When....

a baby boy is born...

We celebrate.

Because babies are fun.  Yet, in the birth of that baby there is a deeper purpose than chubby cheeks and dirty diapers.  A purpose chosen of God.  So we teach him to pray.   Pray not only for himself but the world he will someday influence and most of all the woman God will send to walk beside him.

While the years march on, we cherish his silliness.  We fight for him in his struggles.  And we always hold before him, his walk with the Lord...

We teach him that his Savior loves him, loves his children that will follow.  Teach him that the woman he chooses for a wife will directly impact the heritage that he is leaving behind.

 We see God's grace when a small stammering tongue asks for protection and a loving family for his wife, because he loves her even though he has not yet met her.

And are not surprised when she becomes so real to him that he sends her gifts over the space of time..

As he grows, his prayers become more specific. Lord, let her love children.  Lord, help her to keep herself pure that our marriage will glorify you. Lord, give us a goodly heritage.

And on he walks.... and waits.

Waits through his teen years while others tease and chide as to why he doesn't have a girlfriend yet.  After all "What's the matter with you?"

Shielding his heart from girls who were not taught better.

He walks with his eyes on Christ.  He fills his days with the glory of God's creation.

He waits past his nineteenth birthday

.... his twentieth.

 and the critiques intensify "People don't live like that anymore, Cody.".....

And yet he knows that while people change... the great I AM changes not.

Then one day God begins a friendship.  In one small space of time God honors all of his petitions and that friendship turns into so much more.

Pure is that relationship because Sarah has waited on the Lord too.

Their desire to keep Christ first is mutual...

Their love for children is shared.

The day has come for Cody to ask to court his bride, the answer is yes.

My heart is full of the Lord's goodness and mercy.  Thankful for His grace.

 The Lord's way is so very beautiful.

 May they always walk in it.