The Day I Realized I am a Mom of Three

From the very first day I met my stepdaughter, she has called me Mom. Her dad has had custody of her since she was a baby and she had prayed for years for a Mommy. It seemed natural for her to call me Mom from the very beginning. For me to call her my daughter was a bit of a different story.

If I can be honest, the only children I care for are children that are my own. There are some rare exceptions, but for the most part I don't like other people's children. This is why you won't see me volunteering in children's ministry any time soon. If you need someone to hang out with drug addicts, prostitutes, alcoholics, etc and I'm the first to volunteer. If you need someone to stay with a bunch of 6 year olds, then you will find me quickly missing. Children really are not my calling.

With that confession made, I really had to ask for God's help in being a Mom to my husband's daughter. I've made a very conscious effort to treat her the same as the two children who are my offspring. For almost six months now, she has called me Mom and I have referred to her as my daughter.

Today I learned that calling someone something and feeling someone IS something, are two completely different things. My youngest child left today to spend two weeks with her mom. It is the longest she's been away from her dad in her entire life. As I got into the car to go to work this morning I realized she might not be home when I returned. So I came back in the house to give her a hug and a kiss goodbye even though she was sleeping. She woke up and asked the day of the week and immediately became excited because she knew it was the day she would go to her mom's house. As I was hugging her I had to quickly leave because I suddenly, and unexpectedly, became very emotional.

I realized I felt about her the very same way I would feel about my two older daughters if they were leaving me for two weeks. I realized I would worry and miss her in the same way as if I had given birth to her. I realized I would miss her little annoying habits and how quiet it would be without her singing all the time.

I realized she is my daughter.

"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ Himself, according to the kind intention of His will."

Ephesians 1:4-5

While I may not be the woman who gave birth to my stepdaughter, I know God predestined her to be my daughter. How much greater must God's love be for us? Before the foundation of the earth, we have been chosen. No matter how long it has been since we "met" Him, we can call him Daddy. Just like my daughter saw me as her Mom from the very first day, we can call Him Daddy from the moment we accept Him into our lives. While you may know this in your head, have you allowed the emotion of it to drop into your heart?