved to be very kind, and I suspect now, very strong in her faith. And for that one week, she sang to me at bed time. The song went like this, “Tell me why the stars do shine, tell me why the ivy climbs, tell me why the sky’s so blue, tell me why I love you. Because God made the stars to shine, because God made the ivy climb, because God made the sky so blue, because God made you, that’s why I love you.” So that was the one time someone sang me a lullaby before my daughter Eva did that sleepy afternoon.
The Lord reminded me of that as I lay there drinking in Eva’s sweet tune. That babysitter whose name and face I can’t even remember was yet another person God spoke to me through. Such a simple gesture. Such a short connection with that woman, but what a huge impact.
God wants to use you and me to speak into the lives of others like that babysitter. It encourages me now when I’m tempted to think that the things I say or do don’t have much impact. Oh, but they do! God can use the smallest, simplest things to speak His love to those around us. Maybe it’s a warm smile passing someone in a parking lot. Maybe it’s eye contact and a short conversation with the person checking your groceries at the store. Maybe it’s changing your schedule around to meet up with the friend who needs to talk. God delights in His children and wants to use us to show His delight to others.
“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17.
About Me
I am a child of God, a wife to Seth, and a mother to James, Luke, and Eva. The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). I became a “new creation” at the age of 23 when I surrendered my life to Jesus and was delivered from a decade of depression. Read more...