The Joy it Brings

More than 19 years ago, God blessed us with a beautiful child. Our first born, Ivan Elijah.

I can vividly remember how easily I was able to give birth, with just three strong push Elijah was out.

Arnel and I were very young when we had him. We were at our 20s. Both of us were undergraduates and we do not have our own place. We get our food and shelter from our parents.

This was so far from God's design of leaving and cleaving thus, our journey became difficult.

We also did not know Jesus yet at that time. Though my mother who was a long time Christian would really insist on having us baptized.

When Elijah came into our lives, our world stopped and revolved around him. He became sickly too and we took all the extra precautions to keep hin away from sickness. At age 3, he had a convulsion because of high fever which really scared us and made us more focus on him. We did not understand that this was a form of idolatry. Being our first born and only child back then, he consumed us wanting to give him the world and at the same time he became our world. We loved him more than we love the Lord and more than each other. It was just now when we try to look back we were able to understand why he was not blessed with good health.

I was also a very strict mom and did not know anything about good discipline. All I know was if he committed a mistake I will spank him with anger which should not be the case. One of the things that I was not proud of as a mom back then, it was an ugly heart that could have been the cause of having a rebellious son.

He was our trial and error when it comes to raising a child.

When he was 9, God blessed us with our second child Kyle and most of our attention were moved to him. Elijah grew and had better health. He was not an idol of our life anymore. I also started working at this time and became busy.

He grew and years really passed by so fast. Our first born who was once just a baby that we cuddle is now 19 and is a young fine man.

It was more than 3 years ago when Elijah joined a youth retreat and have come to know the Lord and accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior. He had this passion to invite people in our church and share Jesus.

He is now in college and by God's grace, he has been serving the Lord through the Host Ministry in our church for almost 3 years.

I praise God for his beautiful life, oftentimes I thank the Lord for giving him to us. Elijah saw our journey as husband and wife, how we were bad examples to him before. But he grew to be an obedient child. I remembered when he had his purity ball and got his purity ring. He made a promise to the Lord that he will remain virgin until the time he gets married. He would always ask if he needs to eat out with his friends or if he has a decision he would like to make.

We do not have a house help but whenever we need to be out we can rely on him in taking care of his siblings.

I know I do not deserve a child like him, a very good and obedient son, but I am in awe of God's faithfulness because by his grace He made Elijah grow in obedience.

Few weeks ago, he told me twice that he wants to volunteer in another ministry in our church that involves IT and multimedia which is his college course. I was surprised at first but I praise God how he is working in the heart of our son.

If I will compare my teenage years to him, I was rebellious and with no direction. But because of God's goodness Elijah was able to grow and live his teenage life for Jesus.

He helps me with our chores and was able to do it well after several months of teaching.
I remembered the first time I saw him giving his thithes, it was the very first thing he did as we entered the church. I saw the pureness in his heart and the desire to give it back to the Lord. He remindes me how we needed to put God first in everything that we do.

He loves to draw and I have seen how great his works are. Our prayer is for him to use hia talent for God's glory.

He is not a perfect son and is still a work in progress. There are still areas that he needs to fix especially in being a good steward of time.

Elijah is the first gift that God gave me and Arnel. We are grateful for he is a wonderful blessing from the Lord and our prayer is he continues to grow and walk with the Lord and be a man after God's own heart.

All by His Grace!

"Children are a gift from the Lord ; they are a reward from him."- Psalms 127:3