"Her name is Chapel Elise."
I immediately woke up & told Brad. He gave me a simple smile & said, "We'll see." Pretty sure he didn't want me to get my hopes up. :) That morning we decide to go to church & had planned to ask a prayer warrior I know to pray over me for my sickness. When I asked, she told me she felt like our pastor had a word for us.
He prayed over me & for the baby & then he looked right at me & said he had a stirring in his spirit that this child would fulfill a promise of God.
Of course just hearing that made me bawl my eyes out! I knew deep inside this baby was a girl! When we sat down to eat lunch I decided to look up the name Elise to see what it meant. The first definition I found said,
"Our God is a vow, a promise of God."
Again tears filled my eyes! I had no doubt she was a she! God was giving me the daughter He promised me years earlier.
For years I had longed for a mother-daughter relationship like my friends had, like my sister-in-laws had with their moms. They'd go shopping together, have lunch, their moms were always there for them to talk to, to watch or help with their kids, their moms were now their friends, their closest confidants. I don't have any of that with my own mom. Not just because she lives far away, but because she's not that kind of mom anyway.
Around Mother's Day 2009 I was driving around listening to K-Love & all week long they were asking people to call in & tell happy, exciting stories about their mothers. Mother's Day was already hard for me. One reason because of my past abortion & the other was because I felt like I couldn't celebrate my mom because I still had a lot of issues with her. So when I heard this on K-Love for the thousandth time I lost it. I screamed at the radio & then burst into tears! Then as clear as a bell I heard God speak,
"Am I not enough for you?"
I told Him that YES! Of course He was! Then He said,
"Let Me be your Father & your Mother. You will have a daughter someday & you will be the mother to her you've longed for your mother to be to you. Let Me mother you & you be that kind of mother to your daughter."
I wept the rest of the way home, but was completely comforted. I knew I could trust Him. The next year I got pregnant with Keller, but felt no remorse about having a 3rd son. I knew in time I would have a daughter like God promised. Until then, I was going to fully enjoy the precious fellas I had been blessed with.
Fast forward back to December 2012 where this story began & you can see why I had no doubt this baby was a girl! Another cool thing God did to show me this child was a girl before the sonogram was when we got her baby furniture. I had never had a matching set & showed Brad a picture of a beautiful bed, changing table & armoire I wanted if this baby was a girl. Well some friends from church gave us their daughter's set & said they believed The Lord was calling them to give it to us. Well wouldn't you know it was the EXACT set I wanted!!! I love how The Lord lavishes His children with gifts & blessings!
I pray that He will bless us with more children, maybe a sister for Chapel to play with :) Ha! Only time will tell! Until then, I'm soaking every moment up with my promise of God & her brothers, my lil warriors, my beauty from ashes! Being these kiddos' momma is the best job in the whole world!
