I’ll never forget the day the doctor confirmed our suspicions: my wife was pregnant! There we stood in the doctor’s office feeling as if the greatest gift in all the world had been sent from heaven to my wife’s belly. Over the next several months we assembled cribs and attended baby showers that were designed to equip us with all the necessary tools one needed for a baby. I couldn’t believe all the stuff: wipe warmers, swings, baby boppies, mobiles, bottles, bottle warmers, mountains of diapers, and some stuff I still haven’t found the proper use for!

In the midst of all this physical preparation, my wife and I felt the pressure of the awesome task of raising and shaping a little life. Each night before we would go to sleep I would place my hands on my wife’s stomach and pray for the child that was forming. I remembered the words of Psalm 139 where David said to God, “For you created me; you knit me together in my mother’s womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Pediatricians tell us that babies are sensitive to the sounds they hear even in the womb. Before our little girl even took her first breath in this world she had already experienced months of hearing her mom and dad pray for the future God had in store for her. We prayed she would grow healthy, that she would grow up in a home of loving security, that she would come to faith in Jesus Christ at a young age and that God would protect her life from so many of the dangers of our world.

God told His people in Deuteronomy 6:7 that they were to teach their children the ways of God. God said to, “Remember the truths of God. Get them inside of you and then get them inside of your children. Talk about them where you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes.” I believe this teaching process begins well before their little minds are old enough to comprehend everything that is said. So let us patiently and consistently share our lives of faith with generations to come.