Moments of JOY!

Hello!! I just had to share with you a moment of joy and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I am an infant teacher and my new class started three weeks ago. A nine month old girl who has never been away from her mother for any length of time is in the class. The children who I work with are the staff and faculty children so her mother has been coming in every day to visit and/or nurse her.

We have all settled into a routine and to put the little girl to sleep both in the morning and afternoon I lay the baby on her tummy, cover her with a blanket and pat her back. She always lays flat with her arms at her sides grasping the top edge of the blanket. Well what happened yesterday was one of those moments if I would not have been aware or noticed I could have easily missed. Instead of grasping the blanket she raised her head and looked back at my arm and placed her tiny fingers on my wrist/forearm. I paused a minute and realized she seemed to want some skin-to-skin contact so I picked her up and sat down with her in the rocking chair.

The other children were already asleep and my assistant was out of the room, classical soft music was playing and it was just her and I in the moment. The most touching thing which happened was when she settled in across my lap and nuzzled in my arm she placed her open palm on my skin right above my shirt neckline. She looked up at me with tired little eyes, breathed a sigh and relaxed her body. She kept her hand on my skin the entire time. I was not talking outloud to her, just communicating with my eyes and thinking about what an awesome opportunity I have to be in the presence of God with this magnificant creation he created in this little girl.

I thought about just as she had her hand on me, God has his loving fatherly hand on me all the time. I thought about how precious this moment was and how I was able to meet this baby's need for the moment when her mommy was not there. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit stirring in me as I felt God's loving hand on me too. It was as if this baby, the quietness of the room and stillness I was able to feel God's presence surround me.

As I was gazing down at this baby I thanked God for this moment. I feel a sense of peace and encouraged that He is going to do great things with our group and that our stories, our real-life everyday moments are going to become motivation for many others.

I also realized that I really do need to carve out a quiet time each day with God instead of always talking to him on the go. I now know I am missing things God is trying to tell me because I am not stopping long enough to listen! This moment with this baby brought awareness to the significance of being quiet in the moment and listening.

Each one of us is unique, precious and unrepeatable! Our struggles with eating and strongholds are all unique too. With the Summit experience, the new FirstPlace4Health program, the friends that God has brought together, this blog, and most of all, all of us believing in, feeling and counting on God to carry us through to victory...to carry us to touchdowns as we become better stewards in Christ.... God is an awesome God!!