*Isabella~Consecrated to God *Faith~Firm believer

Faith was dedicated Aug 26, 2007 at our church in Boise. Pastor Tri and Nancy, Jason, me and my parents were all there and were able to pray over our little blessing. Faith's first name is Isabella, which means "Consecrated to God". I pray all of the time, that I will to give her over to God and trust him with her life. God has given her to us to raise and I am so very thankful for that.



In a way, I feel like Hannah in the Bible (I Samuel 1--note: it is the 9th book of the Bible, 1st chapter). God gave her Samuel after she wanted a baby so badly. She made a promise to God that she would dedicate Samuel to Him. So once Samuel was weaned (probably around 3 years old), she went to the temple and gave Samuel to the priest, Eli, so that he could serve God. What gratefulness, what sacrifice and what love!!! I really feel like, as a mother, I need to follow in Hannah's footsteps. I don't mean that I need to give Faith away to a priest, but I do mean that I need to trust God in her life. I need to seek God as I raise her and pray for her daily. I need to cultivate my relationship with God, so that I can better understand his love and better model what I know of His love to my daughter. Trusting God with her life starts early on when she is a baby, but I am sure it gets more difficult as she enters adulthood. Right now, she needs me to survive. And I cherish every moment, because I know it won’t last—but that is ok. Later on, as she gains more independence, she will need me less. And I think this is a gradual process. As she needs me less and less, I pray that she will rely upon God more and more. I know that it is very difficult letting go, but I want to be able to do this freely and without worry, because I am leaving her in the best hands possible—Jesus’. When Faith becomes an adult, I want her to have the ability to make healthy decisions, seeking only God’s approval and not my or anyone else’s approval. This is my prayer for my daughter’s life. It is a simple prayer but needs the power of Jesus to execute. Again, I Samuel is the 9th book of the Bible and the 1st chapter of it tells of Hannah’s story. And I think it is pretty neat that Faith was born on 9/1/2006.