In the Word: Wonderfully Made

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be studying Psalm 139 together. This Psalm is used often (and rightly so) to demonstrate the value of human life, and God’s care for us from even before we were conceived. What can we learn about God’s tender care for us and for our babies from these verses? How does a greater knowledge of these truths offer hope and comfort to us in the midst of grief?

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Wonderfully Made

“For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Psalm 139:13-14

READ:

These verses have truly come to life for me since our Paige went home. I wear it daily on my necklace, it is carved into her grave marker, and it will forever remind me of holding our daughter’s sweet, tiny body in my arms. Though her earthly body was broken and far too small for life here with us, when I held her, all I saw when I looked down was perfection. All I saw was a delicate, intricately made, miracle that God had so lovingly created. 

Wonderful, marvelous are your works, Lord. When I sit and think about all the “marvelous, wonderful” things that God has done, the miracles that He accomplished through Jesus, the beauty and splendor of creation from the mountaintops to the stars in the sky, the endless list of marvelous deeds that God has done for His people from Genesis to Revelation, I often forget to remember that I am, we are, one of His wonderful things. We need not travel to the Grand Canyon to find His miraculous display, we need only to look down, in awe, at the wonderful creation He fashioned in our very selves. We need only feel the beat of our hearts, peer at the veins in our arms, listen to the breath in our lungs, and remember where that very breath of life came from. All of this—our existence, our bodies, our being, created in His image—it’s all part of His wonderful works. We ourselves are miracles created by the hands of God. 

The same hands that created our hope babies now cradle them as well. He knit our sweet babies together inside our wombs. Before we even knew of them, He had already started loving and crafting His handiwork. When we couldn’t see them or hold their hands, He could. He saw to it that their tiny toenails were present, that their delicate skin was cared for. He, the Artist, took the time to brush on fingerprints and knit together veins. He, the Author, knew how many hairs would be on their heads and how many beats their hearts would take. He, their Father, made no mistake in how He formed them, how He knit them together in our wombs. All His ways are perfect, and the wonderful way He made our hope babies leaves me thankful beyond words. 

“The Rock—how faultless are His deeds, how right all His ways!”
Deuteronomy 32:4a (NABRE)

The same God that created the universe, that parted the sea for the Israelites, the same God that gave His only Son so that we, hand in hand with our babies gone before us, can live in the glory of eternity, is the God that wonderfully designed and made our babies. He paid such tender attention to detail and poured so much love into them, knowing full well how long, or how little, they would be here on this side of heaven. How thankful I am for this powerful, loving God. 

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, I praise you for your faithfulness, kindness, and generosity in giving us our precious children, even for so brief a time. I praise you for the marvelous creation you knit together inside of our wombs, for breathing life into our children, and for watching over every beat of their hearts. Even though you knew our hope babies wouldn’t be here on this side of eternity with us for very long, you still made them oh so wonderfully—intricately weaving every fiber of their being in Your image. You allowed our children to be one of your “wonderful works” even though they were made for heaven rather than earth. What a beautiful honor, Lord. I praise you, because I am, and my hope baby is, fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works!

REFLECT:

Take some time to look through God’s Word (or use the verses below) and find some examples of His marvelous, wonderful works. How does it make you feel to know that your precious Hope Baby is one of His wonderful works as well?

• Genesis 21:1-3
• Genesis 50:20
• Exodus 14:13-22
• Job 42:10-16
• Matthew 15:29-31
• Luke 1:26-45
• John 20:11-18

JOURNAL:

Spend time praising God today. Either write Him a letter or praise Him out loud. Thank Him for all the wonderful things about how He made you and your Hope Baby. 

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Anna lives in Houston, TX and is a wife to Brendan, mom to hope baby Paige, and preschool teacher to a room full of four-year-olds. She finds joy in traveling with her husband, reading two or three books at a time, and sipping a strong cup of coffee at any local coffee shop. “Choose Hope” is Anna’s motto to live by, and she finds her daily strength through God’s Word and faithfulness.

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