God doesn't make mistakes

Despite the ugly, dreary weather that has hung over everyone's head today, this has been one of the best days of my life.

As most of you know, my eighteen year old daughter announced to me in December that she just found out she was pregnant. Chelsea is my oldest daughter, so raising a teenager was new to me as she got older. Since I was only eighteen myself when I had her, I sort of lacked the wisdom or experience to always make the best decisions but I allowed God to guide me with all the important stuff.

When she made her announcement to me, with tear-filled eyes, all I could do was hug her and cry with her.

For those of you that don't know her, I am telling you that she is a beautiful, smart, kind hearted young lady with loads of promise for a very successful future. All I could think of was the changes she was about to endure. She isn't married but has been in a long standing relationship with her boyfriend for about three years, aside from the typical on and off stuff that teenagers do. I hate to admit it, but I was worried about how others would think of her. It broke my heart to think that others wouldn't see what she is and only look at her as a "could have been". As her mother, that thought made me want to fight the world when the world hadn't done anything to us.

Over the past couple of months, I have prayed and came to a realization that God doesn't make mistakes. If he trusted my first born with such a gift, I knew in my soul that she would do it and do it well.

Today, she proved that point.

We all went to church, as a family. Something we hadn't done in a few months.

The service today was like it was sent from God, straight to Chelsea. It was about the sanctity of life and about the value of all of God's children, including those that are not born yet. About how every living soul has made mistakes and those mistakes are ours to make right with God, not anyone else.

At the end of the service, my daughter, although scared and trembling, stood before our congregation and re-dedicated her life to God. She admitted to her mistakes and announced that God and her were good. He knew her heart. She then announced she was having a child of her own and to be a good parent and raise her child with God's help, she had to live by example. She is doing that.

I stood in front of my pew and wept. I was so proud that a young woman of her age, had the strength and courage to do that. I was proud that she knew what was important in life. I was even prouder when my husband walked the isle and hugged my daughter and stood by her and showed the total support of her family.
I must be doing something right.