From the moment I discovered I was pregnant (and believed it after 5 pregnancy tests – hey, that’s how many were in the package!), I anxiously anticipated and prayed about what my baby would look and be like. I prayed for him/her to have Daddy’s eyes and thick hair but my social butterfly personality. We prayed over my belly every night for everything from the health of the baby to his/her future spouse.

Then one day as I was reading in Psalms, I came across this well-known verse:

Psalm 139:13-16 NASB
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

I was struck by the realization that my baby was being formed by the hands of God and by doing so He was skillfully creating my baby’s personality, his likes and dislikes, his passions and everything that would make him a unique creation. I became so excited to discover just “who” my little baby was created to be! Would he have my love of and skill with music passed down to me from my father or would he be a science genius (which is no where in our family tree!)? Would he be a gentle soul or an all-out-can’t-keep-up-with-him little boy? Would he love to learn or have to be wrestled into a sitting position? Would he want to be a missionary or an astronaut?

I know that this realization is common to all moms at one point or another but the idea that God knew ahead of time how he would create my little guy to be and that it would be a gift for me to open and unpack over the years of his life was simply a delight to me! But the flip side of discovering how God packed my child’s suitcase was knowing what to do with that information rather than simply enjoying the discovery.

We all know what it is like to unpack suitcases after a vacation. Some of us tackle it head on and others leave the packed suitcases in the corner for days hoping they will just unpack themselves and the subsequent laundry would do itself! Rarely is it a joyous task that we look forward to. But when it comes to unpacking your child’s suitcase of what God has created him or her to be, you can indeed enjoy the process.

• Recognize the gift that your child is and be thankful for that gift. Some days this is harder than others! Along with this is humbly acknowledging that without God, you don’t have a clue of what to do with this gift!

• Pray for God to mold and shape you into more of His image. This requires spending time in the Word and in prayer and submitting to the molding process. Why is this part of the unpacking process? Because children become what they see. You are your child’s compass to what he/she will become. Think “monkey see, monkey do”. Be intentional about the example you set.

• Pray for discernment to recognize what is truly a part of the way God made your child and what is a tendency, habit or sin that must be dealt with and weeded out. We are all sinful from birth (Psalm 51:5) so you must be able to recognize that in your child and deal with it.

• Pray for God to equip you with the knowledge of how to nurture the gifts, talents, skills and passions that God has placed in your child. Who else would know how to produce the biggest and juiciest fruit from the plant other than the One that created it? You cannot do this alone! And remember #1 above – without God, we really don’t have a clue what to do with our precious gift, how to mold him and shape Him into a vessel for God!

• Take notice of what your child enjoys, what he doesn’t like, his learning style, what stirs his heart, what causes him to take action, etc. by wisely introducing him to new things and new ideas.

Unpacking your child’s suitcase can be an exciting and enthralling adventure as he or she grows and matures. Just make sure you, with God’s  leading and guidance, do something with what you discover so that he or she will become a man or woman after God’s own heart! That laundry won’t do itself!

Tara is a devoted mom to a two-year-old “little man” and enjoys discovering how God has “packed his suitcase”. As an associate with iBloom, she has a heart for inspiring, encouraging and equipping moms to become “Proverbs 31 mamas” and raise their children according to Biblical principles and guidelines using the Bible and other tools. Tara adores falling leaves, sweatshirts, Starbucks White Chocolate Mochas and the first curly BBQ chip from the bag!