Just Can't Help Myself!

I'm oh-so smitten with my new granddaughter! I just can't keep from posting another photo of her, taken last week while she was with us. I love Brielle's seemingly reflective expression in this picture.

What a gift Brielle is! What a joy to be a grandparent! I can't help echoing Nehemiah's sentiment, even though the context is utterly different, "The good hand of my God [is] on me" (Nehemiah 2:8).

However, it isn't just my granddaughter's perfect face (I've warned you that I'm biased) or my new role as a grandparent that are captivating my thoughts. I continue to be delighted that "Brielle" means "God is my strength". I continue to rehearse that TRUTH in my own life. God is my strength. In fact, "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation" (Psalm 118:14). Never once did He leave me as I trudged through months and months of such debilitating pain that it eventually led us to a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. He was my strength during that time of suffering. Never once has he given me less than all I need during my ongoing recovery in the three weeks since the surgery. There have been some trying moments and surprising setbacks, but God is my strength. Our growing intimacy as I cry out to Him again and again during this journey is my growing joy.

My granddaughter's name is beautiful. But even more significantly, it's meaning holds a truth that is life giving. God is my strength! I can't wait to share that certainty with Brielle as she grows! God is ready to be her strength. I can't wait to share the great good news of the Gospel with her! She never has to be without enough of His grace and strength to make it through the hardest of times. None of us does. Christ's self-denying sacrifice of His very life to take our rightful punishment before God has seen to that. Jesus has become my salvation. The good hand of my God will always be upon me.

How precious it is that a little face and a pretty name could lead to such soul-refreshing thoughts!